Need Extra Room? Consider Steel Buildings Instead of an Addition

Steel buildings are a fairly commonplace sight along rural roads, where they’re often used to house livestock, store grain and providing cover for farm equipment. They’re a growing presence in the suburban landscape as well, as standalone garages and storage sheds for homeowners. Versatile and surprisingly stylish when built correctly, steel buildings offer other advantages and features, though, especially if you find you need extra room for living. If you’re one of the many empty-nesters whose nestlings have come home to roost, or baby boomers who find that mom and dad need extra help to live on their own, steel buildings may offer a surprising alternative to the traditional room addition or room over the garage.

Why Steel Buildings Instead of A Room Addition?

Expense is one of the biggest advantages that steel buildings have over adding a room to your home. A room addition may involve digging a foundation, knocking out walls and rebuilding load bearing walls to accommodate the new room. Adding a room is also bound to increase your tax assessment and your taxes, so you’ll end up paying substantially more in taxes year after year.

Steel buildings, on the other hand, are completely stand alone structures. Most don’t require a dug foundation, though local building codes may require some sort of foundation. You won’t have to make any alterations to your current structure, and a new steel building won’t permanently alter your tax assessment for your home.

A Room Addition Is Forever

When you add on a new room, you’re making a permanent alteration to your home. Depending on the style and size of your current living space, it may look awkward and it may affect parts of your home that you love. One of the most attractive features of steel buildings is that you can take them apart as easily as you put them together. If the situation that requires an extra room in your home isn’t permanent, why should your solution be forever? When you choose a steel building, you can take it apart or easily adapt it for another use when it’s no longer needed for housing mom, dad or your returned college student.

A Standalone Building Provides Privacy

One of the least comfortable aspects of bringing another adult to live with you, even if it is mom, dad or your own kid. is the loss of privacy on both sides. Some homeowners get around the privacy issues by building a mother-in-law apartment over the garage or in the basement, but that can be prohibitively expensive. Today, you’ll find many styles of steel buildings that resemble small cottages, and can be outfitted with electricity and plumbing to provide the basic needs for residency.

If you’re considering building an addition to your home to serve as an in-law apartment or a room for a returning child, parent or sibling, be sure to consider the advantages of steel buildings for your purposes.