Elm Tree Residence

This North Dakota home received a 2018 SIPA Building Excellence Award Winner in the category Single Family Homes over 3,000 square feet. The home boasts more than 10,000 square feet of living space, plus a heated garage. Situated on a five-generational family ranch, it's the primary residence for a young, growing family who appreciated the shortened construction cycle SIPs afford as well as the clear-span, actual vault ceilings which would allow for displaying their vast collection of animal mounts. 

This unique home is built into the side of a hill, which required special engineering to develop the best means to adequately support the structure. Twelve to 14-foot foundation walls were built and back-filled to reinforce the home. During construction, severe storms with large hail, strong winds and tornadoes ripped through the area, destroying another large building on the property. This home, still under construction, sustained no wind damage. 

Given the home's location and orientation, wind noise was a concern. The solid foam insulating core gives them a quiet environment as well as R-Values which could not have been achieved without using SIPs. Builders were able to seal the home with less thermal bridging. The home has one high-efficiency propane furnace as well as two similarly efficient dual source furnaces which utilize either propane or electricity. Other heat sources include in-floor heat in the bathrooms and a 77,000 BTU heater in the garage. Two 4-ton, two-stage air conditioning units keep the home comfortably cool when temperatures soar. 

Green choices abound aesthetically in this project as well. Despite its size, this large home blends naturally into the countryside and several of the larger, low-E windows throughout the house provide breath-taking views of the expansive plains. The floors are low-VOC vinyl plank and reclaimed Douglas Fir was used for tongue-and-groove wall and roof finishes. The outside is clad with Bridger Steel which is "rust to finish", non-coated material.