You may have found the perfect location for your new prefabricated steel building construction project. It’s in the ideal place from whatever point of view you need to take: roads, proximity of airports or sea ports, the availability of your potential workforce or a suitable local population to become your customers.
That’s the location taken care of. Now, what about the site itself? Is it big enough? That doesn’t mean exactly the size of the building, but with a bit of leeway to make construction a comfortable proposition, and with enough space for whatever outbuildings you might need, plus that all-important parking lot for staff and visitors.
As with any building, you need to think about its level in relation to the surroundings: a little higher is always better from a drainage point of view.
If your proposed site fails on one of these criteria, you may have to think again. On the other hand, if you haven’t reached that stage yet, the above is food for thought to help you make the right decision.
How do You Prepare the Ground for a Metal Building?
A prefabricated steel structure must be based on a good, solid, but workable surface, because there are foundations and the frame to think about. That means if there is vegetation, particularly trees, on the site, you’re going to need an excavation operation to get all the roots out of the way. If the site has previously been developed, you may have existing foundations to get rid of, plus any pipes and cables left over from the utilities. There are specialist excavation companies that can take care of this for you; just take care to use a good one and not a general building firm that offers a cut-price service.
Part of the attraction of a pre-engineered steel structure is the speed with which it can be constructed, and you don’t want the construction team to be hampered by land that is not properly prepared.
What is the Best Foundation for a Metal Building?
The nature of the foundations can depend on what the building will be used for. If it’s for a factory, a warehouse, a sports center, or a residential unit, you will probably need a slab – a large concrete base on which appropriate flooring materials can be laid. For an equestrian center or something else where the underfoot material needs a little “give,” you may need to use footings, or individual foundations for each girder constituting the upright part of the frame.
If this is the first time you have commissioned a building of this type, you may want to discuss this with your chosen contractor or see what each one has to say if you are still at the shopping-around stage. An experienced operator will help you avoid making a mistake with this most basic of subjects.
Having got your foundations organized, you may be ready to go ahead and enjoy the many benefits of the prefabricated steel structure, which include versatility, economy and speed of construction.
What are the Disadvantages of a PEB?
A pre-engineered building (or PEB) must have disadvantages, right? Any discussion of a method of construction needs to look at the downside as well as the upside, so let’s look at some of the perceived disadvantages. Perceived, that is, because some are popular misconceptions, and others can be rectified quite simply.
Let’s start with heat conduction and its opposite, warmth leakage. Everybody knows steel is a good conductor of heat and cold, which means if it is hot outside, the steel is going to absorb that heat and potentially transfer it into the interior. Conversely, if it’s cold and you’re heating the building, steel on its own will allow the precious heat to escape. What can be done about these things?
Reflective coatings can bounce the sun’s rays off the roof, leading to greatly reduced absorption.
Insulation can put a very effective barrier between the inside and outside. This has obvious implications for heating and cooling bills, and the manufacturers of steel buildings have worked hard on this, taking advantage of new developments and the incessant research that results in improved technology.
The clanging sound of a steel building is another widely held reservation, but just like temperature conduction, this can be overcome by treatment. Acoustic engineering and design can make these buildings perfectly comfortable for the ears. This is a factor that has been partly responsible for the choice of steel construction for religious buildings, among other applications where the spoken word or music are important.
That’s just about it as regards “disadvantages.” If you have any other reservations, ask your steel structure contractor about them and you will probably find they’ve got it covered.
