The use of steel frames makes for a type of construction that has many advantages over traditionally used brick and concrete structures. It costs less, allows for a great deal of flexibility and sustainability, while its greatest advantage lies in the ease with which it can be prefabricated off-site, and assembled on-site, that greatly reduces the time for construction.
Steel construction that uses prefabricated steel can reduces costs by 2 to 3 percent over reinforced concrete. Prefabricated steel structure buildings have an advantage of offsite fabrication in factory controlled conditions that act to guarantee the quality of the structure. Steel is an economic construction material that offers a large number of pre-engineered structural steel solutions.
You can get prefabricated steel structures by allowing the steel structure to be planned and designed for the loads that the finished building is required to carry. The advantage of using steel is that it has properties that are definite and strengths in compression and tension that are known. Concrete is a material that has to be produced from various components, and its strengths are largely dependent on quality control and supervision. Its lower strengths compared to steel, make concrete structures bulkier. Steel frames, on the other hand, will be relatively sleeker.
Designing of the steel structure is carried out after receiving from the customer all details of the building and the loads it is meant to carry. The customer also needs to specify the cladding or roofing to be used, so that the designer can make the necessary arrangements for their fixing in the designed prefabricated structure. Designs for steel buildings will result in the production of drawings and specifications that will decide the sizes of various structural parts and their connections that will allow for the assembly of the prefabricated structure to erect the required building. Once the details of the steel structure are obtained from the manufacturer, the customer needs to make a provision for the foundations based on the details of the steel structure.
The use of CNC machines in steel fabrication allows for a great degree of quality control and dimensional accuracy that greatly assists in the speed of construction. The use of quick-drying coating technologies allows for the protection of the steel structure. The individual parts of the steel structure need to be properly identified and assembly drawings need to be made by the manufacturer and submitted to the client. The sequence of assembly also needs to be indicated.
Delivery of the steel work is relatively straightforward and requires little space and time. The steel work must be received at the work site in the sequence that it is required to be erected. Proper arrangments also need to be in place at the building site, for assembly of the prefabricated structure, using erection techniques and equipment. Assembly can require bolting, riveting or welding, depending on the design and convenience. Once the structure is erected, the necessary cladding and roofing can also be installed as per the needs of the customer. The completed structure then receives the final coat of paint or any other finishes as desired.