Hi,

 

We have to procure a 5 meter 152 x 152 x 23 UC steel beam. Where do you typically purchase these from, your building merchants or from a firm specialising in steel beams?

 

Thanks

when getting quotes, I found steel suppliers cheaper

Steel stockholder will be cheaper but you will need 3 or 4 strong lads to get it unloaded as it will be 115kg and unwieldy. 

 

Benefit of a merchant is that they will have a hiab to unload it. You may also find if you shop around that they can pretty much match any price anyway. 

31 minutes ago, Thedreamer said:

Hi,

 

We have to procure a 5 meter 152 x 152 x 23 UC steel beam. Where do you typically purchase these from, your building merchants or from a firm specialising in steel beams?

 

Thanks

Steel is very cheap at the moment 

Try several steel suppliers Quote can vary by as much as 100 %

Thanks very much, that's very useful. Are there any nationwide suppliers of the steel or are the suppliers usually smaller independent firms?

 

Do you usually fit the beam with the likes of a telehandler before you install the trusses?

 

@ProDave and @Crofter  did you use steel beams in your self builds, have you come across suppliers in the Highlands?

11 minutes ago, nod said:

Steel is very cheap at the moment 

Try several steel suppliers Quote can vary by as much as 100 %

 

That's good to know. Is the steel that self builder's typically use made in Britain or imported from the likes of China?

Depends where the steel is going - what is it supporting ..?

 

Most of the steel cost is in the shipping so get it as close as you can as it’s pointless paying to ship it 200 miles. 

57 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Depends where the steel is going - what is it supporting ..?

 

Most of the steel cost is in the shipping so get it as close as you can as it’s pointless paying to ship it 200 miles. 

 

We have a semi full height ceiling in our living room, so the steel beam will be resting on a triple stud. Hopefully when it's done it should look like this. 

 

I would imagine we probably don't have a supplier on Skye so it's probably Inverness or maybe Fort Willam where it would come from.

 

If it’s going to be on show is there any way you can get it swapped for a glulam beam ..??

Sorry should have been cleared it will be sitting on the top of the stud but between the joist on the edge of the balcony. The beam itself we be covered in wood and then I believe  It will be covered up in plasterboard.

 

 

 

 

 

Caley Sheet Metal in Inverness would be worth a call, obviously I'd speak to our local BMs (Jewson and Rembrand) too. Haulage from Inverness via Skye Express but you'd need some way of offloading at your end.

If you want to save a few quid, a long trailer and a squad to lift it off at your end? That's how I did quite a bit of my timber.

1 hour ago, Crofter said:

Caley Sheet Metal in Inverness would be worth a call, obviously I'd speak to our local BMs (Jewson and Rembrand) too. Haulage from Inverness via Skye Express but you'd need some way of offloading at your end.

If you want to save a few quid, a long trailer and a squad to lift it off at your end? That's how I did quite a bit of my timber.

 

Thanks for that @Crofter

10 hours ago, Thedreamer said:

 

That's good to know. Is the steel that self builder's typically use made in Britain or imported from the likes of China?

I think most of it is imported now

In my case it had to be hot dipped galvanised 

Which nearly always has to be sent off Two lots of carriage 

I found a local company that sends off all of there steel So the cost was much less

 

If you are struggling for a way to offload You could contact a steel fabricator who would supply and fit your steel for not a great deal more 

 

If you use a builders merchants 

They will simply contact a steel supplier and add there bit on

Tge advantage of this would be that they could bring it on a grab wagon and then can offload it for you 

 

Ive used both options in the past

 

I went with. Local steel stockholder, I told the they needed to deliver using a vehicle with a crane (Hyab), no problem, they came with a truck mounted crane that could lift 9 tonnes, a real monster of a thing at no extra cost.

Worth getting a few quotes. We just slid the steels (305mm x 127mm) off the lorry, moved into place with levers and scaff poles. 2 x 5m spliced and lifted 4.8m with genies. It was a big day.

 

 

It's superb to see such a clear WIP photo. It worries me slightly that this is supported off timber stud though. 10m is very long for a steel in a domestic situation.