Problems With Sip Roofs

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.

Problems with sip roofs.

Most sip problems have occurred in cool damp climates. The first signs of problems with the roofs in juneau occurred when workers walking on the roof noticed soft spots. Nabil taha has over 27 years of structural engineering experience. Issues with structural insulated panels sip dr.

Several assemblies that prevent shingle ridging are described in the builder s guide to structural insulated panels sips. Don t freak out if you don t have any signs of problems. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

However working with structural insulated panels does have its challenges especially for first time users. Specifying a cold roof or simply over sheathing the roof. Insulated sip roof panels and wall panels raycore s structural insulated roof panels and insulated wall panels sips are not a sandwich panel sip that consists of two sheets of osb glued to a solid foam core. The pattern of damage in the sip roofs investigated was concentrated at the panel seams towards the ridges of roof assemblies.

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. Ray core sips are far superior eliminating all the problems associated with traditional sandwich panel sips. 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.