While some ambitious self-builders dream of one day creating a grand designed timber-framed manor house (with all the trimmings), others might envisage something far more eco-friendly and mud hut-ish in construct. Everyone has a very different idea when approaching the subject of a DIY home-built labour of love; only most people don’t get the opportunity in life to put their concepts into practice. But for those who do get a chance to realise their dreams, there’s one material out there which often gets overlooked when people from all walks of life start planning their own, bespoke amazing spaces, and that’s a material which is elsewhere pretty much omnipresent.
Rings of Steel, and Much More Besides
Steel might not be everyone’s first – or indeed, last – thought when considering what construct their des res might utilise, however, you could find yourself doing a disservice by not taking a closer look at a building material which has been with us for as long as we can remember.
Across the pond in America, pre-engineered steel building systems are discovered in the most likely, and unlikely, of places; offering a myriad of build solutions for properties as diverse as equestrian centres to churches. One leading light in the steel scene stateside is Armstrong Steel, who has been providing the prefabricated materials and build expertise for a number of years in their home state of Colorado and much further afield.
Like Many Good Ideas, UK is Importing Steel Homes Idea from America
Back here in the UK though, steel is still seen in many quarters as utilitarian and more closely associated with industrial and commercial properties rather than residential. But with the upsurge in interest in people wishing to create their own private Idaho’s a lot closer to, er, home (not to mention an explosion in the number of TV programmes which show you just what you can achieve with a little imagination, time and of course, a strict budget), that historic mindset is being challenged and subsequently changed. Nowadays we’re witnessing more and more self-build projects taking on board the versatility offered by steel products both in and more importantly, around the house. Brushed steel interior accessorising has been living amongst us for a while now, yet adopting the same raw material for use in the bigger structural picture has beyond the ken of some would-be DIY home builders.
Prefabricated Steel Homes Not Going Back to Get to the Future
Whichever way you look at steel core components when addressing a potential self-build housing project, the benefits far outweigh any negatives. Cost, flexibility, eco-credentials and the time it takes to erect (minimised time on site) are just four of the USP’s which have piqued people’s interest in recent times. What’s more, the aesthetics of the finished articles can be truly inspiring to look at, with the material naturally lending itself just as readily to a Bauhaus style as it does to a more bohemian ambience, based on the stylistic overtures developed and implemented by the self-builders. If more people can see past the 1950s prefab homes and/or the converted shipping containers that can deter some from visualizing how a very contemporary steel-crafted home can be presented, then the more steel-based properties we’ll witness in our towns, cities and rural areas in the not-so-distant future.
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