Saulnier estimates that over 25 years the house will save $60,000-$80,000 in energy costs over a conventional house.Įxova Canada Inc. Recent air blower tests concluded that “the only air escaping the house was from the sewer line to the washing machine, pulling air out of the septic tank.” Exterior cladding is a combination of vinyl and recycled aluminum with laser printed cedar. The electrical consists of BX wiring under three-quarter-inch” strapping and much of the plumbing was installed in the concrete slab.

He says once the house was erected last fall, the panels were bonded together with adhesives and interior finishing commenced.

The house has been approved by Atlantic Canada’s home warranty program. Saulnier says to get approval from the municipality for the house, the drawings had to be stamped by a civil engineer well-versed in composite materials. “Each panel had its own drawing, its own QAC, its own place in the house.” The panels were completed in about three weeks at JD Composites facility in Meteghan. “They were pretty excited when they saw what we are doing and they told us no one in the world was using their products for housing.”Ī draftsman by trade, Saulnier designed the waterfront house. The company got Armacell, a Luxembourg-based manufacturer of insulated foam products, to produce the six-inch-thick foam panels made of recycled PET plastic for the house structure from its plant in Brampton. How many more sea mammals need to wash up on beaches with their bellies full of plastic - David Saulnier JD Composites Inc. They only use PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the lightweight plastic typically specified for food packaging such as soft drinks. Saulnier and business partner Joel German came up with the idea of panelized building construction with plastic bottles after research into various applications. “I’m not knocking wood construction…but I would like governments to take notice of the low carbon footprint, the durability of the material and the ecological responsibility of using it,” says David Saulnier, president, JD Composites, based in Meteghan, N.S., a community of about 5,000 residents between Digby and Yarmouth. More importantly, the house is green - costing little to heat and cool and it can be built for about the same costs as a conventional stick-built residence. And it only took two days to erect the 184 lightweight SIP walls and roof panels using a boom truck and small crew. recently completed a 2,000 square foot house comprised of six-inch-thick structurally insulated panels (SIPs) made from 600,000 recycled plastic bottles.

A small Nova Scotia company has come up with what its owners think is the perfect use of plastic pop bottles: make houses out of them.

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