How to Protect Steel Buildings Against Corrosion

Steel buildings have become the most popular choice among the general population for such purposes as garages, barns, storage buildings, home offices and more. The reasons for their popularity are many. Steel buildings are durable, versatile, sustainable and cost-efficient. Whether you’re building a shed for your gardening equipment, a small greenhouse, a backyard workshop or a detached apartment for a family member (or extra income), steel buildings offer ease of installation and the best value for your money.
One of the things that people like best about metal buildings is the fact that they require so little maintenance. Steel doesn’t rot like wood, nor do termites and other insects like to munch on it. It doesn’t expand and contract in moisture as wood does, and steel frames and walls have no knots or splits that can become structural weaknesses. Steel does have one weakness, though. If the metal is left bare, it’s especially susceptible to rust and corrosion from moisture, salt and chemicals in the atmosphere. If left unattended, rust can quickly affect your steel buildings appearance, and over time, compromise its structural integrity.
Luckily, it doesn’t take much to protect your metal building from corrosion. These tips can help ensure that you and your steel building have a long and happy relationship.
Start Off Right
Everyone knows that the right start can make a difference in just about everything, and that’s no different for steel buildings. In this case, the right start is a protective, anti-corrosion coating on all of your building components. It costs a little bit more in the beginning, but can save you a considerable amount of money in the long run. As an added bonus, most steel coatings come in a wide range of colors, so you can pick one that matches the other buildings on your property – an especially nice touch for detached garages and barns.
Inspect Regularly
Once your building is up, give it a thorough going-over to look for any scratches, dents or damage that might have occurred during construction. If you find any, follow manufacturer’s instructions to repair the coating. Even small breaks in the surface can allow rust to start. Re-inspect a couple of times a year and after any major event that may have caused damage.
Clean Regularly
Finally, steel buildings need a bath once in a while to remove collected dirt and chemicals that can eventually wear away at the anticorrosive coating. Make sure you wash under eaves, canopies and roof extensions, areas that are easily missed but especially vulnerable to rust and other damage.

Exploding the Myths About Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are the structure of choice among individuals and companies that want fast, affordable, high quality construction, but they still have a bad rap in the eyes of most of the general public. That’s because there are a lot of myths hanging around about steel buildings that make them seem less attractive than they truly are. Take a look at some widely believed myths about metal buildings and the actual truth behind them.
Steel Buildings Are Cheap
Affordable and cheap aren’t exactly the same thing. While metal buildings are nearly always more affordable than other types of structures, there’s nothing cheap about the materials or the construction. In fact, steel has more tensile and structural strength than either wood or concrete and weighs far less, making it an ideal construction material. And because each steel building is custom-engineered for the site on which it will be built, it is likely to still be standing long after other structures have finished their useful lives. Finally, the construction methods used to erect a steel building ensure a perfect fit that withstands most environmental and weather events far better than wood or stone.
Steel Buildings Are Ugly
Many areas around the country prohibit steel buildings in residential areas, in large part because of the widespread belief that metal buildings are ugly. In fact, garages and barns built of steel can be a perfect aesthetic fit for the other buildings around them. Some of the newer styles are so attractive that steel has rapidly become the material of choice for congregations that want to build beautiful churches and buildings of worship.
Steel Buildings Are Bad for the Environment
This may be the biggest myth of all. In actuality, steel is one of the most environmentally friendly building materials in use today. Most steel building frames and panels are made with a high percentage of recycled steel, which keeps the used metal out of the waste stream. Every metal building saves scores of trees, and because most smaller steel buildings are delivered all at once in one shipment, they leave a far smaller carbon footprint than other types of buildings.
Steel Buildings Will Rust and Fall Apart
Some companies sell cheap buildings made of low-quality metal with no protective coating. Quality steel buildings are made using high-quality, thick metal and are painted with an anti-corrosion coating that prevents rust and other corrosion. In addition, your steel building won’t rot and doesn’t attract termites, ants and other vermin the way that wood does.
If you’re in need of more storage or space, don’t let the myths dissuade you from choosing the best building available. The more you learn about steel buildings, the more you’ll love them.

Steel Buildings and Sustainability

You’ve probably heard that steel buildings are sustainable construction. Chances are that you’ve seen lists of factors that make metal buildings the green choice for new construction. It’s easy to dismiss those contentions as marketing hype. After all, Steel buildings don’t FEEL natural and sustainable. But they are. Here’s some background on sustainable construction to help you understand why.
The Construction Cycle Of Use
Everything built on the Earth goes through seven phases in the cycle of use. At each of these stages, energy is used and emissions are created. Steel buildings use less energy and create fewer emissions at most of these stages.
Materials Are Mined or Harvested from the Earth
Steel is recycled and recyclable. While the steel used in today’s Steel buildings was mined from the Earth at some point – and some percentage of it will be new metals mined from the Earth – most of the metal used in building steel garages, storage buildings and other metal buildings has been used before and will be used again. The more use gained from construction materials, the more sustainable they are.
Steel Is Durable
A steel building is strong enough to withstand most weather extremes and stand up to normal wear and tear. It offers many decades of use, giving it a long sustainable life in comparison to many other types of construction.  The long service life makes good use of the energy embodied in the house.
Metal Buildings Use Less Energy During Construction
Because metal buildings are pre-engineered and pre-fabricated, they use far less energy during the construction phase. Smaller Steel buildings don’t even require the use of power tools or heavy equipment for assembly and erection. The less energy used during construction, the smaller the carbon footprint is.
Steel Works Well with Solar Panels and Skylights
Steel framing supports a lot of weight. The steel frame construction and roofing systems of most metal buildings are well-suited to support solar panels or solar shingles, and it’s very easy for engineers to design around skylights. The use of natural lights and renewable energy further reduces the energy required to run a steel house or shop.
Steel Buildings Require Fewer Chemicals for Maintenance
The color on metal siding and roofs can last up to 20 years before it needs to be refinished. By contrast, wood buildings need to be repainted or treated every few years to remain water-tight and weather-tight. The owners of steel buildings release fewer toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, and at the end of the building’s useful life, put far fewer chemicals back into the landfull.
In addition, steel buildings are easier to insulate and use far fewer materials than wood or concrete construction. Overall, people who are concerned about the environment are more likely to choose steel buildings than other types of construction.

Types of Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are among the most popular choice for homeowners and small business owners who want to add storage, garages, barns and retail space. They range in size from small garden shed size storage buildings to metal buildings large enough to house airplanes. They can be used as office space, storage space, retail space and even residential space. Whatever your needs, you can find a steel building style and plan that will fit them perfectly. These are just some of the most popular applications for steel buildings.
Garages
Why leave your most valuable possession out where the rain, snow and thieves can get to it? Steel garages can be designed to meet your needs, for a single car, two cars or more. You can build in additional storage space, or even add an entire workshop if you have the space. Many manufacturers offer protective coatings in the most common residential colors so that your new steel building will fit right in with other buildings on your property.
Barns
Farmers were among the first to recognize the benefits of steel buildings, and they continue to adopt steel barns, storage silos and other agricultural buildings at a high rate. That’s because steel buildings are nearly always the most affordable construction option. They’re easy to erect, easy enough for many farmers to do the erection themselves. It’s easy to customize metal buildings for your use, adding stalls, tack rooms, feed storage and anything else you need to make your life easier.
Home Offices
As more and more professionals choose to work from home, they’re finding that traditional steel buildings are the ideal option for separate home offices. A metal building is easy to outfit with electricity and insulation, and allows accountants, therapists, real estate agents and other mobile professionals to easily separate their family and work lives without incurring monthly rents and long commute times.
Custom Home Workshops
Whether it’s for a hobby or a business, a metal building is an ideal structure to house a home workshop. Metal buildings are perfect for woodworking shops, metal shops and auto shops, as well as pottery and ceramic works, sewing workshops and other handcrafts.
Storage Buildings
Of course, steel buildings are and always have been an ideal solution to limited storage space at home. From Quonset buildings to metal buildings with pitched roofs and straight walls, there’s a style to suit every neighborhood and property.
Whatever your needs are for space and utility, steel buildings have you covered. Check with a manufacturer to learn more about how a metal building can be adapted for your use.

Tips for Maintaining Steel Buildings from the Start

One of the major benefits of owning steel buildings is that they require so little maintenance. That keeps your costs down – and saves you a lot of time and effort. That doesn’t mean they don’t need any maintenance, though. These steel building maintenance tips can help you avoid problems and keep your building looking fresh and new from the very start.
From the Start
While most metal building kits are relatively easy to put together, the construction process can take several days. It’s important to follow best practices from the moment your steel building components are delivered to make sure that your building parts are protected, your structure is erected properly and the builders take the proper preventative steps to make ongoing upkeep easy.
Hire a Contractor or Laborers If Necessary
Even if you’re planning to erect your steel building yourself – as many buyers of garages and small barns do – you may want to hire a few laborers or a contractor to help with unloading and securing the building components. Most manufacturers do not supply the equipment or manpower to unpack the truck for your metal building kit. It’s up to you to make sure that all the pieces are accounted for, unloaded safely and moved to the work site without any damage.
Check All the Pieces for Damage
As you unload the building components, check them over carefully to make sure that every piece on the inventory list is there and undamaged. Every piece is required for the assembly of your building and its long term structural stability. If you discover any pieces missing or damaged, notify the manufacturer immediately. Most manufacturers will replace any damaged or missing pieces if you report them immediately. If you wait, you may incur shipping costs or other penalties.
Check the Insulation
If your building includes insulation, check it over carefully. Any damage to the insulation can let moisture build up, which could eventually cause rust or other problems.
Store the Materials Properly
If you live in an area that’s prone to rain or extreme heat, make sure that all of the building components and equipment are properly covered and secured.
Paying attention and taking proper care of your building materials from the moment they’re delivered can help you avoid problems after construction is finished. It only takes a little extra time to start the construction process for steel buildings the right way, and it can save you thousands of dollars and lots of time down the road.

Why You Shouldn’t Buy Steel Buildings on eBay

You can buy just about anything on eBay, but as the old saying goes, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. There are some things you just shouldn’t buy on the world’s biggest auction website, steel buildings among them. And yes, yes, there are certainly metal and steel buildings available for sale on eBay – but there are some very good reasons why you should resist the temptation to go for that bargain.
You Don’t Know How Well It Was Maintained
Many of the metal buildings available for sale on the auction site are used. They’ve been erected and in use, and you’ll probably end up footing the bill for disassembly and packing as well as the cost of shipping and erection at your own site. Mind you, steel buildings are recyclable, and they can be disassembled and erected again – but you have no idea how the building has been treated, or how well it has been maintained.
You Don’t Know Where It’s Been
Or, more importantly, you don’t know the building standards where it’s been. Steel buildings, like any building, must meet all local building codes and standards. That means the steel building that looks like such a good deal has been custom engineered for erection in another location, not yours. The chances that it will meet all of the required codes for a building in your area are pretty slim.
It Was Customized for Someone Else’s Needs
One of the best features of high quality new steel buildings is that each one is custom-engineered and fabricated to meet the needs of the buyer. When you buy new, an experienced seller will lead you through the process of ordering to make sure that your new building will be exactly what you need. You won’t get that benefit if you buy a metal building that was custom engineered to meet the needs of the original buyer.
You Miss Out on Guarantees
New steel buildings generally come with some pretty hefty guarantees: up to 10 years for the roof, 20 years for the paint job and 20+ to life for the structural components of the building itself. Dismantling, shipping and re-erecting a metal building will nearly always void all of those guarantees.
The best way to buy a new metal building is to talk to a reputable dealer of steel buildings. You’ll get the service and custom engineering and design that ensures your new building will be exactly what you need.

8 Reasons to Choose Steel Buildings

Steel buildings have been the frontrunners in the construction industry for decades, and they’re only likely to get more popular. The more metal buildings that are erected, the more the industry understands about their benefits and characteristics. If you’re considering a new garage, storage building, warehouse or just about any other structure for any use, consider these reasons to build with metal.
New Designs
Today, you have more choice than ever in the design and appearance of your steel building. The design options run the gamut from Quonset buildings to A-frames to buildings that are practically indistinguishable from a traditional ranch house.
Fast Construction Times
Because the components are fabricated at the factory and preassembled, erecting a steel building is a fast process. Typically, you can occupy your metal building before a wood-frame building is two-thirds constructed.
Save Money
Steel buildings are among the most cost-effective of all construction choices. The price of steel has stayed consistently low for many years. Add to that the savings you realize through the reduced need for construction labor and the lower insurance and maintenance costs, and you’ll realize just how much more cost-effective.
Durability
Steel is impervious to rotting, shrinking and mold damage. It isn’t affected by termites or ants, and is fire resistant. Because all the parts are manufactured, you don’t have to worry about the knots, splits or other defects found in wood. A properly constructed metal building will withstand forces that will tear a wooden building apart.
Single Sourcing
All the parts and components for your steel building come from one source, which provides a number of important benefits. If there’s a problem, you know exactly who will fix it – there’s no one else for the manufacturer to point a finger at. And because all of your materials come from one source, you’ll benefit from their logistics --- less hassle for you.
Guarantees
While every manufacturer has its own parameters, most steel buildings come with a 20 year to lifetime warranty.
Expandable
Steel buildings are very easy to modify. If you decide you need more room in the future, you’re looking at minimal costs and time. In most cases, you just have to remove an end panel, add side panels and put the end panel back on.
Eco-friendly
Steel buildings are a surprisingly green choice. Prefabricated steel buildings are thermal and energy efficient, and use far less nonrenewable resources than other types of construction. In fact, a new metal building uses the equivalent of six scrapped cars, keeping them out of the waste stream.

Five Things You Probably Don’t Know About Steel Buildings

Steel buildings have become very popular options for people who want to add storage buildings, garages, barns, home offices and other enclosed spaces to their property. They’re affordable, easy to build and very versatile. A metal building can be the ideal solution to many different needs. They make great home workshops, can be insulated for use as animal shelters or outfitted to garage anything from an ATV to an airplane. Despite their popularity, many people believe a lot of myths and misinformation about metal buildings. Some of them have some basis in fact. Others are completely out of left field. Here are five things you probably don’t know about steel buildings.
Steel Buildings Are the Green Choice
The one fact that is most likely to surprise people about metal buildings is that they are an eco-friendly choice for new construction. Most people find it hard to reconcile nature and buildings made of steel, but it’s a fact that steel buildings are generally considered a green choice for a number of reasons.

• Most metal buildings contain a high percentage of recycled steel so they’re using a minimum of non-renewable resources.
• Because steel building components are fabricated at the factory, they’re generally delivered all at once to the building site. That greatly reduces the carbon footprint required to transport materials for a new building.
• They’re very easy to insulate, which makes the exceptionally energy efficient.
• They can be outfitted with green roofs and skylights to make them even more energy efficient.

Metal Buildings Come in Many Colors
Forget the ugly steel gray and dull blue or green steel buildings you’ve seen on the side of the road. Today’s steel buildings come in a wide range of colors. Most manufacturers offer standard colors that match the most common house colors on the market and many will customize a color for you.
A Steel Building Can Stand Up to a Hurricane
Or a blizzard or even an earthquake. Steel buildings are engineered to meet all the safety codes and standards of the region where they’ll be built, and those standards are designed to make buildings safe in the most common extreme weather and environmental conditions of that region.
People Live in Steel Buildings
The newest metal buildings are practically indistinguishable from other types of construction, but they’re much quicker and cheaper to build. Many people are opting to base their homes on standard metal buildings.
The Interior is Unobstructed
Perhaps the best part of choosing a steel building for just about any purpose is their versatility. The biggest factor in that versatility is the fact that most steel buildings require no interior support columns or posts, leaving the interior space wide open and completely unobstructed. That allows the builders to customize the interior to their own liking without restrictions.
If you still think of steel buildings as hulking, ugly behemoths cluttering up the landscape, it’s time you took another look. You just might be surprised at what you see.

The Kids Are All Right in Steel Buildings

Back in the 1970s, a whole new genre of rock groups emerged from the garages of suburban homes and blasted their way into bars and house parties. Before they got their first gigs playing at local high school dances and live music bars, musical groups like Aerosmith and Boston rocked it out in their parent’s garages – and probably drove the neighbors nuts. These days, your kids don’t have to take over your garage to practice their licks if you have a steel building on the premises. In fact, steel buildings are the ideal solution to a many more problems than your kids practicing their beats too close to the kitchen.
Music Studios in Steel Buildings
Putting up a metal building to support your kids’ musical ambitions isn’t as extreme as it may seem. In fact, small steel buildings – about the size of one or two-car garages – are quite affordable, even when you add soundproofing and/or acoustical tiles into the mix. In fact, the design of steel buildings provides a great deal of flexibility and interior room. You can even build in a stage and lighting so everyone on the crew can practice their part. Add a garage door and the band can easily back a van up to load it for gigs. Best of all, if – or when – the kids run out of enthusiasm for their rock careers or move out of the house to go to college, you’ll have an awesome steel building that you can turn into a media room, man cave or hobby shop.
Speaking of Hobby Shops
Rock band isn’t the only hobby that’s best practiced at a distance from the house. Metal buildings are also the ideal home for all your woodworking tools. You can finally get the table saw out of the basement and leave it set up, and you won’t have to listen to complaints about the whine of the drill and the banging of the hammer. There are even better reasons for moving your auto or machine workshop out of the house, not the least of which is safety. And if you want a lovely studio for pottery, yoga or photography, you can’t beat a steel building.
Beyond the Empty Nest
Of course, you may find yourself with kids returning to the nest. It’s not easy having an adult kid move back home, but a steel building can be retrofitted yet again to create an awesome little studio apartment that will allow both of you your privacy.
Steel buildings are among the most versatile types of structures on the market. Whether you’re looking for a new workshop for yourself or something a little more esoteric, talk to a professional steel building supplier to find out how perfect a metal building would be for your needs.

What Can You Store in Steel Buildings?

Steel storage buildings are among the most popular small construction projects undertaken by homeowners. In fact, steel buildings are popular as garages, storage buildings, workshops and garden sheds throughout the United States and Europe. Have you ever considered the many things you own that could be stored in a steel building freeing up space in your house for other things? Take a look at some of the ways that steel buildings are used to give you just a few ideas of how putting up a metal building on your property can make your life better.
Storage Buildings
Everyone’s got a lot of stuff, often stored in nooks and crannies in their homes. Think of the many things you’ve got tucked away in boxes: the Christmas decorations, the summer lawn furniture, the pool chemicals, your winter clothing, the bedroom set you’re saving until your kid has a home of his own to put it in. All that stuff takes up a lot of room that could be useful in other ways in your home. What could you do with that spare room if it wasn’t holding all those odds and ends? Wouldn’t you rather have a home theater in your basement than stacks and stacks of boxes? Steel buildings – steel storage buildings in particular – were designed to free up your space so you can do exactly that.
Garden Sheds
Is your lawn mower taking up space in your garage? Do you have to haul your garden hose out of the bathroom every time you want to water the garden? Steel buildings make great garden sheds. They come in a wide variety of sizes, from just big enough for a few sets of shelves and a push mower to big enough to harbor a tractor mower and all the accessories. A garden shed will keep all of your gardening equipment and supplies close at hand so you don’t have to haul everything out of the basement, and your car can take its rightful place in your garage again.
Boat and ATV Storage
Speaking of garage space, wouldn’t it be nice to have somewhere to store your snowmobiles, Jet-skis, ATVs or boats? If your car has been crowded out of the garage by all the recreational vehicles you and your kids own, it’s time to turn to steel buildings. Depending on your needs, you can build anything from a carport style shelter to keep your big boy toys out of the rain to a full-size garage, with plenty of room for turning and parking your trailers and toys.
No matter what you have to store and protect, steel buildings are the perfect choice for many reasons. Take stock of where you’re storing all your stuff, and see how much sense a metal building makes.

Roof Extensions Lend Style to Steel Buildings

Today’s steel buildings boast a lot more aesthetic appeal than their older forbears, the Quonset buildings. They come in many different styles, including those with straight walls and pitched roofs, and are available in many colors, making them far more appealing to people who live in residential areas. You can also increase the curb appeal of metal buildings by choosing the right accessories: windows, doors, skylights and trim make a big difference in the overall appearance of the building. Another accessory to consider when erecting steel buildings is a roof extension. Canopies, purloins and other types of roof overhangs can add a great deal to the aesthetic appeal of a metal building.

There’s no doubt that today’s steel buildings offer a lot more design options than those that were built just 10 to 15 years ago. By the time you finish choosing exterior finishes and exercising other design options, it’s hard to tell metal buildings apart from other types of construction. These design options and improvements to the outward appearance of today’s fabricated steel  building coupled with the undeniable affordability have made steel buildings a popular choice for churches, commercial spaces and office buildings as well as their more common uses as barns, garages and storage buildings.

 The roof on a metal building provides more than protection from rain and snow. In fact, the roof you choose is an integral part of the building’s structural solidity. That’s why it’s important to work with the building engineers when choosing the roof for your steel  building Roof overhangs, on the other hand, can be added as an afterthought without compromising the structure. The different types of roof overhangs can provide a welcome touch of style to an otherwise boxy building, or provide an unusual roof line to accent the domed shape of Quonset buildings or other arch style construction.

In fact, extending the roof is a popular way to add curb appeal to a steel  building The styles of the various roof extensions vary, and include canopies to extend over sidewalks or purlin extensions at the end cap walls to create shelter over patios, walkways and other outdoor areas. Roof extensions are a good way to help steel buildings blend in with neighboring structures – or set them apart in style.

However, roof extensions offer more than just good looks. The right style of roof extension can provide shade from the sun, not just beneath the canopy or awnings, but inside the building. Shading walls that face the sun can reduce the inside temperature by as much as 10 degrees, and that, in turn can reduce your energy bills by a significant amount. Outside, canopies and purlin extensions can provide cover from the rain or snow for those entering and exiting the building, making your building a more appealing one to visit.

Talk to a steel buildings professional about your options for roof extensions. It’s generally easiest to include them when you build a new structure, but you can often add them to an existing structure. Your steel building manufacturer will be able to provide you with all the details.

How to Clean the Exterior Walls of Steel Buildings

One of the biggest selling points of steel buildings is that they require practically no maintenance at all. Most better-quality steel buildings are painted with a rust- and corrosion-resistant powder coat that adds color and a degree of protection from the elements. In many cases, the paint job on your metal building will be guaranteed for as much as 20 years. About the only routine maintenance you’ll need to consider is washing down the exterior walls to remove dirt, dust and any damaging chemicals that may have settled on your building over the course of several months. If you think the wall panels of your steel building are ready for a cleaning, here’s how you do it.
You’ll Need:
A ladder or scaffolding
A water hose
Clean water
Mild soap or detergent
A soft, nylon brush
Mineral spirits
What You Will Not Need:
Any abrasive cleaners. They can damage the paint powder coating and let corrosive elements through to the metal.
A stiff brush. Stick to soft bristles that aren’t likely to damage the paint finish.
Safety Precaution: Always make sure that your ladder is placed securely against the building, or attached to the building.
What to Do:
Working in small sections, wet the walls with clean, clear water and scrub gently with a soft-bristled nylon brush to dislodge any sand, dust and dirt that has accumulated on the walls. Built up dirt encourages moisture retention, which will eventually break down the protective coating and damage the underlying metal. As long as you’re only dealing with dirt, you shouldn’t need anything stronger than water and a little elbow grease.
Start from the top and work your way down the walls. Hose the walls down with clear water after you’ve scrubbed the wall from top to bottom.
If you come across pine pitch, sap or other sticky substances, apply a little bit of mineral spirits to dissolve it and wash away with clear water.
If your steel building is located in an industrial area with a lot of pollution or near the ocean, add mild detergent to the first wash. Gently scrub with a soft brush, and use mineral spirits to remove tar, pine, oil or grease, then wash with a mild detergent and finish with a clean water rinse.
It’s not difficult to clean the outside panels of steel buildings, and you only have to do it once a year or so. If you’re not comfortable working on a ladder, there are many cleaning companies who can clean your metal building for you professionally. No matter who does the cleaning, though, this necessary bit of maintenance will greatly extend the life of your steel building’s finish.

Saving Money with Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are strong, sturdy structures that stand up to almost anything. They’re an attractive option for extra space, storage or additional utility on your property. In the residential market, people choose steel buildings as garages, carports, storage buildings, home offices and more. Farmers have long chosen steel buildings when they need to replace barns, grain storage buildings and other agricultural buildings, and in the public sphere, steel buildings are often the ideal choice for recreational buildings, arenas, churches and even schools. One of the things that make steel buildings especially attractive for a wide variety of uses is their affordability. The fact is that you can save an awful lot of money when you choose a metal building for your project.
Affordable Materials
Steel has a long history as the most affordable building material in use. While prices vary, recycled steel is generally lower in price than wood or concrete. It’s even more attractive when you factor in environmental costs. Choosing steel for your project puts less stress on the environment in many ways.
Affordable Foundation
The savings don’t end with the raw materials. Because steel is so light in comparison to other types of construction, most steel buildings require very little in the way of a foundations. Garages, barns and other small structures often need no more than a poured cement slab with inset anchor bolts, and smaller buildings – storage buildings and utility buildings, for example – may be fine with pier footings.
Affordable Construction
You may not pay your contractor by the hour, but he pays his workers that way. The more hours they have to work, the more your building costs. Because steel buildings are pre-fabricated – that is, all the pieces are created off-site and shipped to the construction site – they go up far more quickly than any other type of construction. There’s no cutting and no drilling – you just have to more the pieces into place and bolt them together. That reduces the size of the construction crew needed as well as the length of time you’ll have to pay them for, which substantially reduces the construction costs of your project.
Affordable Maintenance
Once your building is up, you won’t have to spend a fortune on keeping it structurally sound and looking good. Steel buildings are among the most low-maintenance of all types of construction. The components are powder-coated with color that is usually combined with a corrosion-resistant and fire retardant finish. You won’t have to repaint for 20 years or more because the paint won’t chip, rust or corrode. All you need to do is give it a good wash once or twice a year.
Steel buildings are among the most affordable types of construction available for just about any use. Whether you’re building a garage, a storage building, a factory or a barn, check out the many financial benefits of choosing a steel building for your project.

Steel Buildings Glossary

If you’re asking for quotes for steel buildings with the intent of putting up a metal building on your property, you’ve probably noticed that the pros speak a different language. Understand common terms associated with steel buildings can make it easier for you to understand what’s including in your steel building quote and help you discuss your needs with a salesman. This isn’t an all-inclusive glossary of steel building terms, but it does hit the most common terms you’re likely to hear when you’re pricing steel buildings.
Accessories
You may think of accessories as unnecessary items, but in the metal building industry, accessories refer to anything that isn’t part of the basic steel building package, like doors, windows and vents. In general, your steel building will include the openings, but you’ll usually have to pay extra to actually get the items to fill those openings.
Anchor Bolt Plans
The anchor bolt plan is a drawing that shows the location, diameter and other specifics of all the anchor bolds needed to secure your steel building securely to its foundation or support.
Architectural Drawing
An architectural drawing shows the appearance of your planned steel building. It will usually show the plan view and all the elevations of the finished building.
BBC
No, it’s not the British Broadcasting Company. When you’re talking about steel buildings, BBC refers to the “basic building code,” a set of minimum standards to which all structures must comply. The basic building code varies from one state and even from one region to the next.
Building Code
Every city, county or state establishes a set of procedures and construction details to which all structures must adhere. They generally ensure the safe construction of the building.
Covering
The exterior metal wall panels and roof of a steel building.
Dead Load
The dead load is the weight of all the permanent construction of the steel building, including the floors, roof, framing and covering. Live loads include the weight of workers, equipment, materials and other movable objects in and on the building. Other loads include wind loads, snow loads and seismic loads.
Quonset Buildings
During World War I and II, the military used Quonset buildings as barracks, hospitals and other structures. They are basic hoop frame buildings that can be easily erected and dismantled.
Walk Door
Also known as pedestrian doors, walk doors are standard doors that allow people to walk in and out of a steel building without opening bay doors or garage doors.
Zinc-Aluminum Coated Steel
The walls of steel buildings are often coated with a zinc-aluminum alloy to prevent corrosion.

Steel Buildings for Storage

Are you tired of your lawnmower taking up space in your garage? Do need somewhere safe to store your off-season patio furniture and pool supplies? Garages are meant to hold cars, but it’s hard to do that if you’ve got all your STUFF cluttering up. Small steel buildings are the ideal solution for your storage needs.
Why choose steel buildings for storage? Here are some of the reasons that steel buildings are among the most popular residential storage solutions available today.
Affordability
No one wants to spend more than they have to for storage space. You can erect a basic metal building to store your lawn equipment, pool equipment, patio furniture and more for as little as $8 to $20 per square foot, including a poured foundation. Compare that to what it would cost to put up a wood frame building and you’ll see why steel buildings are so popular.
Convenience
U-store it metal buildings are very popular, but storage units are an ongoing expense – and you have to drive across town to get to them. If you stop paying the rental, you could lose all of your stuff, and any time you want something from the storage unit, you have to make a special trip to get it. By contrast, when you build a small steel building on your property for storage, you own the structure. There are no rental payments to make every month – or to forget to make. And when you want something out of your storage unit, you just walk out your back door.
Aesthetics
Today’s modern steel buildings are attractive. They’re designed to fit right in with the other buildings on your property. Most metal building manufacturers offer their steel buildings in the most popular home colors so that you can match your house, garages and other buildings on your property. You can add windows, gutters, roof trim and even shutters to make your metal building look as nice as your house.
Value
A high-quality steel building can actually add to the value of your property. Storage is always at a premium, and most buyers will be thrilled to have additional storage space on their property. Even those who aren’t interested in more storage will see the value in having a sturdy, well-built steel building that can be adapted as a workshop, studio or even as an in-law apartment.
Take back control of your garage. Check out the prices on steel buildings for storage and give your car back its rightful place.

The Dirty Little Secrets in the Steel Buildings Business

Steel buildings are popular for a good reason – or a whole bunch of them. They’re affordable, versatile and green, something few other types of construction can claim. Their popularity has a down side, though. It has brought out lots of inferior steel building suppliers to vie for your money. How can you tell that you’re buying your metal building from a legitimate supplier of top quality steel buildings? These are a few of the dirty little secrets you need to know before you order a steel building for your property.
Factory Direct Prices on All Steel Buildings
Many of those big Internet sites that promise you the best “factory direct” prices aren’t manufacturers at all. They’re brokers with boiler room sales operations who will shop your order out to the cheapest manufacturer they can find. You may or may not get a metal building that fits your specifications. Look for a real steel buildings manufacturer before you place your order.
Canceled Building Specials
Whenever you see a LOW LOW PRICE or the explanation on a website that they’re selling “surplus” or “canceled” steel buildings, step away from the browser. The best metal buildings are custom engineered and fabricated only when you place your order. They have to be because your building must meet the building codes in your location, and there’s no such thing as “standard building codes.” What are the odds that someone in your location ordered a metal building – and then canceled the order?
State Approved Stamped Engineering Drawings Included
What we said in the last secret? Yeah. You need stamped drawings from the engineer and manufacturer to get the permits required to put up barns, garages and other steel buildings, but not just any stamped drawings will do. The specifications need to fit the laws in the location where you’ll be erecting your metal building. If you goof on that, you could be facing some nasty re-engineering fees that will substantially increase that bargain basement price.
Build It Yourself and Save Money
You’ll see this one everywhere. Yes, you can save some cash by erecting your own steel buildingbut only if you – or someone you know – has experience in doing it. It’s not quite as easy as the bargain websites make it sound. Yes, you’ll get detailed erection instructions, but you’ll still benefit from some professional assistance, at least in the early stages of building.
If you’re looking at steel buildings with the intention of putting one up on your property, take the time to research your project well before making a decision. You’ll get the best metal building for your needs without falling into any of the marketing traps that are all too common in the industry.

Foundation Requirements for Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are a popular option for people thinking of building garages and house additions, farmers adding new barns and commercial property owners of all types. They’re especially popular with congregations who want to build a new church and with municipalities who need temporary classroom space in steel buildings. One of the big draws for people who plan to erect steel buildings is the fact that most metal buildings don’t need full, dug foundations like other types of construction do. That doesn’t mean that you don’t need any kind of a foundation for a steel building, however. In fact, the durability and safety of any metal building is directly tied to the quality of the foundation you provide for it.

At the very least, your building will require concrete footings to anchor your structure securely in place. This will create a solid foundation are and keep your building from shifting after it is erected. If you don’t mount and anchor the building properly, the safety engineering cannot be guaranteed. These are some of the things you should consider when deciding on a foundation for your steel building.

Local Ordinances

Your main guideline should always be your local building codes and standards. They’re developed with safety in mind and will be specifically tailored to the environmental and climate extremes your building is likely to face. There may be special conditions, such as sandy or marshy substrate, ground freezing, flooding or high winds, that you’ll have to take into account when placing and creating the foundation for steel buildings in your area.

Building Size

The size of your metal building can help you decide whether to choose footings or a poured slab foundation for your project. Smaller steel buildings are often fine with pier footings in the appropriate places. Larger buildings may need a more solid foundation, while others will just need more anchors around the perimeter of the building.

Building Use

The use of your new building can also help determine whether concrete anchors will be enough or your building or you need a concrete slab foundation. If you’re planning to occupy your building as an office or workshop, for example, you’ll probably want a solid slab as a floor. If it’s meant to be an animal shelter or carport, on the other hand, concrete anchor footings may be all you need to keep your building comfortable and secure.

Before you make your final decision, talk with an expert adviser on steel buildings to help you figure out what kind of foundation you’ll need for your use.

A Dozen Reasons that Steel Buildings are the Right Choice

Garages and barns and churches, oh, my! Steel buildings are popping up everywhere for just about any use you can imagine. What makes metal buildings so popular? Here are a dozen reasons that steel buildings are the right choice for just about everything from your backyard workshop to a huge skyscraper.

You’ll Save Money

Lots of money. Steel is the most affordable building material, so steel buildings start out cheaper, and you’ll just get more opportunities to save money along the way. From the moment you sign on the dotted line, you’ll save money.

Your Steel Building Will Be Safer

Steel buildings are practically impervious to most types of weather events and are fire resistant. That makes your metal building safer than most other types of construction.

Metal Buildings are Built to Last

Pre-engineered steel buildings will last a lifetime – or more. Most metal buildings require very little maintenance, and can be expected to last for decades. Most steel building companies warrant their buildings for 20 years or more.

You’ll Get Lots of Flexible Interior Space

The typical construction methods used with steel provide lots of unencumbered interior space, which gives you the flexibility to create a floor plan that works for you.

No Bad Seats in This Arena

If you’re using a steel building as a sports arena or other entertainment facility – or a riding arena, volleyball court or other space requiring high ceilings and lots of space – you’ve made the right decision. Steel buildings can be up to 300 feet wide without the need for posts or beams to hold them up, and as long as you want them to be. That’s lots of room without any posts to block your audience’s view.

Quick Construction Time Gets You In Business Sooner

All the cutting, fitting and drilling are done at the factory, so your steel building goes up a whole lot faster than wood or concrete structures. That means you can get moved in and down to business faster.

Steel Buildings Meet or Exceed Your Local Code

Steel buildings are always engineered to meet your local codes and requirements, so you can be certain that your new workshop, garage or factory will withstand the worst nastiness Mother Nature has to throw at you.

Steel Buildings Are Practically Dummy-Proof

Every component for your steel building is pre-shaped, pre-trimmed, pre-welded, pre-drilled, pre-fitted and pre-painted, ready to put together at destination. It’s almost impossible to mess it up.

Steel Buildings Fit in Anywhere

With the latest technology available, your steel building can look like stone, brick, wood or stucco – or like steel! It’s easy to fit your new building into its surroundings, or make it stand out.

You Can Customize Your Building with Accessories

As if that’s not enough, you can customize steel buildings even further with doors, windows, skylight and many other accessories.

Steel buildings are the ideal choice for just about any use. Contact a supplier of quality metal buildings about your project and find out how.

Help Choosing Steel Buildings for Your Project

There are many different types and styles of steel buildings and steel building systems on the market. Choosing the right one for your needs can make a big difference in your design and construction process, as well as in the quality of your completed building. Picking a steel building system without considering the style can result in a building that simply doesn’t really suit your needs. These are some of the things you should consider when choosing a metal building.
Suitability
Start by checking with your local building office to find out if steel buildings are allowed by your city’s building ordinances and by any homeowner association memberships you may belong to. In some cases, the zoning ordinances and building codes will be very specific about the size, style and type of metal building that you’ll be allowed to erect. In other cases, it will be entirely up to you. Either way, it’s important to know what you can build before you start designing.
Style
The different styles of steel buildings include Quonset buildings – the quintessential hoop buildings that once dotted the Midwest fields – and arch frame steel buildings, which are very similar but more stylish. If you’re building on your residential property, appearance and style may be very important. These days, technical and technological advances have made it fairly easy to erect a steel building that will almost exactly match your home, garages and other structures on your property. If your building project is a commercial one, the style is part of your brand and your image, and appearance can be even more important. Evaluate all of the features and benefits of each style before making a decision.
Construction Time
The actual erection time of your new metal building will probably be far shorter than you expect. Because you’ll be paying less for labor – shorter erection times mean less hours worked, after all – you’ll have more money to put into amenities for your building that you might not have considered.
Quality Materials
Look for high quality steel – and keep in mind that the lower the gauge number, the thicker the steel is. The thickness of the steel makes a difference in many different ways, right down to the fact that it can be more difficult to finish a cheap, thin-gauge steel building with fire retardant. Choose the best quality building you can find. It will pay off for you in the long run.
The best advice you can get when choosing between steel buildings will often be the supplier you choose. If you’re working with an experienced, expert steel building supplier, you can take advantage of the years of knowledge and experience to help you make the best decisions.

Top Six Reasons to Choose Steel Buildings

Steel has been the construction material of choice for skyscrapers and commercial construction since the late 1800s, when the first tall buildings started going up in the big cities. Smaller builders were slower to adopt steel buildings, but in recent years, they’ve been growing in popularity for use as garages and barns, storage buildings and even home additions. There are some excellent reasons for the popularity of steel buildings. These are the top six reasons that you should consider steel for your next building project.

Great Savings

For decades, steel buildings have been cost-competitive to traditional building materials and methods. You only pay for the construction materials that are used – there’s no waste as there is with wood-frame buildings and concrete. Because steel buildings require minimal foundations, you save money on the foundation, and because they go up more quickly than traditional buildings, you save money on labor costs for construction. In addition, you’ll save money over the life of the building on reduced insurance premiums that reflect their durability and fire resistance.

Quick Construction

Erecting a steel building is easy and fast. Even inexperienced builders can put a metal building up quickly, and a contractor crew with experience in erecting steel buildings can put one together in record time. Because all the parts are pre-fabricated, pre-cut and pre-drilled, construction is merely a matter of moving the pieces into place and fastening them with stainless steel fasteners.

Extreme Durability

Steel buildings are engineered to meet or exceed the building codes, making them extremely durable under the most extreme weather and environmental conditions. Steel doesn’t rot, shrink, break or crack like wood does, and it is not hospitable to mold or insects. Steel is also non-combustible, so fire does not spread easily.

Versatility

Steel buildings are not metal boxes any more. With the full range of new technologies available, steel buildings can look like just about anything you want. While many of the metal buildings sold are still Quonset buildings or some variation of them, there are also garages and barns made of steel that are virtually indistinguishable from their traditional counterparts.

Environmentally Friendly

Most of the steel used in steel buildings is recycled, and will be recycled. The benefits include reducing the stress on our natural resources and promoting the re-use of natural resources. In addition, steel buildings are energy efficient with proper insulation, and when they do reach a landfill, the components of a steel building take up about 1/20^th the amount of space as the waste from a demolished traditional building.

Warranty

The high quality of materials used for steel buildings is reflected by the warranties offered by steel building manufacturers – typically up to 50 years in general use.

Steel buildings are often the best choice for nearly any building project. These benefits – and dozens of others – make them the best option for your project, too.

Insulation Options for Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are gaining popularity for many different uses and purposes. They’re affordable, easy to erect, durable enough to last for decades and require very little maintenance. They make great garages and barns, storage sheds and home offices, to name just a few. If the metal building you’re putting up with be occupied for any length of time – if, for example, you’ll be using your garage as a workshop or are putting up a steel building as an office – you’ll want to make sure to add insulation to your building project. Choosing the right insulation for steel buildings is a matter of understanding the different types of insulation and the best uses for each.

Insulating Steel Buildings in Hot Climates

Steel is one of the better conductors of heat. In hot climates, or in regions where the summers can be hot, the interior of a steel building can quickly reach unhealthy levels. The solution to that problem is radiant barrier insulation. In the warmest clients, it may be the only insulation needed for steel buildings. Radiant barrier insulation consists of a sheet of foil that reflects the sun, thus reducing the heating impact of its rays. It is installed on the underside of the roof, where it can reduce heat gains through the roof by as much as 25%. It can cost as little as $0.13 per foot or as much as $0.33 per square foot.

In addition to installing radiant barrier insulation, those who are putting up steel buildings in hot climates should consider a reflective, energy efficient roof, which absorb far less heat than traditional roofing materials, which can reduce the heat gain through the roof even further.

Insulating Steel Buildings in Cold Climates

In cold climates, the problem is the exact opposite. Because steel is such a good conductor of heat, any warmth inside the building will quickly dissipate. The solution to that problem is thermal insulation, which reduces heat loss by placing materials with lesser heat conductivity between the inside air and the walls of the building. There are many types of thermal insulation available, with varying degrees of protection. Thermal insulation is rated by the R factor – the higher the R factor, the better the insulation works to keep interior temperatures warmer and reduce heat loss.

Just as light-colored roofs reflect the heat and keep a building cooler, dark or dull roofs absorb heat and keep the interiors warmer. In northern climates, darker roofs on steel buildings are more energy efficient.

Building for Retail? Think Steel Buildings for Profit

When you’re building a retail space, you have to be conscious of many different factors. It’s not enough to choose a building because it’s affordable. Your building needs to be comfortable, attractive and sturdy. Only one type of construction fits all of the divergent factors perfectly: steel buildings. Attractive, affordable and easy to maintain, steel buildings are the best choice for retail locations, big and small. From a farm store to sell produce and hand-crafted products to a convenience or department store, metal buildings offer the biggest number of benefits and advantages to the discerning business owner.

Lease or Build with Steel?

One of the first questions that a new retailer has to face is whether to lease space or build his own retail building. There are some situations where leasing just isn’t practical. In the case of a farm stand, for example, the last thing you want to do is truck all of your products to a different location when you can build an attractive metal building right on your property. Likewise, a crafter who wants to turn his hobby into a profitable enterprise might do better to construct his own retail space from a pre-engineered steel building custom designed to meet his needs and design aesthetic.

Isn’t That Expensive?

A custom building may seem cost prohibitive, but when you’re working small and building with steel, the bottom line may surprise you. Many retailers end up spending a small fortune retrofitting an existing building to meet their needs. When you build from scratch, you’ll work with a steel building supplier to design exactly the building you want and need, right down to deciding where to site the electrical outlets and cable channels.

That’s without even taking into account the affordability of steel buildings in the first place. Steel is the most affordable building material available, and the construction methods used with pre-engineered steel building reduce your construction costs, while shortening the actual construction time. Depending on the size of your metal building and the interior details, you could conceivably launch your grand opening as little as a month after making your decision to build.

Steel buildings have been a staple of large retail concerns for some time. They’re de rigeur for big box stores and chain department stores, but small retailers have been slower to adopt the technology. If you’re considering opening a retail store for your farm or other small business, do a full analysis of the cost benefits of choosing a steel building as your home base.

Why Steel Buildings Are Best for Recreational Buildings

Is your town, business or organization considering putting up a skating rink, indoor tennis courts or other recreational building? Steel buildings offer stability, quality and affordability, three things that are vitally important when constructing a building that will be used by the general public. The right supplier of steel buildings can help you design and construct a superior recreational building that your constituents will enjoy for decades with very little maintenance.

The Deal with Steel Buildings

Metal buildings offer a number of important advantages for an organization that needs to maximize its budget and its time. Here are just three of the most important benefits of choosing a steel building for your new recreational center.

Time

Short construction schedules are the norm for metal buildings. The components of your building will be engineered, cut to size, welded and even pre-drilled in the right places for connectors. Every piece is manufactured in a strictly quality-controlled factory environment, and then the whole passel is shipped to your building site ready for assembly when your foundation is ready to be built. Your contractor bolts the pieces together, erecting your new rec center in a fraction of the time it would take to put up a wood or masonry building.

Design

Contrary to popular belief, you’re not stuck with half-dome shaped Quonset buildings as your only design choice when you decide on a metal building. All steel buildings do not look like painted metal boxes, either. In fact, your steel building supplier will happily work with you to incorporate your vision of the finished design into the blueprints and schematics for the engineers. Since most steel buildings are structurally sound without interior beams and posts, you have a great deal of flexibility in designing the interior floor plan. Add racquetball courts, locker rooms and a shower area, or build in arena seating around a convertible ice rink – it’s all possible when you building with steel.

Safety

Every steel building is designed with safety and durability in mind. Structural engineers will design your building to meet or exceed all local building standards for safety and weather resistance. Depending on the company you choose to work with, your building will include up to a 50-year structural warranty, and some components may even have a longer warranty period. Steel buildings are designed to withstand the elements, even in the most extreme climates, so you can breathe easy about keeping your community members safe when they’re at your facility.

When you add in the considerably cost savings of building with steel – steel buildings are generally acknowledged as the most affordable types of construction – the decision to erect a metal building as a recreational facility is an easy one to make.