Hi all,
I own a horse farm. The stable where horses are kept is in a bad condition and it is very old. I am planning to renovate it and construct a new barn there.
I wish to use a pre-engineered steel building as I have read online that it is more cost efficient and saves time for construction. However, I would like to know if such steel buildings are used for stables? And what about its durability?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Most barns here are steel buildings.
Steel buildings last forever, we have some over 50 years old that still look like new.
There are several of those metal barns, some barn with house attached, that builders themselves own and they also choose metal barns, when they could have built with any other materials, wood, concrete block, stucco, etc.
Today you can make metal barns as fancy as you want, not any more looking like a warehouse, which is what some didn’t like about them.
Now, you will see some beautiful wood barns out there, full of neat architectural details.
If that is important to you, then wood may suit you better, as architects seem to be more familiar with wood for such style.
Here, most barns built with wood have long ago been torn down, as they were falling down, no matter how repaired.
Our weather and termites are no match for wood here.
May be different where you are, maybe by the sea metal is not as durable as wood?
That is something you would have to check out, if you live there.
As far as cost, that depends.
If you are in a forest, well, wood will be cheaper, no question that and plenty of barns are built with wood.
I would never build with wood for a barn, unless that is all I could get.
Any barn may burn down, because what we put in them is so flammable, but why start with the envelope, walls and roof so very flammable, if we can use something less so?
Been in two barn fires and that the barns were wood was what made them so very dangerous.
We are building our barn now and it is a metal covered arena with stalls along one side’s overhang.
We got our basic building from Rhino in Denton, TX, after getting bids from two local and four national companies.
Not familiar with the company you mention, but you can find what they have built around you and see how pleased the owners are with them.
I prefer a wood structure for a barn. Aesthetically more pleasing (at least to me). Easier to insulate both for cold and warmth. No condensation inside. Easy to ventilate structure! I live in Canada so no worry about bugs etc. as they have in Florida where all the horse barns seem to made in concrete. That would be worse then steel for me. My barn in now well over 30 years old. I do stain the exterior every 5 years with a premium stain product and the wood is near as perfect as the day it was first built. It just “fits” here on my farm better then a steel building would. And I suspect if custom built would be about the same price today as a steel structure with the stupid high price of steel today.
Around here wood = termites, of course different area have differing problems
Steel structures will or can prove greater clear spans providing greater flexibility of the interior design
We grounded the frame of our building since all the steel set on concrete just in case it was to be hit by lightening .
I’m sure you’ve researched this, but a steel building – posts and all – is far more expensive than a pole barn built with wood posts + trusses + metal siding and roof. Yes – a full metal building will go up faster and is obviously more fireproof – so if you can afford it I would choose steel over pole barn construction.
Cost also depends on the width of clear span you want. Pole barns get very expensive once you go over 60’ of clear span – especially when you begin to factor in snow load, wind load, height of side walls (over 14’) … and no matter what type of building you put up, SOIL type will come into play. Good soil will require less concrete for footings – bad soil will require larger concrete footings. The soil + footing is what supports your building.
An engineer will be able to tell you about all of these factors, and then you can determine the cost you will be facing to build the barn you want.
You can find some pretty good information at https://www.sunwardsteel.com/ They have a number of professional builders who’ve been in the industry over 20 years.
Remember, folks, never click on links by first time posters.
Generally those are spam and never know what is in those links.
That looks like possibly good information, but more like a roundabout way to advertise.
Reported for review.
good posts
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