Erectors

Do I need a professional erector to put up my metal building? - A majority of our clients choose to erect the metal buildings themselves. Your package includes detailed erection drawings and an erection manual with every metal building shipped. We design every metal building to be erected easily. If you do not feel comfortable erecting your own metal building, a local contractor can do the job for you at a relatively low cost.

What if I have questions during the erection of my metal building? - We're here to help. We have professional metal building erectors on-staff and they will always be available for your questions.

Do you recommend erectors? - No. Recommending metal building erectors is difficult because we cannot guarantee the quality of their work as we do our own. Check around and you should be able to find a qualified metal building erector in your local area.

How long does it take to erect a metal building? - The time it takes to erect your metal building will depend on the size of the metal building, the size of your crew, and the skill of the workers in your crew. It can take as little as a few days.

Before you Buy

Do you know the company you're doing business with? Is the supplier a member of the Better Business Bureau? Do they have a record of dealing honestly? Can they refer you to satisfied customers? Is the physical address to the company available? Can you visit them at their offices? Are they a real company with a history of quality manufacturing? Are they Active Members of the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction) Do they post any affiliation with any steel building association? Do you know what you are paying for? Does the steel building contract give line-item prices? Will you receive comprehensive set of erection plans? Are you getting written 30-year paint and 25-year Galvalume Plus® warranties? Does the contract specify 26 gauge panels? Does their roof panels include a "purlin bearing" leg? Does the roof system have an Underwriters Laboratories Class 90 rating? Are you being supplied with premium fasteners with a lifetime red-rust warranty? Will your steel building have a sculptured trim package? Are all the clips welded to primary structural components? Are the framed openings factory located? Does the supplier have the ability to engineer a custom design? Will you receive an 80+ page fully illustrated erection manual? Does the supplier have an in-house customer service department? Does the supplier actually manufacture what they sell? Do they process and produce all their drawings in-house? Do they ask you to sign a contract and pay a deposit before you know the total cost?

INDUSTRIAL

As a company rooted in American heavy industry, We understand and appreciate the importance of strength, dependability and economy in industrial structures. Our Dealers work closely with industrial building users to meet stringent construction schedules, assist with designs for machinery and inventory layouts, and assure the design and the manufacture of strong, stable, low-maintenance structures which enhance the image of their users.

Our own in-house team of experienced engineers can also help design crane buildings with a unique combination of strengths and hook clearances to fit individual, industrial requirements and criteria. Clear spans of up to 150 feet wide and heights of up to 60 feet are available, while multi-span systems allow for unlimited widths.

Our experienced engineers can provide flexibility in solving industrial needs through design and use of mezzanines, customized loading docks, and a variety of door systems. Whatever your company's requirements are for space, height, width, length or load capacity, a Metal Building system can be designed and manufactured to match them closely and economically. We are proud to serve you and to be an integral part of the American industrial machine.

Facings

In addition to acting as a decorative protection barrier, facings serve an integral part of the overall insulation system. Facings provide vapor barriers, light reflectivity and structural strength. In some cases, a reinforcement of fiberglass scrim is used for extra rigidity and greater impact resistance.

The effectiveness of a vapor barrier depends on three primary factors:

1) Location within the insulated section

2) Permeance

3) Proper installation

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.