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We’re building with SIPs and will have 100mm EWI on the walls and 80mm insulation on the inside of the roof. For the walls, we will use Glidevale Thermo Extreme breather membrane outside, then Glidevale Protect BarrAir membrane on the inside. Currently trying to work out if we use the same membranes for the pitched roof and would welcome any thoughts or suggestions.

Hi I've just had permission to build a large garden room 12m x 5m which will form a gym and entertainment room. It needs to be built to building regs due to size. It'll have a small kitchen/bathroom. I've spoken to numerous builders (some I know and some getting quotes) and each seems to suggest the best way to build is either SIPs, Blockwork or a timber frame. I'm not a builder so don't know which to choose. Can anyone advise on the benefits/negatives of each and which might be most cost-effective option please? Other questions: Would you go for an insulated concrete base? and with insulation under the concrete or over it? How do I make sure the floor is strong enough? If it was timber frame or blockwork what insulation would you use - PIR or other? Would you go for a warm roof or cold? Any other major considerations to think of? Thanks Rob

I’m looking to build a half submerged (basement/ground floor) from masonry or concrete structure of some kind with external insulation and then add a further floor on top and roof of SIPS. Im after any general info about how well this might work but I have a specific question. As the load-bearing element of the basement will be on the inside of the wall, if i mount the sips on top, I’m likely to end up with the outside looking like a tiered wedding cake. Not a good look! How best to avoid 6” wide battens on outside of SIPs? 😂

Hi Everyone, I’m looking to build a new property for my wife and I to live in, in our current garden. Once complete and plot divided, sell the original to clear the mortgage(s). It’s on a slope with planning only likely for single storey so looking to have garage and entrance in an excavated basement. Just at planning stage in Feb ‘23 so loads to do!

Hi we're completely new to self build, we've renovated property before but never built from scratch. We've possibly located a plot - not purchased it yet - it has planning in place and services: elec, water and phone connection, but tricky access and a slope along one boundary. We're thinking of building using SIPs as we want a house that's going to be well insulated, quick to build and hopefully won't give us to many problems in relation to the access. I think it's going to be a steep learning curve so I'm hoping to find lots of tips and advice on the forum. I'm working out what we need to do next and have been reading about Conditional Contracts in relation to purchasing the plot and getting a Site / topographical survey done. Is there anything else we should be thinking about at this stage?

Hello. What a wonderful fount of knowledge and genuine experience this forum is. I've been stalking for a while collecting ideas and information. After many many years of wanting to build our own home, including 3 failed sealed bids on plots, we have managed to secure a plot. It comes with a custom build planning passport to design and build a Potton SIPS home. We're both retired and enjoying life so we've secured the services of an experienced project manager. We are close to a design to go to planning but still struggling with the internal layout of the kitchen - dining - sitting room across the back. I'll be back for help with that shortly. I'll try not to ask too many stupid questions and I'll do my best to return with a post describing the outcome following any help I receive. I'll also contribute where I have something useful to others. Thanks Derek

I recently come across the Gablok system (gablok.com/en) online and wonder if anyone has used this product and what you think of it. I only ask because I tried to get some information by contacting their UK office, but haven’t been able to get through on the phone and have had no responses to either emails or voicemails. Can anybody shed any light on whether this company is still operating? Thanks, Paul

I'm endeavouring to build a new build SIPS home for my family in West Bridgford. We decided after some time to knock dowmn the old house and to place an eco home on here that we'd both not compromise on and enjoy with our family. I've never project managed such a large project before and there's a lot of learning on the job. So far we've gained PP / moved into a static caravan on site / demolished the old house / dug foundations / poured and completed ground work (block and beam). The SIPS building from Glosfords arrives on the 18th October 2021. Starting to get nervous now.............. 1676L2114 revD.pdf

My erectors are currently building my SIPS roof on the ground in cassettes then they will lift single bigger sections onto the roof with the crane there - which is fine and I'm ok with. But they are fitting the roofing membrane on these sections (laid horizontally and lapped towards the top as it should be) and then will lap it over the adjacent cassette joining sections, with the required horizontal lap. I was questioning this being ok as then there are these vertical joins which albeit would be similar to if you finished a roll then starting the next but should I be worried about this, I have asked them and they say it's the norm for them. This has raised questions for me on the SIPS fascia detail which I need to move along quickly so roofers can start. See drawings below which I sketched up - I have a few queries I ned help with: It's slates mounted on battens then counter battens (the English way, but done in Scotland!). Gutter detail omitted for clarity, membrane not shown either but theoretically it laps over the eaves protector. 1)Does this detail look right? 2) Does the over fascia vent go above or below the eaves protector? (I've seen it shown below, but that wouldn't make sense in this instance as it would be venting that small space only) 3) If the roofing membrane is already laid - do I pull it up back up to the counter batten then stick the eaves protector underneath, or do I just tape on a new bit of membrane so the water can run onto the eaves protector? or just tape the eaves protector down to the membrane? any guidance appreciated

My erectors are currently building my SIPS roof on the ground in cassettes then they will lift single bigger sections onto the roof with the crane there - which is fine and I'm ok with. But they are fitting the roofing membrane on these sections (laid horizontally and lapped towards the top as it should be) and then will lap it over the adjacent cassette joining sections, with the required horizontal lap. I was questioning this being ok as then there are these vertical joins which albeit would be similar to if you finished a roll then starting the next but should I be worried about this, I have asked them and they say it's the norm for them. This has raised questions for me on the SIPS fascia detail which I need to move along quickly so roofers can start. See drawings below which I sketched up - I have a few queries I ned help with: It's slates mounted on battens then counter battens (the English way, but done in Scotland!). Gutter detail omitted for clarity, membrane not shown either but theoretically it laps over the eaves protector. 1)Does this detail look right? 2) Does the over fascia vent go above or below the eaves protector? (I've seen it shown below, but that wouldn't make sense in this instance as it would be venting that small space only) 3) If the roofing membrane is already laid - do I pull it up back up to the counter batten then stick the eaves protector underneath, or do I just tape on a new bit of membrane so the water can run onto the eaves protector? or just tape the eaves protector down to the membrane? any guidance appreciated

We’re building a two storey extension with SIPs. We have a final architectural design, which includes a floating first floor and a sedum roof. We are in urgent need of a structural engineer who can design the structure, leveraging the SIPs structural capabilities and including any supporting steelwork needed. The property is in Cambridge. We commissioned a structural engineer before deciding on SIPs and while they said it wouldn’t make a difference, we’ve really struggled to get them to produce a design and now they say they need someone else to design the frames and they won’t take professional liability for the structure if we go with SIPs. Any recommendations of a structural engineer experienced in working specifically with SIPs would be much appreciated.

Has anyone done this themselves? How hard is it to do? We have double height areas in lots of the house so we will need a tower, but we’re trying to keep costs down by doing what we can ourselves. Also, how did you work out how much you needed? Our architect says we need Gawler tape, 60mm x 25m.

Has anybody used/reviewed the 4Wall SIPS system? Seems to offer some advantages over regular SIPS > fireproof and allows for concrete intermediate floors. But seems expensive at first glance. Maybe there are savings overall given the quicker build time.

Hi - I recently came across this platform and was interested to read some of the content. I have been involved in high performance building fabric solutions for over 30 years and have an inherent interest in low carbon building specifically off-site manufactured building systems together with low energy window and door solutions. I am looking forward to reading further contributions and hopefully providing some useful content. :-)

I've finally got around to starting this blog. I'm hoping that it'll be easily updated and I'll provide lots of good pictures and info...we'll see how that goes. I'm at the point now where we have just taken our first big delivery, which is our insulated foundation system from Kore, this morning. So albeit, this process of building a house has been ongoing for some time, it has just become real that we are at the beginning of the build phase, which is very exciting. Some light background info - I've always wanted to build a house for the last 5-10 years, but it was a distant dream and wasn't quite sure how feasible it would be. I grew up in a rural house, my parents bought in 1983, modernised and updated over the years. It was a great childhood and spent many hours in the fields and in our garden, even just cutting the grass was fun (1 acre and a ride on mower). We sold that when I was 21 and ever since I've wanted to return to that life. I have two young kids of my own now and hence the want to return to the countryside to give them what I had was strong. I was always keen on building, swmbo, wasn't as such. So we searched and searched, but mostly the houses we could find that suited our needs were out of league (price!) and even if they were to be in our league there were things we would change or in the end it would be expensive to run. And hence that search helped my other half make the realisation that self build was our only option. My dad died in 2017 after a long illness with Dementia, a relief for him and for everyone else involved. We were very close and I took care of him day in and out, until he was in care. He was an engineer and had owned his own business since I was a child, albeit he lived a pretty simple life and was happy being at home in the garden he made and house he had renovated. Riding around on the ride on mower enjoying a quiet life...and now I guess that's exactly where I want to be. His passing left us with a little inheritance which has allowed this dream of self building to become a reality, I'm very thankful for this. I know it is something he would have been very excited to be part of and watch us do. So after messing around since 2017 and not being able to negotiate a plot or find one that was suitable (there's a lengthy thread on this!) I'd finally identified 4 acres in July 2019. It took a bit of time ( I had to confirm services and remove an Agricultural tie) but completed purchase in Jan 2020. I'll not cover the planning process in detail, but the plot had legacy planning permission which was 24 years old, but at that time the development had commenced and hence it was a straightforward change and submission of our designs. Building warrant was granted a week ago, with very little hassle really. I joined Buildhub in September 2019 or thereabouts. It's been a wealth of information that has helped me shape the design of the house and provided no end of guidance which I am very thankful for. It has allowed me to validate my opinions and approaches and learn from others to ensure i am following the right path. I started out prior to buildhub wanting a SIPS house, in fact googling that may have made me find my way here. Quickly I decided I wanted an insulated foundation too, I went around in circles a little bit with both of these decisions and reading others opinions on here. I even thought at one point they would both be too expensive for me , however I sit here writing this first post having taken delivery of my insulated foundation today and my SIPS kit is on order and due sometime in February. I don't actually need the insulated foundation till mid-late January but made a decision to get it in the country before Brexit issues occur and tariffs are possibly applied in January (rumoured at 6%). I'm very glad I made that decision as today our new strain of COVID has caused everyone to close the doors to us here in the UK, another couple of days and god knows when I would have gotten it. There is lots of other decisions and stuff has gone on in the background with planning and mortgages and budgets to get here, but that is mostly done and hence I feel this is the end of the beginning and now we can enter the start of the middle.... I'm very pleased and excited for the road ahead. I like pictures in blogs....here's a few of the Insulated foundation delivery today. Stored at a friends farm for the time being. It's being stored outside, has a few tractor tyres on it now to stop it blowing away and the main pallets are all strapped down. That's me standing on top.......

Hi everyone, Just a quick note to say hello and introduce our project, which is a self build at the Gravenhill site in Bicester. We have submitted for planning and intend to construct using SIPs to a near Passive Haus standard. While we have refurbished a couple of Victorian houses, a self build is a significant step up. Thankfully I have stumbled across this site and it seems it will prove invaluable to what is likely to be a steep learning curve. I look forward to discussing the project and contributing once I have some knowledge! If anyone is interested I have uploaded the 3D drawings. Thanks, Tom 370 - PL 500 Proposed Renders.pdf

Hi all, New member joining the forum but have kept a close eye on and off for the past few months, a lot of great knowledge from people here so I am pleased to be a part of it. I am 21 and about as ambitious as they come. As the title suggests, I am a first time buyer/builder. I would love to build my first house with my partner. however, as for most people, budget is a constraint and so is getting a mortgage. Although, I am very close friends with a mortgage broker and he thinks I will be just fine securing one. I know that self-build mortgages are different than usual and I am currently in contact with a self build mortgage advisor who is great and keen to help me. I have a total budget of about 150k to 160k including land. Land in my area (North Staffordshire) is not cheap nor openly available, but I am considering posting a few letters to local farmers with fields and neighbours with big gardens. I am aware of the different types of land i.e agricultural but I'm not sure if this can be converted to residential? There is a piece that is available that has got planning permission for a 3 bedroom bungalow but its listed at 85K! I want to know if I am aiming too high or if it would be possible to do with suggested building methods from you guys. I have been in contact with Potton and few others, I am aware there is a slight difference between SIP's and timber frame so I apologise if this is in the wrong thread. Within my family and very close family friends we have joiners, plumbers, electricians and just about all other trades you can think of. I have access to diggers, dumper trucks etc free of charge. We would be happy with a 2 or 3 bedroom bungalow, but we do like the idea of open plan living and kitchen space. I would welcome any suggestions for all types of houses if you think one would be more cost effective than another. My partner is a mobile hairdresser too so a small hair/utility room for her to work in would be ideal. I look forward to your replies and thank you in advance for your replies. sorry if I have been vague about anything and I appreciate this is a challenging ask, I'd appreciate your honest opinion. Thanks again Elliot

Calling all people with past or current experience in timber frame and brick and block construction.  As part of my degree I am required to research a topic of my choice. My chosen area is; productivity in housebuilding. I am trying to determine why brick and block cavity wall construction still remains the most dominant method of construction for house builders. It would be much appreciated if you or anyone with experience in this field could please complete my short questionnaire. Simply click on the link below, it comprises 12 questions and will take less than 3 minutes of your time to answer. I am more than happy to share the results with anyone who would be interested The information you provide will anonymous and will be treated with the strictest confidence. Please pass on or share to anyone who would be able to help.  Thanks in advance. https://www.quicksurveys.com/tqsruntime/main?surveyData=r4lva2rxrwxQVGKkc7VdDr4ScfR0NkzsWxj1PYyl1SP0pqFJPiLmStZ659V5n7R8

Calling all people with past or current experience in timber frame and traditional construction. As part of my degree I am required to research a topic of my choice. My chosen area is; productivity in housebuilding. I am trying to determine why brick and block cavity wall construction still remains the most dominant method of construction for house builders. It would be much appreciated if you or anyone with experience in this field could please complete my short questionnaire. Simply click on the link below, it comprises 12 questions and will take less than 3 minutes of your time to answer. I am more than happy to share the results with anyone who would be interested The information you provide will anonymous and will be treated with the strictest confidence. Please pass on or share to anyone who would be able to help. Thanks in advance. https://www.quicksurveys.com/tqsruntime/main?surveyData=r4lva2rxrwxQVGKkc7VdDr4ScfR0NkzsWxj1PYyl1SP0pqFJPiLmStZ659V5n7R8

Architect has set to work on sketch design for my parents' house. We are trying to limit ourselves to 20% of the plot area, which is 153square metres. I thought that this was quite comfortable until I calculated the area taken up by the external walls. We were looking for 140-150sq metres internally including a single garage, single storey. However, when I calculated the wall thickness required for around 0.15 U-Value, I realised that with 370mm thick external walls they will take up over 20square metres. This is a big chunk of our area to give up. This assumes 100mm external blockwork and a 50mm cavity then 140mm SIPs/timberframe with PIR insulation plus a service cavity. So what's the best build up to limit the wall thickness. I am guessing that we will have roughly 150square metres of floor and roof, 110 square metres of external wall and 40square metres of windows/doors. So the external walls are less than 25% of the external envelope. There is pretty much no limit on the insulation we can get in the roof and floor and we would use 3g windows at around 0.7 U-Value. It appears from @JSHarris heat loss calculator that the difference for example between 0.15 and 0.2 U-Value walls will be negligible assuming good insulation elsewhere. I did suggest that we could use render board but the architect wasn't keen. This will massively reduce the thickness of the walls. The other issue I notice is that most timber frame/SIPs systems show a cavity between the panels and the interior, if we keep all switches internal is this really necessary? Or we could use the minimum amount of insulation in the panels as it doesn't affect the overall insulation of the house much. Appreciate any thoughts, and what are the downsides of various solutions, such as external noise? I think we might just go to 22% of the plot to give us a bit of leeway but I would rather have the most efficient use of space possible. I am not too fussed about the cost as again, the external walls won't be a large percentage of the build.

This is more of a comment than a question. For all that the principle of sips has been around since the 1930s, we have found a staggering level of ignorance about them from people who youwould expect better from. At first, just finding builders who were interested in doing the stonework proved problematic as some shied away or I had to explain what sips are to them, even though it's really just like doing it around timber frame. Needless to say we went no further with those ones. Then we found that even our building inspector knew nothing about them & was/is *highly* suspicious of them, querying even their approval status & forcing us to do research for him quite literally every step of the way as well as adding some silly restrictions demonsrating a complete lack of understanding of the system (at least one of which would cause quite a loss of heat if we went along with it). The most recent person has been a window company "surveyor" who has also been very reticent to deal with the build, with some weird ideas (I thus spoke to this big national window company's *senior* "surveyor" about the delays this has caused & had to actually also explain to *him* too what sips are!) At its basic it is simply a much improved form of timber frame of course, but it has been an eye opener at how narrowly educated such a wide variety of the trades are & how nervous at the thought of anything "new". Our builders have just got stuck in, it has to be said, but if I were doing this again, or was advising someone just about to, I'd say to definitely double check that your building inspector had dealt with sips before, ditto any other trades who would be coming on site to interact with the structure - not because there is any issue whatsoever with sips, (in truth a lot of things are actually far simpler with it), but because of how poorly educated the trades from BCOs onwards seem to be about anything beyond brick & block & how nervous they are about anything different & the delays this can cause due to imaginary issues they may develop.

Hello from me, I'm delighted that I've stumbled upon this forum, its right up my street. I've got a 130m2 single storie, vaulted ceiling (for the most part) extension lined up to start in March next year. KingspanTek SIPS system I'm pretty hands on which most things, so having a forum I can get some answers based on real life experience is great. I've already started, I've knocked down an old rubble built stable to make way and installed a 40 ton Foulwater soakaway.

I'm building one! Previous thread for reference: The project is an 8x12 garden building to be used as a standalone utility room for a small house. The ground conditions are solid - outdoor loo removed decades ago, and used as a parking space, then various bits of limestone and concrete put on there over the subsequent 3-4 decades. I personally had two lorry loads of stone put on that side. Approx half is over an existing estd. 100mm concrete slab. Elements (and budget): 1 - Basic building. A SiPs kit from Simply SIPS, which gives an insulated 8x12' kiosk faced with OSB3, with a 5ft wide doorway for £1335. 97mm SiPs with U value of 0.3. Thicker panels not required as it is not designed for full day occupation in winter. Need to fetch it from Spalding - allow £100. 2 - Doorway. I will pay between about £600 and £800 for a custom made and fitted PVCu door and glass side panel to a pair of French doors for that gap, including locks and fitting, with a U-value of 1.5 or so. 3 - Base. Either 2" concrete slabs - £1 per square foot = £100, or 2" concrete slabs on Adjustable Support Pads which will allow me to adjust things after it is built if anything moves by changing the heights. 25 support pads ~ £100. 4 - Rainscreen Cladding. Box section plastisol coated corrugated at £10 per sqm including overlaps. Area required for walls ~ 25sqm => £250. Trims and special screws and things add £100 => £350. 5 - If I choose to batten out the corrugated for air circulation then approx 50 CLS length at £1.80 each => £90 plus £10 for bits and pieces ~ £100. Or 125m of roofing lath 30p per metre ~ £50. May be a better option as this is tanalised. 6 - Roof. It comes with a 1:40 fall towards the back. EDPM membrane. Say £150 including adhesive and trims etc. 7 - Captain Belt 'n' Braces may suggest a breathable membrane round the walls under the battens. 25sqm => not very much to buy. So for the groundworks and the building we are now at £2750 or so. In addition and not included: 8 - Electricity supply requiring FCU and switch in house, then about 2m of armoured cable, garage CU for lights, a ring main to power 3/4 double sockets, a small water heater, potentially a small fan heater for short periods, and a ventilation fan. Need a real electrician as it is for a rented house. 9 - A path down the side. 10 - A privacy fence across the front. 11 - 2 men approx 2 days to build it. 12 - I hope to build it such that it can be easily dismantled and relocated. The only fly I have in the ointment is, I think, that I need to watch the height carefully wrt permitted development. Ferdinand

Many thanks for the help I have got on here so far. Does anyone know where I can buy some splines for Kingspan Sips. I emailed Kingspan but I didn't get a reply.

Firstly hello from Cornwall, Having browsed for the last year or so both here, GBF and on the old ebuild site I have to say what a fantastic source of info such places offer. Myself and partner are about to begin our self build I'm hoping someone can help with a particular question. Our plot is unusual in that the majority of the house is at 1st floor level (onto garden) and extends outwards from the lower level spanning an access alley between the house and a retaining wall. Because of the site elevations the upper level (where external to the lower level) will be on a B&B floor (tetris most likely) which needs to meet the lower level and sit on the outer skin of blockwork. Therefore we need to build the lower GF level in block - proposal is full fill 100mm block - 200mm glass batts - 100mm block (7n) all parge coated with a foundation detail matching Denby Dale / Golcar. Whilst I don't like block it works at supporting the upper level, is DIY able and I can focus on the detailing - sites like tonyshouse etc help greatly with this. At first floor level we want to use either timber frame or SIPS and whilst we aren't looking for passive standards (the B&B effectively kills this), efficiency is high on our list. Quite simply does any one have a detail showing a well thought out join between a cavity block lower level and timber / sips upper that focuses on air tightness and continuity of insulation? In particular I'd like to build to the outer leaf line of the lower level to maximize internal space and avoid an odd external detail at the join. External finishes are render lower GF & horizontal cedar / larch cladding 1st floor. My line of thinking was to build straight off the outer leaf but 100mm blocks won't work with 172mm SIPS which makes me think a platform construction is the way forward... Whether we opt for SIPS / timber frame (quotations are currently out and the same question is being asked to suppliers) I intend to mitigate the sole plate bridging issue with a course of thermal block under the plate plus 40mm of XPS sheathing extending 250mm above and below. Hopefully this will suffice. Please excuse the very DIY attached detail, still learning sketchup! Any help much appreciated! Josh BuildHub1.pdf