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.

Three Things You Didn’t Know About Steel Buildings

Steel buildings quickly gaining popularity as more and more people begin to use them for garages, barns, small shops, home offices, hangers for planes and shelter for animals.  But steel buildings have evolved so much that you may not even recognize one if you see it.  Here are three things that you probably didn’t know about a metal building.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Many people assume that if you want a steel building, you simply drive to the manufacturer and pick one up. But it’s not as simple as that.  Metal buildings must meet the specifications and codes of the area that you live in.  Steel building manufacturers know this, and so they don’t pre-build them.  Instead, when an order comes in, they custom design and engineer it to the required codes.  That means that if you want a steel building, you should talk to the manufacturer some time before you’ll actually need the building so they can build it especially for you.

They are Environmentally Friendly

If you want to do your part to protect the environment, steel buildings may be the answer.  They are made from 100 percent recycled steel.  In fact, most of the metal buildings had other uses before becoming a building.  Some were cars, refrigerators, bridges or even another steel building.  What’s more, the roofs can last at least 50 years.  Compare that to an average 17 years for a traditional roof.  Opting for a steel building will help reduce the impact on the environment.

They are Versatile

Unlike traditional buildings, steel buildings are extremely versatile.  They are portable, which means that if you want to move them to another part of your property-or even across town-all you have to do is dismantle them, transport them and then reassemble them in the new location.  In addition, you can easily make a metal building bigger by simply taking off the end caps and then add the new panels to increase the size.  After that, just reattach the old end wall and you’ll have a larger building.  You can also easily add windows and doors to an existing steel building.

As you can see, steel buildings have come a long way since the original Quonset buildings.  If you need to add space to your property, you should talk to a metal building manufacturer to determine which building is right for you.