Steel Framing Advantages

• Strength
• Energy Efficiency
• Design Flexibility
• Fire Resistance
• Ease and speed of assembly
• Material cost advantage
• Lower insurance cost
• Less deterioration over time
• Less maintenance
• Higher quality home
• Better resale value
• Cleaner work site - less waste
• Straight and uniform walls
• Saves the forest

 Clear cutting has virtually devastated the world's forests.  Only 4% of America's virgin forest remain today and most of that is on public land.  As long as there is an abundant demand for wood this depletion is likely to continue.  It takes approximately one-forth of an acre of mature trees to produce the wood framing for a typical house.  The same house can be steel framed with the recycled steel from just three junked cars.  Recycling has been a fundamental part of the steel industry for many years, so much so that over 60% of all steel used today is recycled.

Steel won't warp, rot, buckle or split like wood.  Steel framed homes are superior to conventionally built wood framed houses because of the uniformity and quality of the steel.  Walls are straight and corners are square and remain so over the life of a home.  Anyone who has built homes with wood over the past few years has seen the severe deterioration of the quality of wood framing products.  Today a #1 stud is about the same quality that a #3 stud was ten years ago, only more expensive.  Steel is in abundant supply and readily available, while lumber supplies are threatened by the continuing depletion of old-growth forests and by governmental and other concerns.