Design Options for Steel Buildings

Once you’ve decided that a steel building is the best option for you – and across the country, steel buildings are increasingly popular as garages, barns, storage buildings and home workshops – the real fun starts. You get to make design decisions, and there are a lot more of them than you’d expect. From the basic style to the roofing options and accessories, there are many ways to customize steel buildings.

The Basics

The basic design and configuration of your steel building may be determined in part by the building codes and standards put out by your local building office. Keep in mind that all metal buildings must meet basic code standards for safety in your area. Those will include the tolerances for load-bearing, wind loads and more. Based on your intended use and your local building codes, one or more of these styles may not be appropriate for your building.

Quonset Buildings

Quonset buildings use an arch frame construction, with sloping walls and a rounded roof. It’s among the most stable of all building designs, but some areas may not allow them because of appearance.

Arched Steel Buildings

There are a number of variations of Quonset buildings available, varying largely in the slope of the roof and the height of the walls. You may choose from steel buildings with straight sides and an arched roof and steel buildings with straight walls and a pitched roof.

Lean-To

Lean-tos are popular options for carports and greenhouse additions. They generally are built to attach to the side of another structure and can be a less expensive option than a full-size steel building.

In addition to these styles typically used for residential and agriculture-use steel buildings, there are a number of designs that are popular for industrial and retail use. They include symmetrical gable metal buildings, with a single centered roof ridge, asymmetrical gable metal buildings, also sometimes called double-slope buildings, and sloped roof buildings, where the wall is higher on one side than the other, and the roof slopes from side to side.

Steel Building Roof Design

The most common type of roof for steel buildings is a standing seam steel roof. They’re easy to install, less expensive than most other roof materials and will often last 20 years with no maintenance.

Doors and Windows

Your steel building will come with the window and door openings cut, but you’ll generally have to order the doors and windows separately. You can choose from pedestrian doors, barn doors and overhead garage doors, or any combination of them. Windows and skylights can make your building more energy efficient as well as more attractive.

Steel buildings are no longer just squat metal boxes. You’ve got a multitude of design options from which to choose to customize your building to your liking.