Page 36 - Green Builder Jan-Feb 2022 Issue

SOLID STRUCTURE. Walls and NO POWER LINES NECESSARY.
ceiling consist of structural The house is completely off grid,
insulated panels (SIPs) – R30+ and with power for lights and other
R60 thickness, respectively – that items coming directly from a
help create a tight envelope for an 50kWh solar power charged lithium
extreme northern climate. ion battery bank.

GYPSUM FREE. Interior
walls are made of A-grade plywood,
which serves as an SIP skin and kept
project waste to a minimum.

REMOTE-READY RANGE. All
KitchenAid appliances are
ENERGY STAR rated; the oven
has been converted to propane.

! Factoid to be small, efficient, use all of its space interior as an SIP’s skin as the interior
wisely, be environmentally friendly, use finish,” he notes. “Virtually no drywall,
Tom Puzak’s love of mountain the sun to provide energy and light, and mud, paint or flooring was used.”
biking led to the Cuyuna Project beautiful and inspiring through design The design also includes Andersen
being constructed a mile away from and quality materials…yet use no extra 100 Series windows with glass upgrades
advanced-level bike trails. materials nor extra money.” and 0.24 U-Factor, and Andersen 200
Doing so, Puzak notes, required some and 800 series for doors; a 96 percent
According to Lee Bergum, general radical approaches that have since efficient Westinghouse combination
manager of Energy Panel Structures, helped people understand that it is boiler to support in-floor embedded
manufacturer of the structural insu- possible to have a home of their dreams heat; LED lighting throughout; and air
lated panels (SIPs) that make up most without draining their bank accounts. conditioning provided via a 23 SEER
of the two-bedroom, one-bath house, mini split combined with a heat pump.
the Cuyuna Project was “built to show- WITHIN THE WALLS The house also uses well water (from a
case what the house of the future might The process starts with the SIPs, which 330-foot-deep well) and a septic tank.
look like.” are primarily 6-inch-thick and 9-inch- The home features a 5-foot roof
Builder and property owner Tom thick for the walls and ceiling. The overhang designed to provide cooling
Puzak, founder of Puzak Properties, SIPs made it possible to erect the wall shade in the summer, but allow addi-
says the project resulted from his frus- system in a single step, meaning less tional sun in the winter as the sun’s
tration with the status quo. “Today’s chance for installation errors, accord- angle shifts, for passive heat gain.
‘typical’ home is closer to the opposite ing to Bergum. “SIPs enabled this proj- “Technology has been developing
of the values that I think should be ect to save cycle time and reduce on- much faster in the home-building
expressed,” he says. “I wanted this house site waste, using an A-grade plywood sector than the pace at which home

34 GREEN BUILDER January/February 2022 www.greenbuildermedia.com