Evalynn Hyra was in a bit of a bind.It was 1994, and construction on her house in Tryon, NC had just been completed. Her next project was to build a barn for her horses, but money was tight.
“When the house was built, I didn’t have the money for a stick-built barn or for one of the very fancy horse barns you see around here,” says Hyra, who now owns four horses and five barn cats.
It was during a visit to her local feed store that she literally walked in on a solution to her problem.
“The owner of the feed store had just put in a SteelMaster building for his equipment with a small area closed in for an office,” says Hyra. After seeing the versatility of the building, she contacted the company.
Located in Virginia Beach, VA, SteelMaster Buildings has manufactured, designed, and supplied pre-fabricated arched steel structures for more than 29 years to 40,000 customers located in every state of the United States, in 40 countries, and on seven continents around the world.
“Farm buildings are one of the most common and popular uses for our structures, as well as the top substitute for traditional pole barn applications,” says Michelle Wickum, the director of marketing for SteelMaster. “Our build-it-yourself buildings are affordable and offer 100 percent usable space with a clear span design that eliminates beams and trusses. They are easy to construct and provide maintenance-free use for a lifetime.”
In addition to being maintenance-free, they are also nearly indestructible, which is an important feature when it comes to housing horses that are prone to kicking and biting.
“A wood barn can crack, splinter, rot, and become infested with pests,” says Wickum. “None of those things occur with a SteelMaster building. Steel’s inherent strength resists fire, earthquake, and hurricane damage as well.”
When Hyra found out that SteelMaster buildings are customizable, she included features that gave the steel building a typical wood-barn feel.
“The SteelMaster rep suggested that we enclose the ends with wood for looks, and I’m very happy that we did,” says Hyra. “It was installed by a team recommended by the SteelMaster rep, and a friend did the interior work and wood ends. The barn is 30′ x 40′. There is a center aisle. On one side I’ve created a stall and a large hay room. The other side has a stall, a tack/feed room, and a small area for brooms, etc. The far end, crossing the aisle, is a run-in for the horses, who have access to the barn and pastures 24/7. There is a window in each stall as well as on each side of the run-in end. The stalls are a convenience, and there in the event that a horse has to be locked in, but the run-in was the more important area for me. We used double folding doors at each end rather than sliders, which would have been much heavier.”
Just before Christmas of 2008, eight inches of snow fell on Tryon, followed by very heavy winds. The SteelMaster barn got through it just fine, but the same could not be said for Hyra’s carport.
steel-carport“I had the kind of carport that you see all over,” says Hyra. “After the snow and the wind, the carport roof caved in on my truck and tractor, causing about $5,000 damage to the truck. Since the barn building has convinced me that it’s not going anywhere, and I have never worried about its structural safety, I decided to buy a SteelMaster carport.”
In addition to farm buildings and caports, 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.
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