"In one of the coldest months of the winter the bill was just $42.71. That's what I call economical!"
Patricia Johnston, ThermaSteel Homeowner, Radford, VA
I have been living in my Steel SIP home now for more than five years and I have to say that it has saved me a small fortune in heating bills. I live in Radford, VA. It's up in the mountains in the southwestern part of the state where it gets snowy and cold. I have enclosed some of the heating bills for the coldest part of the months and as you can see it doesn't take much to keep us comfortable in our ThermaSteel home. In September our bill was only $0.45, but in one of the coldest months of the winter the bill was just $42.71. That's what I call economical!
We love our home because it's cozy, comfortable, and easy to maintain. We have never had a nail pop and our walls are as straight as the day we moved in. When the snow is on the roof you can tell our home is ThermaSteel because you don't see the uneven melting of the snow like on the other roofs. If a person wants to live in total comfort economically I would highly recommend building out of ThermaSteel. Thanks for producing such a great building system.
"Thank you for engineering the strongest building I've ever encountered."
Gary L. Hunter - Construction Contractor, Caribbean Beacon Radio
On September 6th, 2017, the Caribbean Beacon radio station on the island of Anguilla was devastated by Hurricane Irma. The eye wall wind speeds of 225mph with gusts up to 250mph was the equivalent of an F4 tornado parked on top of our station for over an hour. Our shortwave feed line was ripped from the building, the 14' tall feed line support poles bent like rubber. The two 12' shortwave antenna towers were twisted, the AM combiners were hurled 700 feet across the property and the 360' tall AM radio tower fell like a noodle on top of our reinforced ThermaSteel building. From the initial reports I expected a total loss, but when I arrived 5 days later, I was amazed at the actual condition of the building. The concrete roof and eves were crushed directly under where the tower fell, puncturing the roof structure in several places. The steel I-beam bent and twisted under the tremendous impact but held in place. Most any structure subject to that wind speed and compromised with a partial collapse would have come completely apart. Your building held together and did its job wonderfully. The structure stayed intact and protected the contents including our transmitters, switchgear, safety switch and generator. We will be repairing this building and our future plans will include ThermaSteel buildings and room additions. Thank you for engineering the strongest building I've ever encountered.
"Steel SIP panels allowed us to shorten our critical path and to make up the lost 2 months caused by unexpected rock on site" Asst. PM Nida DeBusk, Int. AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP
The project was initially designed as traditional stick-built, and when we (General Contractor) suggested the idea of changing the stick-built system to pre-manufactured SIP panels, the Architect took this recommendation into consideration and made the necessary amendments. This change was not going to affect the design or integrity of the system, but if the Owner or the Architect would not have cooperated, we could not have promised the initial delivery date and budget.
The panel system was not only easy to work with for the construction crew, but also were very precise. The deviation from the drawings to the actual application was 1/8 of an inch. There are no surprises with ThermaSteel panels! ThermaSteel panels are also extremely energy efficient (R value 32+ for 5-1/2" thick wall and an Energy Star product), won't decay, won't feed termites, have very low sound conduction rates, are completely recyclable and leave no waste at the job site.
By being pre-manufactured off site and being assembled on site easily, ThermaSteel system allowed us to shorten our critical path and to make up the lost 2 months caused by unexpected rock on site. Although the Superintendent John Woodson was quite reluctant of using this not-much-heard-of system, after working with it, he provided us with a very positive feedback saying "I would use it all over". John Woodson said that he was used to working with traditional stick-built system and was thinking nothing could be faster than what you know to do best, but ThermaSteel has proven him wrong.
Being open to the new techniques and possibilities is the way to go! ThermaSteel panels increased the building's value 1Ok for insurance purposes because of their high R value. In reality, TS panels puts money in your pocket because of saved energy during the use of the building. The amazing thing is that ThermaSteel panels almost cost as much as the traditional system would cost. First time to use ThermaSteel-5 men installed 234 linear feet of 5' insulated wall panels in 7 hours. This was improved later. All the exterior walls of the project (3 story balloon framing) was completed within 2½ weeks. ThermaSteel panels don't require a crane. They are very lightweight to carry and easy to store because they don't require a special storage or a closed space to store.
"Everything I had heard about the building system turned out to be true and I am thoroughly sold on it."
George Caceres Davis, Home Builder
Now that my house is finished, I am writing this letter to let you know what I think of the Steel SIP panel system. I have built many homes on spec over the years. After some research I decided to use your panel system to build at least one of two houses in Highland Park instead of using conventional 2X4 wood members and fiberglass insulation. I was convinced but l still used wood for interior walls and floor members, etc. WHAT A MISTAKE! Your panels are far superior to wood construction in every way. The walls went up quick and easy, even though my construction crew had never seen anything like them before. No new tools, and we learned how to use the product in a matter of minutes.
The plumbing and electrical contractors loved working with your panels because of the molded-in electrical races and case of installation of wire and pipe. The house finished beautifully inside and out, due to the flat straight walls that you told me was the characteristic of ThermaSteel walls. You were absolutely correct. It is very quiet and cool also. The A/C is not operational yet, and even on the hottest day so far, it has remained cool inside.
The building inspector loved the system and commented that he expects to see more of it in the area soon because of all the problems he has seen with the quality of wood lately. It's so straight forward that inspection time and the number of inspections are reduced and simplified.
In June we had a 5.8 earthquake and I was in the house when it happened. There was no noise like most houses that squeak and rumble and rattle. Even better, there were no cracks inside or outside after the quake even though the stucco was just 5 days old (normal cure for stucco is 28 days).
Everything I heard about your system turned out to be true and I am thoroughly sold on it. In fact I will be using it for another Highland Park project. But this time I will not use wood with it.
"I experienced an 84% reduction in utility cost over what I was used to paying." Don Bowles, ThermaSteel Homeowner, Quitman, TX
We recently completed our all ThermaSteel home in Quitman, Texas, about 80 miles outside of Dallas. It ended up being 1,500 sq. ft. with 15' cathedral ceilings. I'm a native Texan and have lived in Texas all my life. It is a well-known fact that Texas can have the mostfickle weather on earth...boiling one minute and hail hitting you in the face the next. I have always lived in conventionally built homes and am used to $200+ heating and cooling bills per month in these heavy stress months. I was very anxious to see how my ThermaSteel home would benefit my monthly savings. To my surprise the bill for my first two months, July and August came to just $32. According to my calculations that's an 84% reduction in utility cost over what I was used to paying. If you would like to have anyone call for verification please feel free to give them my number.
Patricia Johnston, ThermaSteel Homeowner, Radford, VA
I have been living in my Steel SIP home now for more than five years and I have to say that it has saved me a small fortune in heating bills. I live in Radford, VA. It's up in the mountains in the southwestern part of the state where it gets snowy and cold. I have enclosed some of the heating bills for the coldest part of the months and as you can see it doesn't take much to keep us comfortable in our ThermaSteel home. In September our bill was only $0.45, but in one of the coldest months of the winter the bill was just $42.71. That's what I call economical!
We love our home because it's cozy, comfortable, and easy to maintain. We have never had a nail pop and our walls are as straight as the day we moved in. When the snow is on the roof you can tell our home is ThermaSteel because you don't see the uneven melting of the snow like on the other roofs. If a person wants to live in total comfort economically I would highly recommend building out of ThermaSteel. Thanks for producing such a great building system.
"Thank you for engineering the strongest building I've ever encountered."
Gary L. Hunter - Construction Contractor, Caribbean Beacon Radio
On September 6th, 2017, the Caribbean Beacon radio station on the island of Anguilla was devastated by Hurricane Irma. The eye wall wind speeds of 225mph with gusts up to 250mph was the equivalent of an F4 tornado parked on top of our station for over an hour. Our shortwave feed line was ripped from the building, the 14' tall feed line support poles bent like rubber. The two 12' shortwave antenna towers were twisted, the AM combiners were hurled 700 feet across the property and the 360' tall AM radio tower fell like a noodle on top of our reinforced ThermaSteel building. From the initial reports I expected a total loss, but when I arrived 5 days later, I was amazed at the actual condition of the building. The concrete roof and eves were crushed directly under where the tower fell, puncturing the roof structure in several places. The steel I-beam bent and twisted under the tremendous impact but held in place. Most any structure subject to that wind speed and compromised with a partial collapse would have come completely apart. Your building held together and did its job wonderfully. The structure stayed intact and protected the contents including our transmitters, switchgear, safety switch and generator. We will be repairing this building and our future plans will include ThermaSteel buildings and room additions. Thank you for engineering the strongest building I've ever encountered.
"Steel SIP panels allowed us to shorten our critical path and to make up the lost 2 months caused by unexpected rock on site" Asst. PM Nida DeBusk, Int. AIA, CSI, CDT, LEED AP
The project was initially designed as traditional stick-built, and when we (General Contractor) suggested the idea of changing the stick-built system to pre-manufactured SIP panels, the Architect took this recommendation into consideration and made the necessary amendments. This change was not going to affect the design or integrity of the system, but if the Owner or the Architect would not have cooperated, we could not have promised the initial delivery date and budget.
The panel system was not only easy to work with for the construction crew, but also were very precise. The deviation from the drawings to the actual application was 1/8 of an inch. There are no surprises with ThermaSteel panels! ThermaSteel panels are also extremely energy efficient (R value 32+ for 5-1/2" thick wall and an Energy Star product), won't decay, won't feed termites, have very low sound conduction rates, are completely recyclable and leave no waste at the job site.
By being pre-manufactured off site and being assembled on site easily, ThermaSteel system allowed us to shorten our critical path and to make up the lost 2 months caused by unexpected rock on site. Although the Superintendent John Woodson was quite reluctant of using this not-much-heard-of system, after working with it, he provided us with a very positive feedback saying "I would use it all over". John Woodson said that he was used to working with traditional stick-built system and was thinking nothing could be faster than what you know to do best, but ThermaSteel has proven him wrong.
Being open to the new techniques and possibilities is the way to go! ThermaSteel panels increased the building's value 1Ok for insurance purposes because of their high R value. In reality, TS panels puts money in your pocket because of saved energy during the use of the building. The amazing thing is that ThermaSteel panels almost cost as much as the traditional system would cost. First time to use ThermaSteel-5 men installed 234 linear feet of 5' insulated wall panels in 7 hours. This was improved later. All the exterior walls of the project (3 story balloon framing) was completed within 2½ weeks. ThermaSteel panels don't require a crane. They are very lightweight to carry and easy to store because they don't require a special storage or a closed space to store.
"Everything I had heard about the building system turned out to be true and I am thoroughly sold on it."
George Caceres Davis, Home Builder
Now that my house is finished, I am writing this letter to let you know what I think of the Steel SIP panel system. I have built many homes on spec over the years. After some research I decided to use your panel system to build at least one of two houses in Highland Park instead of using conventional 2X4 wood members and fiberglass insulation. I was convinced but l still used wood for interior walls and floor members, etc. WHAT A MISTAKE! Your panels are far superior to wood construction in every way. The walls went up quick and easy, even though my construction crew had never seen anything like them before. No new tools, and we learned how to use the product in a matter of minutes.
The plumbing and electrical contractors loved working with your panels because of the molded-in electrical races and case of installation of wire and pipe. The house finished beautifully inside and out, due to the flat straight walls that you told me was the characteristic of ThermaSteel walls. You were absolutely correct. It is very quiet and cool also. The A/C is not operational yet, and even on the hottest day so far, it has remained cool inside.
The building inspector loved the system and commented that he expects to see more of it in the area soon because of all the problems he has seen with the quality of wood lately. It's so straight forward that inspection time and the number of inspections are reduced and simplified.
In June we had a 5.8 earthquake and I was in the house when it happened. There was no noise like most houses that squeak and rumble and rattle. Even better, there were no cracks inside or outside after the quake even though the stucco was just 5 days old (normal cure for stucco is 28 days).
Everything I heard about your system turned out to be true and I am thoroughly sold on it. In fact I will be using it for another Highland Park project. But this time I will not use wood with it.
"I experienced an 84% reduction in utility cost over what I was used to paying." Don Bowles, ThermaSteel Homeowner, Quitman, TX
We recently completed our all ThermaSteel home in Quitman, Texas, about 80 miles outside of Dallas. It ended up being 1,500 sq. ft. with 15' cathedral ceilings. I'm a native Texan and have lived in Texas all my life. It is a well-known fact that Texas can have the mostfickle weather on earth...boiling one minute and hail hitting you in the face the next. I have always lived in conventionally built homes and am used to $200+ heating and cooling bills per month in these heavy stress months. I was very anxious to see how my ThermaSteel home would benefit my monthly savings. To my surprise the bill for my first two months, July and August came to just $32. According to my calculations that's an 84% reduction in utility cost over what I was used to paying. If you would like to have anyone call for verification please feel free to give them my number.
"CloudHauz is proud to build 21st Century housing with the patented ThermaSteel SIP panel system inside every dwelling.” Lisa Copass, CEO and Founder of CloudHauz
We built two dwellings using ThermaSteel in order to test the system and were so impressed, we decided to optimize our construction company around their SIP system. Our first build was a tiny home on wheels, built as a "portable admin office" for HomeBase, an organization that manages multiple properties for unhoused disabled elders in Oakland, CA. The second was a medical clinic in an unhoused youth encampment "village" also in Oakland, CA. The clinic now services not just the unhoused youth but has opened up its no-fee services to large "unhoused population" living around the Oakland airport. Both builds passed all inspections and were granted permits in Oakland, CA known for very stringent building codes and requirements given the area is prone to fires and earthquakes. CloudHauz is a certified ThermaSteel installer, having spent time at the manufacturing plant, completed all training modules and have two builds using the system. ThermaSteel has been in business for 30 years, has 70,000 projects all over the world and has passed the most rigorous industry certifications. They are more than our SIP supplier, they are our entrusted strategic business partner.
We built two dwellings using ThermaSteel in order to test the system and were so impressed, we decided to optimize our construction company around their SIP system. Our first build was a tiny home on wheels, built as a "portable admin office" for HomeBase, an organization that manages multiple properties for unhoused disabled elders in Oakland, CA. The second was a medical clinic in an unhoused youth encampment "village" also in Oakland, CA. The clinic now services not just the unhoused youth but has opened up its no-fee services to large "unhoused population" living around the Oakland airport. Both builds passed all inspections and were granted permits in Oakland, CA known for very stringent building codes and requirements given the area is prone to fires and earthquakes. CloudHauz is a certified ThermaSteel installer, having spent time at the manufacturing plant, completed all training modules and have two builds using the system. ThermaSteel has been in business for 30 years, has 70,000 projects all over the world and has passed the most rigorous industry certifications. They are more than our SIP supplier, they are our entrusted strategic business partner.
"I was thrilled at how quickly and easily we assembled the main level exterior walls, considering I was the only worker with real construction experience and I had never built with ThermaSteel SIPs before." Christopher Boswell, Home Builder, El Granada, CA
Hi Lisa,
You had asked about my experience with designing and building a house using ThermaSteel SIPs. In 2009 My wife, Patricia, and I completed the house you see in the attached picture--which we designed and built ourselves--as owner/builders. I created all the plans using Chief Architect CAD software and was acting general contractor/foreman for the whole project.
The house is built on a steep hillside overlooking Half Moon Bay and is located in the village of El Granada about 2 miles north of the town of HMB--at 411 El Granada Blvd, El Granada, CA 94019. The architectural style is Mediterranean Eclectic Revival. It is 3,6 00 ft², with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms. I attached the floor plan of the main level (of 3.)
After my two sons, a few day laborers and I spent 10 months building a truly massive and complex concrete pier and grade beam foundation (owing to the steepness of the slope), we spent two weeks laying the main floor, of I-joists and plywood--during which time all the ThermoSteel SIPs were delivered on site. Then it took us only two days to install all the sips for the main level exterior walls.
Needless to say, I was thrilled at how quickly and easily we assembled the main level exterior walls, considering I was the only worker with real construction experience and I had never built with ThermaSteel SIPs before. No crane was needed, as my 15 year old son could easily carry a 4-ft wide by 9-ft high panel and set it in place for me and my 19-year-old son to screw into place.
The manager of the local lumber yard came to see the project as he heard tell that a house was being built with walls that had no lumber, so he had to see it for himself.
I have to get back to work now, but I will send you more information about this soon. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Chris
Hi Lisa,
You had asked about my experience with designing and building a house using ThermaSteel SIPs. In 2009 My wife, Patricia, and I completed the house you see in the attached picture--which we designed and built ourselves--as owner/builders. I created all the plans using Chief Architect CAD software and was acting general contractor/foreman for the whole project.
The house is built on a steep hillside overlooking Half Moon Bay and is located in the village of El Granada about 2 miles north of the town of HMB--at 411 El Granada Blvd, El Granada, CA 94019. The architectural style is Mediterranean Eclectic Revival. It is 3,6 00 ft², with 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms. I attached the floor plan of the main level (of 3.)
After my two sons, a few day laborers and I spent 10 months building a truly massive and complex concrete pier and grade beam foundation (owing to the steepness of the slope), we spent two weeks laying the main floor, of I-joists and plywood--during which time all the ThermoSteel SIPs were delivered on site. Then it took us only two days to install all the sips for the main level exterior walls.
Needless to say, I was thrilled at how quickly and easily we assembled the main level exterior walls, considering I was the only worker with real construction experience and I had never built with ThermaSteel SIPs before. No crane was needed, as my 15 year old son could easily carry a 4-ft wide by 9-ft high panel and set it in place for me and my 19-year-old son to screw into place.
The manager of the local lumber yard came to see the project as he heard tell that a house was being built with walls that had no lumber, so he had to see it for himself.
I have to get back to work now, but I will send you more information about this soon. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Chris
