Focus on Energy: Stressed-Skin Panels

Stressed-Skin Panels by Alex Wilson Few building products introduced in the past 50 years have had the impact of stressed-skin panels. They may very well revolutionize the way we build houses. Already, they’ve made dramatic inroads into the relatively small timber-framing industry. Most timber-frame houses built today are clad with four- to six-inchthick stressed-skin panels-a core of rigid insulation sandwiched between an inner skin of drywall and an outer skin of waferboard or oriented-strand board (OSB). Timber-framers have found that it makes more sense to enclose their frames with these panels than to frame-in separate 2×4 or 2×6 walls and/or sheathe with rigid insulation. Stressed-skin panels are also starting to be used in conventional houses to replace frame-wall and roof systems-and even foundation walls. Unlike