The most widely used of all the metal building materials is steel. Often times this it is recycled, so it comes at a cheaper cost than you might expect, although it’s just as good at doing the job. Steel Is one of the most perfect building materials in the world, due to its durability, strength, resistance to weather conditions and because it can be made into more complex shapes than other materials (such as wood and stone) with relative ease. Having the ability to change your metal building materials into various different shapes means that you can build something that’s the exact shape that you want and need it to be.
Another advantage of using metal building materials instead of wood is that it doesn’t rot, it isn’t affected by termites and other insects and it won’t catch alight. While it does need painting every so often to keep it from rusting, this maintenance time is minimal when compared with the alternatives.
Apart from the main walls and roof sheeting, steel is often used as the main material for the other, smaller parts of these buildings. For example, all of the nuts, bolts and screws will all be made from steel, as well as the main support beams/girders.
One of the main problems with having a metal building is that the metal sheeting offers very little resistance from the cold air (since it’s not usually that thick in size) and it tends to hold the heat of the sun well (making the inside extremely hot on occasion). A good material that can be especially useful at fighting against the cold is Stucco. For those that don’t know, Stucco is a type of plaster that’s usually found on the outside of buildings. It can be used to insulate the inside of a building, but to you’ll need to get a professional to do this since it can be a bit tricky. Stucco is the most popular of all the metal building materials because it’s relatively cheap to buy and it makes for great insulation.
Other materials commonly used to insulate buildings are brick/stone and wood. This is a bit of a grey area in the community; since many people don’t believe in replacing the metal sheeting on the side with another material (otherwise it’s not a real metal building). That being said, having a wall of bricks does keep the cold out a lot better, although it’s much more expensive to build and can’t added to the kinds of metal buildings that have an arched shape.
