Working with EPS Buildings to establish the design features of the home, and order the materials package was a very simple and straight forward process. Total time from order to delivery was approximately 1 month, and the package was received in good condition and complete. In fact, the entire SIPS package arrived on two semi’s, and took only 2 hours to offload. Preparation of the foundation was not unlike that of traditional stick built construction so once the SIPS package arrived there was no time lost in erecting the exterior panel walls. Within 3-4 weeks the exterior shell of the home (including SIPS roof) was complete and ready for roofing materials.

The second criteria – efficiency performance – is critical to the homes we build at HTH. The SIPS package had to perform when analyzed in the Manual J Load Calculation performed on the project in advance. As is our practice at HTH, we first ran the Manual J Load Calculation on the home as if it were to be constructed of traditional 2”x6” stick framing with traditional insulation values applied. Then, we repeated the Manual J Load Calculation applying the increased values of the SIP panels.  This practice tells us if the infiltration reduction is significant enough to impact the total heat loss/heat gain of the home. In the case of EPS Building’s SIP product it passed. When the load calculation was run based on traditional stick construction it would have required a 7.5-ton heating & cooling system, however,  when run with the values of the SIP panels the heat loss/heat gain was significantly reduced which allowed us to reduce the HVAC system size to just 4-tons.