Steel Framing service in Victoria, BC

Versatility

With wooden framing, you are limited in the size and shape of structures and openings.  Steel has much fewer restrictions.  It can be fabricated in many shapes, giving you much more freedom to design doorways, roofs, and even rooms however you like.

Steel can also bear more weight per inch than other framing options.  This means that doorways can be wider, rooms can be larger, and ceilings can be higher.  It also lends itself well to modifications.  If you decide you want to change your home’s layout or increase its size by adding a room, it is very simple to tie these additions into the existing framework of your home.

Safety

Steel is naturally fire resistant, and steel framing is coated so that it will not lose its strength or have its integrity compromised even if it is directly exposed to fire.  Steel framing will not give out under the weight of accumulated snow and ice, and it is much more resistant to all types of weather events (high winds, earthquakes, and anything else the planet might send your way).  Steel has even been proven to withstand impact and explosions much better than other materials (though we hope you never have need of this in your home!).

Environmental Friendliness

Steel is the most commonly recycled material in the world.  While wood can be reclaimed and reused in some situations, its recyclability is limited.  Steel can be melted down, reformed, and repurposed over and over again without losing any of its strength.  The use of technology in its production also minimizes the amount of waste produced when steel beams are made.

While trees can be replanted and will regrow in time, our society’s current use of lumber far outpaces the rate at which trees can regrow.  Framing just one average-sized house with wood uses approximately 40 trees.  By framing with steel instead, you can keep one small forest alive and thriving! 

Quick and Accurate Installation

While a skilled framer will make very few mistakes, no human being is perfect.  Wooden framing is generally constructed by hand at the job site, leaving room for error and miscalculations.  Steel framing, on the other hand, is largely fabricated to your exact specifications in the factory before it is shipped.  There is no chance of a framer making a wrong cut then trying to shim up his mistake - the steel is perfect, or it is rejected and corrected.

Because it is already cut and partially assembled when it arrives at the job site, steel framing goes up very quickly.  Even an experienced team of framers will take at least a week to construct the wooden framing of an average-sized home - some homes can take up to 2 months to frame!  In contrast, prefabricated steel framing can be put up in a matter of days.  Since nothing else can be done on a new home before the framing is complete, this can save a significant amount of time in the building process.

Cost Effectiveness

As the cost of timber continues to rise, steel framing is becoming increasingly attractive financially.  While it might still cost more per linear foot of material, the overall cost of framing a home can be significantly less due to the ability to use fewer beams.  Less material used also means lower shipping and material handling costs, and steel framed homes are often less expensive to insure and maintain in the long run.  Don’t let the price tag of a single steel beam send you running back to the lumber aisle - when all the costs are calculated, steel is often the more economical option!