some wood but more metal

[Electric Comet]

saw an interesting store needed no wood for the structure nor steel beams the structure was made from ship steel plates

i did not know that ship hulls are made by bending the giant steel plates into very specific curved shapes using heat and cool simultaneously

they took the same technique and built a store it had 18-25 foot high arching roof line and inside it was all open maybe 30-40 feet wide sort a quonset meets a-frame look

they purposefully let a coat of rust build up on the surface and they predict that the structure is good for 100 years

an architect built his house this way too

they use copious amounts of water over one part of the steel and then heat the other with torches

these are massive steel plates

they do use wood for the interior so some wood working required

i like the idea of fire and forget buildings no roofing repairs and no painting not sure about tornadoes or hurricanes but it won't burn down

[G. Ross]

archy lives

[russellseaton1]

What about windows? How did they add windows into this steel plate? Windows on ships are non-existent in the hull I think.

A brick house with steel sheeting/panels for the roof would be very close to your "fire and forget building". And it would have the advantage of not looking odd anywhere.

[John McCoy]

"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:mjnquj$gcv$ [e-mail]:

Well, technically he's right - ships have portholes, not windows. But I suspect what he had in mind was the curved part of the hull (i.e. the bilges) below the waterline.

The problem I see with a steel building (other than the absurd cost) is heating and cooling. You'd have to ceil(*) the insides, and put in plenty of insulation.

John

(* everyone other than Lew now heads for their dictionaries...)

[Electric Comet]

no

[Electric Comet]

cost amortized over 100 yrs is probably really competitive. i do not know the initial cost but it does require highly skilled craftsmen

the store and the architect house i saw had high roofs and a quonset hut look

the ends were where all the light entered the interior is completely free from structural support and that is the part that i like

i have no idea of the r-value of those plates but climate control would have to be worked out of course

perhaps use the temp differential like subterranean heat pump does