Letters from our Customers – IV

“In 1998, I purchased a 36×30 ft. building kit from SteelMaster Buildings Company.  On March 1, 2003, I was working in my building on the fuel tank of my Harley Davidson, when fumes escaped out the gas tank and ignited with a kerosene heater.  I tried to extinguish the fire, but within seconds, flames were blazing 15 feet high.  I had no choice but to call 911 and watched my building burn along with my Harley Davidson.  The fire inside the building was so hot it melted and burned everything that was stored in it.  The two ends were destroyed and the fiberglass sunlight panels in the roof were demolished.  However, the steel building is still intact with minimal damage.  My wife and I were so amazed that the SteelMaster structure survived the fire.  Thank you SteelMaster for building such a durable building!”

George Rodney
Rock Hall, Maryland

We often receive letters from our customers telling us about their experience with our company and we greatly appreciate their feedback as it tells us where we are doing great and where we can improve.

Here is another letter we received from a customer that purchased a SteelMaster steel building that survived a fire.

Letters from Our Customers – III

We often receive letters from our customers telling us about their experience with our company and we greatly appreciate their feedback as it tells us where we are doing great and where we can improve.

Here is another letter we received from a couple that purchased their SteelMaster metal buildings back in the April of 2005.

“I want to let you know about how our building has been an asset to us.  It has been very useful in all of the storage we need.  We are very pleased with the quality and craftsmanship as our building from SteelMaster.  Your company was a delight to deal with on everything.  When I called, someone was always there to answer all of my questions.  I found the personnel very cooperative and polite.  The always took time to explain every detail, never in a hurry.  In my opinion you could not ask for a better company to buy your building from.  We would recommend SteelMaster Buildings and their extra value building to all.”

James & Brenda Cook,
Hillsboro, West Virginia

Letters from our Customers – II

We often receive letters from our customers telling us about their experience with our company and we greatly appreciate their feedback as it tells us where we are doing great and where we can improve.

Here is another letter we received from a customer who purchased his SteelMaster steel building back in 2001.

Hi SteelMaster,

When my building arrived and my neighbors saw the two small bundles of materials they said, “That is not enough for a 25’ x 40’ building.“  They were amazed when it finished and they saw that everything needed was there.

I have completed erecting my SteelMaster buildings, and it really looks good.  Most of the work I did myself, except for the erecting of the arches.  I had seven to help with that and that were erected in about four hours.  This is the first time I have ever tried a project of this size and I had some doubts whether I could assemble it or not.  The instructions were simple and easy to understand and I was amazed at how well everything fit together.  The building was completed without any problems.

It was a lot work involved but I enjoyed working on it, and now I have a building I am proud to own.

Letters from Our Customers Series – Part I

A few months back we started a series to share letters that we receive from our customers on a daily basis. We love hearing the feedback from them and it’s great to see how each customer puts their own touch on our steel buildings.

The first letter in our series was from Skip Keer of West Palm Beach, FL. Skip’s testimonial was great; not only did he construct his shop all by himself, but his metal buildings also withstood a 100 mph plus tornado. After reading his story, we were curious to see how Skip customized his SteelMaster. Check out the photos below that we just received from him.

Oregon Architect has an Eye for Steel Arches

There is a house in Southeast Portland, OR with an architectural element that is sure to raise a few eyebrows because stylistically, it resembles one.

Dubbed the ‘Eyebrow House’ by its owner, architect Edgar Papazian of Doon Architecture LLC, the steel arches were added during renovation to expand the second floor, which initially was a small, tube-like shaped attic/storage space.

What was Papzian’s inspiration and thought process in designing his ‘Eyebrow House’? He explains:

After the renovation, what exists on the second level that wasn’t there before? There are two new bedrooms (one master – rear and one smaller one -front), as well as a new, second bathroom.

How did you come up with the concept to utilize steel arches to achieve your objective?The idea sprang from sketches I made of the house when we first saw it. The architectural problem is one of adding dormers to a small gable-roof house, and how to do so without making the house look top-heavy [which would occur with] traditional stick-built construction. The curvature is something I came up with to make the house appear more visually streamlined and yet have livable, architectural-character space on the second level. We also were attempting to make a better visual connection from the house interior to the rear of the property through large areas of glazing. The curves I wanted were a theme that carried through a lot of the millwork and choice of plumbing fixtures. I had never used these arches before, although I’d seen them used in instances other than typical Quonset hut buildings—once at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York for a sound installation and then in Architectural Record for [Hodgdon Powder’s] office building in the Midwest that’s on the SteelMaster Buildings’ website.

How did the use of the arches add to your vision for the ultimate renovation of the house?I had looked at other types of material that would give me the curvature such as glulam beams, but the [SteelMaster] arches were visually interesting and cost-effective. I was able to work with SteelMaster to get the curvatures I required both by code and visual proportion, within strict tolerances. By exposing them on the inside and building an insulatable shell around them (stuffed with spray foam insulation getting us our code-mandated R-value), we get a cool galvanized interior finish that required no further finishing and gives an industrial, bright feel. I specified triple-glazed arch-top metal extrusion windows to complement the aesthetic of the arches, on both the front and rear facades.

How would you classify the construction process of putting the arches into place? After the minor ordeal of getting the material off the truck and onto the second level of the house and a bit of head-scratching about how the pieces were marked (and some screw-ups in initial assembly that resulted in bizarre-looking curves), my contractor figured it out, and the arches were up essentially within a day or so. We became the local neighborhood fascination.

Are you happy with the renovation as a whole?We are very happy with the renovation and think that this could be duplicable for others. As an architect I have figured out a lot of the technical structural requirements that were needed in order for the dormer system to work properly as integrated into the existing structure of a house, so this is not something that a homeowner could do without the assistance of an architect and a structural engineer. The city was able to issue a permit for the project through my ministrations and several pages of structural details

Extreme SteelMasters

SteelMaster steel buildings are known for their strength and durability even in the most extreme cases. Our metal buildings have survived hurricanes, floods, and fires making them the perfect buildings to use in hazardous environments. The photo to the left is of a steel storage building at an observatory on Frisco Peak in southwest Utah. While it may look like any other metal warehouse, the elevation of Frisco Peak is roughly 9,600 feet! Being at that high of an elevation means that this SteelMaster will have to endure high winds and extreme temperatures. Since we engineer our steel buildings to meet the wind and snow loads of their destination that won’t be a problem.

While most people won’t need a building as heavy-duty as this one, customers still want to know that their buildings will be ready for the upcoming snow that winter may bring. Below are a few photos from customers who were happy to have their metal buildings when the snow began to fall.

Congregation of People Help Raise Steel Building

When many people think of the term ‘barn raising’, it is usually preceded by the word ‘Amish’. For generations, Amish men have upheld their community’s tradition of caring and helping a neighbor in need by gathering for a day of work and socializing to build the bulk of a structure. The result of their collaboration shows that when they work together, they accomplish what no one person could do alone.

“In the spirit of the Amish, I asked some of my friends at church to help me put up the arches of my new building, so it was kind of a Roman Catholic barn raising,” says Carl Scott, who lives on a farm near Carthage, NY.

The crew worked on constructing Scott’s new steel building, which he plans to use as storage for his farm equipment. “I chose to buy a building from SteelMaster Buildings because I had the opportunity to see one of their structures near an airport in Houston, TX,” says Scott. “I talked to the owner and discovered that the building was relatively easy to put up, and afterwards, it had weathered several hurricanes with no problems.”

Although New York does not see as many hurricanes as Texas, Scott says that a strong building is crucial in his neck of the woods because of the heavy snowfall the area receives. “The arch design was something I specifically wanted because I knew that it would be able to carry the loads for the snow easily, says Scott. “My building has had four or so feet of snow piled on top of it, and it shrugged it off.”

Michelle Wickum is the director of marketing for SteelMaster Buildings and says that the arch is fundamental to all of the company’s buildings. “From the Romans to modern civilization, the arch has been an engineering and architectural marvel,” says Wickum. “SteelMaster has boldly redefined the technology for the 21st century. Both structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing, the SteelMaster arch offers a rare blend of strength, style, and simplicity, giving you endless application possibilities. As a result of arch technology, the need for bulky beams, trusses, and supports are a thing of the past.”

Scott says that he didn’t hesitate in buying his building from SteelMaster Buildings, which is located in Virginia Beach, VA. “Many other companies sell similar buildings, but I knew that a SteelMaster would do the job right,” says Scott. “I had heard others talk about the quality of the buildings as well as the company in general, so I knew they have a good reputation.”

When it came to constructing the building, he had the help of his church congregation, and he says there are three things he would like to share with people who are in the beginning stages of construction with their SteelMaster. “I suggest that the first thing they do is go to YouTube and watch all the SteelMaster videos that they can,” says Scott. “Secondly, I would get in contact with the company’s tech support before you start building, not once you are going. And lastly, I would caution them from trying to put up their building during a snowstorm—big mistake.”

According to Wickum, SteelMaster buildings are engineered for life and come with a 30-year mill-backed warranty by ArcelorMittal (NYSE MT). “Our steel buildings are also built to meet the wind loads of their destination, which is especially important to our customers who live in an area where powerful hurricanes are common,” says Wickum. “They remain maintenance free for a lifetime thanks to the company’s use of Galvalume Plus Coating which offers strength, superior corrosion resistance, and an attractive bright appearance that provides excellent heat reflectivity.”

In addition to storage buildings, SteelMaster’s steel and metal pre-engineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including Garages, Workshops, Carports, Quonsets, Airplane Hangars, RV Storage, Military Buildings, Commercial Warehousing, and Industrial Storageas well as a wide variety of Custom Building applications including Athletic Facilities, Retail Stores, Churches, Bus Stops, Smoke Shacks, Doggie Dorms, and Correctional Facilities.