#Build smart wall panels zip#

In this case, the primary air barrier is the OSB in the middle of the panel. When you’ve made it all the way around and are back at your starting point, you’re ready to build the next floor above or put the roof over it.Ī critical part of the assembly is making sure you get the air barrier all sealed up. Each panel gets attached to the one you did just before. Once you’ve got the panels staged, you start at one corner and keep adding panels. In the photo below, you can see all the palates of panels waiting to be installed. You get all your panels moved to where they need to be. When you’re ready to start assembling the walls, you put everything together in a similar way to doing a structural insulated panel (SIP) building. For this project, he’s working on some cool ideas with LED lights that make a statement about the energy use of the building. Some architects may feel too constrained by that, but McDonald sees it as an opportunity to be more creative with the design. The options are currently limited to a few configurations for each type to keep the process simple and affordable. Straight panels (like the sample above).

#Build smart wall panels zip#

It includes a framed wall on the interior (left), OSB sheathing in the middle, then a layer of expanded polystyrene (EPS), and Huber’s Zip sheathing on the exterior (right). The photo above shows a small sample of what a panel looks like. The Build SMART system is the latter type. An example would be framed walls with insulation in the cavities along with more insulation ( e.g., foam board or mineral wool) on the exterior. Most methods have insulation in two places, somtimes with different types of insulation in different places. Some methods use all one type of insulation in one place, as in double-stud walls. When you want to build a superinsulated house, you have several choices on how you increase the R-value.

Here’s a little of what I learned on the tour and from my other reading and discussions. They had the first three floors already done and were about to start the fourth floor. The project is going to be Passive House certified and was well underway. McDonald is building a really neat four story apartment building in the heart of Philly. The two were giving a tour of McDonald’s project and the Build SMART system.

The next day, Rob and I met up with Tim McDonald, a builder, architect, and Certified Passive House Consultant. Rob Leonard, who’s been working with Cohen for 15 years and is the field technical manager for Build SMART, met me ahead of time and gave me some background on the company and briefed me on the project I would be visiting. Last month I took another little trip to Philadelphia to see the Build SMART system being installed. Cohen then partnered with Prosoco to take it to market it and make it scalable. Over the past few years, he tried out his ideas and found a system that worked. His goal, he said, was to develop a way to make it easier to achieve Passive House level building enclosures. How do you deal with the extra thickness of your walls and ceilings when you add all that extra insulation? What’s the best way to ensure you hit your airtightness goal? And how do you do all that while keeping the process manageable and the cost affordable? The new Build SMART panelized system has some answers.Īt the 2016 North American Passive House Conference in Philadelphia this past September, Adam Cohen presented on his new panelized building system. If you want to build a superinsulated, airtight house, you run into some difficulties.