The Benefits of Steel in Construction
The use of structural steel for a building’s frame system provides several advantages to a commercial construction project. Today on the blog, our commercial builders are discussing the many benefits of steel in construction. These advantages include:
Construction Time
Because of its ease of production in the shop, structural steel increases construction efficiency. Additionally, it maintains strict construction tolerances. Material deployed in the field will always lag behind. With structural steel, you may achieve a rapid erection in all seasons. Also, it offers precise tolerances for connection with other building systems. Our General Contractor Sacramento explains it also offers little construction site waste.
Reduced Project Costs
When rival framing technologies for projects are examined using similar, current cost data, structural steel remains the cost leader for the majority of building projects. According to comparative research, a structural steel framing system with decking and fire protection will generally cost 5% to 7% less than a concrete framing system on a national scale.
Aesthetic Value
Additionally, our construction company in Sacramento admires steel’s inherent beauty and is eager to use it in the design of their projects to highlight the elegance, slenderness, strength, and transparency of the frame. Unlike most other construction materials, structural steel offers the project architect greater freedom of expression and originality in their design. Structural steel sections can be twisted and rolled to form non-linear components that add to the structure’s visual appeal.
High Fortitude
All other materials claim to have tremendous strength, however even when reinforced with steel, their strength is still less than that of structural steel. In fact, the increase in standard strength of the steel used in structures today over the last ten years is larger than the entire strength of rival “high strength” materials.
At the end of their lives, structural steel and cars are recycled at rates more than 100%. Rather than using land for quarrying operations to supply aggregates or landfills for building material waste, structural steel is emptying salvage yards, freeing up space for other uses.
Modifiable
In the future, structural steel structures may be changed for new uses, loading conditions, vertical extensions, and changes in owner preferences in ways that conventional frame systems cannot.
Existing steel columns and beams can be reinforced by attaching steel plates to the flanges or web of sections, allowing for higher loads. Existing steel-framed structures can be retrofitted with new stairways by removing a piece of the floor decking, bracing a single bay, and installing the necessary stair structure. While the building is still occupied, these sorts of improvements may be made with minimal interruption.
It is not uncommon for additional floors to be added to a structural steel structure years after it was built.
Efficient
Structural steel structures maximize building space efficiency by using thin columns. As follows, these columns maximize usable floor space, and longer spans for open, column-free areas. Additionally, our neighbors over at Gilmore Heating, Air, and Plumbing, the best HVAC Company in Sacramento, explain it allows for the integration of HVAC systems. This allows these factors to be added into structural spaces that allow for lower floor-to-floor heights.
Reliability and Predictability
Modern quality assurance techniques are used to produce and construct structural steel under-regulated settings. The final strength of the material is tested at the point of manufacture. However, this after it has been installed in the building’s frame. Additionally, structural steel is manufactured in a shop to precise tolerances. These are hard to achieve with site-cast materials.
Interested in a steel construction project? Contact Headwaters today to get the conversation started. We’d love to discuss your commercial construction project needs.