Post and beam with metal??

[Egon]

Just remember the mask when welding galvanized.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't think you are comparing apples to apples when you compare using metal instead of wood for a house. You really need to be looking at metal barns and workshops for a better comparison. As you mentioned, we fill the cavity between the wood studs with insulation. We also use that space to run the utilities, which everyone prefers to be hidden. In order to have an exterior weather tight wall and an interior wall, you need the studs. 16 inch spacing works great for both OSB or plywood on the exterior and also half inch sheetrock on the interior.

Since you don't have any need or desire for interior walls, there really is no reason to have anything in between your load bearing posts. The spacing of your posts will depend on what you use for your headers to support your roof and the purlins for your exterior walls.

Eddie

 

[Sebculb]

Hey, sorry for the late reply, been away from the computer for a few days. Playing with the welder!

Boggen, that's neat how you noticed the geographic variations in building materials from up north to down south. There's a lot of stuff down here that I've never seen up north and vice versa. It's cool to combine different methods when practical. So you're thinking of taking the whole maintenance-free house to another level, with using ag-panel siding also. I understand, working on the darn house gets old and it seems like you call it done at one end and it's already rotting at the other end where you started! Insulation and multi-layer walls 'n stuff adds a whole nuther level of complexity with building and materials and humidity and habitat space for critters. Luckily we don't have to worry about insulating all that much in the tropics. Hopefully a single layer wood siding wall will stay pretty problem free. No attic for us either.

Our land is in a small town right outside the local big city. 3.5 acres hidden right off the main road, less than a kilometer from an awesome hardware store. Only costs $5 to have a dumptruck of materials delivered! But we're right on the edge of some pretty rural areas, and all the wood we're using was milled from trees scrounged up in the surrounding neighborhoods.

 

[Sebculb]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and ideas. I'm gonna try and take some pics of the mess I'm making and post them up, we've got a half wall foundation built and some big sections of framing that are about ready to be flipped up, similar to when you stick-build a house.

Hasta luego!

 

[mikester]

Hey Everbuddy!

Sooo, I've had this nagging question recently and was wondering if anyone has any insight on it. Why isn't there more post and beam style home building done with welded square metal tubing? I'm from the States but live in Costa Rica now and down here metal is a common building material. The most common method is using c-profile purlins (2x3, 2x4, 2x6) welded in a manner similar to stick built wood framing and then covered with drywall or some other similar products that they sell here. Welded purlin roof trusses are used on all manner of structures, even older wood houses when they get a new roof sometimes. Corrugated galvanized roofing is used mostly.

Square or rectangular tubing (4x4, 2x4, 3x3, 2x2 etc) is more expensive than the c-purlins but it's stronger and looks okay when it's painted if you're gonna leave your framing exposed. I like exposed framing in the tropics, you don't need insulation and it cuts down on places for the critters to live. So my big idea is to weld a fake-me-out timber frame out of 4x4 square tubing, paint it a nice shade of brown, and cover it with wood siding and floorboards. That way you never have to worry about bugs or rot structurally. Galvanized square tubing here comes in thicknesses of 1.2mm, 1.5mm, and 1.8mm (i'm using the 1.8). This seems thinner than what they call "hollow structural sections" up north, but they build big stuff out of it here and this is earthquake country.

Why don't they build like this up north at all? Is it because wood is still cheap? Wood's expensive here since it's illegal to cut down the rainforest, framing with metal is actually cheaper, if you can believe it. Especially 'cuz you can get away with using less. I've googled every which way and can't find any info except a few companies selling prefabricated farm structures. From what i've read online, framing with metal up north is done with c profile studs even thinner that what's down here and it's all screwed together with sheet metal screws, if I'm understanding correctly, and in many cases it isn't for load bearing purposes. Everything down here is welded. I was looking for stuff like span tables and so on but can't find anything.

Anyone have any idea where to find some information or guidelines or whatever on the subject? (similar to the ubiquitous 2x4 every 16" on center etc) Anyone have any experience with building a cabin-type structure in this manner? I'm a somewhat new welder and learned most of my construction stuff down here, but have worked up north for stints too.

Thanks!

The do build like this. The problem building with steel is that building inspectors aren't engineers so steel building designs must use an architect or professional engineer.

Any Bob with a hammer can stick build a home. There are accepted published tables for wood designs saying you need X lumber for Y span in the building code. Low cost in other words.

For steel you use only what you need and you aren't restricted in your designs like with wood.

Engineers use I and W beams because it puts metal only where you need it. Using square tube everywhere adds 25% more material adding weight and cost.

If you want design guidelines buy a copy of your local building code.

 

[Torvy]

Fyi, this thread was 7 years dormant...I'm guessing the OP got the info he needed.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Hey Everbuddy!

Sooo, I've had this nagging question recently and was wondering if anyone has any insight on it. Why isn't there more post and beam style home building done with welded square metal tubing? I'm from the States but live in Costa Rica now and down here metal is a common building material. The most common method is using c-profile purlins (2x3, 2x4, 2x6) welded in a manner similar to stick built wood framing and then covered with drywall or some other similar products that they sell here. Welded purlin roof trusses are used on all manner of structures, even older wood houses when they get a new roof sometimes. Corrugated galvanized roofing is used mostly.

Square or rectangular tubing (4x4, 2x4, 3x3, 2x2 etc) is more expensive than the c-purlins but it's stronger and looks okay when it's painted if you're gonna leave your framing exposed. I like exposed framing in the tropics, you don't need insulation and it cuts down on places for the critters to live. So my big idea is to weld a fake-me-out timber frame out of 4x4 square tubing, paint it a nice shade of brown, and cover it with wood siding and floorboards. That way you never have to worry about bugs or rot structurally. Galvanized square tubing here comes in thicknesses of 1.2mm, 1.5mm, and 1.8mm (i'm using the 1.8). This seems thinner than what they call "hollow structural sections" up north, but they build big stuff out of it here and this is earthquake country.

Why don't they build like this up north at all? Is it because wood is still cheap? Wood's expensive here since it's illegal to cut down the rainforest, framing with metal is actually cheaper, if you can believe it. Especially 'cuz you can get away with using less. I've googled every which way and can't find any info except a few companies selling prefabricated farm structures. From what i've read online, framing with metal up north is done with c profile studs even thinner that what's down here and it's all screwed together with sheet metal screws, if I'm understanding correctly, and in many cases it isn't for load bearing purposes. Everything down here is welded. I was looking for stuff like span tables and so on but can't find anything.

Anyone have any idea where to find some information or guidelines or whatever on the subject? (similar to the ubiquitous 2x4 every 16" on center etc) Anyone have any experience with building a cabin-type structure in this manner? I'm a somewhat new welder and learned most of my construction stuff down here, but have worked up north for stints too.

Thanks!

i'm sorry, i didn't read the entire post but....

my pipe dream was to build my house out of metal. i'd helped a friend erect some commercial storage units and had worked with steel studs in the past, made sence until.

i went to a co in GA who will build the steel to your drawings.

he was 3x the cost of wood and told me labor will be much higher also. (most my material costs were 3x anyway thanks to the china virus)

i went with 2x6 exterior wood walls etc.

 

[Sebculb]

Fyi, this thread was 7 years dormant...I'm guessing the OP got the info he needed.

Ha ha yeah all this was a while ago. Back then was just getting started and was building chicken coops and shelves to learn how to use the thing. Since then I guess I've become some kinda "professional" in metal with wood building and burned more 6013 than I care to calculate. Built lotsa stuff for other people by now.

Just got an oxy acetylene kit to continue expanding my horizons. That's a cool toy. My next pipe dream is a metal lathe, but those are expensive around here and I'd have to build a separate building to have it in. The family excavation business is up to two old backhoes and a dumptruck is on the way, so having in house fabrication capabilities is useful. We'll get there one day.

As long as we're on this subject again after so many years, something I'd like to highlight is the drastic difference in building metal types and availability between central American countries and the states. Here we've got all kinds of "dimensional lumber" sized galvanized metal with very thin walls. Like 1.2mm, 1.5 and 1.8. (for reference 1/16" is about 1.6mm. There's also c-channel purlins that get used a lot because they're significantly cheaper but I don't like them they're a pain in the butt.

This metal is waaaaay stronger than wood! Even though it's so thin walled. You can span distances that would be unthinkable with wood. So even though the metal is a little more expensive than wood you use less and the building comes out cheaper. And it's easy to use. Wood is EXPENSIVE here, like not feasible expensive. And in the tropics it can rot, so if you want to spend that money it's better to build with cinder blocks. Metal is like the "budget" material. And it lasts forever.

I'm always surprised that metal like this isn't more available in the states. Home depot doesn't have anything like it and the specialty suppliers sell stuff that's similar but not the same. (from what I've seen on my short visits back) A lot of it is meant for tek screws and not welding.

Anyways as someone who has building experience in both worlds this is always a point of interest for me. Just thought I'd share.

 

[Torvy]

We were in NW Costa Rica (Playa Flamingo) about 7 years ago. It was very nice, but my German skin could not handle that much sun every day. My wife and kids are all fluent, and really enjoyed the immersion.

Always interesting to hear about how things work outside of our bubble.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I once saw a big nice "post and beam" barn, it was built all from rail road track!!

SR