HEALTH & SAFETY
Steel framing for housing offers unparalleled safety features for your family. Click the section links below to jump to a section a learn more about the benefits of steel frames.
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Performance of Steel Framed Houses during an Earthquake
What Happens to a House During an Earthquake?
Engineering a House for Earthquakes
Light Gauge Steel Construction
Advantages of Light Gauge Steel in an Earthquake
Summary
How secure is the framing?
What about durability…will it last?
Are steel houses stronger?
Is it really termite-free?
Is a house built with steel safer?
I'm building a larger home this time and I'm really concerned about the rise in utility costs.
What about noise?
Will my insurance increase?
How secure is the framing?
Steel framed homes are fastened together with bolts and screws. The connections remain secure, as there is so little movement in the frame. In traditional construction nailed connections become loose due to shrinkage and warping. This affects the frame, siding, and the interior sheet rock. Steel doesn't change with time so the connections stay tight.
What about durability...will it last?
Steel does not change shape or sag with time. It will truly last a lifetime. Stronger, straighter, non-combustible, and long lasting are just a few of the reasons that steel is undeniable superior as a building material.
The only way that you can tell by looking which homes are built with steel happens over time. Traditional wooden header and ridges sag. They are subject to moisture changes that cause warping, splitting and rotting.
Are steel houses stronger?
The fact that steel has less mass means less probability of foundation problems. Less weight results in less movement and will sustain less damage in an earthquake; a lighter structure with stronger connections lowers the seismic force.
Steel's high strength and ductility make it the best construction material for earthquake and hurricane resistant design. A steel framed home can withstand 150 mile high winds from a hurricane or tornado because the homes are connected with high strength screws. With the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any building material, steel framing is stronger and lighter (up to 60% less than wood framing), resulting in a safer structure, with less maintenance and a slower aging process.
Is it really termite-free?
Steel framed homes are not vulnerable to termites, or any type of fungi or organism. When compared, termites actually account for more property damage to homes each year than fire.
Termites and other wood destroying insects just don't like steel. It's hard to chew and lacks the moisture they crave! These pests cannot damage the frame or structure of your home.
Is a house built with steel safer?
They're definitely safer against high winds and earthquakes, pests, fires and lightning. They offer better shelter and are non-combustible. The steel frame offers better protection against lightning than any other construction system. Scientists recommend seeking shelter in steel frame structures during lightning storms because the steel frame provides a path to the ground, reducing the likelihood of explosions, secondary fires, or personal injury.
Steel does not burn and will not contribute to the spread of a house fire. Most home fires occur in the kitchen. Then they spread into the walls and accelerate when the wood frame begins to burn. This is not true of steel framed homes. The gypsum interior finish material, attached to the steel frame makes a non-combustible combination of products not likely to burn.
Even chemically sensitive and environmentally conscious homeowners find safe indoor air quality with our homes. Steel frames do not need to be treated for termites and are free of resin adhesives and chemicals normally present in other construction materials.
I'm building a larger home this time and I'm really concerned about the rise in utility costs.
Steel framing can be designed to meet or exceed governmental energy efficiency standards.
Steel framing won't rot, warp, split, crack or creep, and will remain true within the structure. Less air can flow in or out of cracks around windows and doors, where energy loss commonly occurs. The steel framed walls allow for installation of much thicker batt insulation, resulting in a quieter home with reduced heating and cooling bills for LIFE!
What about noise?
Our homes are quiet inside. First the exterior walls are filled with thicker insulation, restricting outside noise. Then interior walls are also insulated, reducing room-to-room noise.
Wood contracts as it dries and at ambient temperatures it expands. A steel framed home doesn't creak at all due to humidity variations and temperature changes have less effect.
Waves can pass through the space between studs, allowing the use of all of the radios, phones, and television sets in your home.
Will my insurance increase?
No. In fact, your insurance may even be lowered by steel's excellent performance record in earthquakes and high winds, and because it is non-combustible and not affected by termites.
A steel frame home is indistinguishable from a conventionally built wood framed home but the benefits are enormous. Steel doesn't burn, warp, rot or split, and insects cannot destroy it.
Square corners stay squared; windows and doors open and close as they should. Homes can be built with an added level of quality not found in today's construction methods. Steel homes offer consistent quality, produced in strict accordance with national standards and have no regional variations or inconsistencies.
Performance of Steel Framed Houses
during an Earthquake
Improvements to design and construction methods in the world over the past 50 years have helped make the modern home a safer habitat during an earthquake. The use of light gauge steel framing, offers very real advantages over traditional wood framing should an earthquake strike.
What Happens to a House During an Earthquake?
The earthquake (seismic) forces that can destroy a house are produced by strong and erratic side-to-side and up-and-down movements in the ground (see Earthquake movements). Structural damage is typically caused by "inertia", or the reluctance of the upper portions of a structure to begin moving once the ground has shifted, and then conversely, to stop moving once the structure has begun moving. When the earth shifts sideways, the effect of inertia on a house is similar to that experienced by players in the game "crack the whip." If the movement is vertical, inertia causes the structure to be compressed as the earth rises and "telescoped" as the ground stops moving. Steel Framed Homes are designed to resist the stresses of inertia by absorbing the energy that is produced by earthquakes.
Engineering a House for Earthquakes
Induced lateral forces, such as those produced during an earthquake, subject the structure to sliding and "racking" (see Racking Motions in a two-story residential structure). To control this motion, the roof and floors must be tied to the walls all the way down to the foundation. In addition, "racking" must be limited to tolerable levels. The roof and floor between stiff walls (those designed to limit racking) must be designed to limit motion and transfer loads to the walls and, ultimately, the foundation. Since the lateral forces are primarily generated at the floor and roof levels, walls will tend to "uplift" and "overturn". This is controlled by tying the walls together to reduce uplift forces and ultimately fastening the walls to the foundation.
Light Gauge Steel Construction
Experts regard light gauge steel framing as a modern concept, although it has been used in both residential and commercial construction for many decades. So, while steel framing has recently become a viable contender in the home building industry, it has a reliable track record over an extended period for consistent performance as a structural material. There is no difference between the appearance of a home framed with light gauge steel and one framed with wood. Rather, the most significant difference between a steel framed house and another framed with wood is determined by how well the framing material can provide long-term, consistent performance; for example, sagging roof lines typically found in an older wood framed home are not evidenced in steel framed homes.
Advantages of Light Gauge Steel in an Earthquake
Earthquakes are unpredictable in terms of magnitude, frequency, duration, and location. Consequently, the ideal structure to withstand earthquake forces will behave in a consistent and predictable manner. Unlike wood, light gauge steel is capable of meeting this standard due to the strict process used to manufacture steel studs, the inherent properties of steel, and typical construction methods used in steel framing. Specific advantages offered by the use of steel framing in a seismic event include the following considerations:
- Steel is a stable material with consistent chemical attributes. Once the steel stud has been formed, it will remain straight with virtually no change to the thickness, width or other dimensional properties. Once a tree is harvested, on the other hand, the wood immediately begins to dry and shrink. This continues to a lesser degree after the stud is processed, but can be seen as the lumber warps, twists, or bows. Inconsistency in the quality of wood in an individual stud also can result in cracks or weak spots in a stud.
- Because the material and geometric properties of a steel framing member are stable, the overall strength of the structure will depend upon the quality of connections between the studs. Steel framing typically uses screws that provide a mechanical locking connection. Wood framing connections are made with nails that rely on friction and bending. As the wood dries and shrink over time, the amount of frictionholding the nail into the wood declines.
- Steel has a significantly higher strength-to-weight ratio than wood. A steel frame is typically one-third the weight of a wood frame. Consequently, damage through "inertia" will be significantly reduced since there is less weight to move during an earthquake, and less weight that must stop.
- The building codes used in the design of steel framed walls are based on more rigorous testing procedures put into place after the recent earthquakes of the last decade.
- Steel framing is more likely than wood to maintain its structural integrity over the long-term because it is impervious to rot, termites and other pests that can slowly degrade the structural integrity of framing members, lessening the ability of a house to withstand seismic forces.
- Steel is non-combustible and does not contribute fuel to the spread of a fire. This can be an important factor should an earthquake's devastation produce fires, similar to that experienced in both the 1906 San Andreas and 1989 Loma Prieta events in California.
Summary
The purchase of a home is the single largest investment that most people will ever make. As a result, structural and non-structural problems during the life of a house can be both financially and emotionally draining. The prudent homeowner will take necessary precautions to protect against loss. Building with steel should be considered at the top of the list.