Steel Home Construction History.
As early as the 1930's steel was viewed as a viable
building product for homes as well as commercial sky scrapers. Unfortunately,
because of the high cost at the time, it was not commercially feasible; although
quite structurally sound!
Stran Steel Corporation, a division of National Steel,
formulated an early concept for a residential home. It was featured at the 1933
World's Fair in Chicago.
The following pages represent some steel home
construction history. Just think of the natural resources that could have been
saved had this concept/technology been adopted early on. Think of the lives
that could have been saved from natural disasters had the residents been housed
in structural steel homes.
Even now with the cost of natural products soaring and
the quality decreasing, steel home construction is still having a difficult time
fighting the uphill battle of entrenched constructors who refuse to adopt state
of the art building methods.
Enjoy this walk through the past with an eye to our
future!
Stran Steel House
Please view the following pages with information on the
Stran Steel House. We welcome any comments:
Stran Steel House Comments.
Lustron House
One example of a company that attempted to take steel to the residential
housing industry was Lustron!
They established a vibrant (but short lived) company to build some the most
excellent homes this country has ever (and still enjoys) seen. An
excellent article can be found on the Old House Web:
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/12272.shtml#parts.
These three contemporary articles focused on the Lustron House:
Please also read the introduction to the second edition
of the Prescriptive Method for Residential Cold-Formed Steel Framing
under the Steel
Homes Current Status Link. The members of the National Steel Alliance
and the American Iron and Steel Institute would like that referenced alternative
building product to be Steel. They are making every effort to make steel the
most logical selection of new homebuilders and architects of residential
construction. The many benefits of steel over the traditional wood frame home
would seem to make this an easy choice, but the industry and modern day consumer
is not so easily won over by facts and statistics as the steel industry would
have hoped. However, the benefits provided by steel frame construction and the
supporting statistics do provide a solid argument to support the selection of
and emergence of steel as the favored material of new home construction.
             
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