Steel buildings,,, good or bad experiences

[adamjones]

I worked the summer between undergrad and grad school at Behlen's in Columbus Ne.

1. You want someone regional, the major price differential will come from long distance shipping if you get too far out of your area.
2. Make sure your is engineered specifically for your location. A reputable manufacture will provide you with a sealed set of engineering drawings. A friend had one built here in Texas by a local contractor for a barndominum. Supposedly it was engineered, but I could tell from the pictures that it must have only been engineered once and they copied the same design all over the area...
3. Building longer will be cheaper than building it wider. You might even get a bigger building (sq footage wise) if you are flexible with the dimensions of the building.
4. If you are ok with tapered columns on the frames, it will be cheaper than having straight columns.
Seems that there are a lot of people wanting to supply but fewer that actually make the buildings so a lot must be peddling the same manufacturer product. Happy to pay on going forward for the plans for planning submission but some seem to want quite a lot for these what's reasonable?

Anyone known as good, manufacturer, company etc any good advice or tips on picking a good one Steel Buildings.

Hello. Hi, Looking to build a detached garage. As wood prices are sky high is it worth looking into a future steel garage package (corrugated steel). What are your guys thoughts on these style vs stick built? Thanks!

 

[Margo]

Bought a 20x36 carport for trailer storage and the like. Got taller sides so I can pull a trailer load of hay under if need to. Crew was here and had it put up and going out the driveway in under 4 hours. Plus NO carpenter bees to deal with. Had for several years now and very happy with it.

 

[DoubleO7]

Hello. Hi, Looking to build a detached garage. As wood prices are sky high is it worth looking into a future steel garage package (corrugated steel). What are your guys thoughts on these style vs stick built? Thanks!

What is a corrugated steel building?
A quonset hut style?

 

[Texasmark]

DW1307...... When checking out potential candidates, ask if the building has been engineered to a specific wind shear (in mph).

My steel building survived Hurricane Laura. It is 12 miles " as the crow flies " from Cameron La. Not a scratch.

That's amazing if the wind came in the same direction as you have the camera pointed. If from the back side, not so amazing. I have a neighbor that recently had a 40x40x10' fully enclosed building built with that 2x2 square tubing and adequate bracing as shown in your picture with similar sheating. I don't know the wind load rating but he hasn't had any bad weather to test it.....yea!!! The 2x2's seem to be well anchored to the foundation with "shot in" bolts rather than something buried in the slab.

My building is a pole barn 30x50x12 with a 15x50' lean-to coming off the roof on one side for parking my tractors, made from wood with 26 ga. steel sheating. Wind load is 90 MPH with professional engineered drawings. Had it built in 2005 and the company was out of Muleshoe Ok. It has served me well but I have had some soil shifting and with a floating slab (pour the slab after the building is built) the building started sinking in spots and I made braces to raise it back up and secure the poles to the slab which has solved that problem....my soil is clay and said to be a problem for dwellings and roadways....and it is.

There are also companies around here that build steel "C purlin" buildings on a slab with welded steel plates embedded in the concrete when the slab it poured with steel sheating which are nice but a lot more expensive than my building. I didn't go with this arrangement because I wanted wood members where I could easily attach things to the wall and have been able to do that.

My doors are centered on the 30' dimension and 12x10 high and I have one that slides/rolls on steel rails on either side of the opening rather than havin one large door. A single large door of those dimensions would require the door to be to the side of the building to allow room for the door to open and be protected from wind damage. Roll up doors are popular on buildings constructed of materials like in the picture and seem to be well suited. My neighbor had to wait several months to get his door as there was some problem with parts required and the overseas supplier was having problems getting them over here. HTH

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I'm getting close to buying a prefab steel building and hoping I'm not making a mistake. There seems to be 100's of companies selling buildings, but most I figure are only brokers. This is a first time purchase for me and not sure I trust any of these companies. The best prices I have so far are from Ithaca Steel, in Phila Pa., and Olympia Buildings from Florida, but made in Pittsburgh Pa. I'm hoping to find some people who have gone through this process and can either recommend any company that's good to deal with, or warn me about any that might be a problem.

DW1307
When I was first starting out I bought 2 metal sheds 10x14 and made a 14x20 shed.
My mistake was not putting it on a concrete floor. Moisture from the clay soil turned the shed into a rain forest.
I've seen metal screened in rooms in Florida collapse. Leaves built up on the roof. Blocking the rain gutters.
The weight of the rain water trapped on the roof collapsed in the room.
My concern would be concerned about ventilation, condensation, securing it, snow load and wind.
Good luck. Keep us posted.