Manatee County Parks and Recreation Bradenton, Florida

Manatee County, Florida 

Steve Lewis and Lee Martin of Specialty Construction, Inc. construct a Structural Insulated Panel buildings for a government entity.

Manatee County choose to use  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

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......

P.S.- The electric bill for each of the units in this building are around $100 per month.

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