Posted By GunnyGreenBuilder on 04 Dec 2016 02:10 PM
My girlfriend and I are the happy new owners of 3.5 acres of colorado mountains at 11,000ft! This is a huge dream of ours. We want to build a small all season cabin. ~500 sqft. I will be building on mostly stilts. (sloped land) this is because our area gets HUGE amounts of snow. Avg of 600" per year and up to 1000" a year have been seen.... that up to 83' of SNOW!!! granted that not snow pack depth but cumulative snowfall. We dont want to be digging a 10' hole just to get into the cabin. We also see regular winter temps of -30 to -40F (Psss -40c is the same :) Sips are the only thing i think that will work for where we are as getting building materials to the home is not impossible but having a concrete truck and pumping system up there for ICF is not feasible. Being that the home will be elevated I want to do a SIP floor. 12" Panel. I'm unsure how to accomplish this. Will the engineer nick this? or is it worth going after? The roof will be corrugated metal on a minimum pitch of 12/12. The home will be 100% off grid. I will use propane to maintain a minimum of 45-50 deg F and wood fireplace to heat it in the winter when we are at the cabin. IF we are away for extended periods of time I will winterize the building as not to waste energy. The power system in the summer will be hydro from a near by stream and spring. in the winter though the trees are too dense to do any type of solar. The only place i could put panels would be destroyed in an avalanche I will have a diesel fired DC generator along with a small pull start gas engine for emergency backup. We spend a lot of time playing in the local area so we will frequent the cabin often even in the winter. I'd post photos but I can't figure out how to inject the code

Posted By GunnyGreenBuilder on 04 Dec 2016 07:44 PM
Any ideas on how to seal the bottom exposed part of the floor to prevent rotting? I'm hoping to build a beam grid 4' OC in one direction and 8' OC in the other and let the panels take all the span? Maybe a paint on coating?

Posted By Jelly on 05 Dec 2016 09:24 PM
So gunnygreenbuilder do you mean a double span? Twelve and a half feet to an intermediate beam and then twelve and a half feet to get the rest of the way?

Posted By cmkavala on 04 Dec 2016 10:12 PM

Posted By GunnyGreenBuilder on 04 Dec 2016 07:44 PM
Any ideas on how to seal the bottom exposed part of the floor to prevent rotting? I'm hoping to build a beam grid 4' OC in one direction and 8' OC in the other and let the panels take all the span? Maybe a paint on coating?

several options:
1. the code requires that non-treated floor members must be at least 18" from ground, but I would probably still. a.) coat or b.) clad underside with metal or FRP
2. another alternative would be to use a non-wood SIP.
......depending on panel manufacturer you should be able to clear span floor 16 feet with a 12" thick SIP

Posted By MG1911 on 06 Sep 2018 08:59 AM
Hi Chris,

I think I would go with Sto Emerald Coat if I use OSB-skinned SIPs. It is vapor-permeable, durable, and waterproof and is used in similar applications. I asked Sto about this, and they said they would recommend Emerald Coat. However, I am also considering steel SIPs. I assume an 8"-thick permatherm steel SIP panel can span 10 feet and can be used in my application as the floor over beams and helical piles. Can they cut the panels to the required shape at the factory? This is a 30' circle, so many of the panels would have a radiused side to make the circle. How do the prices of steel SIPs compare to OSB-skinned SIPs?

MG

Posted By MG1911 on 08 Sep 2018 10:01 PM
Hi Chris,

Thanks for the info. How are the floor panels connected to the wall panels with metal-skinned SIPS?

Thanks,

MG