Panelizing Passive

1 MIN READ
EcoCor owner, Chris Corson, guides a wall panel onto the slab.

EcoCor owner, Chris Corson, guides a wall panel onto the slab.

Earlier this year, JLC’s Coastal Connection took a trip to the panelizing shop of EcoCor Design/Build near Belfast, Maine, to watch as EcoCor fabricated wall panels for a superinsulated house designed to meet the tough Passive House performance spec (see “A Visit to a Passive House Panelizing Shop,” Coastal Connection 6/10/14).

Last month, Coastal Connection traveled to Blue Hill, Maine, to watch as EcoCor owner Chris Corson and his crew assembled the house into a frame. Starting from a bare foundation slab, it took six days to complete the set, including the truss roof. Here, we show the first story walls, second floor, and second story walls being lifted in by crane, plumbed, and connected (see Slideshow).

The wall panels are based on the same framing system Corson has used previously for site-built Passive House projects and for retrofit superinsulation jobs. An inner 2×4 frame is fully sheathed with OSB, and taped at the seams to form the home’s air barrier. An outer jacket of wood I-joists is applied over the inner 2x frame, covered with a high-permeability waterproof membrane, and insulated with dense-blown cellulose. The panels shown here were factory-insulated, except for end cavities where the panels meet, which will be insulated in the field. Complete with double-thick framing and insulation (but without windows or doors), the panels weighed upwards of 2,000 pounds apiece.

About the Author

Ted Cushman

Contributing editor Ted Cushman reports on the construction industry from Hartland, Vt.

No recommended contents to display.