Berry Hill Lake Cabin: A SIP Home Built for Mountain Life

Set on 250 wooded acres in the Virginia mountains and overlooking a private two-acre lake, Berry Hill Lake is a four-bedroom mountain retreat designed around its setting. Board-and-batten siding, stonework and warm wood interiors give the finished home its rustic character, while vaulted ceilings create the open feeling you’d expect from a house built to take in the surrounding views. Behind the finished home is a Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) building envelope made with 6 1/2-inch wall panels and 10 1/4-inch roof panels. A Complicated Roof, Worked Out Before It Reached the Jobsite Berry Hill Lake wasn’t a simple box. The design included dormers, a large gable end for the chimney and four different rooflines, and it continued to evolve as roof pitches, wall heights and rough openings were finalized. ACME created a detailed 3D model of the project and used it to guide the in-house pre-cutting of the panels. That planning paid off onsite, particularly where four rooflines came together. The panels fit without requiring additional field cuts, helping the crew keep installation moving without having to work through those complicated connections onsite. Because the panels arrived pre-cut and ready to assemble, framing was nearly complete in about two weeks. Built Around the Way the Home Should Feel The SIP roof helped make the home’s vaulted ceilings possible, creating the open interior that gives Berry Hill Lake much of its mountain-lodge character. Once construction was complete, the panels disappeared behind roofing, board-and-batten siding, stone and drywall, leaving the architecture and the setting to take center stage. Today, Berry Hill Lake is available as a mountain getaway, giving guests the chance to experience the finished home for themselves.