Steel Building Sizes



Deciding upon the size of your steel building depends on the space available on the ground and your practical and aesthetic requirements. When sizing your building, always speak with an experienced professional who can help you make proper measurements and take into account construction issues when building the structure.

Most manufacturers offer pre-fabricated kits for residential and steel buildings. Invariably, kits are going to be cheaper than making a customized design. This is because there is going to be very little overhead when it comes to hiring a professional to design the building while retaining architectural restrictions. If your space is going to be used for tools and manufacturing, aspects of use have already been taken into consideration for you, so you can trust that the application method has already been tested. When it comes to sizing your own building, a whole range of customizations may become necessary.

However, if you are heavily restricted by space, like in an urban setting, or you are looking to make a statement by designing an aesthetically pleasing building, you will most likely go for a non-kit design. The advantage is that customizations for spaces can be included from the outset, and certain needs or wishes that fall outside the available range in kit design are possible. It may cost a bit more, but with customized sizing, you get exactly what you want. This will require a balancing between cost and customization.

If you are using you space for heavy equipment, the storage and access to the heaving equipment will depend upon the size of your building. You will have to account for vehicle clearance through doors. In this regard, it is also important to consider the number of doors that you will need. You will not want your personnel walking through the vehicle entries, so make sure there is enough doors to account for this safety requirement. Always consider that there must be enough space for walking when the structure is fully loaded, and where the traffic flow will be most heavy.

Another important consideration of sizing is whether you want to have space with no support structure showing. This is important when you want a column-free area. Luckily, because of the strength of steel, most manufacturers are able to produce spans up to 300 feet in a kit design. Larger spans are also possible, but this will most likely require customization. Having interior columns and support structures inside the building will, generally, reduce costs. At the same time, they will allow you to produce a much larger building because costs and architectural restrictions are reduced. Large spans may also become an issue because of snow. If snow gather on the roof of a large spanning structure, it can lead to design failure and many thousands of dollars in damage. Therefore, pitching the roof to reduce the gathering of snow and ice is an important factor. A large spanning building also may require significant insulation to reduce heat or cool loss. This is especially important when people will be expected to work in the building for long periods of time. You may have to choose a multiple-layer roof design so that you can pitch the spanning roof and have a flat ceiling inside the building where you can build in your insulation. You may even decide to dry-wall the walls of the steel structure. Dry wall is practical because it is an excellent insulator, but is also strong enough to support

The height of the building centers around the same basic restrictions that affect the span. However, with height, comes the problem of elemental damage resulting from wind. Your local laws usually provide an outline for the height restrictions in your area and what kind of architectural elements must be included to provide a sound structure. You should check with your local laws to make sure that your building is up to code before construction commences.