John asked:

>Are SIPS panels actually "century" building materials?<

Good question for which I don't have an answer. Obviously the gut says no
but I don't know what the life cycle is for OSB if it's kept dry. I know it
does water damage faster than most solid wood construction. The foam has low
UV resistance but seems very stable when captured in the wall. It would be
nice if there was some type of accelerated aging testing that could be done,
but trying to get anyone in the new build industry to consider the century
standard seems unlikely at best. 

One good thing about timber frame construction is that when all of the
modern stuff we use for the building envelope breaks down, you can recycle
it all (hopefully) and put new stuff on. It begs the question as to whether
we can build tomorrow's historic buildings in a way that is both durable and
energy efficient enough to survive our dwindling energy resources. We may be
stuck with disposable housing that is highly energy efficient and provides
less bling per capita. 

Rudy

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