Here is a video from HGTV on American Structural Composites from Nevada manufacturing fiberglass SIPS and I think utilizing polyurethane foam.  Looks pretty impressive.  Wonder why there isn't more coverage.

http://wms.scripps.com/library/HGTV/65563.wmv?site=hgtv&source=HGTV&player=UP HGTV Main Player&channel=Search



Anyone have more info/experience with this?

I have been wondering why no one was using fiberglass as a skin for SIPs. I just assumed that the cost was prohibitive, but they are claiming a 20% reduction in costs. I would suspect that the panels are considerably more expensive, and that the savings are some combination of reduced labor expenses, and quicker construction.

Dick Mills

slenzen:

Do you have any more contact info on American Structural Composites?  I have found several listings for them, but no web site and the number listed by everybody, including the on-line yellow pages is wrong - -some poor guy now owns that number and he say he gets a lot of calls for that company.

eastsound

That's partly why I posted it. Looked interesting but could not find any more info. I don't know if they are out of biz or were bought out or something. But it sure looked promising and made me wonder why there wasn't more info out there on fiberglass sips.

3" FRP/EPS SIPS were used extensively in the sunroom industry.  Start by calling your local sunroom dealer.  They never called them SIPS, so don't use that term.                                                                                                                                                           

FRP sips have poor structural properties and are used in sunroom as fillers placed in a structural aluminum frame, the aluminum skin panels for the roof are OK structurally if they are at least 6" and have at least a .032 skin.....BUT, aluminum has severe expansion problems when used in housing and/or commercially

Chris,

That's interesting.  3" FRP SIPS are still being used around here for sunroom roofs with 50psf snow loads, so they're not too bad.  There's no reason they'd be weaker than the aluminum skinned SIPs unless the adhesive bond was poor.  .125 FRP has a tensile strength far higher than .032 AL

Do you know of a test report?

Kevin;

I didn't know FRP was available in that thickness, can you tell me what is used for splines? and what the span capabilities are with a 3" panel @ 50# snow load? If they are used for roofs - do the UV rays affect the skins? I would think they would get brittle.
Do you have the engineering data available for the FRP panels?

I haven't seen test data or engineering.  I have some old blueprints that were stamped by a P.E. somewhere.

The roof panels work, as you said, as filler panels between aluminum structural members.  So instead of splines, aluminum H-channels, or I beams are used.  No splines per se.  The H-channels are thermally broken, if you know what that means.  The result is still thermally very crappy.   Since filler panels are supported on 4 sides, they never "span" more than 8'.

The FRP used is the exact same stuff that you see at Home Depot for bathrooms.  Smooth on the "unfinished" side, pebble texture on the other.  Comes in white and almond.  (at HD anyway)    Even in Colorado, a climate that destroys vinyl pretty fast, the FRP holds up great on the roof.  It easily survives to softball-size hail we get.

The aluminum H channels in essence act at mini- I beams , thus was my sceptacism in load properties as most homes are much greater than 8ft. and . even .032 aluminum would span probably 12 ft. @ 50#, I don't thik the FRP is a practical application yet in residential home construction