Steel buildings as offices, warehouses and storage I’m familiar with.
My son wants to put up a 50×100 steel structure and build it out as his new home. We’re not talking steel framed building here. This is a prefab, bolt it together on your slab, shell.
Anyone have any experience with this?
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Around 1991, FHB had an article about an industrial designer who built a steel building in an industrial park somewhere in the SF bay area, I think. He had his studio and shop in half (or more) of it, and had a nice living space in the rest. (A search of the archives might turn up the piece.)
I always figured that if i ever came home to find the locks changed and my stuff piled at the curb, that's what i would do. Fortunately, though, that hasn't been necessary.
Short of possible problems with resale value relative to location, I don't see any problems living in a steel building. Trying to concentrate during a rainstorm might be a little challenging.
I think it was in the forties (though with the war on, steel would have been at a premium, if available at all, so maybe it was 30's or 50's) a company made buildings (mostly commercial) with porcelainized steel panel exteriors--called Lustrom buildings I think.
These?
http://www.piranhagraphix.com/Lustron/FactsandLinks/factsandlinks.htm#oddPAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Yup, them's the ones. With an 'n', not an 'm' apparently!
Sounds like a cheap shell that'd be very difficult to make an inspected house from. I'd be thinking modular, as in shipping containers:
http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!