While
pressure washing a vehicle inside a Quonset, I noticed that moisture was
dripping from the curved roof, yet none of the spray was reaching higher than a
few feet above the truck. It was cool outside, and I was using warm water. The
vapour was rising, condensing on the upper reaches of the steel ribbing and
falling like rain.
That was
not the problem that I saw, however. What I saw was that the condensation that
remained on the bolts and nut ends was evaporating, and over only a few years of
this type of incident reoccurring, rust was evident everywhere. Yes, galvanized
metal is supposed to be rust resistant, and it largely is. However, at key
stress points such as bolt holes, rust inevitably takes hold and soon those
rust spots turn to holes and leakage occurs, exacerbating the problem. This
metal building leaked everywhere.
Leakage is
one of the problems common to older metal buildings. Cycles of heat and cold,
sun and wind and differences between the internal and external conditions lead
to warping of the metal so that rivets pop or moistures accumulations lead to
rust penetration at key points.
Metal is a
great conductor, too, not only of electricity, making steel and aluminum
buildings risky for a handyman to wire on his own, but of heat and cold, making
them quite uncomfortable in which to work during extremes of temperature.
Once wind
gets hold of a loosened panel, it makes short work of the metal, stripping it
from its moorings., One of the most common scenes in hurricane season is the
flapping of aluminum panels on buildings, or sheets of the metal flying by like
a kite in the air.
Metal is
rigid. This limitation restricts the design of metal buildings and forces
engineers to construct smaller spans than can be created with fabric buildings.
The unwieldy configuration of metal buildings reduces options for expansion,
development and usage of the interiors. Cuts and bends form stress points or
weakened spots in the material, making them prone to breakdown.
Manufacturers
of steel clad, steel roofed or aluminum buildings claim that their buildings
have lifespans exceeding 50 years, yet simple observation of older steel
buildings across the rural landscape shows that many of these supposedly
durable buildings already are falling into disrepair, after as little as 20
years. Why? Simply put, manufacturer’s claims of longevity apply to the
thickest gauge, most expensive products. These buildings may well be out of the
economic reach of most consumers.
On the
other hand, fabric buildings, like metal ones, come with a wide range of
material options. The differences are many, but the two most salient are initial cost and replacement cost. Fabric
building skins can be replaced as needed, and very often repaired quickly and
easily. Yet, even moderate- or budget-level fabric is designed to last twenty
years or more. With almost no maintenance, these stretched fabric buildings
last a similar length to steel buildings but do so at a fraction of the cost.
Trusses and
base plates of fabric buildings generally are coated and designed to last
virtually forever, making them less likely to age like many of the swayback and
buckling metal building counterparts.
Because of
the inherent tensile strength of fabric buildings, they resist wind, rain and
snow load easily, deflecting the elements while metal build design encourages
blunt resistance against the wind, with roof lines often allowing snow to
accumulate and compress roof infrastructure.
Poly-fabric,
unlike metal, is resistant to rot, corrosion and even the impact of chemicals
and fuels. This makes these buildings much more suitable for use as machine
shops, hazardous chemical storage buildings and other high-risk uses. While
steel and aluminum served their purpose decades ago, the new fabric,
poly-fabric or tension-fabric buildings would serve the majority of
applications much better and much more economically, even as a place where I
can wash my truck without carrying an umbrella to protect against the falling
raindrops from roof rivets.
