Cold Formed Steel Roof and Open Web Floor Trusses 

Trusses provide vital structural framework for the roof and flooring of countless buildings. It doesn’t matter whether trusses hold up the ceiling or one of the floors in a multi-story building. Your project deserves resilient materials that deliver long-lasting structural integrity. McClure invites you to try cold-formed steel (CFS) for your roof or open web floor trusses.

 

Why Use Cold Formed Steel for Roof Trusses? Could It Benefit Your Next Project?

Roof trusses are a vital component for the structural integrity of your project’s framing. Without them, the weight from the roof itself can weaken supporting walls and even cause them to collapse. McClure prefers the lighter weight and superior strength of CFS to further improve the load-bearing capabilities of roof trusses.

Open web trusses are a popular choice for buildings with large, unbroken spaces. By combining the open web design with the high strength-to-weight ratio of CFS, we can maximize structural support. McClure’s designs for cold formed steel roof trusses will easily handle spans of 100 feet or more.

What Buildings Could CFS Trusses Be Used for?

School auditoriums and cafeterias: these large spaces must hold numbers of students and faculty. They often provide large quantities of natural light, or house specialized lighting and sound equipment.

Warehouses and open floor storage facilities: regardless of what is being stored, dry and stable facilities are a must. McClure will make sure your building stands up to all weather conditions, keeping everything inside safe and dry.

Athletic complexes and sports arenas: some of these buildings feature motorized roofs to allow fans to enjoy comfortable weather. CFS trusses are lightweight enough to make moving even large-scale roofs possible.

Open Web Floor Trusses with Cold Formed Steel

Cold formed steel can be used for open web floor trusses as well. When constructing a multi-story building, open web trusses are useful for maximizing space immediately under the flooring itself. Many developers use this space for easy installation of plumbing or HVAC systems.

But what about buildings that require more from their flooring? Stadiums often hide additional seating under the floor, while concert stages use this space for props or audio equipment. CFS open web trusses can overcome these unique challenges, allowing modern construction to remain innovative and cost-efficient.

McClure Offers Professional R&D Support

Every project is unique, and many safety concerns or other problems aren’t always immediately apparent during the early stages. McClure can help design tests and their requirements to help your project address obstacles as they come up.

For example, we’ve designed special vacuum chambers ideal for testing and analyzing custom solutions like cold formed steel roof and floor trusses. We utilized these chambers for comprehensive load testing, in order to make sure your trusses stand up to both live and dead loads.

We’ve implemented cold formed steel as part of our full building systems to make sure we find every opportunity to use this strong and versatile material.

Making the Most of Innovative Materials

Full Building Systems with COLD FORMED STEEL

Using the right materials can make an enormous difference in the quality of the results. At McClure, we pair your vision with the building blocks it needs for success. COLD FORMED STEEL is light, strong, and versatile in regard to prefabrication. For good reason, it’s one of the most popular choices for construction and development.

McClure uses COLD FORMED STEEL to its full potential within our full building systems. By taking the time to review our process for opportunities to implement COLD FORMED STEEL, we can apply its benefits to as many aspects of your next construction project. Our expert engineers can provide more information about how you can benefit from working with COLD FORMED STEEL.

What is COLD FORMED STEEL?

The wide variety of grades and compositions makes steel one of the best materials for construction and engineering projects. But the manufacturing process itself can also change how steel is used. For building construction, hot rolled steel and cold formed steel are the two primary categories.

In the past, shaping metal was easier at high temperatures, making hot rolled steel the more convenient option. But as the metal cooled, engineers had less control over the final shape. This made hot formed steel better suited for projects that did not require precise dimensions or unique shapes.

Modern manufacturing technology lets us shape and work metal without the large amounts of heat usually required. CFS is called cold-formed because it was made without heat. In this process, COLD FORMED STEEL sheets are formed into the correct shape by a series of rollers. They are most commonly used in interior and exterior nonstructural elements as well as load-bearing framing. COLD FORMED STEEL is popular for:

  • Roofing and walls for industrial, agricultural and other commercial buildings
  • Structural elements for aerospace products
  • Mid-rise and multi-housing buildings including hotels, apartment complexes and assisted-living facilities

Benefits of COLD FORMED STEEL vs. Hot Rolled Steel

While hot rolled steel is generally less expensive, COLD FORMED STEEL offers multiple benefits that make it a superior material for many different construction projects. When you invest in COLD FORMED STEEL, you’ll enjoy the following benefits:

Stronger and more resilient: the manufacturing process strengthens COLD FORMED STEEL, increasing its resistance against yielding and rupture. It also minimizes impurities on the surface and within the dimensions themselves. McClure will ensure your project’s COLD FORMED STEEL meets rigorous standards.

Withstands severe weather and natural disasters: COLD FORMED STEEL can resist high winds and subsequent damage. Structural elements made with COLD FORMED STEEL have even demonstrated a high degree of resilience against the seismic activity from earthquakes.

Better suited for complex shapes: COLD FORMED STEEL can create resilient products with an elegant sense of style. Our COLD FORMED STEEL will meet your project’s structural specifications without sacrificing aesthetic value.

Ideal for prefabrication: the lack of heat treatments is ideal for mass production and prefabrication. An efficient COLD FORMED STEEL manufacturing process minimizes delays and keeps your project on schedule.

Recyclable and environmentally sustainable: The consistent quality of COLD FORMED STEEL makes it more recyclable. It can even lower scrap disposal costs. The reusability and longevity of COLD FORMED STEEL is ideal for green building construction.

Our COLD FORMED STEEL Full Building System

Construction is a complex industry. To increase efficiency and reduce costs, professionals implement a full building system, ensuring consistency for each distinct component as well as throughout every step of the process. The best building systems also integrate the various teams involved for efficient internal communication.

Full building systems are ideal for complex utilities such as electrical grids and HVAC systems. Designing these utilities concurrently can improve their efficiency, reducing energy loss and improving longevity.

McClure recognized the potential of COLD FORMED STEEL construction. With our research, application of software (Revit, Rhino, BIM360, etc.), instrumentation, data acquisition and expertise, COLD FORMED STEEL components can be used for many other aspects of innovative construction.

Where We Make An Impact

McClure can help you make the most of CFS and other efficient materials.

WHERE WE MAKE AN IMPACT

McClure can help you make the most of CFS and other efficient materials.