I've been lurking here a few days and still have some questions about these.

1) are there any MFGs of Magnesium or fiber cement SIPS in the northeast - new england?
2) Has anyone built with either - what is the appearance of these SIPS up close? - I am considering using these for my next project.  I like the idea of having a finished interior and exterior wall with just some paint and prep, but the only experience I have with fiber cement is as an underlayment, and the surface is pretty rough.  Also, due to its weight the corners get banged up and damaged pretty easily.  I haven't even seen this new magnesium board - does it look like drywall?

Lastly, are these new SIPS code approved, and what sizes are available?

Thanks!

Hi Climber,

I can not address your first question (try Winter Panel) but I've got extensive experience with your second. Fibercement panels can make perfect sense if installed properly - but mind you many residential installers will need to be educated on flashing details. What you're doing is applying something more akin to curtain-wall construction to traditional residential techniques and traditional flashing methods are inadequate due to the absence of a secondary drainage plane. It can be done - the commercial industry has been doing it for 60 or 70 years - but not widely used in residential construction.

Regarding having an interior grade skin on SIPs to improve completion time I've seen people grasp for this solution for years. Some panel manufactures will offer you fibercement or products like FibeRock from US Gypsum for an interior surface. Both fine products but you've got to remember one thing - ALL BUILDINGS MOVE. Whether from wind loading, ground settling or unfelt seismic activity that occurs daily in most of the US, if panel joints are only covered by a thin layer of sheetrock mud it will crack and telegraph over time. I've even seen sip installations as infill or curtain-wall - where a steel frame was providing structure - telegraph the panel movement over the years. It is by no means major movement, but it only takes a small amount to telegraph a joint. My recomendation is that you're probably going to have sheetrock applied to the interior of a structure anyway - so it's no big deal to have it installed on the interior surfaces of the exterior walls as well. You'll get a better building out of it.

MgO is fairly more durable than fibercement, though less widespread in use and availability. OSB is wonderful at roughing it through the wear & tear of a jobsite - fiber cement not so much. A cracked FC panel just cost you a couple of hundred bucks. Make sure the panel manufacturer provides blocking at the base plate void to assist in eliminating cracked FC panels.