Heritage or Classic steel home experience,anyone?

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Hi to all,
I'm looking hard at these two builders of steel frame home kits. Just wondering if anyone has any words to the wise.

Heritage is in Little Rock Ark.
http://www.heritagebuildings.com

Classic is in Houston TX.
http://www.metalhomes.com

Heritage claims homes can be built for $28-36 sq ft. I have a bit of pessimism about that. Maybe I should post this on CountryByNet...Thanks,Kyle

 

[MF1455v]

Kyle, I have built several steel framed homes. First was a Tri-Steel home I built for my self and still live in. Want go with Tri-Steel again, but thats a long story. Three others have been from Classic. Have been very happy with Classic. I have also seen the homes for Heritage and they have a nice package.

I would say both are good to work with. The question you have to ask is what style of home you are wanting.

Heritage home plans are very limited but are very cost effective. They also go together extreamly fast. Only has 6" exterier walls.

Classic has a larger slection of plans. Homes go together a little slower, due to a more complex design. Has 8" exterier walls.

Send me a PM if you have any other questions about Steel Homes.

 

[dmccarty]

Kyle,

I looked at building with steel but did not for a variety of reasons.

The prices of metal has gone through the roof, a very high roof,
so I would really question their prices at this point. Are their
prices to high or to low. The metal prices are supposed to fall
anytime now. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

One problem with steel frames is that they conduct energy
real easy. There are ways around this. The best idea I have
seen is to have offset studs. What I mean by this is that there
are exterior studs and then there are interior studs. An
exterior wall would have two sets of studs. One set is on the
exterior side of the wall while the other is on the interior
side. The exterior stud does not touch the drywall and the
interior stud does not touch the exterior siding. This leaves a
thermal break between the walls. It also makes for a wider
wall which means you can throw in more insulation. One can
also throw rigid foam on the exterior wall to provide more
insulation, thermal break, and water protection. Course that
also costs more money....

A picture would be worth a thousand words at this point.

Later,
Dan McCarty

 

[MF1455v]

Steel prices are an issue at the moment. Hope they don't stay high much longer. But even with high steel prices a steel fame home is a better value in my mind.

Dan, I before building I had herd about the issue of thermal conductivity. Did some research and found that 16 guage C channel perlin used in the main frame construction of homes only conducts normal tempetures 3 to 4 inches with fiberglass insulation on both sides. Classic homes have 8" exterior walls. Even if it did conduct the entire 8" there is less than 1/8 inch every 2 foot. One good double pain aluminum window will conduct more thermal energy than that.

I went from a 1300 square foot wood frame home that was only 4 years old with 4" walls to a 2600 square foot steel frame home (both to total electric) and my electric bill stayed the same.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for the comments guys. Very much appreciated!!!