Are You Looking For The Perfect Place To Store Your Agricultural Supplies? Metal Barns Are A Great Choice. Click Here To Learn Why.
Have you just acquired a piece of land on which you’d like to start a farm? Have you been running a farm for a while, yet you wish your operation could improve?
Many farmers have traditionally relied on wooden barns as places for products, equipment, and livestock storage. Wooden barns, however, are susceptible to a wide range of dangers that could pose a threat to your assets. Fire, extreme weather, pests, and more can all close down your farm for good.
As a farmer who looks towards the future with improved processes, you should strongly consider metal barns. By choosing to build metal barns, you’re choosing a more permanent and safe home for all your farm’s most important assets and equipment. You’ll also be saving yourself time, money, and frustration.
To learn more about steel barns and how they can improve your farm, read this guide!
Why Choose Metal For Your Barn?
Farmers can’t joke around when it comes to choosing the infrastructure and buildings for their farms. The safe storage of their agricultural equipment and products is essential to their operation and their profits. As a result, the material they choose to build with makes all the difference in their success for years to come.
When building the barns they need for storing agricultural equipment, the smartest choice is to build with metal. Metal garages and steel barns are the best places to keep equipment safe because of their reliability and cost-effectiveness.
Steel Garages and Barns Are Durable
When you own and work on a farm, you’re familiar with the harsh conditions that your land endures. If you’re tough, you need your supplies and buildings to be tough, too. One faulty building can lead to devastating and expensive damages to your agricultural supplies.
Relying on wood as a building material, for example, means accepting the dangers of extreme weather and an excess of water. Rot can eventually cause environmental exposure to your important equipment. Metal, on the other hand, is extremely durable and reliable.
Metal buildings can withstand much harsher environmental conditions, including weather and pests. Wind, rain, and snow will not affect your building. Termites and rodents won’t be able to chew and tear away at the structure.
Metal Barns Are Low-Maintenance
Other building materials like wood require constant observation and maintenance. You need to seal and reseal wood, as well as check for rot and insect damage. If the barn is painted, you need to repaint it to keep the building protected from the elements.
Metal, on the other hand, is an extremely durable material. It won’t require all the extra steps to protect it from the elements or pests. It wears away much less over time, so the need for replacements and repairs is rare.
Because metal buildings are durable and low maintenance, you’ll spend much less time and money on keeping the structure sound. You won’t have to keep as high of a budget for replacement building materials or repair supplies. You also won’t have to lose days out of your year maintaining the building.
Building a metal barn will add those extra hours and cents you need to keep your farm running smoothly and profitably.
Metal Is Fire-Resistant
One of the most devastating realities of farm life is the occurrence of fires. Whether it’s a wildfire or a result of equipment malfunction, fires can be devastating to farms. With one fire, a farm can lose a majority of all its crops and even livestock, equipment, and structures.
You may have never experienced a fire, but it only takes one to cause a farm to permanently shut down. Don’t take the risk. Building with metal can keep your agricultural equipment and supplies safe from fires.
Steel barns can withstand extreme temperatures and will not burn down in the case of a fire. The metal will not catch on fire, so the building will not fuel and spread the flames.
Building With Metal Is Efficient
Steel has improved tremendously when it comes to efficiency throughout its life. Not only has the production of steel become less labor-intensive and time-consuming, but manufacturing has become more quality-controlled and less wasteful.
When it comes to creating and delivering your steel building, efficiency abounds there, too. Improved computer-aided design (CAD) programs have allowed engineers to create stronger and less wasteful buildings in a fraction of the time.
Professionals can now promise that your metal building will be able to handle the most stressful loads with the least amount of steel. Not only does this save you money, but it improves the space efficiency of your building as well.
Metal Is a Cost-Effective Choice
Metal barns are cost-effective because of their ease of production and installation. In addition, having a metal building means saving money over time because of its durability.
Your steel building is prefabricated before it arrives at the installation site. Construction costs are baked into the price, so you won’t have to pay extra for construction during the installation. As a result, installation is also very quick and will result in lower labor costs.
Further, metal is an extremely durable building material that will be low maintenance and long-lasting. Once you invest in a metal building, you can plan for a much lower budget for maintaining, repairing, and replacing.
Metal Allows for Better Space Utilization
When you build with metal, you will be able to fit much more into your storage space. Metal buildings have much less need for bulky supports like columns and rafters. If you’ve had wood or concrete barns in the past, you’ll know that interior columns, thick walls, and rafters can seriously reduce the amount of usable space in your storage.
Steel columns in your metal barn will take up 75% area in your building so that you can store more supplies, livestock, and equipment. The size of your equipment and supplies will also not be limited by columns that break up the space.
Not only will larger equipment fit in the space, but it will also have much more liberty to move and turn around within the barn. No more time will be wasted working out exact fits and traffic routes for your stored equipment within the barn.
Metal Barns Don’t Offer Nesting Space for Wildlife
When you operate a farm, you’re used to a certain amount of nature. In your storage buildings, though, you need nature to stay out. Wooden barns offer a lot of living space in the rafters for birds and other pests to nest.
Wildlife will be a nuisance from time to time, but cutting back on the space you provide for them to settle in will help. Metal buildings don’t require nearly as many supporting beams or rafters as wooden buildings do. You won’t be creating living space, and you’ll be simultaneously opening more space for storage of taller equipment.
You’ll no longer have a consistent issue with nesting material and fecal matter falling from the rafters onto your livestock, supplies, and equipment. As a result, you’ll be cleaning your barn less and not worrying about damages.
Steel Barns Can Expand Easily
Metal barns are prefabricated, but they are easy to expand as your operation grows. You can add to the structure to create more storage space or add and remove panels as needed. You can even choose to install more doors and windows to change the functionality of the building.
Steel Is Environmentally Friendly
Farmers respect the land, so they want to keep the planet safe, too. Thankfully, steel is the most recycled material in the world and very efficient to produce. You can have your metal barn made from recycled steel, and when you’re ready to get rid of it, you can sell it for scrap to be recycled again!
The construction of steel buildings is also less damaging to our planet because it produces very little waste. Wood buildings are erected on-site where the wood is cut as needed, leaving behind a lot of waste and using much more energy. Prefabrication allows for precise use of material and much less energy consumption.
Not only is the structure environmentally friendly, but it will help you use less energy. You can choose colors for your metal barn’s roof that will reflect sunlight and keep the interior from heating up.
Metal Structures Are Easy to Clean
Steel buildings are coated with protective paints and processed with chemicals that help them last a very long time. You’ll be able to cross off building maintenance from your to-do list and spend more time on your farming operation. In addition, they’re extremely easy to clean.
Farm work is dirty, and so are the livestock and equipment you’re looking to store. Wooden barns are fine, but they take more effort to keep clean. Wood can attract and trap grime that requires time and technique to remove.
Keeping metal clean is as easy as spraying it down. Dirt and grime can’t work its way into the metal, and treated metal is resistant to water. Using a hose to quickly spray off any dust and messes will be the most maintenance and cleaning you do.
Building A Metal Barn Is Easy
In addition to all the reasons above that you should choose metal as your barn construction material, metal barns are an easy build. You won’t have to erect your own wooden structure. Instead, you can have an easy metal building installation that won’t require any effort on your part.
Convinced you need a metal barn, now? If you’re looking to take the next steps to add metal barns to your farm, you’re in the right place. Here’s how to achieve the perfect metal barns for your operation.
Determine Size Needed
Once you’ve decided to build a barn, you’ll need to determine the exact specifications needed. You’ll want to be specific about what the barn will be used for and where it will be located. Remember to make sure the land is ready for a building installation.
The metal barn will be built on a concrete slab. Most likely, you will have to separately hire a contractor to install the slab before the metal building is installed. Check with your local ordinances to find out how big the concrete slab must be before setting your plans.
Usually, your concrete slab must be at least 6 inches bigger on each side of the building. Many local authorities require even more of a footing around the perimeter.
If you’re looking to build a metal barn yourself, you’ll need to draw up plans for the dimensions of the walls, roof, area, and more. Using those measurements, you’ll need to buy sheets of metal that are big enough to finish the job.
If you’re looking to hire a professional to install your metal barn, you’ll need the measurements for your use, anyway. You’ll be able to send those measurements to the professional or choose from a list of prefabricated options depending on your size limitations.
If you’re sending in your measurements, remember to list the dimensions with width first followed by the length and then height.
Determine Your Budget
Before you go any further, you’ll need to set a budget. How much you can afford will determine the style of structure you choose and any add-on features. Remember that you’ll have to pay separately for the concrete slab.
In most colder climates, it’s a smart idea to consider insulation for your metal building as well. While metal can withstand extreme temperatures, it doesn’t necessarily keep your livestock, equipment, and supplies at an ideal temperature. You can choose cheaper foil-backed insulation or invest in spray foam insulation for your metal barn.
There are some other costs and fees to keep in mind outside of the actual structure. Some areas have local ordinances requiring permits before installation. Make sure to check with your local authorities to determine if you’ll have to apply and pay for permits.
Keep in mind that you’ll also need to pay for labor. The budget for labor will depend on the size and complexity of the building you’ve ordered and how easy it is for professionals to access the installation location with all the equipment.
If you’re flexible about the location of your metal building consider choosing a space where a 1-ton truck and a 30-foot trailer wouldn’t have issues reaching and maneuvering around the site. They’ll need ample space to turn and pull in all the supplies. Choosing a more accessible location will help keep the cost of labor down.
Overall, you’ll need to keep your financial limitations in mind. Start with your priorities and consider cutting back on some optional add-ons if you can’t afford them. A professional can work with you to determine which metal building options are right for you.
Choose Your Style
The metal barn you choose to build can be as traditional or modern as you’d like. Metal is an extremely versatile material that can be styled in almost any way imaginable. In addition, it can be in almost any color you choose without the requirement to maintain the paint like you would have to with wood.
Some options for metal building colors could be:
Barn Red
Slate Blue
White
Charcoal
Black
Brown
Green
Burgundy
In addition to these colors, you could also choose from a whole range of grays and beiges. Color is not the only decision you’ll have to make for the style of your metal barn, though.
Metal can come as sheets and panels that are stylized to your choosing. You can get patterns, shapes, and sizes that will create the metal barn of your dreams. In many instances, you can even get your metal barn to look very similar to wood.
As a result, you won’t have to sacrifice a traditional look in exchange for a sturdier building.
While your style won’t have to be compromised, you’ll still need to be practical about your choices. If you are storing large equipment inside the barn, you will have to choose doors that are high and wide enough for their entry. If you’re storing livestock, you’ll want to consider ample windows that will allow light in.
Rest assured, though, that the doors and windows you choose still come in many different styles.
Order a Prefabricated Barn
The great thing about choosing to install a metal barn is that you can take advantage of prefabricated buildings. Companies like The NC Builders offer a wide range of options to choose from that speak to all different styles and functions. Once you pick a base model you like, you can choose add-ons that personalize it.
You can choose any package that fits your needs, including buildings ranging from 1-3 large entryways in addition to regular doors for human entry. There are also several roof styles and building dimension options.
If you aren’t sure about exactly what you want your metal barn to look like, then this is the place to start.
Choose Add-On Features
While packages come prefabricated, that doesn’t mean they can’t be tailored to your vision. All packages are customizable with add-on features and built to your dimensional needs.
For example, you can alter the number and types of doors and windows. For doors, you can specify the number and type of garage and regular doors. Garage doors come in:
6′ x 6′
8′ x 8′
9′ x 8′
10′ x 10′
12′ x 12′
14′ x 14′
For window options, you can get windows that are 30″ by 30″ or 24″ by 36″.
In addition to doors and windows, you can choose the specifics of the construction of your building. For example, you can choose whether your frame will be built with 14 or 12 gauge steel bars. You can also add in a vapor barrier insulation to be installed behind the paneling.
Polish Off the Interior
Metal barns might sound cold and bare, but you can actually build an interior on the inside that’s as cozy and functional as you’d like. You can add drywall to your metal structure, paint the walls, and even coat the floor.
It will depend on what you choose to store in your metal barn, but you can make the interior modern and inviting. Adding installation, drywall, and flooring can also improve the climate inside the building.
If you add an epoxy coating to the floor of your metal barn, you can also extend the lifespan of the floor and lessen maintenance. You can easily clean messes by hosing them away and any chemicals or standing water won’t stain the concrete slab.
Consider also adding shelves and cabinets to the interior for added storage space and organization.
Why Choose The NC Builders?
The NC Builders proudly serves North Carolina and supports local farmers in improving their operations. We make it easy to discover the right metal barn for your style and needs. All you need to do is take the measurements and pick your plan.
The NC Builders offers custom-built metal buildings of the highest quality. We have a large range of prefabricated styles to choose from. Once you’ve picked the right package for your style and function, we’ll work with you to customize it to your exact measurements and desires.
By choosing to install a metal building on your farm with The NC Builders, you’re:
Ensuring high-quality protection from the elements for your agricultural equipment, supplies, and livestock
Receiving a quickly and expertly installed pre-made building that fits your exact requirements
Adding value to your property in the case of selling your farm
Getting a warranty on your new metal barn so you’ll never worry about a thing
The NC Builders has everything you’ll ever need or dream of for your new metal barn!
Improve Your Farm With Metal Barns
Do you keep searching “metal buildings near me?” If your farm needs more storage, a metal barn is the way to go. Improve the life of your livestock, quality of your supplies, and protection of your expensive equipment with one of The NC Builder’s metal barns.
Contact The NC Builders right away to get free estimates on your project!
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