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Thread: Steel vs timber framed houses - Opinions please

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    Steel vs timber framed houses - Opinions please

    So looking for anyone with experience of building with and/or living in a steel framed house (Zog, Frametek, Axxis) rather than a more traditional timber framed place.

    Looking for real world experiences rather than the marketing produced by Steel Framing Associations or Cater Holt Harvey. Each other slags off the others product with a lot of technical detail that means little to the end consumer.

    So what experiences have people had, particularly regarding heating, shadow marks, noise, Wifi and other reception issues.

    All thoughts and opinions welcomed.

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    make sure the sparky gets it right as some products have suitable holes to pass the wires through and some don't. Some sparkies don't care whether the holes are suitable or not they just drag the wires through and faults could take a while to start to appear and be expensive to chase.

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    Seen steel-framed houses go up much faster than the competition so that offsets steel's slight expense, and the frames are lighter and easier to handle too. But as they are relatively new to the market, a lot of contractors don't know how to build them and they need to make sure they get educated and support from the providers like Axxis.

    All the steel-framed houses in Chch survived the quakes with minimal or no damage to the sturcture [this from the Royal Commission on the rebuild].
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    I've wondered how you get on for such mundane things as screwing something into a stud (shelf bracket etc). How much harder with steel than wood?
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    Wood... easier to work with, known quantity, heavier but fixing things to your wall is much more straight forward. If not treated, can rot etc.

    Steel... light weight, fucken bastard for fixing things to walls as it's so thin, corrosion and rust will likely take a few years (with a bit of critical mass) to show up as a problem. It is a problem, despite what advertising says, but it's being kept quiet.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gremlin View Post
    Wood... easier to work with, known quantity, heavier but fixing things to your wall is much more straight forward. If not treated, can rot etc.

    Steel... light weight, fucken bastard for fixing things to walls as it's so thin, corrosion and rust will likely take a few years (with a bit of critical mass) to show up as a problem. It is a problem, despite what advertising says, but it's being kept quiet.
    With a few of the friends and family circle in the building trade, the common aspect that is bandied about as being troublesome is 'condensation control' which in years to come would translate to rust in all the places where the galvanising has been damaged. Not unlike wood rotting, if untreated...

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    Quote Originally Posted by sil3nt View Post
    Cheers. I had already read that one. Seems a bit, this is woods positives, and this is steels negatives type comparison. Informative non the less though.

    I also have any issue putting much faith in such a table when the author never bothers to tell us who the are, apart form the gmail address in the bottom corner.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jellywrestler View Post
    make sure the sparky gets it right as some products have suitable holes to pass the wires through and some don't. Some sparkies don't care whether the holes are suitable or not they just drag the wires through and faults could take a while to start to appear and be expensive to chase.
    This is the main problem, AFAIK.

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    My brother in law recently did a demolition on a steel framed building that had leaky home syndrome. The galv framework was fucked.
    If you read that flashmobs report you'll find that the steel framed houses in Chch were harder and more expensive to repair.
    They have not stood the test of time here in NZ yet which is a shame as it makes a comparison effectively impossible to make. As a builder, would I build a steel framed house for myself? No. My limited experience with steel framed buidings has not been memorable
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oakie View Post
    I've wondered how you get on for such mundane things as screwing something into a stud (shelf bracket etc). How much harder with steel than wood?

    Self drilling screws and steel stud screws are ok until you want large weight but a TV bracket would be ok.
    Its used in internal office refurbs alot.
    Important to incourage services are run up and down and not sideways in walls as alterations etc is easier later.
    Glands in all holes even if smooth edge holes are provided.

    Personally idd go treated timber outer walls and steel stud internal.
    Im only saying this because the steel stud is very straight and quick to install and I would do my own internal non load bearing walls rather than pay a builder.
    Used alot in Australia but they perhaps dont have as many rust issues.
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    Quote Originally Posted by sil3nt View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Pumba View Post
    Cheers. I had already read that one. Seems a bit, this is woods positives, and this is steels negatives type comparison. Informative non the less though.

    I also have any issue putting much faith in such a table when the author never bothers to tell us who the are, apart form the gmail address in the bottom corner.
    yea I was gonna say seems bias towards wood especially apparent here

    Quote Originally Posted by site
    Waste
    Modern timber framing software creates little. Site waste often reused, burned or landfilled, where 97% carbon is locked up. = 4
    Little waste in steel, & can be re-cycled (at additional energy cost.) = 2
    so the steel produces next to no waste & can be recycled whereas wood creates little (but more) which could be burned or landfilled if not reusable, yet the wood still achieves the better score of 4 against the steels 2

    If your willing to pay for "commercial" steel i.e. the sort that gets used in high rises etc steels a good option, the stuff that gets used for residential homes (the affordable stuff) isn't worth the money IMO course the timber used nowadays doesn't match that from days of old either but it's still couple steps ahead of residential steel at this stage
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    Quote Originally Posted by Laava View Post
    As a builder, would I build a steel framed house for myself? No. My limited experience with steel framed buidings has not been memorable
    One of the girls at my work's husband is a builder and they've built their own (pretty frickin awesome) home. He also preferred a wooden frame over steel. I never asked him why...

    However, before they built their house, they built a little granny flat to live in temporarily out of metrapanel. It's an interesting concept but you can put up a house in a day! Crazy fast! The only issue seems to be that if you want to make any alterations, add a power point or light switch etc, you're screwed cos that stuff needs to be planned for before each panel gets manufactured. That's a pretty big drawback in my books

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pumba View Post
    So looking for anyone with experience of building with and/or living in a steel framed house (Zog, Frametek, Axxis) rather than a more traditional timber framed place.

    Looking for real world experiences rather than the marketing produced by Steel Framing Associations or Cater Holt Harvey. Each other slags off the others product with a lot of technical detail that means little to the end consumer.

    So what experiences have people had, particularly regarding heating, shadow marks, noise, Wifi and other reception issues.

    All thoughts and opinions welcomed.
    A lot of houses over here are steel framed ... we built wooden , because cheaper , slightly warmer , steel transmits energy better than wood , BUT was slower to build

    Personally I like steel , ...I mean ya cant weld a tv bracket to a wooden house !

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    My buddy who works on lots of houses says that the electrics need to be done by a more experienced sparky who knows about steel framing, rather than one on a job cost sheet. Making your entire house a live electrical curcuit would be no fun at all.

    Kiwi houses move. Wood is ideal. The potential for matal fatigue in the frame is something that has yet to be experienced, but may occur at some unknown time in the future. I guess we will eventually find out what the time frame is and under which specific conditions.

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