The first prototype all-steel home was completed in eight weeks by developer Blue Sky Homes LLC, Palm Springs, Calif. The home is built with a Blue Sky Homes Building System, which makes extensive use of cold-formed, light-gauge galvanized steel to create a moment-resisting frame. The 1,000-square-foot (93-m2), two-bedroom, one-bath home is in Yucca Valley, Calif. The house “floats” above the rocky desert on six steel columns that rest on small concrete footings, requiring virtually no land grading, ensuring the natural setting of the house is not disturbed. A seasonal stream runs unobstructed underneath the house.
Most elements of the Blue Sky system are fabricated in a factory to exacting specifications and then shipped flat to the construction site where they can be quickly bolted together. This prefabrication method reduced the number of trips to the job site and cut un-needed labor costs, further improving the home’s environmental credentials.
AEP Span, ASC Building Products and ASC Steel Deck, all based out of West Sacramento, Calif., and business units of ASC Profiles Inc., a BlueScope Steel company, supplied the majority of the light-gauge steel material for the home. The project utilized more than 1,200 feet (366 m) of AEP Span cold-formed structural Cee Sections; 1,388 square feet (129 m2) of AEP Span’s 24-gauge, 17-inch- (432-mm-) wide Design Span hp standingseam roof panels; 1,141 square feet (106 m2) of ASC Building Products’ 22-gauge Iron Ox flat sheet for the exterior walls; and 374 feet (114 m) of 22-gauge and 18-gauge B-36 composite floor deck from ASC Steel Deck.
Additionally, Accelerated Building Technologies, Moon Township, Pa., provided its accel-E S.T.E.P. wall panel system for the project. The accel-E S.T.E.P. wall system is made of expanded polystyrene and includes light-gauge steel studs that are thermally broken to improve their insulation quality.
O2 Architecture, Palm Springs, was the architect; Solterra Development, Palm Springs, was the general contractor; and FCP Inc., Wildomar, Calif.,was the structural engineer.
Accelerated Building Technologies LLC
AEP Span
ASC Building Products
ASC Steel Deck
