Barns have been utilized for agricultural purposes for decades. However, with changing times, it has become vital for these structures to protect farming gear, animals, and equipment adequately. Custom metal barns have emerged as a wonderful solution as they are highly versatile, adaptable, and flexible, offering significant expansion possibilities.
As they are sturdy structures that are not just extremely cost-effective but also reduce your carbon footprint, farmers and ranchers have increasingly found these buildings efficient to use. You can design and tailor these structures to your specific needs. Whether you plan to house livestock, hay, feed, tools, equipment, or farm vehicles, custom steel barns can be constructed to fit the perfect layout for a few or all these purposes.
What Makes Custom Barns a Sustainable Farming Solution?
A custom steel barn is one of the most green solutions. Here are a few reasons why:
● Solar panels: Their strength and ability to integrate with emerging technology make custom barns perfect for hosting heavy solar panels. By adding them, sturdy prefabricated buildings can become more energy-efficient and eco-friendly. Along with reducing your carbon footprint, these also allow farms to decrease their reliance on traditional power sources, decreasing your electricity bills by 15% to 20%.
● Rainwater harvesting: Farmers can easily and sustainably manage water by implementing water conservation techniques like rainwater harvesting or drip irrigation. You can install a gutter and downspout to channel the water toward storage tanks. The water can be reutilized for irrigation, bathing livestock, washing farm vehicles, and cleaning the barn, leading to a reduction in wastage.
● No-VOC: A custom steel barn does not contain any Volatile Organic Compound (VOC), which makes it ideal for housing livestock. It is highly safe to come in contact with and does not emit any harmful gases over a long period of time. Along with minimizing environmental impact, this characteristic also makes the structure highly safe for your cattle and feed storage.
● Low energy consumption: With proper insulation and ventilation, custom metal barns can be designed to control the temperature within the structure, offering higher comfort for your animals. This lowers your energy consumption as well as is economically beneficial. For custom hay steel barns, insulation and ventilation are highly vital as they prevent moisture buildup, keep your hay dry, and increase its longevity.
● Low land footprint and habitat loss: Metal structures have a lower land footprint than wood, which means they require less space for installation. As these structures are built with steel, they do not lead to deforestation or habitat loss, unlike wooden or timber structures.
● Recyclable and low construction waste: As steel is 100% recyclable, most custom barns can easily be recycled after deformation. Moreover, construction waste can also be easily recycled to create other structures. Since their strength does not degrade in the recycling process, prefabricated barns are highly sturdy for all farm applications—be it keeping animals, creating riding arenas, housing heavy machinery, and more.
● Green building codes: One of the most crucial benefits of metal barns is maintaining the health of your livestock and the pristine condition of your expensive equipment, including cultivators, combine harvesters, mowers, and loaders. Along with meeting sustainability standards, steel structures also meet green building design codes as well as the requirements for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.
How are Custom Metal Barns Cost-Effective for Agricultural Usage?
Along with being one of the greenest structures, metal barns are also extremely economical, benefitting farmers and ranchers in saving money and utilizing it for other agricultural operations.
● Durable: Custom barns are highly durable structures that possess high strength. They can withstand the harshest weather conditions, including scorching sun, freezing temperatures, heavy rainfall, snowfall, and high winds. This also helps in maintaining the structure’s stability. Their fire-resistant nature also enhances their durability as they can efficiently protect your animals and farm resources from unforeseen fires.
● Long-lasting: Custom steel barns can last for up to 50 years. With regular care, their life can be further extended. This makes them ideal for providing long-term comfort for your livestock and storage space for your tools. Moreover, they are also resistant to pests, rust, and corrosion, which improves the health of your animals and maintains the quality of your equipment and vehicles.
● Low-maintenance: Due to their sturdy structure, longevity, and durability, metal barns require minimal maintenance. If you use vertical roofs, this further reduces as you do not have to worry about elements accumulating on the roof. Unlike wooden structures, they do not require pest treatments or sealings. This also brings a reduction in your repainting, repairing, and replacing expenses.
● Customizations: There are a variety of innovative uses of custom steel barns as they can be personalized to fit your every need. These easy customizations reduce the chances of expansions or the requirement for additional structures.
Ranging from 30 feet wide to 300 feet wide, these buildings can be designed to increase your operational efficiency. You can set up partitions for animals, shelves and hooks for storage, or enclosed spaces for workshops. This helps you in carrying out all your tasks in one place without the hassle of low functionality.
● Reduced insurance costs: Compared to wooden or concrete buildings, metal buildings have lower insurance fares. Their robust structure and fire resistance reduce the chances of damage, further decreasing insurance costs.
● Easy to install, low waste: As custom steel barns are prefabricated at manufacturing plants, the panelization process eases handling and reduces transportation and installation costs. With traditional buildings, the construction takes place on the site, leading to higher waste. However, the fabrication process of custom barns is so advanced that it causes minimal waste, which can easily be recycled. Choosing these structures does away with the additional costs that would have been incurred in the case of conventional barns.
Low Carbon Footprint and Reduced Costs
Steel barns cost about $25 to $45 per square foot, including delivery, foundation cost, installation, and material costs. While they last decades, they also increase the value of your property. Moreover, being recyclable also makes these structures easy to pitch and sell. With the right custom barn, you can ensure long-term service and a significant return on investment.
