HOUSES OF STEEL

Evening Star, Issue 22573, 15 February 1937, Page 16

HOUSES OF STEEL

IMPORTANT PART IN THE FUTURE Several score men and women recently filed slowly through a two-story, all-steel house on exhibition in New York City (writes Robert Bingham, in the ‘ Christian Science Monitor ’). They admired the spaciousness of the rooms, and marvelled at the evident lack of restriction under which the designer worked. They were just a few more than 70,000 who since July have seen with their own eyes the versatility of steel and are in some small measure beginning to realise how excellent a building material steel is, and what great possibilities it holds for the building industry. That industry to-day is facing a crisis—the public is becoming more and more insistent in its demand for better building materials. It wants strength and permanence in its homes—-it asks for security against fire, termites, and windstorms—it wants the very best that is available, but—it doesn’t want to pay any more! Steelmakers are not interested in steel houses as individual units. An industry which to-day is producing over 155,000 tons of steel daily cannot be expected to concern itself greatly over a few houses that may require eight tons of steel each. In the early years of the century they were not interested in the automobile either, yet to-day the motor car’ industry is the largest _ consumer of steel. It uses several million tons annually. The steel house business will rever require that much steel, because replacements due to changing of models and styles and wear and tear will not be necessary so often as is the. case with motor cars. SLOW CHANGES. Styles of houses change very slowly—so Jowly, in fact, that the modern appearance of many of tho steel houses so far constructed has shocked the more conservative among us—and a steel house will withstand storm and wind and sun a long time before it needs to be rebuilt. But if the steel industry thought that 100,000 steel houses, each requiring about eight tons of steel, were to be built in the next year it would become definitely interested. In view of the interest being currently shown in steel houses, that possibility is not far in the future. To-day a steel house may cost a little more than an_ ordinary residence, but tomorrow it may conceivably cost less. The more steel of the same size you make, the cheaper it becomes. Once a rolling mill is adjusted for a certain width and gauge sheet—and most steel houses are made of sheets, principally—the first few tons are run through at the highest cost, which then decreases quickly, and the rest of the order can be rolled for very little. For this reason steel prices are graduated in quantities, so that larger purchasers pay less than do the small buyers. From this it is easily seen that once the materials necessary to build a steel house are produced in quantity, the price of the finished house will decrease proportionately. It is toward this goal that the housing industry is definitely and surely headed if, as all signs now indicate, it remains interested'in steel. Consequently, steel-house building concerns are busy to-day lining up dealers and distributors through whom they soon hope to be able to distribute the prefabricated steel panels, shapes, beams, etc., necessary for construction. The wisdom of these companies is seen in their arranging for distribution through local dealers, and, in most cases, the supply of. plumbing and electrical equipment by local firms. The problem of pacifying local contractors and building supply dealers is serious, because they naturally oppose the importation, so to speak, of foreign building materials from outside their town, which may deprive them of a sale and an opportunity to work. An attempt is made, therefore, to appease this disgruntlement on the part of local labour and dealers by employing them for the actual construction and for the necessary material which need not be prefabricated. Dealers in a great many localities have already added steel for housebuilding purposes to their regular stocks of building materials, and as soon as the demand increases, more will be forced to follow suit. SALES FORCE. It is obtaining popular acceptance by the dealers that is all-important, because sectional disputes will Be eliminated and the beginnings of an effective, interested sales force and group of distributors then will have been made. When one turns for a look at the houses themselves and sees what sled really has to offer a buyer for his money, he is amazed at the variety of designs and styles which is available in a prefabricated house. Most people think of prefabricated houses as all alike—row after row of identical roofs, identical interiors, and identical exteriors. But this conception is greatly in error. One of the -greatest advantages of steel is that, with all its strength and permanence, it can be designed' with absolute freedom on the part of the architect. Some may say that steel houses are ugly. This is not true. Those who say it are merely not accustomed to flat roofs, perhaps, or to a building constructed entirely from one material. ANY STYLE. A steel house may be built in practically any style that is desired. The architectural tricks which embellish many houses, remember, cause additional expense, and at the moment we are concerned with low-cost housing, which asks comfort and security, primarily, and fancy work afterward. A steel house need not have a flat roof and it need not be all one colour. Most of the steel houses so far built have been designed as examples of the modern trend in housing, and that trend apparently is in the direction of flat roofs. A steel house may display a variety of colours, just as any other home, but most of _ those who have built them to-day evidently prefer but one colour. Some houses are completely prefabricated and entirely of steel; yet to the eye such a house may appear the same as any other house. One such house uses about 15 tons of steel, and has side walls of 14-gauge plates, with steel beams and trusses. The company which builds this house is able to offer a prospective buyer an unstandardised design, so that he may decide upon the number of rooms and the shape arid finish of the interior and exterior. Even more interesting is the fact that his company builds a five-room house, with full basement, completely equipped and ready for occupancy, for 3,500d01.