The History and the Future of Steel

While steel framing is a familiar sight on commercial construction projects, light gauge steel framing in residential construction is generally regarded as something new, although it has a long past. The 1932 Chicago World Fair featured a steel-framed home. During the 1930s, companies developing new welding technologies began building steel frame homes in an effort to create a large new market for those new technologies. During the 1940s, Lustron Homes factory-built literally thousands of steel framed homes. In more recent times, interest in the use of steel framing in residential construction has grown whenever lumber prices have risen, only to abate when they subside.

But steel framing has never been used on a larger scale in residential construction than during the 1990s. Around 55,000 homes were framed using galvanized steel in the early 1990s. It's projected to be 325,000 new homes by the year 2000. What's driving the current expansion in the use of steel framing in residential construction? Most attribute its foothold in the market to two changes in the lumber market. First, lumber prices are rising and highly volatile. Second, lumber quality has declined because lumber companies are harvesting younger trees (most old growth forests have already been harvested or are protected on public lands).

Steel, as a construction material, offers extremely stable prices as well as some superior performance characteristics. It's dimensionally stable and uniform in quality. Steel doesn't rot, warp, split, crack or creep. It can't be consumed by termites and doesn't burn. With all of these advantages, and with lumber problems expected to continue long-term, the domestic steel industry is strengthening its commitment to this new market.

In 1998, the member companies of the AISI formed the Residential Steel Partnership (RSP). This group's mission is to create an environment that enables and encourages the practical, economical, and widespread use of steel in residential construction. RSP's activities will include creating standards, training framers and other tradespeople, defining efficient distribution channels, and promoting steel framing to consumers in the new-home buying market.

RSP's name may be changing, but you can always get in touch with them through the American Iron & Steel Institute at:

American Iron & Steel Institute
1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 1300
Washington, DC 20036-4700
800-797-8335
http://www.steel.org

AISI is collaborating with the NAHB to increase awareness of the advantages of residential steel framing. They built an interactive steel-framed house on-site at the 1997 NAHB Builders' Show in Houston (Figure 4-6). The house, approximately 900 square feet, combines the use of steel framing with traditional wood framing. This house was created to highlight the fact that working with steel doesn't have to be an "all or nothing" decision. You can combine many other framing applications with steel.

Photo Courtesy of: American Iron and Steel Institute

Figure 4-6: A demonstration building showing a combination of steel and wood framing

The Residential Construction Department of AISI also offers several publications, from technical to promotional, related to residential steel framing. One is the Builders' Guide to Steel Studs, designed to provide professionals with instructions and details (industry practice) for constructing homes with cold-formed steel studs. It's just a basic guide, but it makes some interesting points, especially for those considering entering this market.

Thermal Design Guide for Exterior Walls outlines test results of thermal resistance in steel-framed walls. Thermal resistance or R-value is the resistance to heat flow through a wall. Because walls typically are comprised of various materials (studs, tracks, cavity insulation, sheathing, etc.), an effective R-value must be determined for the entire system.

Published in 1993, Fasteners for Residential Steel Framing still provides insight into the development of an efficient fastening system and provides guidance on the use and design of fasteners for cold-formed steel framing.

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