Over the past two weeks, the Envinity team has endured the cold and framed two homes! Each home is constructed with 2×6 studs using Optimum Value Engineering (“Advanced”) framing techniques, meaning that studs are aligned 24″ apart rather than 16″, which is seen in most residential construction. This allows Envinity to use less wood and leaves more room in the wall for insulation. The homes also have insulation on the exterior of the walls. The homes use a 2″ ZIP panel that combines the weather resistive barrier, the structural sheathing, and exterior insulation into one building element. The panel Envinity is using has a 1/2″ ZIP panel glued to 1 1/2″ polyisocyanurate insulation. When completed, the full wall will have a total R-value (the insulation value) of 28; the building code requires a home to have a wall R-value of at least 20, so the walls of these homes are nearly 50% more insulated!