SIPs and the Weather

Structural Insulated Panels have exceptional strength to resist typical loads caused by seismic activity and high winds. SIPs structures have also withstood tornados in Georgia and straight-line winds and tree trunks crashing into them in Michigan.

After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, thousands of trees, buildings and homes were destroyed SIP owners credit the survival of their home to structural insulated panels. The storm brought winds ranging from 145 to 175 miles per hour, caused widespread wreckage, and left more than 4,000,000 people without power. In one example a SIP home had five trees, all in excess of 80-feet tall with trunk diameters from 12" -16" , fall directly on their house. At two and a half tons per trunk, it's amazing that the structure of the house remained unscathed.

Charleston, South Carolina: A category-4 hurricane (Hugo) struck Charleston in 1989 with a vengeance, causing over a billion dollars worth of damage to buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. Three cottages built with floor, wall, and ceiling panels from SIPs withstood the hurricane with no structural damage, while adjacent homes suffered serious structural damage, including loss of roofs and walls. The cottages had been completed just a few months earlier through the Mayor’s Council on the Homeless project for low-income residents. The fact that they suffered nothing more than minor shingle loss led to an order for seven additional cottages.

"The [panels] really proved their structural strength in the face of this crisis," said the homeowner. "In all, three trees totaled our trucks, and repairs will be needed to the siding, shingles, and one set of French doors. But overall, the house remained fundamentally intact. I'm certain that a stick frame house wouldn't have sustained this kind of force."

"There was no evidence of walls 'racking' to create binding in windows or doors, nor was there a crack to be found in drywall anywhere in the house," he said. "The panels sustained no separation, cracks, punctures or deflection."

In January 1993, a severe earthquake – hitting 7.2 on the Richter scale – devastated Kobe, a Japanese city of 1.5 million people located southwest of Tokyo, So-called “quake-proof” elevated highways toppled, railways were destroyed, and entire blocks of houses leveled.   More than 5,000 died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

Structural Insulated Panels have exceptional strength to resist typical loads caused by seismic activity and high winds. Six homes that used SIPs components withstood the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Kobe, Japan in January 1995. These homes were located just miles from the quake's epicenter and stood solidly against the tremendous force of the earthquake.

Since SIPs developed a reputation as an unusually strong building system, during the 1990s a growing number of Japanese purchased homes with SIPs built by US manufacturers.

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