Consider all of the structural materials at your disposal. They all have very significant flaws except one: cold-formed steel.
You’re familiar with concrete, lumber, masonry and structural steel, yet their familiarity doesn’t make their costly inefficiencies any easier to deal with. Concrete is messy, heavy and can crack. Lumber takes time to cut and will eventually succumb to natural elements. Masonry is time-consuming and difficult. Structural steel is heavy, expensive and requires additional finishing materials.
The one material with only a few minor drawbacks is cold-formed steel, which needs to be planned in advance and may have a slightly higher material cost depending on the size of the project and the installation speed. So what makes this miracle structural material so efficient and so loved?
Less is More with Steel
The genius of cold-formed steel lies in its material: steel. We use zinc-coated cold-rolled steel (yield strength of steel, fy = 60 ksi) in three proprietary Building Code-approved systems that take advantage of steel’s strength in walls and floor-ceiling systems.
By using thin strips of steel in well-engineered configurations, a structural component like a floor joist can be easily moved into place with only two labourers with little effort and a wall panel can be easily installed in just a few minutes. Cold-formed steel’s insubstantial weight means that an entire building’s total mass can be far less than if the same building were built with precast concrete or structural steel.
Cold-Formed Steel is Your Foundation For Success
For many mid-rise construction projects, a reduction in structural weight can also increase your cost savings associated with foundations and footings – cold-formed steel can reduce foundations by over 25%! This can be a crucial benefit in situations where soil challenges exist. The great reduction in materials needed for a structure makes cold-formed steel ‘green’ in many applications.
First and Foremost: Plan
It’s impossible to fabricate cold-formed steel components like floor joists and wall panels onsite – and that’s a good thing. Most pieces are engineered well in advance using Building Information Modeling (BIM), which allows mechanical/electrical/plumbing trades to know exactly what they need for their jobs and address potential conflicts well in advance of construction since these elements use large pre-punched service holes right in the joists. Window and door openings can be based on the information provided by your supplier, and allow for simple installation.
Since so much work is completed offsite, far less time is spent onsite, speeding up the construction process. That means fewer labourers, fewer storage complications, a cleaner job site, and just-in-time delivery.
Efficiency Starts Today
So, now that we’ve shown you that cold-formed steel is incredibly efficient, why aren’t you taking the next step? Soon you can be speaking with a member of our team who can talk with you more about cold-formed steel, discover our range of structural solutions, hear firsthand what it’s like working with us, see some of our successes and find the system best for you. Now you can!
