A solid foundation and a substantial and perfect frame provides for quality and satisfaction for the remainder of the project. Please take moment to read the importance of these essential first steps.
BUILDING THE DREAM AFFORDABLE DIY STEEL FRAME HOMES
The document "Building the Dream: Affordable DIY Steel Frame Homes" provides a comprehensive guide to constructing a steel-frame dwelling. It emphasizes the importance of safety equipment and maintaining a clean construction site. The construction process is broken down into seven steps: 1. Site Preparation and Laying the Foundation : Professional contractors are recommended for clearing the site, surveying, and laying the concrete base, ensuring all utility connections are installed beforehand. 2. Snaplines : Marking out the precise location of the frame on the concrete foundation using chalked string. 3. Delivery of Steel Frame : Organizing the delivery and sequential stacking of wall frames, beams, trusses, and joists. 4. Installing Wall Panels : Connecting wall panels based on snaplines. 5. Cross Bracing : Adding stability to the structure. 6. Installing Trusses : Placing roof trusses, possibly requiring mechanical machinery for larger pieces. 7. House Wrap : Installing flashing, moisture wrap, and wind barrier to manage moisture and air leakage. The document also lists 20 reasons to choose metal over wood for framing, highlighting benefits such as minimal construction skills required, resistance to termites and mold, fire resistance, lower insurance rates, environmental friendliness, and more. Additionally, it outlines universal requirements for construction, including site plans, electrical and sewer connections, foundation plans, compliance with local energy codes, and engineering evaluations. The guide aims to empower DIY enthusiasts with the knowledge and confidence to build their own steel-frame homes efficiently and safely.
20 good reasons to frame a home with metal and not wood
Why build your ADU with metal vs wood
Wood Metal
Explanation
1 DIY Construction Benefit
The wall frames, trusses and beams can be erected in a just a few days Pre-assembled walls and trusses require no specialized skills to errect Do it yourself, Hybrid (involve special contractors) or hire a General Contractor
2 Minimal Construction Skills Required
3 Build as DIY, Hybrid or by a General Contractor
4 Build It As You Can Afford It
Impervious to Weather - build as you have the time and money
5 Up Front Cost of Framing Materials
As to only the framing material, wood is less expensive
6 Total Cost To Build
Savings in time, labor, and other areas make light gauge steel LESS expensive
7 Termites and wood boring insects
Termites, carpenter ants and wood boring insects eat wood, not metal
8 Mold resistant
Metal does not attract mold
9 Damage caused by exterior and interior flooding
Metal needs no reconditioning after a flood
10 Fire Resistant
Non-combustible
11 Lower insurance rates
Many insurance underwriters now provide lower rates for metal framed homes
12 Walls, trusses, and beams retain their original form
Perfectly straight walls - no shimming of drywall
13 Corners are 90 degrees
No need for templating of countertops to adjust for out of square corners
14 Strength and weight
Metal is stronger than wood and weighs less - no need for crane to lift ADU trusses
15 IBC Engineered Stamp
If an engineering stamp is necessary, months of waiting are saved
16 Complete BOM (Materials Shopping List) 17 Flexible in Seismic Areas - Won't Fracture
Take the materials shopping list to Home Depot and start shopping/pricing
Light gauge steel is flexible and won't fracture when the earth moves
18 No Waste At Job Site
Steel is the most recycled material in the world. A typical wood home has 20-30% waste
19 Environmentally Friendly 20 How-To Videos Included 21 Relationship Counselor
Trees don't have to be destroyed and the source of most metal is from recycling
How-to videos provide simple assembly instructions
Eliminate emotional upheavals - save time, money, and preserve the relationship
Universal Requirements - some or all may be required
1 Site plan
7 Earthquake (fault) evaluation 8 Foundation Plan - subject to soils
2 Electrical Supply Connection
3 Sewer Connection
9 Compliance with local energy codes: insulation home wrap and flashing
4 Fresh Water Supply Connection
10 Engineering for wind speed and snow load. 11 State and Local ordinances regarding ADUs 12 Local Architect and/or Engineer may be necessary
5 Set Backs
6 Soils Evaluation
CHAPTER 9: TWO ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR A HOME BUILT TO LAST
For many of you who are reading this book, by the time you have finished, you may well be ready to embark on a venture you might not have dared imagine ten years ago – building your own home. While this book is also for the guidance of those who already work in the construction industry, we wanted to include those of you who have sound DIY skills. The CFS frame, or skeleton, for ADUs or affordable housing is easy to erect, and thanks to the plethora of online videos, there is nothing in the realm of property construction, from laying foundations to plumbing, that doesn’t have a selection of how-to videos to watch in every language imaginable! You don’t need specialized knowledge, just a basic skillset and access to the internet, to be able to build your own steel- frame home! In reality, there is something of a revolution occurring in the global construction industry, with steel-frame skeletons enabling more and more of you to build your own home at a price appreciably more affordable than buying a traditionally built property from a developer – one of the main reasons steel-frame properties are becoming so popular. So what are the two essential requirements of a home built to last? In simple terms, a solid frame or skeleton (what you build) and a firm foundation (what you build upon). The frame or skeleton To avoid any confusion, properties with a main structure made of wood are referred to as timber-frame properties. When cold-formed steel (CFS) is used, the CFS frame in a property is referred to as a skeleton. Both structures fulfil
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the same purpose—they provide a solid structure around which you build the walls and roof and fit out the interior.
Multiple advantages of a CFS skeleton Timber is prone to bending and warping under extreme conditions, such as high or low temperatures, excessive moisture, or high winds. CFS does not suffer from any of these drawbacks. Timber is subject to attack from dry and wet rot, woodworm, termites, borers, carpenter ants, and other insects. CFS is impervious to all such attacks and infestations. Timber is flammable, and in a fire is likely to aid in the total destruction of a property. CFS is non-combustible and can help to retard the spread of a domestic fire. As a result, insurance companies’ rate CFS-framed properties lower than timber-framed ones, thus lowering your insurance premiums.
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International acceptance Part of the reason for the global spread of FRAMECAD steel-frame housing is the international standards which it meets. The CFS skeletons we provide at FrameUpNow are designed to International Building Code (IBC) Standards. The IBC is responsible, globally, for ensuring that the quality, safety, and sustainability requirements of a construction project are strictly adhered to. All 60 FrameUpNow steel-frame skeleton designs meet the IBC standard and are delivered with an IBC stamp of approval. The foundation If the foundation of a building is not rock-solid, then it doesn’t matter how stable the skeleton or frame of a property is: The property won’t last and may be unsafe to live in. It is no coincidence that in life we refer to so many things requiring solid foundations, though in most instances we are speaking figuratively, not literally. Anything built on a solid foundation will last much longer. A property’s foundation performs two functions. It ensures that the property does not sink into the ground when built—you would be surprised by just how much a house weighs! Second, it helps to evenly distribute the property’s weight across the ground, optimizing stability.
Hire a professional for this stage of construction There is no “one size fits all” type of foundation. Foundations for a property built on rock differ from those built on clay or
sandy soil. For this reason, we strongly recommend employing the services of an architect or structural engineer to carry out tests on the land your property
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will be built on. They will also check for groundwater levels and seismic activity and provide you with detailed drawings (i.e., plans) of the most appropriate foundations for the property you wish to build. Once you are in receipt of these plans, you should then hire a contractor to lay the foundation. They will have comprehensive knowledge relating to site preparation, formwork, concrete mixing, pouring, finishing, and curing.
Get official paperwork to guarantee the work There are two reasons we recommend you employ professionals to build the foundation of your property. First, you will have peace of mind that your property has been built on “solid ground” while also giving you the right to legal recourse (i.e., insurance) if anything goes wrong. Second, and more important, you are protecting the value of your investment. There may come a time when you need to sell your steel-frame property. Depending on where you live, the value of the property can be affected if there is no paperwork to prove that the property has been built to the standards required by local building regulations/authorities. In many instances, banks or building societies will not lend money to the purchaser of a property if it lacks
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the required paperwork and plans to prove that everything meets all official requirements. It is also worth noting that that if you do decide to build the property yourself and intend to do your own wiring and plumbing, it will also pay to have a registered electrician and registered plumber check and sign off on all your work to show that it has all been installed to the correct specifications. Note also that in many countries, it is against the law to install plumbing and fires/furnaces/boilers that involve gas unless you are fully trained and qualified. In other words, in several instances, while the costs of building a steel-framed property are lower than a traditionally built one, there are certain corners you cannot afford to cut or you could end up affecting your property’s value or even its future saleability. What is included in foundation plans? Without plans, the contractor you employ to lay the foundation will have no idea what is required of them. Foundation plans may vary, depending on where you live, but can include any or all of the following: • Foundation Layout • Footings
• Foundation Walls • Columns and Piers • Foundation Materials • Floor Elevation Drainage Details • Site Information
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Three types of foundations
Three types of foundations are generally used in residential construction, all of which can be modified based on local terrain conditions: • Shallow foundations • Deep foundations • Combined foundation systems Get the foundation and the frame right, and you can build a property that will last a lifetime and beyond.
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CHAPTER 10: YOUR QUICK GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTING A STEEL SKELETON
Before beginning the construction of your steel skeleton, we strongly recommend you purchase the appropriate safety equipment for working on a construction site. This should include safety boots and safety goggles or glasses, a hard hat, a high-visibility jacket, and ear defenders for use with noisy power tools. There is a wealth of information available on the internet for health and safety on a construction site, most of which is basic common sense. Our principal piece of advice is to always keep the site clean and tidy. When building a dwelling, we tend to spend more time looking ahead or above than down at our feet, so best to make sure nothing is left lying around that anyone could trip over. As an added bonus, a clean site is more efficient to work in. The following are the seven steps you will need to take in the construction of your new steel-frame dwelling. For each of these sections we have provided a summary of what will be required, and each Flowcode will give you access to more comprehensive, invaluable information. The right tools for the job – Included in the information you will receive when you purchase the plans for a steel-frame dwelling will be a comprehensive list of tools needed to complete the entire construction process. However, for the frame erection stage, there is only a very short list. The main task will be to connect the individual pieces of the frame. Make sure you have the right tools for the job, as your frame is the most important part of the entire structure.
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Site preparation and laying the foundation – Here we recommend you use professional contractors. First, the site needs to be cleared and surveyed to establish what type of foundation will be needed. When the site is cleared, it will be ready for the concrete base and any foundation trenches to be dug where necessary.
Note that any services (e.g., water, gas, electricity, and drainage) need to be installed in advance of laying the foundation so that you will have direct connections to them all through the concrete base. Get your snaplines right – Once your concrete foundations have dried, you need to mark out where the frame will sit. You can establish the precise location based on the position of all the connections to the utilities, as you will know exactly, based on the plans, where in the dwelling each of these will be connected. The next step is to create snaplines on the concrete. These require two people to run a length of heavily chalked string along the concrete base where the outside of the wall frame will be. You tighten the string, lift it up, and allow it to snap back into place, leaving a clear, straight chalk line on the concrete. This needs to be done for all external wall frames, and it is important to ensure that all lines meet at a right angle (90 degrees) to each other. Taking delivery of the steel frame – All the wall frames, beams, trusses, and joists will arrive on the back of a lorry. As you unload them, check that everything is in the right order. In theory, the last thing to come off the lorry should be the first piece you will use when you start the construction process. In simple terms, you want all the pieces stacked sequentially to match the order of installation.
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Get on the phone and invite a load of capable friends to a frame construction party. Four or five will be enough, depending on the overall size of the frame, and this is a great way to make building your new home even more memorable and enjoyable.
Installing wall panels – If you’ve got your snaplines right, installing and connecting all the wall panels could not be easier or more straightforward.
Cross bracing – Cross bracing is installed to provide extra stability to keep the panels square to each other and stop them from racking.
Installing the trusses – Once your wall panels are in place, you are ready to install the roof trusses. Depending on their size, you may be able to manually lift them into place, but for larger and heavier trusses, mechanical machinery will be needed.
Flashing, Moisture Management, Air Barrier and Wind Reduction – are some of the key benefits of a good house wrap. It is best practice to install flashing at windows and doors, as well as a moisture wrap and wind barrier.
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Some builders will skip house wrap altogether—that is a mistake. A good house wrap goes over the exterior sheathing of a house, but on the living area of the siding. It creates a way for moisture that can get behind the siding to escape, and it prevents air from leaking into or out of the home.
Moisture collects behind siding in several ways. 1. Moisture in the air from inside your home. This can be from every time you flush a toilet to running water in a sink. 2. Moisture from outside of your home. This can occur through any cracks or gaps, some of which may not even be visible. 3. Moisture from condensation. If the temperature varies from inside of your energy envelope to the outside, when warm moist air comes in contact with a cool surface, condensation is sure to follow. There are many house wraps in the marketplace today, and technologies are constantly changing and improving. One of the best house wraps available is Tyvek. Once those steps are complete, it’s time for an impromptu barbecue and a celebratory drink of something fizzy! After you have watched the videos that show how simple and rapid it is to erect a steel skeleton, you should feel confident that you have the DIY skills to build your own home.
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