Unloading the truck and storing SIPs

Trucks carrying panels can't just drive up and dump their load like it's a bundle of lumber. Panels must be off-loaded with a crane, a forklift or an on-site crew. If you're unloading by hand, it's best to have at least four people, especially if you have some roof panels. But with large panels, anything over about 8'x10' or 4'x20', you'll need some machinery to do the job.

Manufacturers warn that panels shouldn't be lifted by their top skins. When offloaded in bundles by a crane, the edges of panels must be blocked with 2x material in order to prevent damage by the lifting straps.

Remember that all panels must be stacked level and kept dry until ready for placement, so have plenty of tarps on hand. (Some manufacturers ship their panels shrink-wrapped and on pallets.) If there's a lot of moisture around, peel back an edge of your tarp on sunny days so the moisture doesn't create a panel steam bath.

Remember too that you don't want to bury the panels you need first on the bottom of a stack. Plan this out, and get some help from your factory by having them load your trucks in roughly the reverse order from what you'll need on the site.

In the case of floor panels, you may wish to place the panels directroy from the truck onto the foundation rather than handling them twice.

When you're installing large floor panels over a crawl space, save some time by having your crane lift them directly from the truck to the foundation.