Whether you are a homeowner or contractor working with steel for the first time or you are someone who is already aware of the advantages and value of steel, we can guide you through the process with ease. Read about the differences and note the benefits of steel.

• Cost and Value

  
  See how steel compares to more conventional construction materials.
  
  

• Interior and Exterior Appearance

  
  Only you will know that the strength of steel is behind your walls and supporting your home.
  
  

The cost of lumber has fluctuated dramatically over the last several years and the costs just seem to get higher and higher. Such an erratic market and increases in cost have left more and more people looking for an alternative to lumber. And we have it! Epic’s light-gauge steel building system provides a welcome change from traditional “stick-built” structures. Even if you are looking to build at a time when steel may cost slightly more than lumber, we urge you to consider the following incentives to steel.

For several reasons, most notably cost, not every piece of warped or deformed lumber delivered to a job site can be culled and discarded during construction. Not only do you lose valuable time and money paying someone to sort through and discard lumber that you will have to pay for anyway, this “make-do” approach makes it difficult to keep corners square and walls and floors flat and even. Once a lumber structure is framed with a number of studs that are less than straight and true, it is now the job of drywall installers and other professionals to figure out how to make it all go together to the best of their ability. Again, it’s wasting more of everyone’s time and YOUR money!

At Epic, we construct our steel walls and floor trusses from rolls of galvanized steel that we cut and form specifically for your individual needs, and it’s going to be straight and true every time…guaranteed! Also, our steel trusses are so strong they can be placed at 24” on center compared to wood “I” joists that can only be placed at 16” on center, meaning you will need 33% more wood joists to do the same job as our steel trusses. So even if steel costs slightly more than lumber from a materials standpoint alone, it can actually save you money throughout your project by significantly reducing labor and materials costs.

When most people think of a steel building, one of two images usually comes to mind: either a tall, multi-story commercial building constructed from large red iron steel beams or a smaller outbuilding, such as a barn, garage, or storage unit, with a steel roof and siding. While these types of steel construction have their own advantages, neither one has been appropriate for residential and smaller types of commercial construction. That’s where our light-gauge steel building system comes in.

Here at Epic, we use rolls of light-gauge galvanized steel to construct steel wall studs that are the exact same dimensions as the 2x4” and 2x6” lumber studs used in conventional construction. Our interior and exterior walls look just the same as a “stick-built” structure would look during construction, and more importantly, they look the exact same when the structure is complete. Once you have installed sheetrock to the interior or attached brick, stucco, or vinyl siding to the exterior, not even the most critical eye would be able to tell there is steel framing inside the walls. Maybe not until they start looking very closely, that is. With our guaranteed square construction and steel’s lack of expansion due to temperature or moisture changes, you will have far fewer (if any) unsightly cracks in your drywall or other finished interiors. These cracks in walls and ceilings are a further investment of time and money that we feel you shouldn’t have to make. And since we use screws instead of nails to attach all materials to our steel system, you have no nail pops to repair and no squeaky floors to endure.