The construction industry is embracing a younger and stronger framing material that delivers benefits for architects, contractors, developers and tenants. Discover why this versatile steel design is outmatching everything else.
Light-gauge steel (also known as cold-formed steel and cold-rolled steel) is a cold-formed material that is used to make construction processes smoother and products stronger. It does not deteriorate, like wood. It is not bulky, like structural steel. It is not heavy, like concrete. It is something completely different, and if you have ever worked with it before, you know that there is a practically endless list of benefits. Let’s look further into this wonder material and how iSPAN Systems’ light-gauge steel structural solutions can benefit you on your next project.
Early in the 1900s, builders began searching for new ways to use steel. Hot-rolled structural steel was extremely strong, but expensive and difficult to install. The innovation and housing shortage after WWII spurred research into light-gauge steel as a load bearing and non-load bearing element. It was found to be 20% stronger than hot-rolled steel with a far superior strength to weight ratio, with significantly less material and energy use than anything else.
Once American design standards came around in 1946, builders quickly began moving forward on constructing homes and mid-rise buildings out of this newly approved building material. In the 1950s and 1960s, as the economy grew, so did the number of cold-formed steel structures in the commercial market.
Today, after further research and engineering support, light-gauge steel is standard use in many new single homes and mid-rise buildings, such as hotels, apartments and condominiums.
The question should be “What isn’t possible?” because there is an endless list of uses for this versatile steel product: everything from cars and bridges to storage racks and furniture.
iSPAN Systems has mastered light-gauge steel in building structures and continues to research new possibilities. No matter the building use, iSPAN can pursue and work with its clients on coming up with a cold-formed solution: trusses, joists, walls, floor decking (Composite TotalJoist) and other components.
It’s fairly new, but it’s rapidly growing in popularity. Why is that? This light and strong material makes the building process better for everyone, whether you’re an architect, contractor or developer.
iSPAN’s founder, Mike Strickland, recalls the business’s beginnings, “If you take a look at the cold-formed steel frame industry, you have roofs, you have walls and you have floors. Floors are 65% of the weight of a building and the walls are 30%.” Strickland and the iSPAN team wanted to find ways to make structural systems stronger, so revolutionizing the floors and walls were great places to start.
Strickland worked with colleagues and friends to perfect the product, the fabrication and the processes to benefit as many people as possible. Today, iSPAN’s light-gauge steel framing solutions are revolutionizing the construction of mid-rise condominiums and apartments, hotels and retirement residences. With applications for many building types, iSPAN’s flooring and framing systems – TotalJoist, and Composite TotalJoist – have been used by leading developers and architects on projects across North America.
To learn more about iSPAN Systems and its proprietary light-gauge steel framing structural solutions, contact iSPAN director of sales Dwayne Schauss at dwaynes@ispansystems.com or call 1-855-804-7726.
For more information light gauge steel buildings, please get in touch with us!