GENERAL STEEL BUILDINGS EMBODY EFFICIENCY
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Steel frame construction is a booming industry with a rare marriage of ecological and economic efficiency. Throughout its millennia of use, the historical focus in steel refinement has been the elimination of waste through ever-improving industrial processes. Any sufficient concentration of raw materials can be forged into steel through modern alloying controls.
Technologies originally developed to exploit the cost of low-grade ore find new use in the near-perfect recycling of steel scrap. Its magnetic properties allow efficient separation from a given waste stream, while the temperatures involved in forging eliminate impurities. Steel refinement is also one of the rare materials processes in which all waste can be returned to active use.
The construction industry particularly benefits from deployment of general steel buildings. While more expensive per foot of material, steel construction has persuasive economic advantage over wood framing. Steel framing can be custom-fabricated for rapid field assembly; likewise, insulated steel panel walls eliminate weeks of labour.
With standing seam metal roofing, steel completes the replacement of wood as the leading building material. Resistant to weather, combustion, and pests, metal roofing even pays for itself in scrap value when it finally requires replacement.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF STEEL
For centuries, steel was only made through a labour-intensive, artisan process with very small yields. While sufficient for small metal objects, such as swords or cutlery, economically-viable fabrication of anything larger usually required cast iron. It was simply impossible to forge steel quickly enough, in sufficient quantities, to support the architectural steel applications we see today.
This began to change with the development of the Bessemer process in 1858, opening the way for the first large-scale steel manufacturing. Rediscovering, or perhaps improving upon, ancient Chinese techniques, the Bessemer process inexpensively produced great quantities of general-purpose steel from molten pig iron.
While inexpensive, Bessemer steel cooled too rapidly for fine-tuned alloying and could not rid production inputs of their phosphorous; the fabrication of general steel buildings required further innovations in production and quality control. It wasn't until almost a century later, with the development of the Linz-Donawitz process, that large-scale steel fabrication became a truly economic possibility.
As the cost of low-phosphorus ores in the post-World War II period rose prohibitively, the Linz-Donawitz process effectively replaced the Bessemer in the world's steel fabrication industries. With the ability to fine-tune alloying and remove impurities economically, the stage was set for general steel buildings to replace wood in a variety of applications.
STEEL EMERGES AS A COMPETITIVE, GREEN BUILDING SOLUTION
Given the industry's historic commitment to efficiency, it is no surprise to see steel emerge as credible ecological leaders in the materials sector.
Starting with the forging process itself, the manufacturing of general steel buildings creates very little waste material. All scrap metal produced during Linz-Donawitz refining is returned to its molten state for use. Waste material from the preparation of wooden construction materials, by contrast, can easily exceed 20% of every tree harvested.
Once steel-manufactured materials are thrown out by end users, industry researchers have developed sophisticated recycling techniques which return all available steel from a target waste stream for re-forging. To continue our contrast with the wood framing construction industry, one can extract the steel from six cars in order to build a single-family general steel building. The same building would demand the harvesting of seventy-five fresh trees.
STEEL CONSTRUCTION VERSUS WOOD FRAMING
Initial material costs for general steel buildings are typically 15% higher than comparable wooden structures. While a side-by-side cost comparison appears to favour wood framing, holistic analysis reveals general steel buildings to be more cost-effective.
First, materials are used far more efficiently in steel construction, often fabricated to order from CAD drawings. This saves on-site cutting and waste removal, both large portions of the labour expenditure in classic wood framing.
Assembly of general steel buildings is faster and less labour-intensive, as well. A typical steel framing member is two-thirds the weight of its wooden counterpart, which, in turn, reduces labour costs and delays.
Finally, while wooden structures shift, expand, and contract, steel buildings are dimensionally stable. Callbacks due to cracks, shrinking, or settling simply do not occur.
Recently, it has become viable to replace the sheathing of a structure entirely with custom-fabricated, insulated steel panels, with utility chases and insulation factory-installed. The labour and time saved by this innovation make steel the material of choice for cost-effective commercial and residential construction.
METAL ROOFING SEALS THE DEAL
One-half of all steel buildings employ standing seam metal roofs in their construction. Compared to asphalt-shingle plywood, a metal roof is resistant to combustion, weathering, and insect infestation. Its slick patina decreases snow load on pitch-roofed structures, decreasing frame stress throughout.
A properly-installed standing seam metal roof has a useful lifetime of between fifty and seventy-five years if installed one a wood frame structure. If attached to a general steel building, its life expectancy is much greater. Further, when it comes time to replace your roof, you can sell back the material as scrap. No other roofing system in pays you to replace it.
Shipped as prefabricated panels, metal roofing can be precision-cut to your structure for rapid deployment. Labor costs are further reduced by its featherweight handling; a steel roofing panel is less than one-fourth the weight of its plywood and asphalt counterpart.