Too Many Options?
When purchasing a new carport, garage, or other metal building, the options can be overwhelming.
Whether it’s a simple carport, storage shed, garage, livestock, or industrial building, you are making an investment that is designed to protect other investments, so you want to be sure that you are selecting the best materials for both your project and your wallet.
Shopping around for the best building options can be quite a task, though. Big box home improvement stores will advertise “free installation” and “lifetime guarantees” on a variety of wooden buildings that sound like great deals (but usually only until you read the fine print).
Online retailers will offer DIY vinyl sheds, flat-packed and shipped to your door. You not only never know what exactly you’re going to get, and you also have to build it yourself (and hope all of the parts are actually included).
Apart from all of the options to consider, such as size, windows, doors, etc., is the material itself, which is actually the best place to start.
Material Types
What is the best material for strength, durability, customization, and value?
Wood
Wood deserves credit for being the original building material, but when it comes to the needs of modern homeowners, it just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Lumber is easy enough to work with, especially if you want to do-it-yourself, but it’s also expensive, heavy, and prone to defects. It also absorbs moisture, no matter how well you treat it, and will eventually rot – but not before attracting pests, swelling, and mildewing first.
Wood is also not the particularly weather resistant, which is surprising when you consider that trees spend their entire lives outdoors. Snow, ice, and heavy rain will reduce the lifespan of your building dramatically, and fire will destroy it altogether.
And that’s if you use high-quality lumber. Most of the buildings you’ll find “on sale” in big store parking lots are made from low-quality OSB and plywood.
Vinyl/Resin
Various plastics, such as vinyl or resin, often seem like an attractive option. They are lightweight, come in a variety of colors, and can be easily assembled without extensive tools or experience. Vinyl buildings are often available online at discount prices and shipped directly to your door. But that’s about where the advantages end.
Vinyl is waterproof, but not particularly weather-resistant. Its light weight comes at the cost of structural integrity, and vinyl buildings can easily be damaged by hail, high winds, and fire. Vinyl, resin, and other plastics degrade and become brittle over time, usually lasting only twenty years.
Plastics are also a non-recyclable material that damages soil and being made from petroleum, plastic production is a major contributor to air and water pollution.
Steel
When it comes to carports, garages, and other buildings, steel is superior to wood and vinyl in nearly every way.
It is lightweight and malleable, and infinitely customizable, but without sacrificing strength and durability. It is highly weather-resistant and offers protection from all natural elements, including fire.
Steel structures are designed to last 40 to 50 years with little to no maintenance, and with some basic care can last 60 years or more. If your building is damaged, the damaged portions are both replaceable and recyclable. In fact, our steel meets the requirements for the country’s leading green construction agencies: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program by the US Green Building Council and the National Green Building Program.
In addition to being structurally superior and environmentally responsible, steel is also a more economical solution for larger projects, such as agricultural and truss buildings. Metal barns and large equipment storage buildings and more energy-efficient, less expensive to maintain, and cheaper to insure than their wooden counterparts.
When purchasing a new carport, garage, or other metal building, there is really only one option: steel.