[QUOTE=Loopy;7797457]
Yeah,it’s constructed of metal on a metal frame. Cost an arm and a leg more than wood but I was adamant I wasn’t having timber built. Would possibly be too hot for many of you but it’s fine over here for me in the UK.[/QUOTE]
That is what we have here and it doesn’t cost any more than wood would have.
While what burns in a barn is generally something flammable inside, if the frame and/or envelope is also wood, it just burns even faster.
If it is metal, you will still have damage, but not because your barn envelope burned also.
Another concern is trusses against framing, with metal or wood.
You can make both as strong as you want, but trusses depend on the whole structure being intact to work best.
If a fire or other damages trusses, the whole structure may fall.
Those warehouses built with trusses are called fireman’s tombs because of that.
They may be in a part that is not burning, but the whole may collapse.
With standard framing, wood or better metal, each column is self supporting and at most one may fall into another, but the rest of the structure will keep standing.
Trusses are cheaper, because they are fabricated in a warehouse and lifted in place, much less labor than putting up beam by beam, one at the time.
When it comes to metal or wood, in some parts of the country, your better barn builders use wood, so at times you still have to go the route of what the local builders know and are best with, or look long and hard for someone familiar with other building practices or materials that are not regularly used where you are.
There is much to building, better let the experts decide what is best for any barn.
