Help and Resources
Research steel building and carport information, or contact us for more.

Thank you for visitng the help and resources section of our website.

In this section you will have full access to informational articles regarding steel buildings and carports. You will also be able to contact us through this section.

Looking for the main site? Click here.

Disaster Relief Housing

Disaster Relief

Absolute Steel now provides transitional disaster relief housing worldwide. Emergency structures that transtion to permanent homes.  Read more!
Kit homes

Kit Homes and Cabins

Absolute Steel has recently developed high quality home kits, guest house kits, and cabin kits.  Read more!

Steel Building Kits : Roof and Wall Frame Assembly

Comments Off
Roof wall frame assembly

The framing system for your roof and walls is made up of a series of individual frame assemblies – “ribs” that go upward from the base rail on one side of the building, over the top to support the roofing panels, then down to the opposite base rail.

Once your base rails have been assembled and anchored, your next step is to put together the roof/wall frame assemblies.

To make sure all the assemblies are exactly the same, it’s best to assemble them one on top of the other, as shown below. This makes for a more uniform final building, and makes it easier to install roofing and siding panels. Read the rest of this entry

Steel Building Kits : Erecting the Frame

Comments Off
Lifting your steel building frame into place

With your metal building’s roof and wall frames assembled (and truss bracing in place, if your particular building includes it) you’re ready to set that framing up. Here’s where you see your building’s shell take shape.

SMALLER BUILDINGS

For smaller buildings – 10 to 20 feet wide – you’ll need at least 2 people to do this part of the job. For larger buildings, you may need one or two more. If your building is 30’ or more wide, skip to the next section within this article, “Larger Buildings”.

You’ll need to be able to comfortably reach the building’s peak. That’s from 10 to 20 feet high, for most smaller steel buildings – a height you can reach with a good ladder.

Erecting the roof/wall frame assemblies is a simple proposition: Read the rest of this entry

Steel Building Kits : Assembling Trusses

Comments Off
Tri truss side joint

Depending on its size and engineering, your building’s roof frame may or may not require truss bracing. The instructions for your specific building will tell you whether or not bracing is needed. In general, though:

  • Buildings from 10’ to 18’ wide do not require truss bracing.
  • Buildings 20’ wide often require Type 2 or “post-truss” bracing.
  • Buildings 24’ wide or wider may require either Type 2 or Type 4 (“tri-truss”) bracing.

One element that is common to both types of truss bracing is the collar tie. This is a horizontal cross-piece at the bottom of the truss assembly.

Type 2 post truss bracing Type 4 tri truss

The collar-tie itself is made up of three parts: a center-tie, and 2 end-ties. The lengths of these parts vary, depending on your metal building’s dimensions. Exact lengths will be found in the instructions in your steel building kit. Read the rest of this entry

Guest Houses – Where is Grandma Gonna Live?

Comments Off
Kit Home Alpine

A modern solution to an age-old family dilemma

More and more families these days face living space problems. They have a home that suits them just fine, but then: Read the rest of this entry

Steel Building Kits – Preparing Your Site

Comments Off

Once you’ve chosen where to set up a steel building, it’s time to prepare your site.

If you’re planning on putting your metal building or carport on an existing concrete slab, you usually won’t have to deal with this provided the slab is thick enough around the edges. If so, about all the preparation you’ll need is a bit of sweeping, or perhaps hosing away any dirt or dust.

If what you’ve got is bare ground, preparations are just a bit more involved. But not much. Read the rest of this entry

Steel Building Installation – Do it Yourself

Leave your comment

Did you play with an Erector Set when you were a boy?  Remember all of the pieces of punched metal and the little screws and nuts? How about those “tinny” little wrenches and that screwdriver?  Wasn’t it a great feeling when you actually assembled something that resembled the picture?  I do, mine was a robot among other things.

Men today can find that same great sense of accomplishment as the boys of yesteryear when they install their own steel building.  The general idea is the same although the steel building installation may actually be easier than playing with the Erector Set.  The key to a no-hassle, do-it-yourself steel building installation is to find a company that designs steel building kits for the do-it-yourselfer Read the rest of this entry

Steel Building Plans

Comments (2)

Steel Building Plans

So you have been dreaming about a steel building,  a storage building,  an RV garage, a hobby shop or maybe just a steel garage to keep your belongings out of the weather and give you room to enjoy your hobbies.

 Come back down to earth and I’ll try to help you turn your dreams into reality.

 First let’s take a look at your needs.  What are you going to store in the steel structure? 

 Do you plan to store a Recreational Vehicle?

 If you plan to store an RV, you will need to know the clearance height of your RV.  My experience shows that you will need at least 13’-6” of clearance for a Class A motor coach.

Many of you may not own a Class A motor coach and the RV that you currently own is only 12’ tall. Look a few years down the road, you never know you may trade up to a Class A coach one day.  This is something to consider and another reason to research steel building plans. 

Read the rest of this entry

Go Green With Steel Buildings

Leave your comment
When you think of environmentally friendly, steel is probably not the first material that comes to mind. But you should reframe the way you think about steel buildings. Look at the following ways steel buildings are going green.

Recyclable and Reusable

Steel is a durable product when in service, but when it is no longer in use, it can easily be reclaimed for use in another product or recycled into another steel product for further use.

The design of some steel truss buildings can also easily accommodate remodeling/retrofitting at a later date with minimum waste. This extends the sustainable life of the structure through rebirth or repurposing. With steel, the cradle-to-grave cycle can be avoided. Read the rest of this entry

Can a Steel Building be Used as a Dog Kennel?

Leave your comment
If you operate a dog kennel, you are probably wondering if you can utilize a steel building in order to expand the business. The truth is that you can. Many businesses that house dogs are using steel buildings to ensure that the dogs are in a warm and secure place. It is very important that the dogs are as comfortable as possible, which is crucial to the operation of the kennel. It is also important that the quarters stay clean so that the dogs stay healthy.

By providing a healthy environment for the dogs, they will be less distraught that their owner has had to leave them there. Many owners must leave their dogs at kennels while they are on vacation or are traveling on business. As a result, dogs can become upset, but having a nice kennel will keep the dog’s stress level to a minimum. Read the rest of this entry

Mother Nature Can Huff and Puff But She Can’t Blow a High-quality Steel Building Down

Comments (2)
Believe it or not, a well-designed steel building is a very smart investment, especially when you want to protect yourself and your valuables from harsh weather. Besides being more cost effective and easier to build than conventional buildings, steel buildings are sturdier and built to last.

In fact, quality steel buildings even beat most conventional buildings when it comes to withstanding the elements. Read the rest of this entry

 Page 1 of 5  1  2  3  4  5 »