Pre-engineered metal buildings may not be as well-known as traditional wood structures, but they offer numerous benefits to users over wood structures. Read more to learn about why you should consider building with pre-engineered metal buildings instead of wood structures.
1. Durability
The toughness of steel is its chief advantage over wood. Sure, you need to put down a concrete foundation and slab basement, or at the very least concrete bunkers, but the steel won’t warp in the rain, crack in the extreme cold, or wear out. All you have to do is make sure that it’s properly treated so that it doesn’t rust. Also, if you live in an area that is prone to earthquakes, floods, or other serious natural disasters, steel will stand up to that treatment better than wood.
2. Eco-Friendliness
Obviously, wood is eco-friendly because it’s a naturally occurring item. However, when wood wears out, particularly if it’s rotted in any way, then you cannot reuse it. Generally, it winds up in a landfill. Steel, on the other hand, can be melted and reformed even if it’s damaged beyond repair. Being able to reuse a material means that you don’t have to make more from scratch, and, no matter how many times steel is remade into something else, its durability doesn’t change.
3. Low Maintenance
Wood can splinter and flake, which can affect the paint on it. Wood that flakes, splinters, or cracks also has to be replaced to maintain structural integrity. Steel, on the other hand, requires virtually no maintenance at all. Sure, you might have to paint steel a couple of times over the decades, but you would have to repaint wooden structures far more often.
4. Ease of Construction
When you build a wooden structure, the wood that gets delivered to the job site is usually in either sheets or in dimensional lumber of various sizes. These sheets and other pieces of lumber are usually generic in size and must first be cut into the right shapes and sizes to form the components of the building being built. Prefab steel pieces are crafted before they’re delivered, saving great amounts of time at the job site. Further, you can have the prefab pieces customized before delivery so that when they arrive, you can just assemble them into the building.
5. Protection From Mold, Mildew, and Pests
There’s an old Bugs Bunny cartoon about termites and how they can devour a wooden building. The termite in the cartoon then tries to eat a steel beam, with predictable results. Wood is susceptible to destruction by termites, carpenter ants, mold, mildew, and water damage. Steel is immune to those threats. Yes, it’s true that steel can rust, causing weakness, but if the prefab pieces that you assemble to make your building are treated prior to their creation, then you won’t have to worry about rust.
Advantages of Having a Steel Construction(Opens in a new browser tab)
6. Energy Efficiency
When correctly insulated, steel performs just as well as wood when it comes to climate control. When taken in conjunction with the other five benefits listed here, the energy efficiency of prefab steel buildings is the “icing on the cake.”