Construction Tips: Lighting Options

There are two main options for providing light to your steel building.  Whether or not you will be running electricity to your building can be a determining factor for what kind of lighting you end up using.  For those who are not using electricity or those who are looking to supplement with natural lighting, skylights are the best option. Skylights provide the opportunity to take advantage of nature’s resources while giving you the ability to walk into your steel building and not have to turn on the lights. This environmentally friendly option can be placed in the roof panels, end wall panels, or sliding doors. While there are several color options, the most common are clear and off-white. Clear skylights allow the most light through while providing the highest level of UV protection.

Electrical lighting options can also be installed in metal buildings. Fluorescent bulbs are commonly used when a large area needs to illuminated or to provide focused light for a workspace. If electrical lighting is used, it is commonly used in conjuction with skylights to reduce energy use.

SteelMaster Storage Sheds

Not only about storage, it's about safety too.

Most of us can attest to how quickly our garages can become filled with overflow from our homes. Few of us, it seems, actually get to use their garage for its originally intended purpose - our vehicles. Most of us succumb to parking in the driveway, or even curbside out on the street.

Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Regnier of Fremont, California found their three-car garage getting a bit over-crowded. Gerard realized he did not have ample room anymore for his work shop space for home projects.

Even though Gerard is not a carpenter by trade, he was amazed at how easily his SteelMaster 12' x 12' Storage Sheds was to assemble.

Actually, SteelMaster was amazed and applauds Gerard for using up scraps from his Storage Shed kit to help customize the inside of his building.

It was easy for the Regniers to ascertain their need for additional storage on their property. Their need was based on an understandable concern over storage of flammables and consumables in a safe and secure area, and not in the garage attached to their home. They also needed something that could be built on a slight grade and not be an eyesore to their property. These concerns are what steered them toward choosing a SteelMaster building.

Gerard wrote to us and explained how he customized his storage shed:

"Thanks largely to SteelMaster's accurate bill of materials and unique building plan, my building came out great. I designed and constructed a wood floor which fit perfectly to the building. It was easy to anchor securely.

Over the doorway opening, I constructed a 4'x10' overhead storage area. With the high ceiling, there is still plenty of room left to crawl around up there. In the clear arched space on both sides of the doorway opening, I constructed four foot wide storage shelves that go all the way up to overhead storage. I made each shelf following the contours of the inside of the building. Utilizing this space adds a lot of additional storage depth to each shelf, and prevents items from falling behind the shelf.

I also made two large, swinging wood doors for the building front. They are secured from the inside with cane bolts and a lock on the outside. Over the doorway opening, I made an overhang to keep weather away from the doors. To build it, I utilized one of the left-over spacer straps and salvaged some of the cut-off sheet metal. The overall cost of the overhang shelf was zero.

The high arched ceiling is a real plus. It allows for vertical storage of ten foot long boards utilizing just a small floor footprint. In a building with an eight-foot ceiling, floor-space would be quickly consumed.

My wife and I constructed the majority of the building. My brother-in-law and my grandson helped some too. It was great having family in on it. Construction was a lot of work, but in the end it was well worth the effort."

SteelMaster's steel and metal pre-engineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial applications including homes, farm buildings, garages, workshops, agricultural storage, Quonsets, airplane hangars, RV storage, roofing systems, carports, military buildings, commercial warehousing, and industrial storage as well as a wide variety of custom building applications including athletic facilities, retail stores, churches, bus stops, smoke shacks, doggie dorms, and correctional facilities.

SteelMaster welcomes Gerard Regnier as our newest "Partner in Steel (PIS)". He said he would definitely send some customers our way. By becoming a PIS, this ensures Gerard cash rewards for any of his referrals that purchase a building from us. Gerard seems to think this is a pretty good gig, especially since he has no problem bragging about how much he loves his SteelMaster Storage Sheds.

Metal Sheds

Steel and aluminum are the favored materials for metal shed building. Both of them are strong and light enough to make sheds. Metal sheds are very easy to construct since they do not require foundations. They can be constructed and placed in their suitable locations much as one would buy and keep a cupboard inside the house.

Metal shed designs are quite monotonous and they have flat or slightly V-shaped roofs. In metal sheds, the emphasis is on storage space and there are several shelves already attached to their inner walls. In metal sheds, utility wins over elegance. Homeowners buy metal sheds more for their durability rather than their looks.

Yet, to their advantage, metal sheds are marginally cheaper than wood sheds. If one needs a shed just for stowing certain tools in an obscure corner of their lawn, then it is wise to have a metal shed. Houses with small gardens may go for metal sheds. Also, metal sheds are easy to construct. They can be raised by the homeowners themselves from do-it-yourself kits with a little knowledge of carpentry. Metal sheds not only cut costs on the material, but also on the labor that is needed to construct them.

Steel and aluminum are both corroding metals. Metallurgical companies treat these metals for rust and corrosion at the extraction stage itself. Despite that, a prolonged exposure to humid environments may cause them to get rusty and corroded. A rusty shed is a terrible eyesore in the lawn of any house. Alloys of aluminum like duralumin and magnalium, the same alloys that heavy vehicles and aircraft are made, are also used for manufacturing metal sheds and are known to be non-rusting, but are more expensive than typical metal.

Metal sheds are hazardous if there are children in the house. Their edges are usually rough and can be incredibly sharp. While constructing a metal shed, it is extremely important to check that there are no sharp edges or loose screws left.

Metal sheds are utilitarian and are usually not objects to be flaunted. People generally keep their metal sheds in hidden corners of their gardens or lawns and they are primarily used for storage.

Article Source: ezinearticles.com