Steel Framing Prototype Development: Final
Report (December 2003, 84 p)
The use of light-gauge steel framing as a structural framework
for residential construction has taken hold in some site-built
markets but potentially offers even more value in the manufactured
housing environment. Steel is lightweight, fire-resistant,
dimensionally stable, and can be manufactured to any size
or shape. When used by properly trained manufacturing plant
personnel in a manner that takes advantage of its structural
properties, steel may offer some compelling economic advantages
over wood as a framing material.
The research effort described in this report explores the
potential of steel framing for the construction of factory
built homes that conform to the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) code, or the International Residential
Code (IRC), with the goal of developing technologies that
are competitive with wood framing. This research critically
assesses and refines the use of light-gauge steel design in
the factory environment. MHRA first explored the use of light-gauge
steel for factory building in 2001 when developing a design
intended to demonstrate the economic and regulatory viability
of steel for HUD-code construction. The current work builds
on this earlier effort by exploring the commercial viability
of light-gauge steel-frame designs through a case study approach
conducted in cooperation with industry partners.
The objectives of this research tightly mesh with the goals
of HUD’s “Partnership for Advancing Technology
in Housing” (PATH), the overall mission of which is
to improve the affordability and value of America's homes
through technology, including the development of new housing
technologies. Steel framing of factory built homes has the
potential to improve home durability, quality, affordability,
and resistance to natural disaster damage, and to reduce their
environmental impact.
An earlier phase of steel framing research (completed in
2002) demonstrated that steel is an acceptable framing material
under the performance-based HUD standards. The HUD certification
of a plant featured in one of the case studies, Quality Homes
of the Pacific (QHP) in Hawaii, reinforces this point. While
many in the manufactured housing industry are cautiously optimistic
about steel framing, it is recognized that numerous technical
and economic issues remain to be resolved and that steel framing
will most likely start as a niche technology for factory built
housing. The objective of the Phase II research was to develop
steel framing to the point of viability as a technology that
can offer advantages consistent with the PATH goals. As an
alternative to wood, steel can help keep housing costs down,
particularly if wood costs rise or in inner-city locations
where wood framing is not permitted.
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