Not typically seen in Dallas Fort Worth

[Gene South]

I have inspected this floor plan many times, 5 year old home in subdivision in Princeton Texas (near Plano). Today was the first time I saw one with steel framing. All others in this plan had wood framing. Do not know the builder but it may have been Lennar homes. All I could see was the attic framing. Do not know if the rest of the framing was steel. Maybe some DFW inspectors see this often, but not me. Anyway, just sharing the photos. Any other DFW inspectors see steel in this type of house. Are the walls framed in steel also?

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[Ted Menelly]

I have done a few around. Several in Keller, Saginaw and such.

That was part of my business years ago. Commercial metal framing with some residential thrown in.

[Gene South]

Ted, is all the framing steel, or is it a hybrid with just a steel attic? I would not think so? If all steel, can the resident hang a nail in the wall to hang a picture?

[Mike Gault]

Ted, is all the framing steel, or is it a hybrid with just a steel attic? I would not think so? If all steel, can the resident hang a nail in the wall to hang a picture?

With a drywall anchor :-)

[Ted Menelly]

Ted, is all the framing steel, or is it a hybrid with just a steel attic? I would not think so? If all steel, can the resident hang a nail in the wall to hang a picture?

If you walk around inside the home and banged your fist on the walls as you went you would have heard that familiar sound.

Yes, it is all metal framing and wood blocking around the base and kitchens and baths for trim and cabinets and such and around door frame to attach the door jambs.

I like it. Has a bit more flex than the wood for the home to give a little during those wet, dry wet, dry times.

Maybe not so user friendly for home owners trying to bang a nail in a studd

[chris mcintyre]

Not typical for my area either, so I have a couple of questions.

Is it safe to assume these are trusses? The bracing seems haphazard for a roof that appears to be on the same plane, but the joints appear to be welded as best I can tell from the pic.

My guess is that a HI (or anybody else) is SOL without the original specs.

[Jon Errickson]

Does that stuff have to be grounded in some way?

[Jerry Peck]

Is it safe to assume these are trusses?

My guess is that a HI (or anybody else) is SOL without the original specs.

Yes and yes.

Yes, "trusses", probably "engineered" trusses.

Does that stuff have to be grounded in some way?

Yes. But with everything being connected together with the metal wall framing the connection is probably to the wall framing and you would not see it.

[John Kogel]

Yes and yes.

Yes, "trusses", probably "engineered" trusses.



Yes. But with everything being connected together with the metal wall framing the connection is probably to the wall framing and you would not see it.

I have a question. If a metal stud building is struck by lightning, will the damage be less than if lightning strikes a similar wood framed house? I'm thinking it will follow the studs to the ground, rather than hit the electrical. But then there could be structural damage, even worse than wiring damage.

[Jerry Peck]

If a metal stud building is struck by lightning, will the damage be less than if lightning strikes a similar wood framed house? I'm thinking it will follow the studs to the ground, rather than hit the electrical. But then there could be structural damage, even worse than wiring damage.

I think the overall damage would be less as the lightning strike has many paths to ground ... presuming, of course, that the metal framing is properly grounded and properly bonded to the grounding electrode system.

[Matt Fellman]

I always wonder about wifi and cell phone waves.... I suppose it's not a big deal since most commerical construction is metal frame.

[mike huntzinger]

Be carfule in the attic , the sheetmetal will bend when walking on them, use the catwalks, and I was told to look for rim-shanked roof sheathing nails, the smooth ones can and will back out from wind

[Ken Garrett]

Saw one of these a few weeks ago in Haltom City. There were no welds. Each member was bolted together. This had to be a nightmare to construct. I watched a 7000sf all steel home go up in a exclusive area of Dallas a few years ago. It took 6 framing crews to complete because they kept walking away from the job. One time I was there, they had just taken one of the framers to the hospital to have a finger "repaired" after cutting on the cut-in steel roof. They were building the steel frame as if it were wood using guys that were totally unfamiliar with metal work. Well over a year just to frame this home...

Ken Garrett
Quest Real Estate Support Services
TREC #2867

[Gary Burnett]

I had one in Frisco last week. No welds. Ferrules & Bolts were used to connect the webs. The home was built in 2006 & I never found out the builder.

[Richard White]

If you are a metal framer, this framing goes much faster than with nails and wood, most connectors are made with screws not bolts. A carpenter is not equiped to frame with steel. There is a major differance in what is required, and all connections have engineered critera (drawings) that needs to be followed. A very large number of large and very large commercial buildings are built with thin gage steel.

[Wayne Carlisle]

My son worked for Lennar in that area and steel framed houses is all they build (in that area).

Yes the walls are metal too!

[Steve Frederickson]

Steel framing was fairly common in my area approximately 15 years ago. By "fairly common", I saw it in perhaps 1 in 100 homes. It was driven by high lumber prices. It seems to have fallen out of vogue.

One of the drawbacks was "ghosting," on the studs, particularly if the exterior was not sheathed with rigid insulation.

IRC has some extensive provisions for it (R505 for floors, R601 for walls, R804 for roofs).

[mike huntzinger]

another note to add, with steel walls , the outside heat will transmit to the inside walls along the stud , wood will not do this

[Richard White]

In almost all commercial buildings the hear/air transfer has been considered by the engineer during the design, no matter the type of construction. Most commercial buildings are block, or concrete exterior, with the steel framing only on the inside. Most all strip centers still are wood framed. We do see some buildings with thin gage steel used for the exterior walls, with foam board on the out side of that.

[John Kogel]

Metal Frame is not as much a concern as the framing has "holes" between the framing members. The "holes" need to be larger than the amplitude of the frequency in order for the wave to pass the metal obstacle. Same principle as the holes in the window of your microwave....big enough to let the visible light to pass through the window but small enough to block the microwave energy waves which have a larger amplitude. Those waves hitting the framing members will, of course, be blocked. If a home is clad with radiant barrier and radiant decking then the only wifi and cell waves inside will be those entering through the windows. Also note that if the windows have a radiant blocking configuration (such as aluminium particles in the glass) then some of the wifi and cell signals can be reflected as well by the glass. If you are experiencing wifi and cell difficulties in your home then you can purchase an external antenna with a cable to pass through the barriers and then be rebroadcast inside the structure. Steel siding and particularly steel roofing are really good at blocking signals. I am not an expert in radio signals but I suspect that a radiant barrier/steel roof which is bonded to ground will block more signals than one which is not. In the olden days a TV antenna could be placed in a position as to pickup a reflection of the TV signals from a nearby metal roof as well as the desired signals from the broadcast tower. This would result in a picture with a "shadow".
JR

That all sounds like bunk! The house has a bad aura??

No, but it's true. Metal buildings block radio waves. I worked in 2-way radio a bit, before the cellular explosion. We attached antannae inside and outside a metal sawmill building one time so the first aiders could use their walky-talkys. Grampa, what's a walky-talky?
.

[chris mcintyre]

A carpenter is not equiped to frame with steel.....have engineered critera (drawings) that needs to be followed.

Richard, what are you trying to say? (just kidding)

The company I worked for years ago made us (carpenters) work with the company that was adding onto one of their shopping centers for 4 months, it was all metal framing.
I hated every day of it and vowed to never ever frame with metal again, I would rather be a roofer in August.

[Ted Menelly]

In almost all commercial buildings the hear/air transfer has been considered by the engineer during the design, no matter the type of construction. Most commercial buildings are block, or concrete exterior, with the steel framing only on the inside. Most all strip centers still are wood framed. We do see some buildings with thin gage steel used for the exterior walls, with foam board on the out side of that.

Wow. Back in Mass well over 20 years ago and then the entire 20 years in Florida I saw almost all strip centers metal framed inside and out as well as most commercial buildings. I used to do Office Warehouse condos by the dozens, office building, strip centers....I cannot remember the last time I saw wood frame on any of them until I came to Texas. I just recently saw a small strip center framed completely with wood. I do believe they lost there minds or (not picking on anyone) the Mexicans new nothing of metal framing so it was cheaper form the builder