metal garage

Industrial steel buildings are versatile and strong and suitable for just about any purpose. Whether your needs are for light manufacturing space or storage for farm equipment, industrial steel buildings provide an inexpensive yet durable solution.

Easy to assemble, industrial steel buildings can be constructed using several different design structures. The P series utilizes the more traditional design of straight sidewalls and arched roof and offers the greatest possible amount of usable space by raising the arch up to the top of the sidewalls. With a P series industrial steel building you will have enough room for a backyard workshop or garage, whichever you need. The A series modifies the P series design by offering a 4 to 12 pitch roof for maximum strength and durability in high wind and snow areas. It, too, can be used as backyard workshop or garage. S series buildings have high, straight sidewalls and a curved arch roof that protects from heavy rain and snow accumulation. You have 100 percent usable vertical and floor space by virtue of the high sidewalls; this design grants you the ability to house small manufacturing, industrial and commercial operations or fire and airport fueling stations within its walls. You can even fit your recreational vehicle in an S series industrial steel building.

We now come to the Q series industrial steel building. Also known as Quonset huts, Q series buildings with their rounded corrugated arch design are some of the strongest structures in architecture. These huts, named for Quonset, Rhode Island, the location of the naval base where the hut design was developed, were used extensively during World War II to house troops and equipment in the field. The design was so popular that some returning soldiers purchased the surplus huts to use for their personal housing after the war ended. These days, Q series industrial steel buildings are used for such diverse purposes as airplane hangars and to house grain; their ability to resist tornados, hurricanes, and heavy rain, snow and wind make them ideal storage facilities.

Farmers also love industrial steel buildings. Farm machinery, grain, crops, horses and livestock all need strong, reliable protection from the elements. Industrial steel buildings are ideal for this purpose. Much more durable than the traditional wooden pole barn, these buildings are also maintenance free. They can also house large quantities of grain, crops and hay.

As you can see, industrial steel buildings are versatile enough to suit just about any purpose. You can even turn one into a guest cottage.

Lightweight prefabricated structures made of galvanized iron and semicircular arched ribs are called quonset huts. The quonset hut design is based on the Nissen hut that was developed by the Navy. The name of quonset huts comes from the name of the city where they were first manufactured, Quonset Point. Quonset huts can be shipped anywhere and assembled without skilled labor. They were commonly used by the military for barracks, latrines, and offices, but were later sold to the public and used primarily as commerical buildings.

The Navy developed the Nissen hut in 1941. The Nissen hut was changed to use corrugated iron and arched ribs to become the quonset hut. The two ends were covered with plywood which had doors and windows.Another way the Nissen hut was improved was by adding interior pressed wood lining, insulation, and a one inch tongue groove plyood floor on a raised metal framework.

The first quonset hut measured sixteen feet by thirty feet and could be assembled by a team of eight men in one day. Quonset huts were later modified to the standard size of twenty feet by forty eight feet with a ten foot radius resulting in seven hundred twenty square feet of floor space inside. Four foot overhangs at each end to protect the entrances against the weather were sometimes added to quonset huts. Other sizes included a forty feet by one hundred feet warehouse model of the quonset hut. The inside of a quonset hut is open and flexible.

Ouonset huts were not made after 1959. But because the quonset huts are so portable and adaptable, they are still in use in some places today. Many quonset huts served as homes and businesses after production stopped. Large universities and colleges that had an influx of students resulting from the GI bill used quonset huts on campus. Quonset huts are still around today although they are not used much anymore.