A friend of mine is in the military and is serving in Iraq. He left a few months ago and will be deployed for a year and a half. We have been communicating via e mail, so I have been able to follow his deployment and get a tiny glimpse into what it must be like for him. I assumed he would be living in a tent city like in MASH. Quite the contrary. His unit is living in prefabricated steel buildings.
To make myself more comfortable about the thought of my good friend going about his daily routine in a set of steel buildings in a hostile environment, I decided to learn more about these things. I was distracted by the idea of those trucks on the highway carrying part of a house with a sign slapped to the back announcing "wide load." I knew my friend would be living in something more substantial than that, but I needed to see for myself.
I hopped on the internet and easily found a few companies that offer steel buildings for both commercial and residential purposes. The government uses a lot of these type of structures. You will see that many companies advertise their Government Services Administration approval. Commercial boat yards, farmers and auto mechanics use steel buildings for storage, service areas and retail. The structures can be ordered and procured very quickly. There is little unused space in steel buildings. They require little maintenance, as they have no siding or gutters.
Steel buildings are appealing to the residential customer, as well. Steel buildings are offered in various basic models. With just a few people, these steel buildings can be erected easily. The majority of the construction can be done on the ground without special tools. Decades and decades ago, my grandparents built a metal garage with the help of contractors. It felt like quite a process. Knowing my do it yourself grandparents, they would have preferred the ease of one of these new prefab steel buildings, had such things been available back then. They would have probably chosen one of the companies that advertises that their buildings are 100 percent American made from US steel.
I am sure most people who choose steel buildings do so because they are extremely easy to maintain, fit their budget and are easy to order and build. Thinking of my deployed friend, I, however, am comforted by the fact that they are STEEL. Other articles Prefabricated buildings -- Prefabricated buildings -- Steel garage -- Prefabricated buildings -- Steel garage --