Houses of Steel. Important Part in the Future

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 10, 27 January 1937, Page 12

Houses of Steel. Important Part in the Future

QEVERAL score men and women re- ^ cently filed slowly through a twostory, all-steel house on exhibition in New York city (writes Robert Bingham in the Ohristian Science Monitor). They admired the spaciousness of the roorns, and marvelled at the evident laclt 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 versaiility of steel and are in some small measure beginning to realise how expellent a building material steel is, Ind what great possibilities it liolds for the building industry. That industry to-day is facing a crisis — the public is becoming more and more incistent in its demand for bet|er building materials, It wants strength and permanence in its homes — it asks for security against fire, termites and windstorins — it wants the very best that is avaUable, but— it doesn't want to pay any more! H * • CTEEL makers are not interested in steel houses as Individual units. An industry which to-day is producirig 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 automoblle either, yet to-day the motorcar industry is the largest consumer of steel. It uses sevqral million tons annually. The steel-house business will never require that much steel, because replacements due to changing of models and styles and wear and tear will not be necessary sp often as is the case with motor cars. . Styles of houses change very slowly — so slowly, in fact, that the modern appearance of many of the 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 nee^s 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 deflnitely interested. in view^of the interest being cqrrently shown in steel houses, that possibllity is not far in the future. To-day, a steel house may cost a little more than an ordinary residence, but to-morrow it may conceivably cost less. The more steel of the same size you make, the qheaper it becomes. * * * QNCE a rolling mill ls adjusted for a v certain width and gauge sheet — and most steel houses are made of sheets, principally — the first few tons are run through at the highest ^ost, 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 ls deflnitely and surely headed if, as all signs now Indicate, it remains interested in sfcefcl. Consequently, steel-house building concerns are busy to-day Hning up dealers and distributors through whom they soon hope to be able to distribute the prefab-

ricated steel panels, shapes, beanis, etc., necessary for construction. The wisdom of these companies is seen in their arranging for distribution through lpcal dealers and, in most, cases, the siipply of plumbing and electrical equipment by local flrms. The problem of pacifying local contractors and bufiding-sUpply dealers is serlous, because they natutaty oppose the importation, so as to speah, of foreign building materials from outside their town, which may deprivc 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 employlhg them for the actual construc'tioh and for the necessary material which need not be prefabricated, • • Dealers in a great many localities have already added steel for house-building purppses to their regular stocks of building materials, and as soon as the demand increases, more will be forced to foilow suit. TT is obtaining popular acceptance by the dealers that is all-:mpOrtant, because sectional djsputes will be eliminated and the beginnings of an effective, interested saies force and group of distributors' then will have been made. When one turns for a look at the houses themselves and sees What steel really has to offer a buyer for his money, he is amazed at the varlety of deslgns and styles which is available in a prefabricated house. Most people think of f abx'icated 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, Mth 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. 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-coet 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 ln housing, and that trend apparently is ln the dlrection of flat roofs. A steel hQuse may display a veriety of colours Just as any other home, but most of those who ve built them to-day evidently prefer one colour. Some houses are eompletely prefabricated and entlrely 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 compapy Vhich bullds this house is able to offer a proapective buyer an unstandardiSed design, sp that he may decide upon the number oi roomsandthe shape and finish oi the lntenlor and exterior. Even more interesting ls the fact that this company builds a five-room house, with full basement, cpmpletejy equipped and ready for occupadpyrfpr 3500 dollars.