The materials you include in your structure are the primary ones that determine its durability, strength, and look. The best choice for the most durable frames for construction is structural steel. It is among the most durable steel variants available and is renowned for its quick assembly, efficiency, low cost, and versatility. You will also need to use fewer columns with structural steel for a building’s frame compared to when using other materials. This leaves you with a lot of free space that supports the open interior design concept popular nowadays.
A metal products dealer based in Utah will have different types of structural steel beams for your construction. This means you can get all the beams you need for your structure from one shop and can ask for a good discount. Moreover, some dealers offer delivery services. These will prove essential when you need a beam quickly and do not have the ideal transport or time to get it.
The following are the different types of structural steel beams that will form a part of your construction.
Angle Beams
These are L-shaped beams that suffice for the construction of your foundation. The 90-degree angle of the beams will generate some much-needed stability for your floors and avert their sinking even with ground shifts. The beams also reduce your construction’s structural depth without affecting its stability and strength. Angle beams come in unequal and equal sizes for different construction sizes.
Bearing Beams
Some construction sites will only support shallow foundations. In this case, you will need bearing beams to form a deep foundation for your project. The bearing poles are H-shaped. This shape allows the transfer of your structure’s load to the tip through the pile. One pile can support weights of more than 1,000 tons. Bearing beams are often used in dense soils since these prevent the damage of tips by water.
Channel Beams
These are C-shaped beams with bottom and top flanges and a web connecting them. Though often used for bridges, channel beams are now increasingly used in buildings as well. They are cost-effective options for medium and short-span structures.
Hollow Steel Section Beams
These have hollow tubular cross sections and can be elliptical, rectangular, square, or circular. The diverse shapes for these beams allow their use in buildings that run in different directions. In most cases, the beams are approximately double the thickness of the walls they are used to support.
I Beams
These are also called universal or H beams. They comprise two horizontal flanges and one vertical flange that acts as the web. This web in the beam will resist shear forces, whereas the horizontal flanges will hold up to the bending movements of the beam. The I beam thus makes an ideal choice for supporting bending and shear loads in different applications.
With these alternatives, your construction project’s strength is guaranteed. Nowadays, there are several customized options for the structural steel beams mentioned above to suit different structures. That is possible with the laser, plasma, and water jet cutting tools used for metal fabrication.
