If you build a new garage...Heating and Insulating.

[titelines]

Hey titelines, how did you do that? dig around after, or put the foam in before the pour? Also, how did you attach finish material after, and what did you use? I am curious as that sounds cool, but I am not sure what you did... Thanks, I am weekend warrior type, so not totally knowledgable, but I did build my own garage, so know a bit. I didn't insulate floor or foundation (poured slab) here at home when I did mine, as I didn't think of insulating until after. I am going to correct that for the cabin toy box some day Thanks for info!

Hi BoxMN,

There is foam insulation under the slab and below grade, projecting out in various distances (3’ to more) perpendicular from the walls/above the footings. These slabs are frost protected shallow foundations, so there was a specific way to insulate them. The foam was put in place before concrete was poured. After the pour, there was minor backfilling.

The SIPS are sitting on a treated sill plate, on a foam gasket. When they poured the slab, they place anchor bolts through at the edges of the concrete where the wall is going to be located. They push the anchor bolts into the setting concrete. Once hardened, the anchor bolts are not coming out. They drill holes through the sill plate, put the gasket down, and then put the sill plate down and fasten it. Then the bottom of the SIP walls have a plate, which sits on the treated sill plate.

Hope this helps. This info is from memory, my wife is the real expert. Feel free to ask more questions...I'll certainly consult her so I know I'm giving correct info.

[titelines]

Sips...Funny you say that, my Dad owns Panelworks Plus. I am also going to look into a deal on those things for sure!

Are your dad's initials CS? If so, small world. He sold us our SIPS. Doubt we got the family discount though

[reddog]

Tom,

The beauty of a SFPF is that it is considerably less expensive to excavate. Excavating down to below frost line ranges from 36 -48" in my area. Not to mention that forming becomes a real pain when dealing with a frost footing.

SFPF are only in the ground about 18" to the bottom of the excavation. The foam is projected out from the perimeter of the building instead of down. With this extended out beyond , and at the bottom of the dig, you allow the first 12" of backfill to freeze, then it hits the foam/ thermal break, and it cannot penetrate the foam. Outside the building line, frost is allowed to go down, but it has to move laterally also to get to the building line in order to lift the building. Frost can move at about a 45 degree angle, so if the foam is extended out 36" beyond the building line, and the foam is buried 12 to 14 inches, you have protection for the equivalent of a 48 inch deep frost wall, without all the mess and expense of a frost wall. While this is at bare minimum protection, this also does not allow for the reverse side of the equation that the foam is also hold the earth temperature under the slab and that is acting in the opposite direction from below to give you more protection.

The specifications of protecting a unheated space like a garage, and heated space are different, because of the temperature on the top side of the foam. The salvage value of the foam is greater in a heated structure, because the Delta T (temperature differential) is less than in an unheated structure.

[work sucks]

Titelines,

Yes, Curt is my Dad...I figured someone would know him on here. Not too many people selling SIPs at this point. I wish I had a SIP house. Maybe a garage will be the start for me.

[LightningBG]

So just to get an idea, anyone know how much a SIPS panel costs? Lets say 4 ft wide, 8 ft tall ????

Are we talking $40/$200/???

[titelines]

A 6 1/2" x 48" x 96" panel, with an R-25 value is about $120.00.

SIP construction and conventional construction are about the same price, but SIPS can go up much faster and are pre-insulated.

We did our design and sent it to the manufacturer. They sent us a bid and building plan based on the design we sent them. We also specified how thick (insulated) we wanted to walls and roof panels (we did 8" of insulation in the walls and 10" on the roof). The panels are all produced at the plant, so when they arrive all the cuts are made, door and window openings are there etc. Ours were all different sizes when they came, and marked up so the builders knew what went where. To "assemble", a crane simply lifted them into place. It was like putting a puzzle together. We had our cabin and detached garage up in less than 3 days.

[BoxMN]

Sorry to get off topic here, maybe I should start new thread... but with the SIPS, I see where I would like everything about them, but have a couple questions.

You put the treated plate right on slab, and the panel drops onto this. My concern might be that I have seen plenty of garages especially that don't have at least one course of block that seem to leak, especially with MN winter snow accumulation next to it. I know that is something you need to make sure is good with your foundation elevation, but still something that seems funkky to me. Do you just make sure that the grade is up against the slab, leaving a few inches of slab higher than grade? Butthat still could be "wettish" when snow is melting in spring, no?

The other question would be, if you want a "bonus room" (storage truss type room) would there still be trusses for supporting the ceiliing panels, or do you use floor joists that go over/connect to the wall SIPS?

Again, sorry for hijacking thread, let me know if this should be different thread. But good garage info either way

[PurpleFloyd]

Sorry to get off topic here, maybe I should start new thread... but with the SIPS, I see where I would like everything about them, but have a couple questions.