Not all large steel garages and shops have to specifically be used for fixing up cars or storing agricultural equipment. At Simpson Steel Building Company, we come across customers every day that would like to use a steel building for man caves, she-sheds, pool houses, or even indoor basketball courts. About 3 years ago, we had a wonderful customer who came to us needing a large enough steel building that they could store their truck and boat along with a couple of ATVs. They also wanted half of the building to be dedicated to an indoor basketball court for their kids. After some good back and forth discussion, we decided on a 40x80x14 sized steel building. This allows for a 1600 sf garage and a 1600 sf area to put a basketball court.
Once we discussed the buildings purpose and decided on an appropriate size, it was time to talk about what style of building to use. Simpson Steel Building Company has a patented red-iron steel truss frame that we use more frequently than a traditional red-iron rigid frame due to its much more economical cost. This particular customer, however, had 2 items that steered us towards using the rigid frame instead. The first item was the basketball court. Our truss frames have steel trusses every 20’ down the eave sides. That truss could potentially get in the way of kids shooting baskets. The second item was the customers snow load requirement in their area of Nebraska. While our truss can meet very high snow load requirements, parts of Nebraska are just too high and a rigid frame makes more sense. Combine those two items and the obvious choice was to use a rigid frame steel building for this project.
Next it was time to discuss the functionality of the building. Our customer wanted to keep it pretty simple with 2 large garage door openings, 1 man door opening, and 2 window openings. We put in an 18×14 door opening on the gable end to allow for RV or fifth wheel entrance and storage. And we put in an 18×12 door opening on the sidewall for the trucks, cars, and atvs. The man door and windows were pushed towards the end where the car and atv work shop would be located. 3” of insulation was added to the roof and walls to help with climate control. To help push rain and melting snow away from the building, we added gutters and downspouts to both sides. And on the interior, we added a 7’ tall liner panel. This was a crucial addition as it helps protect the buildings insulation on the interior when the kids are playing basketball.
In terms of features, our customer decided to get a little fancy with their building. We added a colored roof and a 4 foot tall wainscot along with 18” roof overhangs all the way around the building. The color choice was our desert sand for the main walls and burnished slate for the wainscot, trim and roof. These items really gave the building an amazing finished look. To top it off, we also added a large wrap-around lean-to on one corner of the building. The wrap-around lean-to always looks fantastic and provides an ample amount of outdoor covered space to socialize under or to work under.
This building has been one of the better buildings Simpson Steel Building Company has ever sold and manufactured. We’re very proud of the way it turned out and our customer has always raved about it to his friends. We are glad that they enjoy their building enough to constantly send us referral business.
Contact us or request a quote to get started on your building today!
