Ideas for Steel Buildings

If you’re considering a garden shed or storage building for your home, a steel building may be your best option. Unlike wooden structures, steel buildings require little maintenance and are easy enough to assemble that many homeowners put them up as do-it-yourself projects. A metal building can provide space for the storage overflow in garages, attics, closets and spare rooms, providing more space for you to use in other ways. Choosing the right style and type of steel building ensures that you have the best solution for your needs. These tips can help you make the right choice for your steel building.

Choosing the Right Size Steel Building

Metal buildings come in a wide variety of sizes, so there’s bound to be one that’s just right for your needs. You can choose the right size by planning out how you’ll use the structure and figuring out what needs to fit inside it. There are standard sizes for garages, but what about storage sheds or hobby shops? These steps will help you plan for the right size steel building.

Measure the height, width and depth of the equipment you plan to store in the building, as well as any shelves, worktables and supplies that you plan to keep there.

Using those measurements, draw out a floor plan on graph paper and start placing your items (with measurements, of course) in place on the graph grid. This will give you a visual idea of how much room you’ll need to store the belongings you want to store.

Once you have a base size in mind for your steel building, add 20%. That’s about how much more space you’ll actually need than you think you’ll need according to most industry experts.

Check Local Requirements for Steel Buildings

If you’re only building a small storage shed, you may not require any special building permits, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Every city, town and county has a code and building office. Before you make specific plans – and especially before you order a steel building – check with your local building code office to find out what specific standards your building will have to meet. This is especially important because some towns don’t allow steel buildings at all, while others have very specific requirements for where they may be located on your property.

Where to Put Steel Buildings

Choosing the placement for your storage building can make all the difference in how useful it actually is to you. When making a decision on location, consider how you intend to use your new building. Will it be used to store seasonal items and not much else? You can put your new structure somewhere out of the way since it doesn’t need to be accessibly regularly. Do you plan to use it for regular garden storage of items you’ll use frequently? You’ll want a location that’s easily accessible from your garden.

Apart from considerations of accessibility, you’ll also need to consider the amount of space you’ll need to assemble the steel building, and you’ll need to choose a location that’s accessible from the road so that the materials for your building can be unloaded.

Steel buildings are useful in so many ways. Taking the time to consider exactly what your needs are and how a steel building can fill them will help you choose the right building package.