Your Future Steel Building Partner

As a steel building purchaser you should be aware that there are three main frame types available for steel building construction so that you can choose the right style for your particular application.The most popular frame style chosen is, by far, the clear-span rigid frame structure. The other two styles to consider are the modular and single slope styles. All three styles will be discussed in this article.

A very strong and durable frame style of choice is the rigid I-Beam clear-span frame system. No interior support beams are required with this style building and it offers a vast amount of unobstructed interior square footage for virtually any application. Clear-span steel frames are available in widths up to 300 feet with no limit to the building length. Clear-span frame designs are used for production facilities, airplane hangars, sports complexes, riding arenas, and commodity and heavy equipment storage. The interior can be changed and re-arranged in this building by the use of partition walls. That the partition walls are not load-bearing. A variety of floor plans or compartmentalized sections of the building are easily laid out. As the width of the rigid I-Beam framed building increases, however, the frames must become heavier to sustain the greater loads. This can cause the purchase price in cost per square foot to increase. However, a larger clear-span building can be the most cost-effective building project option.

Modular frames do use interior load-bearing columns, unlike clear-span construction. The interior columns of a modular framed building more evenly distribute the load of the entire building. A modular frame system can help to greatly reduce the cost of a building’s foundation and frame especially if you are needing an extremely wide building, that of one greater than 300 feet in width. Actually, substantial cost savings can start to be seen in utilizing a modular frame system of only 80 feet in width. The wider the building gets the greater the potential cost savings involved with a modular framed building can be. Most all buildings in excess of 150 feet in width utilize interior support columns. The modular frame system is most accommodating for factories and other businesses needing extremely large structures.

The shape of a single-slope frame system involves different eave heights on each sidewall which results in the roof of the building sloping from the front to the back. If you choose to order a single slope roof system you need to indicate to the company the eave height of the lower side and then decide on the pitch of the roof for your particular requirements. Roof pitch is described as the number of inches a roof rises vertically for every twelve inches it runs horizontally. Most single slope buildings use a ½:12 pitch but steeper pitches can be designed for, if necessary. Mini-storage facilities, office complexes, and strip-mall shopping centers, favor the single-slope system of construction. They are also used for many agricultural applications.