Ruth queried:

One of the things we are trying to hash out is there is a fellow in a
neighboring town whose company builds something called SIPS panels, he has
offered to donate these BUT some of us are QUITE skeptical about them and
would rather stick with tried and true old-fashioned building materials and
techniques.  Anyone here care to comment?

Ruth,

Let me stroll out onto this very thin limb over this pit seething with histo
vipers and offer my opinion.

I've been using SIPs for 25 years now. That's also how long I've been timber
framing. Prior to that I did more modern carpentry for a couple of decades.
SIPs are in general given credit for bringing timber framing out of relative
obscurity into the marketplace of energy efficient housing. Back in the 80's
the energy crisis made them very attractive and the same is true today.

Prior to SIPs timber frames were "infilled" with stud or girt framing which
sometimes included brick nogging or waddle and daub (England and Europe)
which provided some insulting value. Mostly the walls were "hollow" with
wood siding on the exterior and paneling or lathe and plaster inside. Unlike
the "half timbered" buildings of England, the fachwerk buildings of Germany
or the round timber buildings of Japan and China with their panelized
infill, American timber framed buildings concealed the timbers in the walls
and were only exposed in the basement and attic.

The hollow wall building tradition allowed for good ventilation and
durability but became problematic when energy costs went up and our
expectations of year round comfort matured and many approaches have been
made to retrofit these buildings with insulation which all too often causes
moisture problems which shorten their life. SIPs move the insulation system
to the outside of the frame creating an "envelope" of insulation. If they
are made with urethane (my strong recommendation) they do not allow moisture
to migrate through the walls, have no glue used during manufacturing except
that in the OSB (pressed horse shit to some) "skins", and have very high
R-values. The downside is that the radically change the esthetic because the
timber frame now becomes completely visible inside the building. To some
(like me) that is considered an advantage.

It all boils down to what your project's conservation philosophy is. If it's
to be a true reconstruction of the historic building, SIPs are inappropriate
because the timber frame would become visible and the historic walls did not
contain foam insulation. If your philosophy is to create a "curb view"
replication of the store's appearance this can readily be done with an SIP
envelope but inside the framework will become part of the beauty of the
building. The choice becomes one of building a century structure that is
strictly traditional, or a century structure that uses modern technology.

Just because I'm nosey who's the timber framer, Jan Lewandoski? Are the
panels from Foard Panel?

Rudy

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