Now more and more people want to have not an apartment, namely private house. However, many are stopped by a long and rather laborious construction process: laying the foundation and erecting walls, finishing work, high costs for the necessary building materials and equipment.
I would like to quickly build my house and start the arrangement. These dreams become reality thanks to SIP panels. Many people know or have heard about this modern building material, but do not quite understand its purpose and basic qualities.

Content

What are SIP panels?

The word SIP stands for Structural Insulation Panel. This building material is a three-layer construction: two OSB boards and a layer of expanded polystyrene in the middle. With the use of polyurethane adhesive, under a pressure of 18 tons, these components are interconnected. Panels are produced in two types: wall and floor.

Let's characterize the main components

• Oriented strand board (OSB) - 97% of the material is wood chips, folded in several layers and glued together with various resins. Everything is preserved in chips beneficial features wood, but there are no various defects: knots, change in the direction of the fibers. To give elasticity and strength to the slab, the chips are arranged in different directions during the gluing process, in the outer layers they are placed longitudinally, in the inner layers - transversely. Thanks to this multidirectional orientation, as well as a special treatment that provides water resistance, resistance to mold, rot, the board becomes an ideal building material.
• Expanded polystyrene - located in the middle of the SIP panel, 98% consists of air, and the remaining 2% is styrene. Polyfoam is an environmentally friendly and non-toxic material, characterized by a long service life, low weight, and high thermal insulation characteristics. Due to these properties, the material is the most popular insulation in construction work.

Characteristics of SIP panels

This building material is used for the construction of frame-panel buildings, country houses, verandas or outbuildings.

The main properties of the panels:

• size - maximum height - 350 cm, width - from 63 to 150 cm, thickness - 5-23 cm, it all depends on what kind of work the panel is intended for, internal, external or for overlapping;
• weight - light weight. For example, a panel measuring 250x125x18 cm has a weight of 50 kg. The total weight of SIP panels for building a house with an area of ​​150 sq.m. will be 15 tons. The mass of bricks that will be needed to build a house of the same area is 60 tons. Due to the light weight of the plates, you can significantly save on the construction of the foundation and on the transportation of the purchased material;
• increased load resistance - the material has a three-layer structure, so it can perfectly withstand the longitudinal load (10 tons per 1 sq.m.), as well as the transverse (more than 2 tons per 1 sq.m.). During vertical bending, one of the plates is compressed, while the other is stretched at the same time, which provides the structure with high resistance to bending. These characteristics allow the design to withstand strong gusts of wind, snow and showers well. The maximum allowable load that the ceiling can withstand is 150 kg per 1 sq.m;
• high thermal insulation properties - this causes low thermal conductivity and a three-layer structure of the panel. A SIP panel with a thickness of 12 cm has the same properties as brickwork with a thickness of 2 meters or reinforced concrete with a thickness of 4 meters;
• high resistance to fire - the plates are treated with a special substance - flame retardant, which leads to self-extinguishing of fire on the surface. The fire resistance of the material is 7 times higher than that of wood.

It can be concluded that SIP panels are ideal as a building material for prefabricated houses.

Positive properties of panels

There are certain qualities of this material that determine their effectiveness and demand in comparison with other building materials:

• increased heat retention of the building by 1.5-2 times;
• accelerated installation - the turnkey house will be ready in 3 months from the start of construction work;
• strengthening and giving strength to the building structure;
• SIP panels are not subject to deformation during operation;
• you can build a lightweight frame, because. the panel itself will take some load;
• eco-material - the panel consists of 97% wood chips, and impregnations, waxes, fillers and polystyrene foam are completely harmless to health;
• the panels are even, thanks to this, you can immediately finish the room, which will save a lot of time and money, because. it will not be necessary to perform puttying;
• SIP panels do not need insulation;
• the small thickness of the plate makes it possible to increase the useful area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room by almost 30%.

We see that the construction of a house using SIP technology meets all the characteristics of thermal protection, durability and reliability.

cost of SIP panels

In order for the final product to be of really high quality, you need to choose good material and correctly perform all technological processes. A SIP panel made according to all standards is expensive.

Of course, you can save money and buy panels made by hand in private workshops. But as a result, you can get a poorly glued surface with an unevenly applied adhesive coating and a layer of low-grade polystyrene, for example, PSB-15.

As a result, the building will be built with violations, which will reduce all the characteristics of the material used, and over time, it may even pose a danger to residents of such an "economical" and "handicraft" house.

Therefore, it is better not to save money, but to buy guaranteed high-quality SIP panels from a factory manufacturer in order to have a reliable, warm and modern home.

We will send the material to you by e-mail

Buildings made of alternative concrete and materials are gaining great popularity. Such technologies have remarkable prospects. When choosing modern materials many people have a question: SIP panels, what is it? This material is already well known and has proven itself well. Before purchasing this material, you should familiarize yourself with its pros and cons, as well as with the main characteristics.

Different versions of houses are made from such slabs, most often these are cottages with one or two floors.

SIP panels, photos of which can be seen in our review, are a durable and convenient building material. It consists of two, which are separated by a layer of insulation - polystyrene foam. All layers are attached with polyurethane adhesive. OSB consists of wood shavings, which are compressed using special resins. These products are easy to install and efficient.

Buildings made using this technology are called "Canadian". The end part of the sip panel is equipped with grooves with which the elements are attached to each other.

Useful information! In some cases, in a frame structure, instead of beams, racks made of SIP canvas are used. This ensures that there are no cold bridges at the joints.

The following options are used as heat-insulating and sealing materials:

• mineral wool provides excellent sound and heat insulation qualities of the material, resistance to aggressive environments and high temperatures;

• polyurethane foam is used in humid climatic conditions, as it is characterized the best performance in waterproofing. It is also resistant to mold and mildew.

• fiberglass is rarely used. Its important advantage is good sound-absorbing characteristics.

Related article:

Useful information! If the thickness of the sheets is not more than 200 mm, then two people are enough to erect a building in two weeks. If more than 200, then the efforts of four people will be required, since the plate weighs about 60 kg.

It is recommended to choose only SIP panels High Quality. At the same time, you should not focus only on considerations of economy. Excessive savings can lead to the need for quick repairs or the dismantling of poor quality canvases. In cheap material, low-quality glue is often used, which is distributed unevenly. At the same time, OSB layers can be easily separated even with slight pressure.

In such products, bad polystyrene can be used, which easily catches fire and releases toxic substances.

Quality products must have a high resistance to combustion and even have self-extinguishing properties.

The following recommendations will help make sure the quality of SIP panels:

• the quality of the purchased products should be checked personally;
• do not rely only on the cheapness of the goods;
• plates must be ordered from manufacturers or dealers who have a good reputation;
• errors in the size of the canvases can occur even with trusted manufacturers.

Useful information! When building a building from such material, there is no need to insulate the roof or zero ceiling. Cloths are distinguished by excellent thermal insulation qualities.

The method of erecting buildings from ready-made sip panels is unique in the speed of work. At the same time, even a two-story cottage can be created in 12-15 days. Choosing the right material, as well as observing the construction technology, it is possible to build comfortable and economical housing from modern slabs, in which you can live throughout the year.

Today, if a person thought about building individual housing, it is obviously not necessary to explain what a SIP panel is. A lot of people are looking at this technology. For some reason, it is customary for us to consider it Canadian, although in fact it is American, because the first houses from SIP panels were built in the USA in the late 40s and early 50s of the last century.

And yet we must decipher the origin of the term SIP. It originated from English. Structural Insulated Panel - structural insulated panel. It is also called simply a sandwich panel.

It consists of two sheets of OSB (OSB - Oriented Strand Board) or, in our opinion, OSB (oriented strand boards) - pressed chipboards with oriented flat chips (complies with the European standard EN-300-OSB), and PSB-foamed polystyrene insulation glued between them. C-25 (suspension non-shrink self-extinguishing polystyrene foam, 25th density).

Now that everything is clear with the terminology, we can talk about the essence.

We do not intend to convince anyone that houses made of SIP panels are the best of everything that is on our construction market, especially if a person firmly believes in the toxicity and flammability of expanded polystyrene, the exceptional love of rodents for him, and also the highest toxicity of OSB boards.

This is tantamount to how, in the Middle Ages, to force a high-born lady to bathe, who firmly believed that this not only greatly harmed her health, but was also almost one of the mortal sins.

Only in the role of the Holy Inquisition are builders accustomed to brick and reinforced concrete, at worst agreeing to blocks of cellular concrete, but only on cement-sand mortar or glue. Everything else is a nightmare, horror and the machinations of the devil. Especially since it comes from America itself.

What are SIP panels for the home

SIP panels for the house are panels in which PSB-S is glued between the OSB sheets, which are thick enough to absorb the operational loads from this very house, of sufficient density and thickness to ensure the energy efficiency of this very house.

And if in simple words, then these should be OSB-3 boards (moisture resistant) with a thickness of at least 9 mm and expanded polystyrene of the 25th density with a thickness of at least 120 mm - providing the necessary coefficient of resistance to heat transfer, determined by SNIPs for middle lane Russia.

We have previously described the process on our website self-manufacturing SIP panels at home, but not everyone has such an opportunity, and even a desire.

Despite all the horror stories about SIP-panel houses, which we will simply have to debunk as insolvent, their segment in the Russian construction market is steadily increasing. Accordingly, the number of firms is increasing, offering not only the construction of houses using this technology, but also manufacturing both ready-made house kits and simply SIP panels of standard sizes.

To help you understand the variety of proposals is the task of this article.

How to distinguish a good SIP panel from a hack

Frankly speaking, the word "hack" is not used quite correctly, because. even the cheapest SIP panel has the right to exist, but it must be used for the construction of various kinds of outbuildings and auxiliary buildings, protected by special types of finishes, etc.

How to distinguish a SIP panel that is not suitable for the construction of a residential building?

1. If the dimensions of the panel differ from the standard dimensions of OSB sheets for our country (2500, 2800, 3000 x 1250) and have dimensions, for example, 1220 x 2440, then this means that most likely an OSB plate was used to manufacture such a SIP panel Canadian-made, which is significantly inferior in its technical specifications OSB-3, which is placed on good sandwich panels.
2. If during visual inspection you see inclusions of bark, peeling of chips, or simply too loose OSB structure - do not take such panels for building a house, even if the price is too attractive. By the way, if the price is radically lower than that of competitors, make every effort to find out what caused this.
3. Before buying SIP panels, visit a place where expanded polystyrene is sold in your area and feel the density of a good PSB-S-25 to the touch. Compare your tactile sensations when choosing SIP panels. If it seems to you that the panel has softer polystyrene, most likely it has a density of less than 15 kg / m3, and this is the lowest density for the 25th grade.
4. Be sure to ask for a piece of Styrofoam for a little experiment. They must be in production, because. appear when cutting panels for a specific house kit. Try to set it on fire. It should die out in no more than 4 seconds after the cessation of exposure to an open flame, which is provided for by GOST. In practice, a good self-extinguishing polystyrene should go out almost immediately (1 - 2 seconds) after the fire is removed. At the same time, it should not smell strongly and smoke.
5. Feel free to just sniff a piece of polystyrene. A strong smell should alert you. Do the same with the OSB. The regulations in force for both of these materials guarantee that there will be no release of any amount dangerous to health. harmful substances. Also, the raw materials for the production of PSB-S should already contain additives that repel rodents, but the desire for super-profits sometimes pushes unscrupulous manufacturers to buy materials that are not quite of high quality.

The above procedures can really help you not to buy SIP panels that are not suitable for building a residential building.

One more thing. Even if you buy ready-made SIP panels from a company and cut them yourself on the site, ask about the possibility of cutting panels at the enterprise. The fact is that the equipment for the manufacture of the panels themselves, made independently, can cost several times less than the equipment for high-quality cutting of finished products. Therefore, the presence of the latter can serve as an indirect confirmation of the solidity of the company.

The price of SIP panels in the Moscow region

We want to warn you right away that we will focus you on prices for the central region at the time of this writing, because in the conditions of the global crisis, it is at least stupid to guarantee that they will remain unchanged in the future.

The cost of 1 sq.m. SIP panels with a thickness of 120 mm starts from 800 rubles. But this is a panel of the minimum configuration allowed for housing construction. From it, you can build a small 1-storey residential building with sufficient internal ligation with partitions. And, of course, such a house will require additional insulation - a couple of centimeters of polystyrene is not enough to meet the SNIP standard.

The price of a SIP panel, which can be used without such reservations, in the Moscow market today starts from 990 rubles / sq.m.

If you decide to cut your own house from ready-made SIP panels, we will support you in this endeavor with some practical advice.

• First: study the methods and procedure for connecting SIP panels to each other. Very often, errors occur when the thickness of the panels mating at the corners is not taken into account in the dimensions of the house.

• Second: determine the dimensions of the openings for windows and doors and, if possible, unify them based on the dimensions of the selected SIP panels, or vice versa: select the dimensions of the purchased panels based on their cutting efficiency.

• Third: try to avoid structures with unproductive waste panels, or find a use for it right away.

• Fourth: determine the method of articulation (splicing) of cuttings from whole panels going into business and do not forget to add the necessary additional amount of timber for this.

• And finally - the fifth: draw in any graphic editor the facades of the future house with scaled real size SIP panels (taking into account the thickness of the panels running around the corners), and you definitely can’t go wrong either with their number or with the actual dimensions of the house.

This is the layout of the panels of a real house, the construction fragments of which we will illustrate below, made in the CorlDraw graphics editor.

What you need to cut SIP panels with your own hands

First of all, we need a quality measuring tool, including long, aligned rails. First of all, this is due to the need for very accurate marking of both sides of the panel, because. it is unlikely that you will have a tool at your disposal that can cut through the entire thickness of the SIP panel in one go.

We need a tool for sawing OSB - a jigsaw, a circular saw or an angle grinder. At worst - hand saw, but it is unrealistic to withstand strict perpendicularity with the inhomogeneous structure of the OSB, therefore, it’s better not to try, you will get dirty during assembly and get huge gaps.

To cut polystyrene foam, we need the same grinder, or any other tool that can make a slot between the OSB and the polystyrene block for the normal operation of the tool with nichrome wire for cutting foam.

Or make a cutter that doesn't need kerfs. Practice shows that for the normal installation of the connecting beam, and it is for this that such samples are made, you still have to clean the grooves. But these procedures are not too complicated.

Assembling a house from sip panels

With the right cutting, assembling a house from SIP panels turns into an exciting process, akin to playing a children's Lego constructor, only very large.

The vast majority of people looking at these photos are asking about the little house. This is a change house in which you can warm up, leave work clothes and tool. It is assembled from the same SIP panels and remains inside the house under construction until the finishing finishing works when the heating is already functioning in the house. Then it is disassembled and taken out of the house in separate panels.

The photographs clearly show the almost waste-free option for cutting panels, previously drawn on the diagram in a graphical editor.

And the result, which does not need additional descriptions.

Cons of houses from SIP panels: real and imaginary

On the forums, a lot of copies are broken around houses made of SIP panels, but there are practically no sharply negative reviews from the residents of these houses. Let's try to figure out what's what.

The most frequently mentioned disadvantages of houses from SIP panels:

1. Flammability. We have already dealt with expanded polystyrene earlier - it does not burn at all if it is made from normal raw materials and everyone can check this. The composition of the adhesive used for the manufacture of OSB contains fire retardants, which make it very difficult to burn. When assembling the connecting beams, you must, without fail, process a special composition called a fire biostop. Well, and most importantly: people mostly die in a fire not from burning the house itself, but from burning objects inside the house.
2. Rodents. Any inhabitant of a house made of SIP panels will tell you that the problem is clearly far-fetched. Rodents do not eat polystyrene foam; moreover, it contains substances that repel them, and access to it, when properly assembled, is extremely difficult. Do not let mice into the house through natural openings in the fall - they will not start in it. And if you are wound up - fight. By the way, as practice shows, mice for building their nest will prefer basalt or other mineral wool insulation to expanded polystyrene.
3. Ecology. It is generally accepted that wood is the most environmentally friendly material, and polystyrene foam emits all sorts of muck into the atmosphere. Yes, even in open form and in the sun, it emits such a meager amount of harmful substances that it cannot harm a person in any way, and in ordinary air, even in the cleanest place, there are many times more harmful substances. Even when burning wood, 10 times more harmful substances are released than when melting polystyrene foam. Now about phenol and formaldehyde in OSB. They are also a meager amount that does not affect human health, in addition, they can stand out at temperatures above 32 °, and if the OSB is closed with a finish, and even more drywall sheets, then this problem can not be remembered at all.

We will deliberately omit the less significant "minuses" of houses from SIP panels, as they do not have any weighty ground for discussion. The only real drawback of these houses is good sound transmission (do not confuse it with soundproofing - it is great), but it is possible, necessary and not so difficult to deal with, but this is a topic for a separate article, or even several articles.

Dear readers, if you still have questions, ask them using the form below. We will be glad to communicate with you;)

This is a combined building material that combines a reliable frame and insulation. The scope of its use is very wide in private and commercial construction. When using this material, the construction of a building takes relatively little time.

SIP is a structural insulation panel. For its production, OSB and heat-insulating material are used. In order to connect the three layers, a special type of polyurethane adhesive is used. As a heat-insulating material - expanded polystyrene. Unlike ordinary foam, it is not combustible. Does not release when exposed to high temperatures toxic substances. To give additional rigidity, a wooden block is placed inside the SIP panel.

SIP panels are perfect option for construction in any climatic conditions. With the help of SIP elements, the construction of a house is carried out in a very short time. The material is also lightweight. High rates of thermal insulation are not inferior to brickwork.

1. High level of thermal insulation. Comparison, a panel with a thickness of 174 mm is able to replace 2.5 meters brickwork.
2. Expanded polystyrene does not let extraneous sounds and noise into the room.
3. Light weight material. On average, 1 m2 weighs only 15-20 kg. This makes it possible to use a simple foundation and not spend a lot of money for its arrangement.
4. It will take only a few weeks to build a house of 50 square meters.
5. There are no weather restrictions for construction.
6. Environmental Safety. The panels do not emit any toxic substances, there is no smell.
7. Installation can be done by hand, you do not need to have special equipment.

Types of filler

With the advent of new materials and technologies, SIP panels can also change to some extent. For private construction, one variety is used, and for industrial construction, it is necessary to choose another option. Also for comparison, different variants are used for bearing walls, floors, roofs and finishes. The choice must be made before construction begins. Neither the smell nor other negative aspects will disappoint the buyer even after a long time of operation of a house built according to the “Canadian” technology.

Today, SIP panels can be divided into types depending on the filler used:

1. SIP with PPU (polyurethane foam). This option is most often used for industrial construction. The choice is justified by lightness and very high strength. This material is practically non-flammable. Not exposed to fungi and mold. When choosing the appropriate sizes, SIP panels of this type can be used in regions with increased level air humidity.
2. SIP with mineral wool. They do not emit odor and are non-toxic. The advantage of such a heat-insulating material can be called incombustibility. These varieties are used in private construction. The dimensions of the elements can be different, it is worth choosing the most suitable for building a house. The most commonly used material is 174 mm thick.
3. Panels with expanded polystyrene also do not emit odor, like mineral wool. That is why they can be used for the construction of a private house and an industrial facility.

Type of outer element

Initially, the outer layers of the SIP panel were plywood, which was glued to the insulation using a special glue. Prices and sizes for such building material may vary depending on the filler. The external material will also affect the cost.

As an external element can be used:

• drywall - such panels are intended only for interior work;
• galvanized steel - a sandwich panel of this type is used for the construction of industrial facilities;
• plastisol makes it possible to use elements in various areas of construction, it does not emit odor even during operation;
• hardboard - used for the construction of a private house.

Each option has different prices. Buildings from them allow you to live and work for a long time. The material does not emit odor even when exposed to high temperatures.

Building material dimensions

SIP panels can be of different thicknesses, the most popular is 174 mm. Prices will depend on the overall dimensions, and not just on the thickness.

For the construction of external walls, it is necessary to choose an element measuring 1250 by 2500 by 174 mm. The surface area is 3.125 square meters. Panels measuring 625 by 2500 by 174 mm are most often used as interfloor ceilings or for roofing.

Thickness 174 mm consists of a thickness of insulation 150 mm and 2 sheets of external trim 12 mm each. The choice of insulation thickness will depend directly on climatic conditions and personal preferences. Prices must be specified in advance, this will allow you to spend more accurate calculations construction cost.

Houses made of such a building material are distinguished by reliability and durability, and can be freely compared with other structures. Excellent building characteristics, no smell, environmentally friendly raw materials - all this creates the opportunity to create excellent living conditions.

When looking for ready-made frame and energy-efficient solutions for building a house, more and more information is found about the use of SIP panels for quick and less expensive construction of buildings. Advertising is full of statements that houses made of SIP panels are more cost-effective and at the same time they are superior to standard brick and concrete solutions. Is it so? It is worth considering in more detail.

What is a SIP panel and why is it needed?

This interesting and versatile material is used in construction during the construction of frame structures. In fact, SIP is a structural insulating panel, consisting of a layer of insulation, covered on both sides with OSB sheets. The layers are interconnected with the help of polyurethane glue, with an external impact of the press with a pressure of 18 tons. Oriented strand board consists of several layers of wood chips that are bonded together with resins. This material is gradually replacing the usual chipboard due to its strength and some degree of elasticity. Foamed plastic, better known as expanded polystyrene, is used as a heater. Due to the fact that it is easy to manufacture and conducts heat poorly, this material is an excellent insulator.

Houses built using this technology are often called "Canadian", because it is from the harsh climate of Canada that this method came to our market. Despite the fact that this method of rapid construction is already several decades old, it is still perceived with hostility. It is worth noting that people tend to distrust, especially to such a seemingly fragile material. Brick is still a priority choice in the eyes of many consumers, despite the fact that it is by no means an ideal and has a number of disadvantages. While we still have a strong distrust of SIP panels, practical Americans and Europeans create entire associations that help beginners in word and deed, and in addition are able to give practical advice on construction. SIP panels, photos of which illustrate their simplicity well, will be an excellent choice if you want quickly and without extra costs build a house.

Main advantages and disadvantages

Of course, any technology has both its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages are in the areas of convenience and the resulting comfort. SIP panel projects will be a smart choice, as the buildings under construction have the following advantages:

• Thermal insulation of plates. Canadian houses are distinguished by the best degree of thermal insulation, in comparison with which the brick noticeably gives in. According to experts, to achieve the same low loss factor for bricks, a wall thickness of at least 2.5 m would be required, while the standard panel thickness is 17 cm.

• Excellent soundproofing. Despite the thickness of the panel, the expanded polystyrene well prevents the penetration of noise from the street.
• A light weight general design. 1 m2 of panel has an average weight of 15-20 kg depending on the thickness. For example, a similar area of ​​brickwork is quite capable of exceeding half a ton. This leads to the following advantage: houses made of SIP panels do not need a powerful and expensive foundation; for the Canadian type, a shallow-depth strip foundation is sufficient.
• Short construction time. Structures from SIP panels are built in a matter of weeks. For example, a two-story country cottage with a total area of ​​50 m2 is built on a turnkey basis in 3 weeks.
• Construction can be carried out at any time of the year, according to this criterion, SIP panels have no restrictions.
• Due to the low weight of the panels, they are easy to transport and unload, which allows you to significantly save on delivery and loader services.
• The panels are resistant to aggressive external environments, including biological ones. For example, such as mold or fungus.
• SIP panels, the price of which starts from $25 per m2, will be an excellent alternative to other building materials both in terms of cost and ease of construction.
• Due to environmental friendliness and health safety, SIP panels are used for installation in any type of building, they do not leave behind construction debris and do not emit allergenic substances.
• Ease of panel installation. They do not require special skills or equipment. Any work, from the construction of a small extension to the construction of a cottage on several floors, in fact, requires only the presence of the panels themselves, self-tapping screws, mounting foam and a set of basic simple tools.

Tests have shown that SIP panels have significant mechanical strength, which can withstand longitudinal and transverse loads well. Values ​​of 10 tons per m2 for longitudinal and 2 tons for transverse floors are a convincing factor.

The list of advantages of SIP panels is quite convincing. However, it also has some drawbacks, sometimes overly “inflated” by adherents of brick and concrete:

• flammability
• environmental hazard,
• rodent resistance.

Many buyers are primarily concerned about the fire resistance of SIP panels, since OSB boards are 90% wood. However, there is no reason to worry, since they are treated with a special agent called a fire retardant. As a result of its use, the fire resistance of the board increases up to 7 times compared to ordinary wood. The expanded polystyrene used in such panels has self-extinguishing properties, therefore, even when exposed to an open flame on the material, the flame does not spread to neighboring structures.

From the point of view of environmental friendliness, the material does not pose a danger to humans. Adhesive components certainly emit harmful volatile compounds into the atmosphere, but their amount is not capable of harming health.

Now it is important to consider the problem with rodents. As you know, they are able to penetrate the home in different ways. There is a concern that polystyrene foam will become a favorable environment for the penetration of rodents. However, no such problem was noticed due to the fact that the insulation material is closed on both sides with boards and OSB boards. Resin-impregnated chips are a good barrier against pests, as this material has sufficient strength. The insulation is inedible and for this reason is of no interest to rodents.

In the event that SIP panels are used for the construction of buildings not according to the “Canadian” technology, but as building materials for sheathing frame structures, it is worth remembering that some other disadvantages will also appear:

• Drafts are often observed at the joints. Mentioned drawback easily removed with mounting tape and is irrelevant for "Canadian" homes.
• In the absence of insulation, individual sections begin to freeze through.
• Condensation accumulates at the joints of the plates and the frame, which will lead to the appearance of joint defects.
• There is a possibility of cosmetic damage to the slab during careless transportation or cutting. In this case, you will need to cover the scratches with a protective layer of primer.

Another drawback, which is sometimes overemphasized, is the presence of toxic formaldehydes and phenols, which were widely used in the production of chipboard. However, this problem is not significant, since the production uses the amount of a substance that does not go beyond the limits established by sanitary safety in class E1.

Characteristics of sandwich panels

The thermotechnical calculation of the wall panel showed that with a thickness of the expanded polystyrene layer of 100 mm, the value of the resistance of the plates to heat transfer is 2.8 W / mC, which corresponds to the standards adopted by SNiP. In the same case, if a plate with a thickness of 224 mm is used, the indicator reaches a value of 5.2 W / mC. For example, a timber beam with a brick sheathing is 1 W/mos, 400 mm brick combined with 80 mm mineral wool as a heater and a layer of lining reach an indicator of 2.02 W / mos.

As you can see, the construction SIP panel with a thickness of 224 mm is noticeably superior to other materials in terms of providing thermal insulation, which in the future will significantly reduce the cost of heating in winter and air conditioning at home in summer.

The calculated performance of SIP panels in terms of providing sound insulation showed that even with a minimum thickness of 120 mm, a mark of 44 dB is reached. At optimal thickness wall panels at 224 mm, the sound insulation of the room reaches 75 dB, which is one and a half times higher than that of other building materials.

Types of heaters used

The following types of materials are used as a sealant and thermal insulation:

• mineral wool,
• styrofoam,
• fiberglass,
• polyurethane foam,

Expanded polystyrene has gained the greatest popularity. This material has a cellular structure and demonstrates the following advantages:

Due to the light weight of expanded polystyrene, the installation of panels and the construction of a building from them takes record time, which is why this material is so loved by builders and is used as the main type of insulation.

Mineral wool is good because, like expanded polystyrene, it provides excellent heat and sound insulation properties, and is resistant to external aggressive environments, including high temperatures. Its disadvantages are the impact on human skin when exposed to open areas of the body, which causes discomfort and severe itching. Work on the installation of panels and their cutting must be carried out carefully so that particles of cotton wool do not enter the respiratory tract.

Fiberglass is used extremely rarely, and as a main advantage it offers excellent sound absorption indicators, often reaching 90 dB. However, the poor resistance to heat, when the material begins to deform already at +40°C, did not ensure its popularity.

First of all, it is important to remember, and if necessary, constantly remind yourself: "quality does not come cheap." Most of the problems that arise when buying SIP boards happen precisely because of the wrong choice in the direction of cheapness.

The primary problem that arises when buying plates from an unscrupulous manufacturer is the use of low-quality glue. There were cases when, during production, the adhesive was applied unevenly to the surface of the insulation, moreover, with simple stripes by hand. As a result, the OSB layer is easily separated from the insulation when a certain force is applied.

The second, often common problem, especially inherent in domestic and Chinese manufacturers, is the use of low-quality polystyrene foam, which is easily combustible, while releasing harmful particles. It is important to remember that quality material does not spread combustion and is self-extinguishing.

From the foregoing, it makes sense to highlight a few useful tips to help you choose and buy:

• before ordering a batch, it is advisable to personally verify its quality,
• there is no need to chase cheapness, because in this case “the miser pays twice”, and not everyone can afford to order a second house,
• plates must be ordered directly from the manufacturer, or from dealers with a good reputation,
• it is advisable to request the option of payment on delivery, in extreme cases, an advance payment. Firms with a low reputation are often characterized by the requirement of 100% prepayment. The factor "money in the morning - chairs in the evening" in this case will play against the buyer.

In general, it should be noted that even high-quality German manufacturers make errors in the size of the plates. Nevertheless, the Egger concern is distinguished by a generally recognized fact of the consistently high quality of its products, followed by Glunz with a small margin. Both manufacturers have a high reputation, confirmed by more than one decade, and thanks to them, SIP panels, which are easy to buy in any building market, will delight you with their quality and reliability.