I have a friend who is currently deployed to Iraq. He will be there for over a year. We have been communicating via e mail, so I have been able to follow his deployment and get a tiny glimpse into what it must be like for him. I assumed he would be living in a tent city like in MASH. Quite the contrary. His unit is living in prefabricated steel buildings.
To make myself more comfortable about the thought of my good friend going about his daily routine in a set of steel buildings in a hostile environment, I decided to learn more about these things. After all, my most vivid experience with steel buildings like that was from the drivers education class I took in high school. We had prefab structures for extra classrooms, while our high school was being remodeled. It felt a bit like being in a big huge RV.
A quick search for steel buildings yielded a handful of companies that provide them for numerous purposes. The Government Services Administration has approved a lot of steel buildings for government use, including use by all branches of the military. Steel buildings are used commercially for hangars, boat storage and warehouses. The structures can be ordered and procured very quickly. Steel buildings require less structural beams and trusses, so they offer more usable space than traditional structures. They require little maintenance, as they have no siding or gutters.
Steel buildings are appealing to the residential customer, as well. There are usually 5 to 10 basic styles from which to choose. With just a few people, these steel buildings can be erected easily. The structures come with a manual and bolt together easily. People often purchase these buildings for garages. I remember my grandparents building a new steel garage on their farm when I was growing up. A construction crew built it from soup to nuts. Had these prefab steel buildings been available back then, I am sure they would have chosen that as an easier and do it yourself route. They would have probably chosen one of the companies that advertises that their buildings are 100 percent American made from US steel.
It was interesting to read about the GSA approvals, ease of construction, cost effectiveness and low maintenance of steel buildings. Thinking of my deployed friend, I, however, am comforted by the fact that they are STEEL. Find more Steel aircraft hangar ...

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by: fredthompson
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