Steel Buildings Pros and Cons

Are you considering putting up a new storage building, garage, home office or other structure on your property? If so, chances are good that you’ve considered a steel building as an option. Steel buildings are among the most common choices for people building garages, barns, home workshops or offices and storage buildings. There are a lot of reasons that people choose steel buildings over other types of construction for residential, small industrial and small farm uses. Check out the pros and cons of steel buildings.

Pros for Steel Building Construction

Steel is lighter and stronger than wood, concrete or brick. That allows you to build taller or larger without adding more support.

Steel doesn’t warp or expand. It’s not subject to extreme changes due to temperature or weather, which makes it more stable as a building material.

Steel is the most affordable building material year after year, and the methods used to construct steel buildings keep the costs lower than traditional construction materials and methods.

Because steel is non-porous and impermeable to moisture, it doesn’t mold or mildew, and won’t rot or decay like wood does, nor crumble like masonry can.

You never have to worry about termite infestations with steel, avoiding a potentially very expensive problem that afflicts wooden structures.

Steel building components are powder-coated to resist rust and corrosion. The colored powder coating can last for decades, far outlasting the paint jobs on wooden structures, which saves more money, work and time.

Steel is the eco-friendly choice for building. Most steel used in the building trade is recycled, so your new building won’t be taking more resources from the earth. And since steel is recyclable, when your building has outlived its usefulness, it can be recycled to become something new.

Steel is flame retardant, so fire is much less a concern than it is with a wood-framed building. Because of that, insurance companies generally charge considerably lower premiums to owners of steel buildings.

The government recognizes steel buildings as energy-efficient, especially when they’re topped with energy-efficient roofs. Many steel buildings will qualify for tax credits to further reduce the cost of owning a metal building.

Smaller metal buildings can often be erected by homeowners with very little construction experience. Steel building components are delivered ready to assemble, and require very few tools to put together, so as long as a project is small enough, it can often be put together on site by the homeowner.

Cons of Steel Buildings

There are few cons to choosing a metal building for your construction project. The biggest of these is that steel is an excellent conductor of heat, so uninsulated steel buildings can be excessively hot or cold. Insulation systems for steel buildings are not terribly expensive, however, so even that con is easily removed.

Choosing steel buildings for your project nearly always makes sense for your needs. Learn more about your choices for metal buildings and accessories and you’ll find out that they’re the perfect choice for your project.