Whether you need a building to run your office, your entire store, or just to stash inventory, a steel warehouse is your best option. Steel warehouses are beneficial in just about every industry and are superior to buildings made with other materials.
Steel is quickly becoming the go-to material for warehouse buildings, and even Amazon is cashing in on this new trend. Amazon is developing an area in downtown Nashville that will include a public park and a 25-story hotel. Naturally, Amazon is building their development with steel. The company’s goal is to integrate Nashville Amazon employees into the local culture.
Your business doesn’t need to be as big as Amazon to build with steel. If you’re in the market for a building, here are seven great reasons to choose a steel warehouse regardless of your business size.
1. Steel frames create more floor space.
When you frame a building with wood and some other materials, you need to place structural columns throughout the structure. You don’t have to use columns with structural steel. Having a column-free space creates more floor space that you can utilize.
You can do plenty of things with that extra floor space. Instead of arranging your shelving and storage areas to accommodate the columns, you can create your storage arrangements however you want. If you’re using the building as an office or to run a retail operation, you can arrange your store perfectly to meet your functional needs and desired aesthetics. You won’t end up with support columns blocking a customer’s view of products.
2. Structural steel is cost-effective.
Even before lumber prices soared by 400%, steel was still cheaper. Although steel prices are going up because of the pandemic, steel is still cheaper than wood and other materials.
There’s no better reason to choose steel than to save money and get a strong, open-spaced structure at the same time.
3. Structural steel is versatile and modular.
Structural steel can be shaped just about any way you want. You can create 90-degree angles, and you can roll it or curve it to meet your aesthetic needs.
Steel frames are also easily modified. If you need to add rooms to your existing building, it’s easy to create additions. Steel frames are naturally modular.
4. Steel is easy to set up.
A building made of steel is faster to erect than other materials. You can build a concrete structure rapidly with cast-in-place ICF blocks, but you won’t get the many advantages of steel.
With steel, everything is forged off-site and is ready to erect when it arrives on the job site. You can put a steel frame together in any weather or temperature, unlike other materials.
5. Structural steel is highly durable.
Steel is stiff, strong, and can bend without breaking. Over time, a steel building will maintain its integrity longer than other framework, including through earthquakes.
Other desirable properties of steel include:
- Steel resists mold and mildew
- Steel resists fire, wind, and snow
- Tornadoes and hurricanes won’t easily obliterate a steel structure like wood
Out of all construction materials, steel has the greatest strength-to-weight ratio.
6. Steel warehouses can be built to any height.
Do you need a building with an enormous height? Do you need to build something taller than 15 stories? If so, you’ll be happy to know that building codes don’t put a cap on building height when the building structure is made from steel.
Even if you don’t need to build something quite that tall, a steel building will serve you well at any height.
7. Lumber prices might stay high for a while .
There’s no way to know when lumber prices will fall. Some people have predicted that lumber prices will fall when the price of gas increases, but it’s impossible to know for sure. Many builders have been unable to purchase wood truss packages because of inflation, but some have switched their projects to steel to get the job done.
Steel is the ideal material for building your warehouse.
Considering lumber prices are through the roof, it makes sense to turn to steel for your construction needs. If you haven’t started your construction, you have every reason to choose steel.
Steel is strong, durable, long-lasting, and can be formed into just about any shape you might need. Whether you need a building for operating your business, storing your inventory, or assembly, steel will provide you with the most benefits.
