Steel construction is a waste of money, it provides no real world benefit and limits shape of your structure, notice how every space looks square AF.
Ross
@commonsense, I beg to differ. Steel studs allow for flatter walls, since they are all straight, plus can be arranged in the same manner as wood studs to provide non-square spaces. If I ever build my own house it will have steel studs. It will not, however, use spray foam insulation. I hate that stuff.
Al
commonsense: Better nice clean squares and rectangles than some of the god-awful turrets, etc. one sees so often on these high end homes.
meh
What impact does steel framing have on WiFi or Cell reception?
commonsense
@Ross, easier to get straight walls is probably the only benefit although indiscernible to even a trained eye most of the time. There’s no fire protection benefit because there’s still plenty of wood in the structure and furniture. The downsides are increased cost on something you will never see (spend money on carpentry and tile), takes specialty subs to work with, does not add resale value to a home. Steel construction sounds good on papaer but utterly useless in real life.
mollusk
Another advantage is that termites don’t like the taste of steel studs. They’re pretty much universal in commercial build outs, at least in this part of the world.
bleh
im sure it would be a waste of money but ive always wondered how much of an impact it would have to put that spray insulation in my attic. would it make the ac unit work better up there? at the very least would it not be so damn hot up there during the summer?
commonsense
@mollisk, termite problem is like the quicksand problem, as kids we all watched the movies and it seemed quicksand was going to be a much bigger danger than it turned out to be. All my life I’ve only seen one house with termite infestation and all it needed was a single beam replaced. In commercial construction steel is used mostly for code compliance reasons.
commonsense
@bleh, the spray foam on the attic side of the roof decking is somewhat of a controversy, some people swear by it, some people say it creates a ‘heat trap effect’. Me personally I would definitely insulate it but would damn well make sure soffit and ridge vents are working properly.
Ross
While looking for a house about 20 years ago, we saw a number of houses with major termite issues. This was in Bellaire and Braes Heights areas. Most of them had been last owned by elderly folks who weren’t good about noticing such things. In one, the termites had not only eaten up some of the wall studs, they had also eaten giant holes in the hardwoods that were hidden under carpet. To really make the house a teardown, it had 40 years of cigarette smoking embedded in every nook and cranny. “No dear, that is not yellow paint, and that awful smell should remind you of an ashtray”
Steel construction is a waste of money, it provides no real world benefit and limits shape of your structure, notice how every space looks square AF.
@commonsense, I beg to differ. Steel studs allow for flatter walls, since they are all straight, plus can be arranged in the same manner as wood studs to provide non-square spaces. If I ever build my own house it will have steel studs. It will not, however, use spray foam insulation. I hate that stuff.
commonsense: Better nice clean squares and rectangles than some of the god-awful turrets, etc. one sees so often on these high end homes.
What impact does steel framing have on WiFi or Cell reception?
@Ross, easier to get straight walls is probably the only benefit although indiscernible to even a trained eye most of the time. There’s no fire protection benefit because there’s still plenty of wood in the structure and furniture. The downsides are increased cost on something you will never see (spend money on carpentry and tile), takes specialty subs to work with, does not add resale value to a home. Steel construction sounds good on papaer but utterly useless in real life.
Another advantage is that termites don’t like the taste of steel studs. They’re pretty much universal in commercial build outs, at least in this part of the world.
im sure it would be a waste of money but ive always wondered how much of an impact it would have to put that spray insulation in my attic. would it make the ac unit work better up there? at the very least would it not be so damn hot up there during the summer?
@mollisk, termite problem is like the quicksand problem, as kids we all watched the movies and it seemed quicksand was going to be a much bigger danger than it turned out to be. All my life I’ve only seen one house with termite infestation and all it needed was a single beam replaced. In commercial construction steel is used mostly for code compliance reasons.
@bleh, the spray foam on the attic side of the roof decking is somewhat of a controversy, some people swear by it, some people say it creates a ‘heat trap effect’. Me personally I would definitely insulate it but would damn well make sure soffit and ridge vents are working properly.
While looking for a house about 20 years ago, we saw a number of houses with major termite issues. This was in Bellaire and Braes Heights areas. Most of them had been last owned by elderly folks who weren’t good about noticing such things. In one, the termites had not only eaten up some of the wall studs, they had also eaten giant holes in the hardwoods that were hidden under carpet. To really make the house a teardown, it had 40 years of cigarette smoking embedded in every nook and cranny. “No dear, that is not yellow paint, and that awful smell should remind you of an ashtray”