Interior Upgrades for Steel Buildings

It’s fairly well-known that steel buildings are affordable, green, versatile and durable. However, many people don’t understand that the price you’re quoted when you inquire about metal buildings doesn’t include any type of interior finishing. The price for your steel building will generally include the girts and cable bracing needed to make the frame, the exterior wall components and the roof panels. Most also include a trim kit or finish kit, which will cover the places where the walls butt up against each other and the roof seam. Some may also include gutters and exterior trim. The interior of your steel building, however, will be, well, naked. What you’ll see from the inside is, essentially, the inside of the outside with all the bones that hold it up. This is true whether building steel barns, garages, workshops or even a mother-in-law apartment or guest house. Even before you start considering interior décor, though, there are options that can pretty up the insides of steel buildings for fairly low cost.

Interior Liner Panel

The most common of these options for steel buildings interiors is an interior liner panel. These panels are metal panels designed to fit the inner shell of your new structure and cover the skeleton. You can purchase inner panel liners in the same gauge as your exterior, or opt for a cheaper gauge of steel for the interior shell, since it won’t have to stand up to the elements that the outer shell will face.

Partition Walls

Want to divide up your metal building into smaller rooms? Need a sectioned off area to use as an office or storage room? You can order partition walls from your steel building manufacturer. The partition walls are generally made of the same materials as the end walls of steel garages and steel barns. You can specify the height and length of the walls and have the outer walls designed with channels to hold the interior partition walls.

Mezzanine

A second level in your metal building effectively doubles your available floor space. In a steel building, the second level is referred to as a mezzanine. It can extend across the entire structure, or be designed as a loft overlooking the main level. A second level inside your steel building can provide storage space in garages, office space in workshops or a bedroom loft if you’re building a residential space.

These are options that can be designed into steel buildings, and are always easier to add when they’re actually built into the design from the start. When you  talk to a steel building supplier or manufacturer, be sure to ask about interior options before getting a price quote.