However, a dwindling supply of old growth trees and environmental concerns have caused the price of wood to soar while quality has plummeted. Today, it is clear that there is a need for a new building material .

Steel has come to the forefront as the best solution and the combination of Red Iron for structural strength and galvanized light gage for the non-structural framing is the best of the different steel framing systems available today.

For generations, we have relied on the strength and durability of steel in commercial buildings, hospitals, and in our children's schools. Now you can get the superior quality and safety of steel in your home at a price you can afford.

A steel frame is stronger than wood.
Steel framing material is significantly stronger than wood. In fact, it has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any residential building material. So you know your home is more solid with steel.

Your steel framed home is safer in earthquakes.
Unlike wood framed homes, a steel framed home can be engineered for the highest seismic rating available for residential construction. Steel's strength and resiliency are part of the reason , plus the way a steel frame is constructed and fastened to the foundation.

Steel is unaffected by changes in the weather.
Individual members of a wood-framed home react differently and in varying degrees to climactic changes. This wood movement (expansion, contraction, warping, twisting, etc.) is noticeable as bulges in the wall, wallboard blemishes, sagging and squeaking floors, and wavy ceilings and roofs. Fifty years from now, your roof's ridgeline will be just as straight and true, as the day it was completed.

Steel doesn't fuel a fire.
Steel framing won't burn and add fuel to a fire. In some areas, a steel framed home may qualify for lower Homeowner and Builders risk insurance rates.

Easier remodeling.
Steel framing also provides you with a structure that can easily adapt to a family's changing needs. Additions or renovations are simpler because you can unscrew rather than rip apart walls. A steel framed home may be finished in stucco, wood, brick, siding or any other material you can name. Plus steel framing allows greater flexibility during design, construction and remodeling, including more open space and larger rooms.

Consistent quality.
Steel building products are all engineered to strict standards of strength and consistency. Ceilings and walls are straighter and stronger. Window and door frames are "square".

Steel framing leads the way in conservation of resources.
With a frame made of Red Iron and galvanized steel, you not only have a stronger and longer lasting home, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that steel is the most recycled material in the world. More steel is recycled than paper, aluminum, glass and plastic combined. In the last decade, over one trillion pounds of steel were recycled.

The steel used in framing contains recycled materials from sources such as crushed Fords and Toyotas. This helps conserve the planet's dwindling supply of forests, and yet has no ill effects on the quality of the steel!

MYTH:

Steel framing can interfere with TV and radio reception or garage door openers.

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REALITY:

No. There is no difference in the reception of TV and radio broadcasts. Garage door openers and all appliances work exactly the same in wood or steel framed homes.

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MYTH:

Steel framed homes are less efficient than wood framed homes.

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REALITY:

Steel framing is designed to meet or exceed governmental energy efficiency standards. In addition, steel framing helps prevent cracks in walls and joints due to shrinking or warping, thus preventing the costly loss of energy through air leaks. Our Red Iron system can provide savings of 50% or more.

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MYTH:

A steel framed home is more likely to be struck by lightning.

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REALITY:

Steel framed homes do not attract lightning any more than wood framed homes. In fact, because it readily conducts electricity to the ground, a steel framed home is less likely to be damaged by lightning than a wood framed home.

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MYTH:

It is difficult to hang pictures on the walls or to put up hanging lamps and plants in a steel framed home.

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REALITY:

As in a traditional home, pictures can be hung from the drywall with toggle bolts or hangers, depending on their weight. Heavier objects can be hung from screws attached directly into the studs (which are easily found with magnets).

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MYTH:

My steel framed home will look "different".

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REALITY:

From the inside or the outside, steel framed homes look no different from one framed with wood. A closer look also will reveal that steel framed homes have straighter walls with fewer cracks, and that there are no "nail pops" to mar the drywall surface.

Termites Taking On Texas (excerpt from Permanent Buildings and Foundations Newsletter)     Formosan termites are chewing their way through Texas, adding a 17th county to the list of infested counties, reports the agricultural program at Texas A&M University. This termite, a relative newcomer to the state, has extremely large colonies that do considerably more damage in a shorter amount of time than its cousin, the native subterranean termite. "The first records (about the Formosan termite in Texas) go back to the 1950s, and by 1980 they were in three counties," says Dr. Roger Gold, urban entomologist with Texas Cooperative Extension.     These termites can do extensive damage to homes, but differ from the native subterranean termite in that they also attack living trees. "Our timber industry could be in jeopardy and certainly old forest and urban environments," he says. Last year, the city of New Orleans treated more than 200,000 trees for the Formosan termite.