Steel Homes

[bignissan]

Thought this was the appropriate place:

Any how, I'm looking into building a steel frame home. Does anyone have any experience with them? I want a 2 story, anywhere from 2300-3000 sq. ft. I've seen Heritage, Tri-City, Kodiak steel homes so far, but seeing what else is out there. This will go up the same time as the shop more than likely.

[hoohaa]

I'll be watching this topic with interest as I've been wondering the same thing.

[SPEEDCRAVIN]

I have seen what you are talking about and dont know of any sources but check out my build in my signature... Kinda along the lines of what you are talking about...

JOSH

[D60]

Also watching w interest. Have long thought this is a great fawking idea. If I built a home from scratch this is how I'd approach it. Also if I were to build my deck over it would all be from steel.

[bigdreamin]

Why would be my question? I know steel stud are slightly cheaper and whatnot. I don't think I have ever seen that done around here.

I'm guessing you have a termite problem? :flipoff2:

[D60]

Why would be my question? I know steel stud are slightly cheaper and whatnot. I don't think I have ever seen that done around here.

I'm guessing you have a termite problem? :flipoff2:

A few things off the top of my head, without having done any research:

1) w a moderately competent crew it'll go up faster and be closed in from the weather sooner

2) it'll flat out be stronger and more durable (how do one to two story steel structures fare in earthquakes?)

3) anything that is structural is impervious to termites, carpenter ants, woodpeckers, flood, mold, etc.

4) while it may not necessarily be easier to anchor large or heavy things to walls, ceilings or eaves, you can do so with absolute certainty that it ain't gonna fail; I simply never trust the largest of lag screws or lag bolts 'cause ultimately they rely upon wood. With some forethought in design you could run an elevated deck off an exterior wall with no gussets or beams to the ground, and you could run it out much further than wood beams would allow.

5) it may be VERY cost competitive, and I wouldn't be surprised if it were cheaper in many areas (some of this goes back to #1)

6) this is a personal taste thing, but I see a lot of commercial steel bldgs where they finish the interior but intentionally leave an I-beam or two exposed and paint it something cool. I think it gives a nice, almost industrial but still comfortable feel to the environment

[85blue4runner]

steel studs suck ass in certain aspects compared to wood. They are very thin and therefore flex and move a lot during construction...ie you cant walk on them like you would walk on 2x4s in an attic, a prefabbed wall is very flimsy and flexy until bolted into place, etc.. Additionally, they are usually put together with small sheet metal screws and since all of our houses in the south are built by amigos who dont give a shit about quality, expect half of the screw holes to be stripped out, maybe more...

If you want to put anything on the wall (cabinets, pictures, molding, etc) you have to use a screw, a nail will fall out, so you are stuck with self tappers or pre drilling a hole and running a screw or bolt in that way.

no termites and may be cheaper dp on where you live, but from my experience as a low voltage contractor in commercial and residential structures with steel studs, i hate that shit..

[roverjohn]

I'll second this^^^^^^^^^. I saw one going up near me so I stopped to look around. The studs are extremely flexy and there is no way you could hang a cantilevered deck off them. Construction seemed slower to me with screws VS a framing gun but it could have been me slowing the guy down. The builder was very proud of his technique and claimed the home could withstand 100mph winds and of course termites but the first thing I saw were dissimilar metals connecting the galvanized studs and when I see that I think rust. I doubt any of us would see such a house fail in our lifetimes though so if it was somehow a better deal this way I would not hesitate to go this route.
John..

[Travis Waldher]

100mph isn't that incredible.

There's a lot of wooden houses standing without any damage that have seen that.

[Bmf24]

i build/ remodel houses for a living.
you will never find me using steel to build my house.
steel studs are not all that strong. they get most of their strength from the wood sheeting, or using sheet metal bracing welded to every stud in the wall.
Second, there is no way in hell anyone could frame a metal stud structure faster than my framing crew using wood studs with nail guns. i have seen some pretty fast steel stud guys and they were about 1/2 as fast as my framers.

as mentiones above, you cant nail the trim to steel studs. i do alot of trim work, and i couldnt imagine having to srcew all the trim to the studs. that would take me 4x longer and the trim would look like crap with those big holes all over the place.

the biggest problem of all:
steel studs transmit sound. if you ever see an office building built with steel, it has inusulation in every single wall. add to that you have to use special sound channels on one side of the wall just to make the sound transmitting be close to a wood wall.
seems like alot more work and material.

the good:
i do use metal studs for soffits. its light, strong in that short of a span, and screwing it together makes it not sag like a wood soffit might.

[jmhinescj]

I am in construction mgt. for a commercial contractor but I don't know anything about steel homes.

that being I think alot of you guys saying how flimsy steel studs are are thinking about 22-25 ga. studs like you would find in partition walls in a tenant fitout or something. The heritage house site said they used a 6 in. 18 ga. stud...that's pretty stiff.

Bmf24 was right about the trim though...the cabinets wouldn't bad...just run some blocking like alot of guys do with wood studs. but that would be alot of blocking to do that for the base or crown (if used) etc. I guess you could use mdf trim and just glue it though...for the base anyway...not sure how that would work out.

I would be interested to see how they do energy wise...

[bignissan]

The main frame is still big Iron, and most can handle 140 mph winds. Though I don't need to worry about that much where I'm at. Also, as far as galvanic corrosion, this is typical industrial style building so I don't think that's much of an issue.
From what I've HEARD ( have not read anywhere yet), is that with some of the steel homes, you don't have and load bearing walls, so you can layout however you want. That's the most appealing feature to me. Here in Texas, humidity sucks bad, and Mold is a big issue leaving major demo's to be done, rather than just cleaning steel. Price wise...I think it's a bit more still, again I'm still in research phase so as I get info. I'll let you all know.

www.miracletruss.com does homes as well. They use wood for the perlins so it would be similar to a wood home, but the "studs" are horizontal rather than vertical. I'll keep y'all updated with anything I find out.

[Lil Toe]

www.miracletruss.com does homes as well. They use wood for the perlins so it would be similar to a wood home, but the "studs" are horizontal rather than vertical. I'll keep y'all updated with anything I find out.

I don't think they are really doing homes, those are just framed differently, those are the same pics they had when I bought my building from them almost 10 years ago. There are pics of mine around and a thread in the shop build up thread. And holy crap, have prices gone up, I paid less than $20k for my 42x84.:eek:

[bignissan]

http://www.excalibursteel.com/better.htm

some good points here

[SHERPA]

I watched (on occasion while under construction) a subdivision of homes
being built at Half Moon Bay Ca....... which is right on the coast....

They brought 90% of all the walls and structures in on a custom built
trailer.....

IE: these walls were built in a shop, then brought out to the job site.

IMO: This would be ideal for a guy who had a large shop, (plenty of
floor space) to build almost an entire home, then crane everything into
position........ forklift, alot of help from freinds, etc....

--I'd go up quick.......... It could be spot welded, as well as screwed,
as well as mig-spot welded...............

--Sherpa

[bigun]

As an electrician I can tell you steel stud houses are a pain to wire. Instead of drills you have to have stud punches, you don't nail anything it is all done with screws. You either use MC cable or you have to put grommets in to protect your wire through the studs.

[bigdreamin]

As an electrician I can tell you steel stud houses are a pain to wire. Instead of drills you have to have stud punches, you don't nail anything it is all done with screws. You either use MC cable or you have to put grommets in to protect your wire through the studs.

That would get damn expensive running armored cable for every thing.

[Urban Wheeler]

If I was going to do that, I'd do an I-beam frame and wood studs inside. With a little bit of forethought you could build it in such a way that you could rearrange the layout if you wanted.

[Rat70FJ]

If I was going to do that, I'd do an I-beam frame and wood studs inside. With a little bit of forethought you could build it in such a way that you could rearrange the layout if you wanted.

Kinda like a commercial building. When you get tired of your current home, just do a tenant improvement!

[void_of_light]

I actually live in a metal home. I got it from Heritage homes and started work in November 2001 and made my first payment in July 2002. Aside from the foundation slab plumbing rough in and the roofing all work was done by myself, my dad and a various assortment of friends and family. The house was very easy to put up. The studs are not as rigid as wood but every one of them is straight and once you put Sheetrock up its plenty strong. The only load bearing walls are the outside ones so you can place your walls anywhere. I would defiantly build one again. This is the best pic I have right now. I was building my garage at the time.

[bignissan]

You're not far from me at all! What plan is your home? Or did you design yourself?

[void_of_light]

Its the south ridge 1740 sqft
http://heritagebuildings.com/steel_homes/southridge/index.asp

I bought it right before the price of steel sky rocketed. I will be glad to answer any questions you have or snap a few pix of areas that interest you.

It survived Rita with just a few pieces of soffit blowing off.

[Chrisjeep7]

1) steel crews are more $$$ cuz they take longer.

2) No trade likes to work with steel and therefore will also cost more (think plumbers, electricians, ect)

3) steel has no R value like wood will cost more to heat and cool.

4) wood is not as weak as you think when nailed and bolted properly. most framers dont take the time of day to use proper hangers and nailing patterns. this decreases strength the most (pick up a western woods book and start reading)

just to name a few...

if you want great strength and awesome insulation think concrete...

the new systems looks cool and go together like legos. with a days worth of training you could frame your own house. not the start up costs are higher but the energy savings could save you a bundle. throw a nice ground source heat pump (now cost about the same as a traditional unit to install but use 50% less energy) HVAC system on that and your utility bills will be 60%+ less than a comparable house.

start reading https://www.cement.org/homes/ch_bs_icf.asp
and http://www.iegltd.com/html/information.html
download the slide show for the most info.

[torkmonstr]

I like how the wood guy like to bash the steel homes, I built one for myself about 2 years ago with 16 and 20 ga steel. I had no problem with plumbing, wiring or anything else during the build. yea it does cost a little more but mine just took a hit from a F-3 tornado and it still standing, I only had some busted windows, cracked sheetrock, I wish my red iron shop would have faired as well as it was totally destroyed. I have pic of both but can't seem to attach them.and with the expanding faom insulation my highest bill has been about 60 a month

[Chrisjeep7]

I like how the wood guy like to bash the steel homes, I built one for myself about 2 years ago with 16 and 20 ga steel. I had no problem with plumbing, wiring or anything else during the build. yea it does cost a little more but mine just too a F-3 tornado and it still standing, I only had some busted windows, cracked sheetrock, I wish my red iron shop would have faired as well as it was totally destroyed. I have pic of both but can't seem to attach them.and with the expanding faom insulation my highest bill has been about 60 a month

i am not bashing steel i am just pointing out the differences. when i build a home in the next 2 years it will be concrete.

[void_of_light]

We built my home in about 7 months working nights and weekends. we had the red iron up in 2 full weekends using just a tractor with a front end loader.

my house is wrapped in a reflective thermo blanket and has 6 inch walls full of insulation. My highest electric bill was $150 keeping the thermostat at 72. in the winter time my gas bill is about $80

the studs come with holes pre-punched to run plumbing and electrical. you do have to protect the runs but that wasn't a big deal.

If you can do some of the work yourself its much cheaper to build a metal home.
If you contract the whole thing out its probably more expensive.

[actionpaintball]

100mph isn't that incredible.

There's a lot of wooden houses standing without any damage that have seen that.

100MPH wind rating is the MINIMUM allowed in my county.