With so many who are concerned about deforestation, some of you might not expect wood products to be the first home improvement products mentioned in this article. But some engineered wood products are made more efficiently. The result is high-quality new construction and remodeling with reduced overall consumption of natural resources.
According to APA, an industry group, wood products make up nearly half of the industrial raw materials manufactured in the US, but consume only four percent of the energy needed to manufacture those materials. The forest products industry recognizes the importance of trees - not just after they are harvested, but while they are growing. For every ton of wood grown, a young forest produces 1.07 tons of oxygen and absorbs 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide. Recent numbers show that, for every 100 trees harvested, 125 are planted.
Structural insulated panels (SIPs) are ready-made parts for use in walls, roofs, or even floors. They are also known as foam core panels or sandwich panels. Several varieties are available, with slight differences in materials and applications. All SIPs feature a layer of foam insulation sandwiched between and bonded to two sheets of wood, usually oriented strand board or plywood.
The foam insulation offers an effective barrier against heat, cold, and sound; the wood sheets provide strength and stability. The panels deliver high insulating and structural performance with light weight. These versatile panels can be used in place of traditional wall framing, roof decking, and subflooring. Some companies also make SIPs with an additional layer, offering interior gypsum wallboard or exterior siding already installed.
The foam in an SIP can be one of several types, including extruded polystyrene, urethane, and polyisocyanurate. The most commonly used foam is expanded polystyrene (EPS), which is relatively easy and inexpensive to make. All the foams used in SIPs are light and strong. They keep their shape over time, resist moisture, and do not contain formaldehyde.
]Although SIPs depend in part on petroleum products, they provide considerable environmental benefits. This is a trade-off that requires accepting one loss to realize another gain.
The strength and rigidity of SIPs make them well suited for use in walls, both for their ability to support axial loads (tension or compression bearing on the long axis of a straight structural member) and their resistance to lateral forces, such as strong winds.
Along with strength, SIPs have impressive insulating qualities. Each panel functions as a single structural part. Because the plastic foam core separates the two wood faces, temperature differences between the outside and inside are less likely to be transmitted through connecting pieces - like traditional 2 × 4 studs. The foam creates a uniform barrier.
Depending on what type of foam is used, an SIP wall provides between R4 and R7 for each inch of thickness. That can translate to more than twice the R-value of a comparable stud wall. An average 2 × 4 stud wall with fiberglass or mineral wool insulation has R-values of 11 to 15, while an SIP of the same thickness provides R-values of 14 to 25.
In addition to higher R-values per inch of thickness, SIP walls reduce air infiltration. This means even greater benefits for climate control. Even when a research group had two houses built side by side to matching specifications and R-values, the one built with SIPs consumed about 15 percent less energy for heating. Construction using SIPs is virtually airtight.
Such a well-sealed envelope may not always be desirable, of course. A house with walls made of SIPs may have so little air infiltration that the house may need a fresh-air ventilation or heatrecovery system. As with concerns about airborne environmental hazards, though, this means the homeowner has more control over what goes through the house. And, with less air flowing through and around the walls, there is also less noise. Through its Energy Star program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends SIPs as energy-efficient building materials.
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