Top Ideas for Modifying Steel Buildings

Steel buildings are easily the most purchased small buildings in the United States today. They’re used by homeowners and business owners in many different situations. High quality metal buildings make great garages, equipment storage buildings, retail stores, barns, workshops and even airplane hangars. One of the biggest reasons that steel buildings are so popular is their versatility – and they’re versatile for one reason: no matter how you intend to use a metal building, the basic framework is the same. It’s the modifications that you make to a steel building that turn your empty shell into the building you want. These are a few of the most popular modifications for steel buildings.

Building Design

While the variations are nearly limitless, there are actually a very limited number of steel building designs that are popular with most people. They include Quonset buildings, and two modified versions of Quonset buildings, most commonly called A-frame steel buildings and P-model steel buildings.

Quonset buildings have no straight lines at all, other than the front and the back walls. They consist of steel semi-circular hoops that form the framework, and steel panels that form the walls and roof together.

A-frame steel buildings maintain the rounded roof of the standard Quonset metal building, but feature straight walls. The design provides less interior space, but more usable space near the walls of the building without compromising the strength of the construction. It makes A-frame buildings ideal for equipment storage, garages and aviation hangars.

P-model steel buildings have pitched roofs and straight walls, making them the most similar to standard house and building construction. While P-model buildings generally have higher clearance at the center, the height doesn’t extend as far across the width of the building. P-model metal buildings are the ideal choice for use in situations where appearance is important. They fit well into residential neighborhoods, which is why they’re often the choice of homeowners who want to add garages to their properties.

Exterior Trim Options

In addition to choosing a color finish, you can also choose trim packages to modify the appearance of your steel building. Most trim packages are standard and included in the price of the metal building. They’re often in a contrasting color to the color you choose for the exterior of the building. They generally include roof ridges, vents, end caps and seam covers for the places where the walls meet.

You can also add windows, doors, skylights and vents to your structure to make your steel buildings fit in – or stand out – as you wish. Choosing the best options for your building will ensure that you end up with a structure that serves your purposes well.

How to Ventilate Steel Buildings

Steel buildings have many benefits, but some of those benefits have another edge. Their custom engineering makes them nearly airtight, which is a bonus when it comes to heating and cooling, but it also makes metal buildings very susceptible to condensation. That makes ventilation an important consideration when you erect a steel building. Without proper air movement, moisture could build up on the inside walls and get trapped between the outer walls and insulation. That kind of moisture buildup is an invitation to mold and spores that could create an unhealthy atmosphere indoors. Luckily, providing proper ventilation for your metal building isn’t a difficult prospect, especially if you choose a supplier or manufacturer of steel buildings that can supply you with everything you need to make sure the air keeps moving inside your building.

How Much Ventilation Do You Need?

You’ll need more or less ventilation depending on a number of different factors. The building’s size, location and even the use of your building will help determine how many vents you need for your metal building and what type of vents you should provide. If you’ll be using the structure strictly for storage, for example, you won’t need to provide as much ventilation as you would if people or livestock will be inhabiting it or using it a lot. That’s in part because the very presence of living beings increase the moisture inside the building and in part because you’ll need to make sure that the air is healthy to breathe.

That’s part of the reason it’s important to let your steel building supplier know what use you intend to make of the building you’re buying. The architects and engineers who help design the tolerances and structure of the building will know where and how to place ventilation shafts, fans and louvers to help keep the moisture content down inside your building.

Types of Ventilation for Steel Buildings

There are three main types of vents used to ventilate metal buildings: ridge vents, circular vents and louvers. Generally, a 2,400 square foot building can be adequately ventilated by a single ten-foot ridge vent, unless you’re intending to use the metal buildings as barns or office space. If that’s the case, you may need to provide additional ventilation. In addition to the ridge vent, which traverses the roof, you may also need to provide louvers or vents near floor level to make sure that there is enough cross ventilation to keep the air moving.

For smaller steel buildings, you may get enough ventilation from a few strategically placed louvers. You can place the louvers on any unobstructed wall surface, but you’ll have to decide where you want them during the design phase of your building.

A reputable and experienced manufacturer of steel buildings can give you the kind of professional advice you need to make sure your building is properly outfitted with vents, as long as you provide him with the information he needs about the building’s intended use.

How to Choose Quonset Steel Buildings

Quonset buildings are among the most popular styles of steel buildings on the market today. They’re based on the design of Quonset huts that were used by the British and adopted by the U.S. military during World War I. After the war, many of the leftover Quonset buildings went on the surplus market and were bought up by farmers and ranchers throughout the West and Midwest who recognized the many benefits they provide for storage, animal housing and garaging heavy equipment.

Today, you’ll find three basic styles of Quonset buildings offered by manufacturers of steel buildings. Understanding the benefits of the three styles of Quonset steel buildings can help you decide which one is the right one for your needs.

Q Model Steel Buildings

The most familiar of all steel buildings, Q models are the least expensive style and provide a number of benefits for storage and agricultural uses. The standard hoop shape construction provides the most cubic footage of interior space, making them especially popular for grain storage and heavy equipment storage. The sloping sides mean that the center point is higher than the area along the sides, though, so if you’ll need clearance along the sides of your building, Q model may not be the metal building for you.

S Model Steel Buildings

S model Quonset buildings look more like barns than like a Quonset hut. They have a domed roof and straight walls, which gives full clearance along both long sides of the building. That makes S model Quonsets a better choice for use as garages and barns. They’re not as structurally sound as Q model metal buildings, but they’ll still stand up to heavy winds and snow loads, making them a good choice for the Northwest and Midwest agricultural belt.

P Model Steel Buildings

If you like a more traditional look to your outbuildings, then the P model Quonset building is the choice for you. These metal buildings have pitched roofs and straight walls, so they fit into nearly any setting. They’re very popular for use as garages, workshops, barns and storage buildings in areas where appearances are important. On the other hand, the pitched roof is the least able to withstand the strong winds common in the flat lands of the Midwest and the heavy snows common in the northern agricultural areas.

No matter which style you choose, though, steel buildings are attractive, durable and require very little maintenance, as well as being among the most cost-effective types of construction for agricultural and other uses. Choosing the best model of steel buildings for your needs will ensure that you get the best value for your money.

Before You Buy Steel Buildings

If you’ve decided that a steel building is the perfect solution for your extra space needs, you may think that you’re ready to start shopping for steel buildings online. Not so fast! There are a few steps you should take before you start looking and risk setting your heart on that adorable white garden house only to find out that you can’t build that. Here are a few steps you should take before you start your window shopping.

Check the Codes

While steel buildings are perfectly welcome in a lot of the best places, there are some neighborhoods that are just too snobby. Before you decide that a metal building is just perfect for you, check with your local zoning department, code department and, if you have one, homeowners’ association to make sure you can erect one on your lot. While you’re checking with them, get their code specifications so you’ll have them ready when the steel buildings manufacturer needs them. You’ll also want to know about things like how much easement you have to allow around your building and how close it can be to the street and to your neighbors’ properties.

Set Your Budget

Determine your overall budget for the project – and remember that you’ll end up paying for a number of things that aren’t included in the price of the building. Those additional costs might include windows and doors, flooring and finishing, and erection costs, plus the cost of your foundation.  In general, figure that you can afford to spend about 60 percent of your total budget on the actual building itself. Steel buildings average about $15 to $20 per square foot before construction. Knowing what you can spend will help you determine the styles and sizes of buildings available to you.

Sketch Out Your Plans

It’s important to be able to visualize what you expect from your new steel building. Grab a sketch pad and draw out a floor plan to help you figure out how much room you need for the interior. Some general figures you might find helpful: a one-car garage should be at least 10 x 10 feet. Most modern two-car garages are at least 24 x 24 feet to provide enough room for parking larger cars. A typical 8 x 10 foot garden shed will hold a lawn mower, a few sets of shelves and your garden furniture for winter storage.

Now that you’ve got some idea of what you’re looking for, and you’re sure that your town allows steel buildings on residential properties, you can start looking for the perfect metal building of your dreams.

Steel Buildings Aren’t Just For Business Anymore

Steel buildings have been popular for business and agricultural uses for many years. They’re used as factory buildings, warehouses and retail stores because they offer so many advantages: affordability, versatility and utility, for starters. Homeowners have been slower to warm up to steel buildings as solutions for cramped space and other needs, but over the past few years, metal buildings have moved into the residential market as well. These are just a few of the uses that people make of steel buildings on their residential properties.

Garages

Tired of parking your car on the street or in the driveway? Is it time to expand your garage because it’s not big enough for your truck or SUV? Steel garages are among the most popular types of steel buildings erected in the U.S. Metal carports and metal garages are affordable and can be erected quickly, making it an easy way to add a garage or upgrade your existing one.

Storage

Stuff. Somehow, homeowners accumulate more stuff as the years go on – and sometimes, it’s just not practical to sell it or throw it away. There’s the bedroom furniture you’re saving until your son gets his first apartment, the winter drapes and the summer patio furniture that all has to go somewhere. Why put up with the inconvenience and ongoing expense of renting a storage building when steel buildings are so affordable and versatile?

In-law Apartments

Whether it’s mom wanting to be close to the grandchildren or kids returning to the nest, more and more families are finding that they need extra living space – preferably detached from the house and offering privacy. Steel buildings are an affordable alternative to building an addition onto your home, and provide as much privacy as a separate home. A metal frame building is surprisingly affordable, quick to erect and can be built to suit any codes required by your town or state.

Home Offices

The trend toward decentralized offices has allowed more and more working people to do their work at home. A steel building is the ideal solution to keeping work and home life separate when you do both in the same place. A separate home office also makes it easier to deduct expenses on your taxes as long as you only use it for work.

Whatever type of expansion you’re considering, be sure to consider the advantages of steel buildings for your needs. Affordable, easy to build and versatile, a steel building could be exactly what you need.

Advantages of Buying Steel Buildings

When you need more space or another building for your property, but your budget is limited, steel buildings are often the perfect solutions. Metal buildings, often built from kits, are the perfect alternative for garages, barns, workshops, sheds and many other uses. If you’ve been considering building a detached addition to your property, whether for a home office, an in-law apartment or a garden shed, a metal building could be the most affordable solution for your needs.

Not sure if steel buildings offer you what you need? Here are just a few of the many things to consider when deciding whether or not to buy a metal building.

Affordability

Steel buildings are more affordable than other types of structures for many reasons. In addition to steel being a good value – one of the least expensive building materials available – metal buildings also save you money in other ways. Small steel buildings – the type that most people are erecting in their yards as garages and home offices – don’t require a dug foundation. It’s a lot cheaper to put down a poured slab foundation than it is to dig a cellar. In addition, many steel buildings are available as kits that you can put together yourself with the help of friends.

Faster

Even if you pay a contractor to erect your building for you, which your building codes may require, it will be a lot cheaper to erect your steel building because metal buildings go up much faster than traditional construction. Depending on the size of the building you choose, an experienced contractor could have the shell standing and ready for you to finish in a day or two. That means you can occupy your building faster, which could save you even more money.

Energy Efficient

Steel buildings are precision-engineered to fit together precisely, which reduces heat transfer between the inside and the outdoors. That means your heat stays inside and your air conditioning doesn’t escape through chinks where the walls meet. In addition, most metal buildings are designed for easy insulation and feature energy-efficient roofs and windows, making it even easier to keep them at the right temperature. That saves you money on your utility bills year-round.

You’ll find many different styles of metal buildings available, including Quonset buildings, arch-frame buildings, straight wall steel buildings and steel buildings with sloped roofs. Whatever your needs, you’re sure to find a steel building style that meets them all.

Tips for Foundations for Steel Buildings

About the only thing that doesn’t come with the package when you buy steel buildings is the foundation. In most cases – there are rare exceptions – your steel building will need a foundation. Foundations for steel buildings run the gamut from pier foundations to fully dug basements with supporting walls. The type of foundation you need for your metal building will depend on a combination of factors, including the size and weight of the building and the building standards in the town or city where you’re erecting it.

Tips for Small Steel Buildings

Most small metal buildings will only require a concrete slab foundation. If you’re experienced in working with concrete and pouring concrete, you can probably do it yourself. Most experts, however, recommend that you hire a general contractor to pour the slab because of the importance of the foundation. If your foundation is uneven in any way, it will be far more difficult to get your shed to go up straight and even. For the typical 10 x 12 steel building, you’ll need a concrete slab about 8 inches deep. That will involve digging out the dirt, leveling the surface and building a framework for the pour. If you’re not familiar with doing this kind of work, it’s best to contract with a professional.

Foundations for Large Metal Buildings

If your steel building will be larger than about 10 x 12, your manufacturer can give you information about the depth of the concrete slab and any other considerations. In most cases, you’ll need to install special supports to handle the combined weight of the building and its contents. You’ll probably also need to build concrete walls to hold the concrete slab because a wood framework won’t be sturdy enough. In most cases, building a foundation for larger steel buildings is not a do-it-yourself job.

Pier Foundations for Small Steel Buildings

If your building codes allow for it, you may be able to erect a small steel building using a pier foundation. This is especially popular for buildings with dirt floors, such as animal shelters and carports, as opposed to garages. The purpose of the foundation is to provide a solid supporting base to which you can bolt your building frame. You’ll have the engineering diagrams for your steel building to tell you where the bolt supports have to be installed in the concrete. Measure out your building perimeter and dig post holes at least 18 inches deep at each support location. Pour concrete into the post holes, and insert the bolt supports in the concrete before it is completely hardened.

Choosing the right foundations for steel buildings is vitally important to the stability of the structure. Always make sure you check your local building codes before you make your choice.