Air Barrier

Premier Building Systems Bid Letter

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After many months of making drawings, it’s that time to get a project bid!

“It’s been a very long time since I contacted you on a SIP addition project. Do I continue to go directly through PBS or my local distributor to order my panel project? Over the past year, several of the products I have patiently waited for have became legal to use in the City of Los Angeles, gaining their LARR numbers. The last item I was waiting for, PEX plumbing, became legal on 1 August 2009, so now I can continue my addition project.

The scope of the project has also grown, as the original idea has grown in size requiring a new estimate.

The drawings may not emphatically state it, but these are the dimensions of Premier panels I would like to use:

3-1/2″ core thickness wall SIP walls
9-1/4″ core thickness roof SIP walls
9-1/4″ core thickness floor SIP walls

If there are any details that are missing, let me know, and I can make corrections quickly. Not included are drawings detailing electrical chases and skylights in the roof panels, an extra horizontal communications chase in some of the wall panels, and placement of vertical electrical chases for switches and receptacles (standard 16 inch receptacle chases and 45 inch switch chases from floor please include where possible, but I also need a chase at 20 inches from floor for ethernet, cable TV, and telephone on certain walls).

I look forward to Premier’s new 2009 estimate. It’s still best to correspond through e-mail, as I am away from the voice phone frequently. I am working with a new window manufacturer, and the exact window rough opening on several of the triple mullion is not set (RO is currently 8”0″ x 2”0″) and may change before the shop drawings. The Roof panels will have skylights, not included in these preliminary drawings. There are no outstanding issues this year that will delay this project. Thank you for all your help.

I was looking over my drawing and did some surface calculations, that may help you give me an estimate in my SIP project:

3-1/2″ core wall panels, 1948 square feet
9-1/4″ core floor panels, 770 square feet
9-1/4 core roof panels, 542 square feet

These numbers are gross wall/floor/roof dimensions devoid of window or door cuts or skylight holes. Thank you for taking the time to get me another estimate for my project.”

Vacupor Availability in North America

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Several insulation materials on their way to affordability are coming to market slowly: Aerogels and vacuum panels. If I could afford such materials, it would make building much more efficient for the smallest wall thickness.

“With much interest I have been following the Passiv Haus advancements along with Solar Decathlon home entries in Washington DC, and both of these projects share in common the use of Porextherm Vacupor NT-B2 VIP products. In my next project I would like to use your VIP panels, but do not know if there are any distributors in the North American area?

My next project would require 150 square meters of 25 mm thickness VIP to cover the exterior walls of a small two story residence. I have seen the Porextherm panels in use at the Waldsee BioHaus in Minnesota, and as their concern is low winter temperatures, In the deserts of the Los Angeles area, where temperature are regularly 46 degrees C for months, we need to manage cooling instead of heating, at a similar temperature differential.

Any information you can give me in ordering products, finding a distributor, or arranging direct importation for the manufacturing facility, I would be greatly appreciative. My project begins construction this autumn 2008, so I have three months to acquire the VIP materials.

I am building a residential addition in the city of Los Angeles (LADBS), where they have rigorous building and safety regulations. For any building product, LADBS usually requires an ICC report, commonly referred to as LARR (Los Angeles Research Report). Have you had success in the introduction and installation of these products in Los Angeles?”