Steel SIP panels in Maine.

The panel package costs more than a lumber package. The finished wall usually costs less, because the panel replaces framing, insulation, sheathing and vapour barrier and cuts framing labour by roughly half, then the mechanical system shrinks by about 50%. We will price it both ways so you can see the whole picture rather than one line of it.

The steel is galvanised and fully enclosed behind whatever cladding you choose. There is no organic material in the assembly for moisture or salt to attack, and nothing that feeds mold or mildew in a house that sits closed for months.

This is where panels earn their keep on the coast. The shell closes in days rather than weeks, and nothing in the assembly has to dry before the next trade can start.

The hurricane panel is designed, tested and certified to withstand 185 mph including flying debris, to the Miami-Dade protocol, and carries Florida Product Approval and a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance. Both documents are on our resources page. Our guide to building on the New England coast covers wind, salt air and moisture.

Usually yes. We take the as-built dimensions off what is actually in the ground rather than off the original drawings, and panelize to them, so the package arrives square to reality.

Regularly. Interior panels are used for party walls, thermal separations and inserted floors within existing buildings, and the 3.5 inch panel is thin enough not to eat the floor plan.

It depends on what is left of the original structure. What we can tell you precisely is what a new panel shell costs delivered, so you have a real number on one side of the comparison instead of two estimates.