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Post war metal framed homes
Ona current project, we have found a small ranch in a neighborhood of similar, or identical homes. It is entirely metal framed, from heavy-guage C-section studs to a C-section stud joist with metal pan flooring.
I have never heard of this in such abundance and am looking for any background and structural and construction information, in particular, problems unique to these homes and renovation suggestions.
Thanks.
I have never heard of this in such abundance and am looking for any background and structural and construction information, in particular, problems unique to these homes and renovation suggestions.
Thanks.
Tags: framing, houses, metal, post, war
Views: 59
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Rodgers on -
one problem is that metal rusts much more easily than wood framing... :) Sorry I can't help you much more than that little bit of information.
Interesting that all the homes are near identical--how many homes in the neighborhood are we talking? By chance is the area near an air force/army/navy base, or was there one in the vicinity at one time? The air force housing back in my home town was shut down a few years ago, and they turned all the homes over to a real estate development company who did minor repairs and then sold them as single family homes and duplexes.
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Permalink Reply by Don Marquardt on -
There are many, it is a vary large neighborhood. While we are close to an air base (Willow Grove, outside of Philly), it is far enough away that I do not believe it had any influence. I think it was just the postwar building boom and an industrial system some guy bought into.
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Permalink Reply by Donald Shore on -
Hi.
Did you ever hear of Lustron Houses? We have a couple in our area, they are all metal. If you google them, you may find some info about maintenance of the structure.
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Permalink Reply by Don Marquardt on
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Thanks for the suggestion. They were the first things I looked at, but they are more a "whole package" concept, whereas my houses (so to speak) are more just a constctruction methodlology. They started as tiny flat roofed simple homes, 2 bedroom, and have been added to over the years somewhat, mostly for a new sloped roof or another bedroom.
We finally worked with an engineer and determined that the capacity of the older walls and the areangement of interior bearing walls,was more than wood walls, so did a whole 2nd story addition. We left the metal decking in place and used 2x8's to span the relatively narrow rooms below, which gave us a thicker floor but so be it. Oe odd thing was the insulation, a corrugated paper tissue type of batt which had a disturbing tendency to catch fire ehn the metal studs wre cut!
I have loaded a couple of pictures FYI, hope they load. - Attachments:
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1423 3d Alt 1-a.pdf, 285 KB
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