Living in a steel frame house

Hi all,

I will be building with JGK who uses steel frame I want to ask people who have lived in a steel frame house or are currently living in a steel frame house what's their experience with it so far. I have been looking on the net to get information on experience from people who actually lived in one but most of the info are from the builders or industry bodies or people who lived in a steel frame home built long ago. I just want to get a better understanding from people who lived in one.

The info I am hoping to get are:

1. Any problems with the plasterwork eg. crack cornices, rippled plaster etc?
2. Are the walls really stay straight as what they claim and doors don't jam?
3. Did you noticed any thing different to your structure when Vic had 40+ degree heat eg. frame get slightly bent due to heat etc.
4. Whether frame will eventually rust in future (even though it has zinc paint)?

Thanks and any help would be appreciated.

We live in one at the moment. Its eight years old. At night when it cools down you can hear the metal contracting and it can get quite loud. It has woken my parents up. But to be honest it hasn't bothered me, but I sleep quite soundly.

12 years, no problems. Are you hearing the Colorbond roof - we have tiles...

Ed

Have now lived in one for 4 months, colourbond roof and hot weather up to 48 deg - cant say Ive had any problems at all or unusual experiences at all

I am building with JGK as well.. though in the very initial stages..

I am going for Colorbond roof..

Hope it is allright

Cheers

Hi Polo,

My bestfriend built with JGK 4 yrs ago and she
is so angry and disapointed with them, she will
never build with them again, nor reccommend
them to ANYONE.

She is experiencing all the things you mentioned
in your post, cracking archs and skirts, door jams
move so you can't close doors depending on some
weather conditions, the steel frame creaks and
frankly she said it looks like her 3yo built the house.

Slap dash construction.

She found their customer service horrendous.

I too have also lived in a 3yr old JGK built home and
also experienced the above, it was a nightmare.

Good-Luck with whatever you decide.

I assume this was through a country office due to your location?

So far customer service has been excellent for me, from sales consultant to contract administrator and now site supervisor, all have been really friendly and helpful.

I can't comment on construction yet as it hasn't started, but most of the things mentioned in the first post seems to be myth's of steel. My inlaws have steel frame and colorbond roof with no noises at all in country vic.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Ed & Helyn - Do you personally like/recommend steel frame house over timber frame house? Does your house have any plaster/cornice cracks?

Pinkfairymagic - I hope the company has changed the way they do business since then and got their act together. I read their problems with the BCAV in 2003-2004 year. Recently I asked people who built with them around my estate and most say they are happy, however there are alot of people on the internet that aren't so happy, so a bit scary also.

Daring2build - where about are you building?

WBA - I hope you will keep us updated on your building progress.

Thanks.

Depending on the method of steel construction, it may be different.
Apparently the Nu-Steel house frames are noisy because they are welded together. Other builders use riveted frames which allows movement, resulting in less noise when hot and cold. Of course, this is just someone’s opinion who has lived in a Nu-steel house.

There is one crack in the whoie house in 12 years - insignificant. On the whole I am happy - especially as I live in a high risk fire area...

Ed

Ed, apparently this is the claim that steel frame mfrs don't like to make - the one about fire. Apparently a steel frame house will perform less well than a timber framed house in a fire, though I hope nobody ever gets to test this out.

As far as JG King go, as mentioned in a previous post, it seems their steel framed houses have timber strut sub floors, so part of the problem with their own houses may be the relationship between the steel and the timber causing different rates of expansion/contraction which may result in more cracking and creaking. Caveat: This effect of the 2 different materials is my own personal theory and is not based on any evidence.

JB

WBA : Thanks for your post. Reading Pinkfairymagic's post, I was a bit depressed yesterday

BTW - I am building in Arbor on the Park estate, Burnside Heights (close to Caroline Springs Town Centre)

We are currently living in a steel frame house with colourbond roof in Fern Bay NSW. We intially wanted steel frame because of our horrendous experience with our previous home being devastated by termites. We didnt know we had termites until the house was "sold" and it was picked up on the building inspection... consequently our sale fell over we had major works and costs on our hands. The real estate agent said this was a regular problem and mentioned that he much preferred to sell a steel frame home... his comments starting us thinking

So we chose steel not thinking and questioning any of the points raised in these threads/posts other than the prevention of termites.

Our 2 homes were built by the same builder McDonald Jones who install a Bluescope steel frame manufactured by Supaloc. Having a look at the Supaloc web site I notice their ad line "the worlds best framing system". ... and I have to agree. The blue steel stands out on the subdivisions around like "dogs ....." as they go up they look amazing. ..and when you walk thru them it just looks and feels so much better and more solidly engineered than the conventional timber stick frame

In our 2 steel frame homes we obviously havent had termites in yet they are in the trees at the rear of the block... we havent experience cracking or popping or anything like that. We have had a bit of cornice cracking in the corners but I think thats normal with most homes.The temperatures have been up there in the high 30's in NSW but our house doesn't seem any hotter than our neighbours timber/tiled home.... although I believe most McDonald Jones homes come air conditioned.

We havent experience any noise... banging or the likes . I notice the Supaloc frame is engineered . and designed thru the riveting and expansion joint system to eliminate any noise .

I cannot obviously comment on the frame the Melbourne builder GJ King or Nu Steel uses but I don't think they use the Supaloc system and there seems to be a substantial difference in the engineering and outcome

We can highly recommend the steel frame home...... we are hoping its built to lastfor ever

wakeboardandy: It's certainly not a myth for people
that are going through it and living it everyday.
Your assumption is also incorrect, my bestfriend
doesn't live near me, infact she lives about 5hrs away,
although I'm not sure what this would have to do with
anything.
Country or not, you can get quaility builders here.

Sorry, didn't mean to upset anyone, just
warning people of my experience and those
close to me. It's always wise to know good
and bad about ALL builders before you decide
who to build through.

Polo, I certainly hope their system has differed
from now to what it used to be 3 & 4 yrs ago.
With clients that seem to be happy with
their homes today, things may be changing for
the better, thank goodness.
I wish you all the best with your build, whoever you
decide to go with. There is no builder that is
perfect out there, so we as clients always have
to comprimise on "something".

Yes I know about steel & fire... but I know my home has very little combustible material in it's perimeter construction... I also know that if it is subject to flame for a long period it will fail structurally - but I know it won't add to the fires so I am happier.

I can say the only problem I do have is the heating system in the roof space can creak a bit - I think if they isolate this more it would be better. If different materials was a problem you would expect the plasterboard to be a major culprit - we have no problems at all... I would certainly recommend steel frames - JGK

Ed

Apparently the thermal behaviour of plasterboard is much more similar to that of steel than that of timber!

JB

Then why would it be OK with a timber frame?

Ed

No idea - I am just regurgitating research I have done! However I have found when researching the "steel frame noise non-issue" that many people state their timber framed houses creaked much more than their steel framed ones do!

JB

you are dead right with that..we have never heard a creak in either of our steel framed homes....our next door neighbours timber frame house according to them creaks badly thru the night. Mind you i am a heavy sleeper... joking !

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