RECREATIONAL

Todays sports, conditioning and recreational centers represent a multi-billion dollar business which continues to grow each year. Attractive, ultra-modern facilities are springing up everywhere, offering a myriad of activities to meet the recreational demands of our society.

Immense clear span, low cost-per-square-foot, and low energy costs are vital to the successful construction and operation of recreational facilities. Whether your need is for a tennis, bowling or health club facility, computerized design and manufacturing help our design engineers create building systems that meet the precise demands of recreational facilities with an eye to architectural designs that fit into any surrounding. Our engineers have designed and manufactured buildings for sports courts, sports fields, game rooms, locker rooms, roller rinks, ice rinks, riding arenas, recreational centers and every other pastime you can imagine. The most important element in the design of all these facilities was combining practicality with efficiency, while providing for the customers' needs. Equestrian buildings provide excellent examples of how the flexibility of these custom designs allow for cost-effective solutions to those specific needs. Your dealer can value-engineer a dollar-saving building system that fits the bill, whether your needs include an arena, a barn or a complete riding facility. Available from one stall to one hundred, with a center row or in a shed-row design, our value-engineered horse barns give you maximum space with a functional layout designed to streamline your horse operations. Riding arenas are available fully-enclosed or as a roof-only structure. Clear span arenas are available up to 240 feet wide and in unlimited lengths. Our engineering department and your dealer can work with you to custom design a structure which maximizes your building site with attached barns, tack rooms, or hay storage areas.

Heat Transfer

Effectively controlling temperature in a steel building requires insulation to be present along exterior walls and roof. When a temperature differential is present in an enclosed steel building, heat will work from warmer areas to colder areas until the temperature in the building has stabilized. At the point of thermal stabilization, the cooler (and heavier) air will be present at lower elevations and warmer air will be present at the roofline. The function of insulation is to help stabilize air temperature at more desirable levels. When it is hot outside, preventing heat from transferring into the building is the goal, and of course in the winter we want heat to remain inside.

Heat transfer occurs in three ways:

Conduction : Occurs in a solid or liquid when heat from one object is transferred by touch to another object. An example of this occurs when a pot on a stove will heat up by conductive heat transfer from an electric coil.

Convection : Occurs with the physical movement of air. There are two types of convectional heat movement. The first is natural, where hot air rises displacing the cold air and moving it down. The second type is forced or mechanical convection. This occurs when an object, like a fan, physically moves or "forces" the air to move.

Radiation : Occurs when an object is warmer or hotter than the air around it. For example, the sun, which is hotter than everything around it, radiates heat waves that travel through the air and is either absorbed by or reflected by the surface it comes in contact with.

On The Farm

I don't know of any farm operation that could get buy without barns for equipment storage, feed storage or any other general warehousing needs. Many older farms are now removing old wooden structures and replacing their old buildings with new steel structures. While the old antique tractor may look good in front of the old barn, many are weary of storing precious items in an old rotten structure. Steel is stronger, straighter and will last eons longer than wood. In a home, wood is fine. Houses are designed so that the wooden structural components do not have direct exposure to the elements, but on the farm it is often hard to prevent the outside from coming into the barn.

Sky Lights

One of the most popular options available for metal buildings is a skylight. High quality translucent panels are an available option to any building. Skylights allow a great deal of light into a building. An adequate number of skylights will provide enough illumination for daytime work in a building, without the need for additional lighting. A standard configuration is to put two skylights per bay.

Wall Installation

Labels on wall insulation rolls indicate the length as well as the number of pieces that need to be cut from each roll. We recommend that all rolls be cut from a clean location to avoid staining the insulation facing.

1) Cut the dimensions of the insulation from the base angle to eave strut or rake plus 6"-12" extra.

2) Attach one end of the insulation to the base angle using double-faced tape.

3) Pull from the other end to stretch the insulation tightly outside the girts to the eave or rake, and attach with double-faced tape.

4) Make sure the facing is toward the interior of the building and attach the panel to the structure.

5) Install the next roll in the same manner, with edges butted snugly. Then fasten the tabs using one of the methods described.