Metal Construction House

[MilkyWhy]

I realize that now, due to high steel costs, is not the time to build metal buildings. But my question is this: have they ever made all metal/steel houses?

We all have seen spacious metal buildings, generally rectangular in shape. But, could a man make a house-shaped metal building, with say the interior floors and supports for interior stairs out of steel? The floor for the upstairs portion could have steel trusses and then plywood layed out on that, then flooring boards. I have never seen this done, but when I win the Powerball I might just do it --to satisfy my own curiosity.

[Joseph Meehan]

Sure. The White Castle people (think little square hamburgers with holes in them and lots of onions on them) made some back in the late 40's or

50's. ( ) They designed a building system for their restaurants using a modular porcelain steel panel system. They built about a dozen homes with the same materials on James Rd in Columbus Ohio. They featured a number of very modern ideas for their day. Several of the homes are still in existence and in use. They were not received well as people just did not like the idea of metal homes even though they were very maintenance free.

The company also made other porcelain steel products like Scotts Lawn spreaders. It appears that today the powered coatings are taking over that market.

[Gene]

Having worked in an engineering firm, for clean room hvac, I was a bit stunned to see how far some of the industry had come.

Using 1/16 aluminimum and then using a "Honeycomb" interior, they basically made a "Walkable" ceiling. About 1 1/2 " think could easily support 500 lbs.

Walls made of the same, with aluminmum struts. That was an interesting place to work...I'd guess you'd need the powerball to build something like that though :)

[Ace]

Yes they have made all steel houses. Right after WWII they did. There was a company called Ludstrom (I believe this is the correct name of the company or something similar to it) who made them. I believe they are not in business anymore. Some of the older folks who read this NG may remember them and could comment.

[Joe Bobst]

The porcelain steel houses were tradenamed LUSTRON and made by US Steel for several years after WW II. There is one in our neighborhood about 2 blocks away and after more than 50 years it is still looking good. Amazing...

Joe

[John W. Wells]

"Ludstrom?" That musta been the Swedish Division! In the USofA it was "Lustron!" :-)

My wife's father bought one of those when he returned from WWII. It was, indeed, all steel. The roof was stamped panels to simulate shingles (sorta), the interior wall panels stamped to simulate vertical planking, the exterior walls were large rectangles. All interior doors were sliding pocket-type.

The entire interior was painted gray! They lived there till about

1975--never (re)painted any of the interior. Grim!

Good grief! I just did a Google on "lustron" and came upon

, and there was the exact, same dining room and exterior view of the house I remember from my courting days!

I think I need to go lie down for a bit....

--John W. Wells

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That is very interesting. I'll bet the construction and trades unions fought like hell to get rid of this idea. Ed