Metal buildings

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I need a new shop. I'd also like a new house. I'm in the country, so I can pretty much do what I want...and I'm giving some serious thought to putting up (or having put up) one of the better quality metal buildings and just framing up a house in part of it. Without putting the pencil to the paper with regards to interior finishing, it sure looks as if it might be cheaper. Anybody ever looked at this??

KC

[Jim Andrew]

The metal building for a shop sounds great, but I'd check with a realtor
or better yet an appraiser in your area about resale before I built a house
inside it. The worst thing about it is you might find yourself in a position of
having to sell and not being able to get your money back. When you build
always look at resale first. Jim Andrew

[Ray Thompson]

Built a large fancied up pole building with 18' ceilings. Built a loft around three sides and made a second story 3 bedroom apartment/house. He has machinery around the three sides and an open center section for tall stuff. He is a car guy so he has metal machines and a car lift in the center.

Another guy build a very large pole building to house an indoor flea market and built a "hidden" three bedroom apartment on the second level. No one knew it was there until the property went on the market. The owners lived on site working as site managers.

A nephew built a pole building with a two story apartment on one end to live in while he built a permanent home. He built the home himself so it was very convenient to live on site during construction.

So the bottom line is yes it can be done, but there are other considerations to be made. Run your checklist and go for it if it fits your needs.

Ray

[Dennis McDonaugh]

KC, I think the part of the country you're in makes it feasable. I've seen several steel "houses" east of San Antonio towards Floresville and Lavernia. They looked like a reglar house with steel siding and roof. From a distance they looked like board and batten siding. I think they'd be better than a manufactured home and since you can finish the inside, much cheaper to boot.

[Dean Baumgartner]

Kirk,

I had the same idea, put up a large metal building then finish off part as living area, part as indoor play for the kids, part as a shop, garage and work space for LOML, finish more space as needed. She wouldn't go for the idea though, something about it not looking attractive as a home.

I thought it was a great idea, lots of area available and pretty easy to customize.

Dean

[Tom Scott]

KC,
Sure it's possible. Keep in mind that just because it's a metal building, it doesn't have to look like a rectangular storage building. Try sitting down and planning out what a combo house/shop would look like, possible floor plan, etc. Then go and talk to a metal building manufacturer. They can build almost any configuration you want...1-story, 2-story, combination, "L" shaped, whatever. You can also brick the outside, although you will need to make sure the metal building supplier knows that since it will have to meet much stiffer deflection/drift criteria.
With this building type you will get a shell and then be responsible for finishing out the interior.

Tom

[Mike Kelly]

Kirk, I went to a seminar earlier this year on building a steel home that was pretty interesting. http://www.allsteelhomes.com/ Take a look at this website. They are having another "show and tell" January 29, in Little Rock for $35 ($50 for two). It is an all day affair where they finish out a small home inside their building while they show you their finer points. It was very informative. You are the same distance from Little Rock as I am so it might be worthwhile to visit. One or two of their garages would make a fantastic shop! It looks nice too so the wife should not be able to say it looks like a steel building. You could tell her that it is fireproof, termite proof, looks good, and has better tornado protection than her stick built house. I think that cost wise now it may be a bit more expensive (all steel prices went up a couple of months ago) than stick built, but it is neat for a shop for sure. 6" thick steel walls hold more insulation than 2 x 4 construction.

I built out a section of a steel building that I rent for my workshop a few years ago so that works too, but like your wife said, it looks like heck.

[mike lucas]

I worked as an inspector for 20 years, and in the last 5-7 years I have seen hundreds of businesses building just that, and some are even building large appartment building this way. (I seen one that was three story.)

As you got more money, you could always brick, or stucco the outside. Then no one would be the wiser.

[Bob Worrel Jr.]

I looked into this last year while planning my shop. Dollar for dollar, you get more square footage with a metal building. But, I decided against it because of the commercial look to it. I checked out and talked to several steel building sites. http://www.steelbuilding.com/ had the best price and a great online building planner. Even though I could have went with a steel building in the county we live in, I decided to go with a wood structure for the looks.

[Joe Mioux]

KC:

I know several people who have done just what you are proposing. All of them, including their wives, love it.

As an added bonus, they don't have to pay property taxes on a nice looking house. They pay property taxes on a shed/barn/garage/call it what you want. A barn/shed is assessed at a lower rate than a house. And that is money in your pocket for other things.

joe

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Thanks for the replies. I don't care about resale, 'cause I'll (we'll) be dead when that happens. Lower insurance, taxes, etc., are all 'bonus' factors. :)

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Kirk,

Go for the steel framing structure over the wood. Look into the spray foam insulation. When I build it will be this or insulated concrete forms (ICF)

My dad's garage had a fire 20 years ago. 30X40 building it was in the back right corner and was hot enough to melt stuff in the left front corner. The building itself only suffered the piant burnt off of a few pannels.

Steel also goes up fast. You can do it yourself or contract it out. Consider using radiant heat.

There are a lot of option to consider.

[Robert Ducharme]

I have built my house using steel framing and stucco exterior. Cannot even tell steel was used. For my workshop, I used a steel building package but did not take the steel for the walls. Instead I framed inside the structural stell and sheathed the outside with OSB covered with cement fiber board (hardi-board I think). Again, cannot tell it is a steel building because I put drywall on the inside.

It is really easy to construct the steel buildings (a few friends and a fork lift. If you do a steel building, you need to ensure the structural frames are well supported with a foundation. You should probably talk to some engineer about foundations. We have pads about 4' x 4' x 4'. Also they had to be tied across the building structure with rebar. Finally, we have a concrete floor.

With the cost of steel going up, it is probably not as cost effective as earlier but probably still more cost effective than the labor involved in stick framing.