With weather in Idaho reaching single-digit lows in January, we here at Nashua think back to our origins manufacturing housing for oil-field workers in Alberta, Canada. Our project was a long-standing and successful one, and had the unique parameters of trying to build prefab houses in -20F weather. Now, if that isn’t an extreme condition, we here at Nashua aren’t quite sure what is.
Prefabricated housing has a significant edge when building for extreme conditions. For one, assembling the architectural features to be delivered to the on-site construction location means that you’re limiting exposure to sub-zero temperatures during your construction. This is a benefit to both material and personnel constraints, including creating a safe working environment and allowing for material stress requirements. Likewise, in a short construction season, you’ve cut down your labor time by using pre-assembled construction elements, giving you a stronger return-on-investment.
Of course, building prefabricated houses in extreme environments is not without its risks and challenges. In addition to extreme temperatures, prefabricated housing has to contend with other risks of construction, including areas exposed to high wind-speeds, difficult construction terrain, and a high level of liability. Each situation yields its own challenges and difficulties, which is why we here at Nashua are in the business. Nothing is quite as exciting as a new construction challenge.
Luckily, there are a number of new advancements that make prefab houses a great option for building in extreme environments. Advancements such as vacuum insulation—where panels are built as pockets of vacuum to prevent the transfer of heat—and our own vapor-barrier construction give prefabricated construction the edge needed to build under extreme conditions.
Interested in learning more abut our extreme condition remote housing? Visit our site! If you have any questions, or if you’d like to share an extreme construction scenario, contact us here. At Nashua Builders, we pride ourselves on staying at the cutting edge of prefabricated construction.