What is Cold Formed Steel Construction?
Starting back in 2019, the construction industry started dealing with one of the bigger problems when it came to building homes, which is material shortages. These shortages caused house building times to double and building materials to increase to an all time high. However, a few years later new home builders are still combating this issue and new homeowners are seeing reflect in their building prices. We have set out to find alternative materials that allow us to keep costs lower for the homeowner and often times the materials are more superior.
The biggest issue builders are dealing with is lumber shortages. I’m sure if you have gone to any home improvement store you have seem the price of a 2×4 piece of wood skyrocket. That is why after doing extensive research we have found building with steel to be the best solution.
What is Cold-Formed Steel Construction?
Cold-Formed Steel is exactly how it sounds, it is simply steel instead of wood. Steel framing is light weight, durable, extremely strong and non-combustible, which is why many coastal cities have decided to use it across the world as their primary building material.
Cold-Formed Steel building materials are made from structural quality sheet steel that are formed into C-sections and other different shapes by roll forming the steel through a series of dies. No heat is required to form the shapes, which is where the name cold-formed steel was created.
Better For the Environment (Eco-Friendly)
When it comes to building a house it takes, on average over 44 trees to build just 1 house. Multiply that by an entire sub-division and you are left with cutting down an entire forest.
Unlike wood, Cold-Formed Steel has a recycle rate of over 98%, which means that the same steel could still be used hundreds of years from now.
In terms of Green Rating Steel can be used to comply with the requirements of sustainable design standards such as the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), ASHRAE Standard 189.1 (Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low Rise Residential Buildings), and the National Green Building Standard (ICC-700).
Also, building with steel can actually save you a little bit of money. Using steel you are able to receive credit points for
green building rating systems like the USGBC’s LEED (Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design) and the Green Building Initiative’s ANSI/ GBI-01 (Green Building Assessment Protocol for Commercial Buildings).
Steel Preforms Well in Hurricanes
Steel is a very strong and resilient building material with extra strength and adaptability that result in significant advantages when high winds from a hurricane come through. Unlike steel, wood when under a lot of stress will snap like a toothpick. That is why during hurricane you will see roofs ripped off of houses, but the concrete block still standing. Steel by no means will make your house impenetrable from a hurricane, however when you compare steel to wood, building with steel will always have more advantages.
Steel is Non-Combustible
Unlike traditional wood framing in houses, if a fire were to start the steel framing would not contribute to the spread of a fire. Building with steel reduces the risk of fires to occur in a house, which means you will have one less thing to worry about in your new home.
Consistent Long-Term Performance
When it comes to mother nature in Florida houses take a strong beating over the years with the high humidity, constant sun, termites, insects, etc. When there are cracks in walls that allow for humidity to pass into the wood frame you will get wood rot and mold. With steel you do not have to worry about the steel framing rotting away and deteriorating.
Insects and pests are another major challenge Florida homeowners face with one of them being termites. These little critters love the inner walls of your house and use it as a food source. If homeowners do not keep up with their termite pest plan, I will highly bet that house will have termite issues later on, which will hurt the re-sale of the property. With steel framing, there is nothing for termites to feed on. That means if termites do get into your house they will most likely die as they cannot sustain life.
