If you said you were building a steel building not too long ago, most people would have assumed that you were putting up a commercial building or skyscraper. That’s no longer the case. Today, steel buildings have many uses in manufacturing, in retail and on residential properties. Their increasing popularity is fueled by the low cost of steel construction, as well as all of the benefits that metal buildings provide. These are just a few of the many ways that steel buildings are used.
Commercial Uses for Steel Buildings
Many new small malls and retail stores are built of steel. Steel buildings are especially popular for smaller retail stores because they can be put up quickly and at fairly low cost. They provide safety benefits – steel is non-combustible, for example – cost benefits, and environmental benefits. Buildings used for retail space this way tend to differ in appearance from those pressed into service as factory and storage buildings, but they provide the same safety, cost and structural benefits.
Other common commercial uses for steel buildings include self-storage units, factories and storage for heavy equipment and vehicles, such as boathouses and airplane hangers. Some of the most interesting uses for commercial metal buildings are recreational – Quonset hut construction is very popular in northern states for ice skating rinks, and entrepreneurs in many states have put together volleyball clubs and paintball academies using steel buildings as a base.
Residential Steel Buildings
The newest wrinkle for steel buildings is their growing popularity for residential uses. In some areas, they may even be used as a residence if the zoning laws and business code allows it. More often, though, they are used as garages, storage buildings, garden shed, home offices, carports and workshops. Their popularity for these uses is driven, as it is in commercial applications, by a combination of low cost and high benefits of steel buildings.
Among the attractive features of steel buildings for storage, garages and other residential uses is their safety. Buildings made of steel are so safe, in fact, that many homeowners enjoy lower homeowner insurance rates than they would if they added on a wooden garage or home workshop.
These buildings are also especially popular among home DIY enthusiasts. Many manufacturers sell steel building kits that come complete with everything a property owner needs to put up his own garage, shed or workshop except the land to build it on and the cement for the poured foundation. The DIY aspect brings the cost down even further.
Even better, the cost of steel buildings remains lower than wood or concrete building throughout their usable lives. They require very little in the way of maintenance – nothing more than a spray-down with a pressure washer once a year or so and you’re good to go.
Steel buildings have been the talk of the town and this is because of the whole lot of the features that are embedded with these buildings. After all who would not like to own one especially when it is cost effective, low on maintenance, provides plenty of space and one could customize the design and the shape of the building to suit the requirements to the best.
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