How Safe is Your Family Home from Natural Disasters?
Steel framing systems provide homeowners additional security
and safety for their investment, and more importantly, their family. Steel's inherent strength and noncombustible qualities
enable a steel framed home to resist such devastating events as fires, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes.
• In conventional wood framed structures, the framing material is the
third most commonly ignited material.
• Steel framing will not burn or add fuel to the spread of a fire.
• Because of this, many insurance companies offer lower
rates for steel framed homes.
• Termites cause over $2 billion in damage every year in the United States alone.
•
Steel is impervious to termites and other wood boring insects.
• Structural damage caused by termites is NOT covered
by insurance.
• The high strength of steel and the positive connections provide greater protection for the life of
your home.
• Steel Framed Homes can achieve the highest earthquake rating available in the world.
• Steel Framed
Homes can be engineered to withstand winds of 150 MPH.
• Steel Framed Homes have proven their strength
by surviving hurricanes and high winds time and time again since 1976.
• The strength of steel also provides greater protection
from heavy snow and ice.
Experts in
many fields are looking for new building strategies and technologies that will help sustain affordable growth into the next
century. By selecting steel framing for the structures built today, we can answer the demand for environmentally responsible
products.
Steel is the most commonly
recycled material in the world, with over 67% of all steel used today coming from recycled material. It takes one-fourth of
an acre to produce the framing for a typical wood framed home; the same house can be framed with steel from the recycled metal
of just three to four junk cars! Increasingly, steel framing is being recognized as the logical, environmentally responsible
choice for home buyers and builders today.
FAQ's Regarding Steel
framing :
How does Steel Compare To Wood?
This is easily the most commonly asked question. First
of all, wood is an organic material. It was a living organism. When wood is cut, the wood dies. From that time forward, wood
has one objective: that is to become dirt. Any organic organisms final state is to decompose, rot, become mulch - dirt.
Steel, on the other hand, is a Mineral. It's strength and
dimensions are absolutely consistent. Steel will stay where you put it, for as long as you leave it there.
To fairly compare Wood Framing to Steel Framing, you would
have to compare a Wood Frame that was built to the same standards as a Thompson Steel Homes Steel Framed home. That means
engineered to a Zone 4 Seismic, 8" exterior walls, R-30 Insulation, Fireproof, Termite Proof, Dry Rot Proof, and without
any warping, twisting, or splitting. Simply, Steel is much better than Wood !
Does the Steel interfere with Radio & TV Reception?
The short answer is NO! If you understand the electronic
properties of Radio and TV waves, you know that they pass through just about anything.
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Is Steel Energy Efficient?
A good testimony to the energy efficiency of our homes is the Centennial
home built in Utah in 1996. It has 7,000 sq. ft., three gas fireplaces, and industrial gas fired water boiler that not only
does the culinary water, but the entire hot water snow melt system around the perimeter of the home and in the driveway. It
also has all gas appliances including restaurant grade ovens, and stoves, as well as all gas fired fireplaces, and gas powered
clothes dryers. For one of the coldest months of the year, the owner recently said their total gas bill for the month was
$185.00.
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Does the Steel Transfer Heat & Cold?
We're sure
it does. We've had several different tests run by independent laboratories with insulation companies. What we've found
is -- When you insulate the steel home properly, there are certain kinds of insulation that actually draw out the heat and
the cold into the insulation - it just disperses it before it ever gets all the way through. We've had tests run where
they put probes/sensors along an 8" stud and took temperature variances on either side and the report we've received
back is that any heat or cold distribution dissipates into the insulation within 2 to 3 inches into the stud, so it never
really goes all the way through.
