Steel Buildings vs. Fabric Buildings: What To Consider

Material choice is the cornerstone of a building’s longevity, functionality, and cost-effectiveness; steel buildings and fabric buildings are both popular options, each with unique attributes suited to different needs. Steel structures are lauded for their strength, durability, and resistance to the elements, while fabric buildings present a more lightweight, flexible, and often more economical alternative. If you’re unsure whether a steel or fabric building is best suited to your application, this comparison will guide you through what to consider.

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What Are the Advantages of a Steel Building?

Steel buildings are synonymous with resilience and sustainability, and for good reason. One of the most compelling benefits is their exceptional lifespan; steel structures can endure for decades with minimal maintenance due to their resistance to weather and pests.

The versatility of steel also shines through in its design flexibility; it can cater to vast, column-free spaces, providing large, uninterrupted interior areas ideal for warehouses, aircraft hangars, and manufacturing plants. Additionally, the predictability of steel costs and the expedited construction times compared to traditional brick-and-mortar buildings add to its appeal as a cost-effective solution.

What Are the Advantages of a Fabric Building?

Fabric buildings, while different in their core materials, bring their own set of compelling advantages. Known for their natural light permeability, fabric buildings create a bright and airy environment that can reduce the need for artificial lighting, lowering energy costs.

Moreover, the flexibility of the fabric offers a quick and easy installation process, which can be a game-changer for projects with tight deadlines. This can also result in lower labor costs and the potential for relocation, offering adaptability that fixed structures simply cannot match. However, high-quality fabric structures are also easy to maintain and can be just as fire-, pest-, and weather-resistant as steel buildings. So, what is the difference between steel and fabric buildings?

Steel vs. Fabric Buildings

While both steel and fabric buildings offer astounding durability and flexibility, their main distinction lies in their lifespan. When we hear the term “temporary fabric building,” it may bring to mind a structure that doesn’t last very long. However, fabric buildings can last for decades and, with proper maintenance, can last well beyond 20 years. While these structures can last for some time, steel buildings do last longer and are often more suited to businesses that need permanent, long-term solutions.

Should You Choose a Steel or Fabric Building for Your Application?

We now know the differences between steel and fabric buildings, but what should we consider when trying to choose between them? How can we tell which structure is better suited for certain applications?

The decision between opting for a steel or fabric building ultimately boils down to the specific application and the priorities of the project at hand. If permanence and resilience are paramount, a steel building offers a tried-and-true solution, making it ideal for industrial or commercial spaces.

If you value speed of construction, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, particularly for agricultural, sports, and temporary event spaces, a fabric building could provide the perfect balance between functionality and efficiency.

If your project requires the agility of fabric buildings, let Big Top Manufacturing provide you with top-quality, tailor-made temporary structures. Whether you need a wide-span interior for warehouse storage or a durable structure to protect aircraft or maritime vessels, our customizable fabric Quonset huts can protect your investments.

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By: Robert Lee

While pressure washing a vehicle inside a Quonset fabric structure, I noticed that moisture was dripping from the curved roof, yet none of the spray was reaching higher than a few feet above the truck. It was cool outside, and I was using warm water. The vapour was rising, condensing on the upper reaches of the steel ribbing and falling like rain.

That was not the problem that I saw, however. What I saw was that the condensation that remained on the bolts and nut ends was evaporating, and over only a few years of this type of incident reoccurring, rust was evident everywhere. Yes, galvanized metal is supposed to be rust-resistant, and it largely is. However, at key stress points such as bolt holes, rust inevitably takes hold and soon those rust spots turn to holes, and leakage occurs, exacerbating the problem. This metal building leaked everywhere.

Metal Building Problems

Leakage is one of the problems common to older metal buildings. Cycles of heat and cold, sun, and wind and differences between the internal and external conditions lead to warping of the metal so that rivets pop or moisture accumulations lead to rust penetration at key points. Metal is a great conductor, too. Not only of electricity, making steel and aluminum buildings risky for a handyman to wire on his own, but of heat and cold, making them quite uncomfortable in which to work during extremes of temperature.

Once the wind gets hold of a loosened panel, it makes short work of the metal, stripping it from its moorings. One of the most common scenes in hurricane season is the flapping of aluminum panels on buildings, or sheets of the metal flying by like a kite in the air.

Metal is rigid. This limitation restricts the design of metal buildings and forces engineers to construct smaller spans than can be created with fabric buildings. The unwieldy configuration of metal buildings reduces options for expansion, development, and usage of the interiors. Cuts and bends form stress points or weakened spots in the material, making them prone to breakdown.

Manufacturers of steel clad, steel roofed or aluminum buildings claim that their buildings have lifespans exceeding 50 years, yet simple observation of older steel buildings across the rural landscape shows that many of these supposedly durable buildings already are falling into disrepair, after as little as 20 years. Why? Simply put, manufacturers’ claims of longevity apply to the thickest gauge, most expensive products. These buildings may well be out of the economic reach of most consumers.

Benefits of Fabric Buildings

On the other hand, fabric buildings, like metal ones, come with a wide range of material options. The most salient differences? The initial cost and replacement cost. You can replace fabric building skins as needed, repairing them quickly and easily. Yet, workes design even moderate- or budget-level fabric to last twenty years or more. With almost no maintenance, these stretched fabric buildings last a similar length to steel buildings but do so at a fraction of the cost.

Trusses and base plates of fabric buildings generally are coated and designed to last virtually forever, making them less likely to age like many of the swayback and buckling metal building counterparts. Because of the inherent tensile strength of fabric buildings, they resist wind, rain, and snow load easily, deflecting the elements while metal build design encourages blunt resistance against the wind, with roof lines often allowing snow to accumulate and compress roof infrastructure.

Poly-fabric, unlike metal, is resistant to rot, corrosion, and even the impact of chemicals and fuels. This makes these buildings much more suitable for use as machine shops, hazardous chemical storage buildings, and other high-risk uses. While steel and aluminum served their purpose decades ago, the new fabric, poly-fabric, or tension-fabric buildings would serve the majority of applications much better and much more economically. Even as a place where I can wash my truck without carrying an umbrella to protect against the falling raindrops from roof rivets.

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