Have You Given Much Thought to Your Wall Frames?

When building a property, you must start with choosing a location for your new home. Once you know where you will build, one of the earliest decisions to consider is what type of wall frames you will use as the starting point for the building. There are many factors to guide your decision towards either steel or wooden wall frames, but some considerations are more important than others. Here are three things that you can use to shape your plans.  

Overall resilience

Whatever material you choose for your wall frames, the frames must be strong enough to support the building, but strength is not enough. You must be confident that your wall frames can last for the long term. In many cases, you can expect that steel wall frames will last longer than wooden frames, but it isn't always going to be true. If you are building in a coastal region or anywhere where rust could be a problem, then wooden wall frames could be a better option. However, if you want to use timber wall frames, you must avoid insect infestation. Termites can be a particular problem, so you should remember to have your wall frames treated to make them termite resistant before they are installed.

Ease of assembly

Having your wall frames delivered from the manufacturing company is only the first step. Once the frames have been delivered, you will have to assemble them on your site. Due to modern production methods, your frames should reach the building site the perfect size and ready to be put together. However, methods for putting together steel wall frames and timber wall frames are quite different. A set of wooden wall frames can be quickly assembled by your builders using basic tools, but steel wall frames will require you to bring in welders with specialist equipment to carry out the work. Steel frames will also often be heavier than wooden frames, meaning that you may need special lifting equipment to put them in the right place before the welding can start.

End-of-life considerations

As a responsible builder, you should ensure that all of your building processes will minimise the impact of your work on the environment. You must investigate not only the initial construction methods used to create your wall frames but how sustainable the materials are and what will happen to them when they are life expired. Steel wall frames will usually require much more energy to create than wooden frames, but steel does have the advantage of being 100% recyclable. So, the steel can be reused indefinitely. If you opt for wooden frames, you should ask questions about whether the timber is ethically sourced. If you don't check, your building project could be contributing to worldwide deforestation.