Manatee County Parks and Recreation Bradenton, Florida

Manatee County, Florida September 1, 2008

Steve Lewis and Lee Martin of Specialty Construction, Inc. construct the first Platinum Advanced Technologies buildings for a government entity.

Upon participating in an area Home Show back in March, Steve was approached by Mr. Mike Sosadeeter, Project Manager for Manatee County Property Management Division. Mike examined the structural insulated panels that were on display, asked questions and decided that our SIP product would work great for some upcoming projects that he had on the drawing boards.

After a site visit by Mike and other people from his department to the under construction Fountain residence, they decided that Platinum was the way to go and were excited to get their projects underway. Mike had been pushing to go Green for 5 years.

Steve, being a designer and owner of Lewis Consulting Services, Inc. put the wheels into motion to produce a permittable set of building plans based upon the conceptual drawings provided by the county.

The first building to construct was a "Concession Building" for the Manatee County Parks and Recreation Department at Palma Sola Park on the west side of Bradenton, about 1500 feet east of Palma Sola Bay. This building was to have a concession area, meeting area, storage area, and handicapped bathrooms. Being so close to the saltwater coast, it needed to also be hurricane resistant.

This building proved to be a challenge. Starting out as a 1400 sq ft +/- building with 4' overhangs, eventually being constructed as the same footprint with a 6' walkway around the entire building, with 8" x 8" wood posts supporting a triple 2" x 12" wood beam and normal overhangs.

This building it turns out, was to be constructed on an old land fill that had been covered in 1959 and we were only dealing with about 3' of soil over 3' of garbage on one end of the building and about 7' of garbage at the other end. This presented some design challenges. After Steve and the structural engineer along with the soils engineer got together, it was determined that a foundation needed to be constructed that would be strong enough not to break when the building was jacked back up into place due to settlement. It was not a matter of "if it would sink" it was a matter of "how far it would sink." 

The foundation under this building is comprised of a 3' wide by 12" deep concrete strip footing with 5 pieces of #6 rebar (3/4") with an 8" wide by 24" high formed and poured concrete grade beam with 4 pieces of #6 rebar running horizontally with #6 rebar at 12" on center vertical turned 18" back into a 8" 4000 PSI concrete slab with #6 rebar at 12" on center each way. It took 86 cubic yards of concrete for the slab and the total amount of concrete was over 140 cubic yards. 

Thus a foundation and building were born that not only could be jacked back to level without breaking but is strong enough to set a 747 jet liner on.

Upon the recent completion of the "dry-in" of this structure, it has been determined that the foundation has settled almost 3" down and about 1" to one side.

This structure has been turned over to Steve Hollibaugh Homes of Bradenton (941-737-3428) for completion. It will have standard drywall and cement board on the inside and 4' of brick veneer with 5' of Hardi lap siding above on the exterior walls. Expected completion is in about 1 week.

 The second building is now under construction at Palma Sola Park and the third building will soon be breaking ground at Buffalo Creek Park in Palmetto. Both of these buildings are 1200 sq ft maintenance buildings with 12' high walls with 10' high overhead doors to accommodate the parking of tractor backhoes and grounds maintenance equipment.

Manatee County choose to use Platinum Advance Technologies panels because they are Green, Sustainable, Lightweight and Hurricane Resistant. They have recently established a "Green Committee" as part of green initiative to make Manatee County as Green as possible concerning any new construction that is undertaken.

(Additional Photos)

Fountain Residence Palmetto, Florida

Visit this house currently under construction in Palmetto, Florida by Mason & Joe Fountain, father and son. Contact us for an appointment and directions.

The Story

Joe is a "framer" by trade, and he originally came to Steve to design and draft this 3000 square foot, two story duplex with a unit up and a unit down using typical wood construction methods.

After Joe listened to the sales pitch for our panel system, he politely told Steve that being a framer by trade that he wanted to build using typical wood construction, 2" x 6" wood studs downstairs and 2" x 4" wood studs upstairs, plywood sheathing on the outside, because that was how he knew to build houses.

So Steve being the kind of guy that he is, told Joe that would be fine, if that was how he wanted it, that would be the design that he would get. The plans were drafted and submitted to the local government for permitting. A permit was issued for typical wood frame construction.

In the meantime, Steve had sold a SIP system to one of the local contractors. Simple project, all the lady wanted to do was add 6' out by 24' long onto an existing mobile home, so that her bedrooms would be bigger.

Steve went out to the jobsite on the first day of construction, just like he does on his jobs, to see how things were going.

Low and behold, Joe was one of the framers on this particular job. Upon arriving, Joe was hanging his head out one of the windows with a great big grin on his face. Steve said his "hello's" and asked Joe why he was grinning like he was.

Joe's reply was "this is some really neat stuff." And how did you arrive at this, Steve replied. "I took my E-swing 22 ounce framing hammer and gave it everything that I had, and all that happened was that I put a dimple in it like you do in drywall. I just knew my hammer would make a hole in it."

Can we convert my duplex to these panels, he asked? 

So Joe's plans were redrafted and resubmitted to the local government for re-approval, and the picture above shows Joe at the sliding glass backdoor of his duplex.

Joe went from a hardcore wood framer that resisted change to one of the biggest advocates of SIPs construction that you have ever seen. He absolutely loves to talk about the product and all of it's advantages. He will even tell you that "if you don't wakeup and embrace today's technology, you will be left broke in the dust by all the people that have embraced the technology."

Note:

Joe's house was constructed using 3.5" x 4' x 8' tall foam filled panels with 18 gauge metal studs @ 16" on center at ground level and 3.5" x 4' x 8' tall foamed filled panels with 20 gauge metals studs @ 16" on center on the upper level. 

The floor system is a typical wood frame application with 16" tall wood open web floor trusses and 3/4" plywood sub-flooring. It has a 1- 1/4" TJI rim-board around the perimeter with 3" x 27" metal connecting straps that are screw fastened and go from the wall seam, over the metal  track and are fastened to the rim-board.

The roof system is made using a typical wood pre-engineered truss system with 1/2" CDX Plywood decking.

The total amount of waste from the SIP system on this project was three pieces, no bigger than 1 1/2" wide x 8' long. You could hold the total waste in your arms.

This house was built using a combination of old world technology and the latest cutting edge technology. The two can be applied together, getting the best of both worlds.

Let us show you how you can build faster, cheaper and stronger......

For more information, contact us at info@sipsworldwide.com .