Supporting Stuctures for SIPS

SIPs are a superior building product, but assembled alone they cannot achieve self-supporting status in most structures.

In the majority of uses for SIPs there is a necessity for added support by a framed structure or by inserted beams into the SIPs wall construction. This added structure is required to give support to the roof and/or out-of-alignment walls -- this being for the SIPs self-weight and for exterior loadings such as snow and wind etc.

In the majority of cases this support relates to ridge beams and purlins. These beams will be suitably spaced and positioned to give the correct support. Further to this the loadings from the ridge beam or purlin ends and any other intermediate support needs to be structurally taken down to the base. This is a matter of creating load lines down and through the building.

Load lines are structural and calculable entities which are positioned at suitable locations through SIPs joints. This is so these loadings transmitted by roof or walls are taken directly by the base and not on individual SIPs. To achieve this arrangement it is greatly dependant upon the SIPs designer who will attempt to align joints and walls in such fashion that enable this to happen.

In certain case we use vertical posts passing up through the building to the point of loading. Where possible these can be designed into walls as not to be conspicuous. In the cases for ridge beams and purlins etc., we have used and are happy to use Parallam Beams and Laminated Beams. In the case for the ridge beam we normally have this profiled to suit the roof pitch. Also in the case for the purlins we again have these profiled to suit the roof pitch.

Other wall supporting beams we use from the standard rectangular profile. On occasions these beams are doubled to satisfy the particular loadings.

To complement the SIPs construction methods we make full use of eco-joists which are readily available from numerous manufacturers. These are a modular beam construction of self-selectable lengths and come in a variety of depths and loadings, suitable for almost all instances. There are a variety of end fixings and supports of which most can be attuned to suit the SIPs construction methods.

We only use and source the highest quality supporting structures in our projects. Not only can we design your project, we can also project manage it from start to finish. This takes much of the stress and hassle away from the client. They can rest easy knowing their project is constructed with the highest quality materials and that the process will run as smoothly as possible.

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