STEEL FRAME HOME PACKAGES:
American Steel Frame Services, Inc. designs, engineers, fabricates, and ships our own steel frame home packages nationwide, the Bahamas, and the Virgin Islands. We have recently given our steel frame homes the product name of "Quality Steel Frame Homes", because we want to convey to our customers the level of quality that is inherent in every one of our steel frame homes that is not often matched by other companies. Below we offer you the following information about our Quality Steel Frame Homes:
1. What makes a steel frame home a Quality Steel Frame Home.
2. Quality Steel Frame Homes General Specifictions
Scroll down to learn more about each of these items.
WHAT MAKES A STEEL FRAME HOME A QUALITY STEEL FRAME HOME?
Most consumers believe that all steel frame homes are the same because they believe all steel is the same. This is simply not true. We use only the BEST available steel and fasteners in all of our steel frame homes. What makes these the BEST? Not simply our opinion but the ratings each of these items have. For instance, all of the structural steel we use is light gauge steel with a G90 coating. G90 is a galvanized coating that offers a superior corrosion resistance. Because of this, G90 coated steel is often mandatory in locations for beach homes that are within about 300' of the ocean due to the salt spray in the air and the corrosion it can cause on lesser coated steel. We offer G90 coated steel in ALL of our homes, not just the ones near the ocean! Does it cost more, yes? The higher cost is the reason 99% of the other steel frame home companies out there do not use G90 steel but the lesser grade G60 steel that offers an inferior corrosion resistance.
Similarly, regarding fasteners, most companies use zinc plated screws for attaching the steel frame together. Fasteners are rated by 'salt testing' in the form of hours. Simply put, the fasteners are placed in a chamber and a certain amount of salt air is pumped into the chamber. The fasteners are rated by the number hours that go by until they begin to corrode. Zinc plated fasteners have a 20 to 70 hour rating. The fasteners we use in ALL of our homes have a 1,000 hour rating! That is over 10 times the corrosion resistance of our competitors! Is this important? We think so. Consider that it is these fasteners that are holding the entire steel frame together! Again, does this cost us more? Absolutely, and again, this higher cost is why 99% of the other steel frame home companies offer only the inferior zinc plated fasteners with their steel frame home packages.
Please do not take our word for any of this. Ask any of the other steel frame home companies you are getting prices from as to what galvanized coating they use on their steel and what the salt rating is on their fasteners (in terms of hours) that they have included in your estimate. It is because we use quality materials in all of our homes that we have given our steel frame homes the product name, "Quality Steel Frame Homes".
Furthermore, each of our steel frame home packages includes our 'pre-fabrication service'. Our pre-fabrication service aims to reduce the time it takes to erect/frame the home on the jobsite and also the knowledge the framing crew needs to have to erect the home by doing as much as it makes sense to do prior to shipping the packages to our customers. This work, we believe, saves a lot of time and money in the erection/framing of the home and is a part of and included in every one of our steel frame home packages!
With our pre-fabrication service, most of the steel framing materials for the entire home package are pre-cut before we send them to the jobsite. Those that are not pre-cut are either items whose dimensions must be determined in the field for accuracy, are items that we leave uncut so that they can be adjusted to accommodate unforeseen foundation errors, or are items who are so few in number that it would be quicker to cut them on the jobsite than to search for the in the steel bundles. For example, we do not pre-cut the top and bottom tracks (i.e. sill plates) as the lengths of these may have to be adjusted to accommodate any foundation errors, etc. Also, we do not pre-cut window/door cripples as the dimensions of these may change if the customer decides to use a different door/window in that area or alter the height of the windows in the field. Materials such as these are quickly cut in the field. The pre-cut materials normally include the following:
a. roof truss materials for the entire home, i.e. the top chords, bottom chords, web members, etc. for each truss in the home.
b. floor truss materials for the entire home (if floor trusses are used), i.e. top chords, bottom chords, web members, etc. for each truss in the home.
c. exterior wall studs (except those whose dimension must be determined in the field.)
d. interior wall studs (except those whose dimension must be determined in the field.)
e. angle clips, anchor clips, etc. (except those whose dimension must be determined in the field.)
QUALITY STEEL FRAME HOMES GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS:
Our Quality Steel Frame Home packages include all of the following items:
1. Steel frame home blueprints including floor plan(s), elevations, roof truss fabrication drawings, roof framing plan, 2D fabrication drawings of each and every load bearing wall in the home, floor system layout/installation drawings for any and all floor systems, and all required structural details, drawings, and any required engineering stamps/seals.
2. All light gauge steel framing materials, including all steel 8”, 5.5" or 3.5” exterior wall studs, all 3.5” interior wall studs, all structural headers and header materials, all steel frame floor floor systems, all window and door rough opening steel framing materials, and all light gauge steel trusses.
3. All steel to steel fasteners for framing the home steel package with the superior 1,000 hour corrosion resistant coating.
4. Any necessary clips, wind bracing, angles, hangers, and hurricane strapping.
5. All steel frame soffit and fascia framing material.
6. All structural light gauge steel will have the superior G90 galvanized coating.
7. All shipping costs to the job site.
8. Technical support throughout the completion of the home.
9. Pre-fabrication of structural framing materials
Please note the following:
1. The specific gauges/thickness of the each of the steel components listed above are determined by our engineers during the structural design and engineering phase of each home's production to meet or exceed the required loads and codes of the geographic area where the home is to be built, so no specifications on material thickness is given above. Nevertheless, in general, our structural components (i.e. load bearing) will range from 12 ga. to 20 ga. and our non-structural components (i.e. interior wall studs) will normally be 22 ga.
2. American Steel Frame Services, Inc. reserves the right to alter, change, add to, or remove any and all of the specifications and/or services included in any of its steel frame home packages.
To receive a Quality Steel Frame Home Estimate, CLICK HERE.
To Contact Us With Questions Or For More Information, CLICK HERE.