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Connecticut/Massachusetts area DIY client: BTW, preassembling the gable ends onto a truss with soffit pre-built and then swinging the whole thing in as one piece worked absolutely awesome. To date, I have only ripped one 1/2" piece off a final piece going into a corner and a couple blade widths on some headers/footers when assembling this entire house. The fit of the panels is really stunning. I'm sheathing the roof today. (EP note - our corner panels have the ability to trim or "stretch" length of wall to address potential issues with floor platform being different dimension - that is what he is referring to) (Just after they received their Certificate of Occupancy (CO)) - We are moved in and have our CO. We actually hosted thanksgiving there! We have no idea how the house is performing (no propane or electric bill yet despite being hooked to the grid for almost 4 months!) but it is super comfortable! Everyone that comes always tells us how ‘warm’ it is, with thermostat set to 68. So far we are very happy, interested to see what the first propane fill up looks like, I haven’t even had time to look at the gauge yet. We have a 500 gal underground tank feeding a Viessmann condensing boiler with low temp radiant; because the house is so tight I’ve been monitoring water temps and with few exceptions the boiler is constant circulating 80-85 degree water, just enough for warm toes. I had a lot of people tell me that radiant is a waste in a high performance home but we love it (placed in selective places around the house, bathrooms and high traffic main areas). With the tightness of the house, I did not even bother to put any heat source in the outlying separate rooms of the house and seems evenly distributed. We haven’t gotten the upstairs heat hooked up yet (except radiant in bathrooms) and it still stays warm up there on 20 deg nights, About ~65F. SPF Insulated attic stays at around 60F with no heat source. Currently no ERV (researching and saving up for one- rough ducting for it is in place- suggestions welcomed, thinking either venmar/Broan or Panasonic) but have continuous run Panasonic bath fans for now and the house does not feel stuffy. We did have some window condensation issues at first but I’m running a dehumidifier in basement until ERV install and seems to have taken care of that (before the dehumidifier we were at 65%RH!) - still a little on really cold mornings. I assume a lot of that is construction moisture (rainy spring/summer) and there are a lot of green lumber from timber frame drying and the concrete in basement shedding it’s water. The garage is ridiculously warm and on it’s own zone at 60F. It barely ever runs. Only when a door is open. I’ll get some pics loaded up and send you a new
link. - Jesse T.,
Union, Connecticut, Spring and then December,
2018. Jesse has shared some photos from his
amazing DIY job here: Client message from winter during DIY construction:We are a week or two from moving in. Actually, when it went down to 4 degrees, [instead of staying in the RV] we moved into the back bedroom to avoid the rv. Our conclusions about EcoPanel have been made. After installing a wood heater, we have had the house at about 65 degrees, even in the most severe cold. [Sealant foam].. and the panels made it all happen. The system is, as we expected, incredible. You get five stars. Smartest thing we ever did. Follow-Up message from same client in late June: "Our first electricity bill was $43. We open the windows at night, close them at 8am, and the house stays in the low 70's all day. Have turned on the a/c once. .... Can't think of a single negative." - Harriet, Snow Camp, Alamance County, NC "I am very happy with my energy bills :) in fact Duke Power sends me an energy audit every month and this house is always the most efficent in my area! When the weather improves and I can get my outside areas back together I would be happy to send some pics." - M.T., near Black Mountain, NC (near Asheville, NC) [Eco-Panels note: we always try to maintain a relationship with clients, hoping to understand their energy bills, assist them if things don't go well, answer questions if they are doing renovations, provide information and assistance if they are looking to sell their home, get pictures of the finished house, etc., etc.]"My son is a builder, and he talked me out of using your panels for our home. He could do it better, he said. Now that the home is built, I wish I had NOT listened to him - and I wish I had built with Eco-Panels. Funny thing is, now that he knows more about your product, he wishes he had built our home out of your panels too. In the future I will recommend my friends building their homes to look seriously at Eco-Panels." - J.B., Sherrill's Ford, NC"....Just wanted to say out of all the panel companies I talked to and considered, your group was the most helpful and responsive... The only thing I did was do a lot of reading on the internet and in the forums. A lot of folks spoke of their performance from their sip homes. One factor was thermal bridging and on my last house from experience fiberglass just doesn't cover all the voids. Also corners were another void which was hard to insulate especially the way framers tend to build them. Your corners is what caught my attention. I did put the pencil to it to figure a studded house with polyurethane foam, zip panel and foam on the outside and there really wasn't any savings [in building stick-frame]. Plus having to watch all the trades. I have a friend who has been watching what I'm doing and has been surprised at how sturdy the walls are. He wanted me to build with stick but I planned this way too long to deviate. My ex-wife's cousin's husband had to rebuild their sausage plant freezer and it's just all foam with steel frame for the door. So it makes sense. I will say since this was my first sip project I did shop around especially since I was unfamiliar with all the technical details. Some made their products sound really good but then couldn't explain what they needed. Your company was very helpful throughout and as I've always said service is the key. Next time or if someone wants a recommendation I would have to refer them to ecopanels. Save yourself time and the headache and just go directly to y'all. Sorry got long winded. I'll keep you updated. - D.H., Certified Public Accountant (CPA), south of San Antonio, Texas (he will passively cool his house by building a super-insulated building envelope directly on an uninsulated concrete slab - keeping it cool in the heat of the summer!)"My
energy bills average $100 less every month than any of
the other homes on my street!" - Lynn, Weaverville, NC,
whose 1,300 sqft home built in 2011 (with Eco-Panels
wall panels only!) averages energy bills of $100 less
than any other home on the street with similar number of
occupants and size (approx 6 of them).
"Eco-Panels provided my exterior walls and I just love them. The house is "energy tight" and quiet. I am still amazed at how close the fit and precision was. I give you a high recommendation whenever I can." - Tim, from West End / Southern Pines area, NC "This was the first house in Aiken to use Eco-Panels and the support from the office to the onsite assembly was outstanding. My framing crew was very pleased with how fast and easy the panels went up. My electrician was amazed how well we had laid out the exterior wall electric boxes and conduit to the crawlspace. The drywaller was also pleased with the ease of installing the drywall to the Eco-Panels." - Donald "Don" Cerra, Cerra Homes LLC, Aiken, SC (see Don's full testimonial on our website blog - subject "$47 Energy Bill in South Carolina in the Summer" "The home I built using Eco-Panels wall panels is probably not further away than 300 ft from the train track. You simply can not hear the train when it is going by!" - Steve Parrish, Builder, Black Mountain, NC "I have worked with numerous SIP brands over the years, from other urethane panels to the cheap polystyrene panels that dominate most of the market, and Eco-Panels are by far the best panel built. The quality of the panel joints and cam locks drastically reduce our installation time. I actually bid the installation time of Eco-Panels at half the price of other panels and still come out ahead. The service is unequaled and the design team makes sure that what gets designed gets built. I am so impressed with Eco-Panels that I specify them on every job we do." - Gawain Mainwaring, president of SmartBuilders of Asheville, NC “Today’s builders need every edge they can get, especially with the increasing energy prices, the growing uncertainty of future energy supply and the constant challenges of managing labor costs. A significant edge can be found in delivering a superior thermal and structural envelope quickly and easily with Eco-Panels. With polyurethane foam core, single piece corners and cam-latches for quick and easy assembly, builders can get a home erected, closed in, under roof and on to interior work faster and better than with any conventional framing system.” - R. Christopher Mathis, President, Mathis Consulting Company. Chris is a founding member of the National Fenestration Rating council and served as its first Director for 4 years. He is an active participant in code and standards development at ASHRAE, having served on its 90.1 standards committee for the past 6 years. He has authored over 30 articles and technical papers on an array of building science subjects ranging from insulation test methods to new building codes including his latest book "Insulating Guide" for the Energy & Environmental Building Association (EEBA). He has conducted workshops for over 10,000 builders, architects and others in the building industry on a variety of building science topics ranging from insulation performance, window performance, material science, code compliance and building product warranties. He is a featured speaker and educator at numerous conference and symposia including Affordable Comfort, EEBA, ASHRAE and others. "Even as first time Ecopanels users, our framing crew really picked up some speed and momentum. They received direction and training from Ecopanel’s resource staff on site. I was impressed by the panel’s ease of installation and handling once the crews got the hang of it. You get an instant feel for how the house is going to look and feel, when the panels install. We used the 6.5 inch walls and you could tell immediately when they went up that the house was going to be tight and soundly constructed. The Ecopanels systems integrate features and benefits that you could not get any where else. The planning you do initially helps you avoid some of the problem solving needed in the field. Compared to stick framing, I can see how having to re-work window openings or header heights could be a thing of the past. Once we reviewed the panel drawings, Ecopanels sent the SIPs to production and it occurred to me that if I built the house again, much of the initial planning is already done for any similar houses in the future. My first house was a fairly complicated plan but we wanted to try something new. When it was necessary to make changes or adapt on the fly, I was pleased to learn that there was flexibility to make adjustments to panels in the field. There were suitable approaches to troubleshooting which did not undermine the spirit or thermal integrity of the house." - Tony Ippolito, Project Manager, Biltmore Farms Homes "As a certified master builder I've looked long and hard at the market for years trying to find a better building system. Traditional SIPs just didn't cut it. But this isn't your traditional SIP. I'm amazed at the value and performance that Eco-Panels brings to the table. If I had my way I'd never build with anything else again." - Tom Lasley, President, Lasley Construction Company "I would tell anyone that for the money it would be difficult to find anything else that has the versatility, ease of assembly and R rating that Eco-Panels has to offer...." - Greg Israel, Physical Facilities Director, Buncombe County, North Carolina |
