Problems With Sip Roofs

Problems with fire safety and structural insulated panels sips con struct ed with osb composite structural siding panels and plywood do not have adequate fire per for mance ratings.

Problems with sip roofs.

Specifying a cold roof or simply over sheathing the roof. Only sips surrounded by a fire rated product like drywall can stand up well in fires. Extreme s pre insulated sips offer an option for a high performance roof framing solution that is 15 times tighter than conventional construction practices making it easier to control indoor air environment. Build for the future with extreme s structural insulated panels sips the high thermal values and strength properties of extreme s sips are highly beneficial for roof construction.

Prior to opening his own engineering firm in oregon in 1997 he was a professor of engineering at northern montana state university and at oregon institute of technology. Issues with structural insulated panels sip dr. Matt melton lives in central washington state in a 3 year old house with a roof made of structural insulated panels sips that are 12 1 4 inches thick. Ray core sips are far superior eliminating all the problems associated with traditional sandwich panel sips.

The first signs of problems with the roofs in juneau occurred when workers walking on the roof noticed soft spots. Kiesecker offers the following. However working with structural insulated panels does have its challenges especially for first time users. There was a big cluster of failures in juneau alaska.

Warm moisture laden air exfiltrates at gaps in the sip joints and migrates upwards within the joint toward the roof ridges depositing moisture at the upper cooler exterior surfaces along the way. The ridges caused by the expansion of sip roof panels may be an aesthetic blemish but it does not affect the performance of the roofing or the sip roof panels. Several assemblies that prevent shingle ridging are described in the builder s guide to structural insulated panels sips. To help shed some light on common problem areas we asked frank kiesecker of sips manufacturer ach foam technologies in denver to provide key tips and do s and don ts when working with the technology.

Most sip problems have occurred in cool damp climates. The pitch of the roof is very low only 1 2 inch in 12 and the metal roofing has been applied directly over the sips with no air channel beneath the roofing for ventilation. Nabil taha has over 27 years of structural engineering experience.