I’ve been thinking of my ‘box’ home made from SIPs again. Every weekend as I headed toward the shopping mall I see this new church going up. The skeletal framework is steel, but no indication on what the skin will be.
I’ve been thinking about the perceived rectangular SIP box (ahem, ranch) on a full-footprint walkout basement. I am always looking at SIPs as the solution to the future energy concerns, and also the urban noise protection.
Still, the thought in the back of my head still questions whether or not timberframing is more expensive than steel if I were to either not go with load-bearing panels, or that the OC spans are great enough to still warrant the panel being structural.
Have any of you had clients that opted for steel instead of timber?
Replies
no, but wanted to bump and reply that i was considering a similar structure myself.
i was thinking of adapting/modifying a standard rectangular steel frame structure into a faux post and beam ranch house by trimming out the steel beams with stain grade wood.
it could easily be done that you wrap the steel with ply/osb and then cover with wood trim or drywall for a very quick and inexpensive timber frame.
but you could also acheive the same performance with stick frame 2 x 4 "mooney walls coupled with a 1" eps type exterior insulation, if you don't need the spans the steel or timber frame provide, depends on your plan.
Are you sure you want to wrap the structure? Steel can look great. I have a fairly traditional house with two I beams running through it.
I worked in one home that was framed entirely with steel. It was a ranch.
All exterior walls were double 2x4's and 12" thick, and filled with blown in cellulose. The attic had 48" of blown in insulation. The roofing material was stamped steel that looked kinda like a clay tile roof.
One drawback was the home became a Faraday cage- no way to receive radio or tv without an exterior antenna. I bet his cell phone doesn't work in there... :)
I know the project was quite expensive- never found out how much. The heating system alone (hydronic) was in excess of $60k 10 years ago. The owner said that was more than he paid for his first home. The owner commuted by personal helicopter, so I doubt money was an issue :)
Unless lots of resi building is done with steel in your area, I suggest calling on commercial framers to bid your job. I have seen steel studs installed in a commercial space like they were using wood- it wasn't pretty.
Almost all commercial framing here is steel, and the exteriors can be anything you want from plain old ribbed panels to stone to Dryvit.
Have any of you had clients that opted for steel instead of timber?
Yup. All of 'em. Wood's bug food.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Faraday cage, huh? I had not considered that. What is the steel skelton is completed out and then cast in an insulating jacket via a spray-on application? Wouldn't this provent electromagnetic conditions, or at least minimize them?
BTW, I had not thought about boxing in the steel beams to create a faux tember beam. The skelton cost would considered via those dang General Steel commercials http://www.gensteel.com/currentspecials.htm that I see on the weekends. I sent them an email asking about the standard heights of their 'featured building' footprints vs pricing. Nice that they can do simple bolt-together clear-span solutions. But the email to them asked about standard height and SIP applications for the skin.
All the steel by itself makes it difficult to receive things like radio. While working on the job, it was impossible to tune in a radio station with the radio in the house. Worked fine outside or sitting in/near a window rough opening.
This was before the home was insulated.
The house shared more with a commercial building than a traditional stick built home. The ground floor was supported by steel web trusses and a concrete pour for the floor (the radiant tubing was in the concrete). Even the roof was framed with structural steel studs.
Kinda how I would build my house if I had the cubic dollars to do it....
A firehouse near another job I worked on had a steel framed roof, then ribbed galvanized sheet, then 6" of foam panels, then 3/4" fire treated plywood, then finally architectural tab shingles for the roof. It was kinda neat to watch them build that. Why they went with cheapo shingles after spending all that money on the substructure....
Of course, all of the other trades need to be familiar with installing their stuff in a steel instead of wood structure. I know that may sound like a "duh" statement, but things are not done the same way in wood and steel.
Things like cabinet backing -either plywood cut to fit between the studs or a section of heavy gauge steel strip- need to be planned for.
Your walls should be plumb and square- certainly easier than with wood- but then there is no wood for simple things like hanging pictures.
At least the leftover steel is recyclable.
As a side note, I have heard (but do not know for sure) that some of the metallic films on energy efficient windows can cause similar problems with radio reception.