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New building system manufactured in North

A company based in Iroquois Falls wants to revolutionize the way homes and other structures are built.
Scott
Manager Scott Marshall stands beside a load of panels ready for shipment.

A company based in Iroquois Falls wants to revolutionize the way homes and other structures are built. 

Interlock Structural Panel (ISP), which began manufacturing in November last year, is the only company that makes steel panels for a one-step, interlocking, insulated, structural steel building system. 

“There are lots of manufacturers of steel panel out there but typically it is an ice cream sandwich. They have steel, foam and steel which hangs on a frame,” said manager Scott Marshall. “What makes us unique is that the frame is built into the panel. We are the only manufacturer of a cold panel structure.”

A U.S. patent has been issued for the product and a world patent is pending.

Following research and development over a few years, the Iroquois Falls site was chosen due to some Northerners involved in the company and the fact that a suitable and empty facility on Highway 11 was available.

The building was erected in the 1980s by a company making fuel pellets with a plan to sell them to the nearby Abitibi mill in the town.

The plan did not move forward and the building was vacated. The town purchased the building and the 26 acres of land that went with it after sitting empty for quite some time. 

When approached by ISP a few years ago, the facility was deemed a good location to set up the manufacturing.

“Right now we have more than enough room and if we ever expand, there is more than enough land,” Marshall said. “We are pretty well set.”

worker

A worker readies an interlocking panel after it has been filled with urethane foam.

Utilizing custom-made machinery, the panels are constructed out of flat, galvanized steel and a roll former shapes it to the desired configuration. Between the top and bottom, a stud is installed and then urethane foam is added. The studs have holes to allow the foam to go through, and the foam also has a fire retardant.

“The foam is heated with water and it is really what holds everything together. It is the bonding agent and once it is cured, you can't rip the panel apart,” said Marshall.

The panels can go to a maximum length of 30 feet and thicknesses are either five or 6.5 inches. “With conventional wood frame construction, you typically do a basement, then the first floor and second and that is called a stack build,” he said. “What we do is balloon construction. Once you have your basement concrete pad, the panel goes right from there to the roof. It's one piece with no seams. “Essentially what you are building is a Thermos.”

A 1,220-square-foot house can be put up in five days and no trusses are required for a home that size, only a ridge beam.

“The advantage to this system, and it is one of the biggest, is that there is no water,” Marshall said. “If you build with wood and concrete, you get water in the walls.

Now homes are airtight so if you start to put plastic on everything, the water gets encapsulated and you get rot and mold.”

The ISP walls remain straight and the home is not subject to warping, settling and shrinkage within the first year of construction.

With the panel consisting of the frame, insulation, vapour and air barriers all in one product, all that is required is a screw gun to erect the panels and the roof.

“Everything is custom made,” he said. “We do have some home models but once a contractor contacts us, we engineer it. Once it is built, the electrical and plumbing can be done and we do recommend metals studs and then anything can be put on the walls like wood or drywall.”

The steel ISP uses is sourced in Canada and contains recycled material – equivalent to that coming from five cars in a typical 1,200-square-foot house.

“And because it is a Thermos, the end product is cheaper to heat utility wise than an R2000 home. Cost wise, the raw material is more expensive but if you factor in construction time, it is very comparable and even cheaper,” Marshall said.

The system is not unlimited to larger structures, but a steel frame – utilizing less steel than conventional builds – will be required.

“We can only produce about 700 homes a year here and we could add more machinery to get it to 1,500 homes,” he said.

Currently 15 people work at the plant and once in full production, a crew of 50 will be required.

“We do expect it to catch on and the long-range plans are to franchise this out by setting up others with machinery and to do it through licensing. We set them up and do the training,” Marshall said. “We want to be the McDonald's of the construction industry with factories all over the world.”

www.ispanels.com