Sebculb
Gold Member
Hey everbuddy, (warning long Easter morning ramble ahead)
So this is a "just out of curiosity" type question: What kind of Harry homeowner grade building metal do y'alls have available in the US, Canada and whatever other countries are represented on this forum?
I didn't start welding until afterI left the states 10 years ago, carpentry is actually in decline here in Costa Rica and the surrounding countries. Or rather, it's just done with metal anymore. Wood is comparatively expensive and susceptible to tropical termites and fungus rainy season etc.
Here at any hardware store there is a lot of thin gauge galvanized metal in c-profile purlin (2x3, 2x4, 2x6), and 4 sided square and rectangular (1/2x1/2 to 4x4 in square and 1x2, 2x4 and 2x6 rectangular are common sizes). This metal comes in 1.2mm, 1.5mm and 1.8mm thicknesses, which I do believe translates to 18, 16, and 14 gauge. It comes in 6 meter lengths, about 20ft.
It is customarily welded with 3/32 6013. The 1.2mm is a pain in the butt but you can get good welds if you're careful and 1.5mm and 1.8 are a piece of cake once you get used to it. And you can do this work for months at a time. So I guess I'm a professional welder (ha ha pays $5/hr if you're good I try to drive the backhoe more), just in the framing carpenter context. Instead of a 3" nail gun we use little inverter welders with 3/32 6013 all day.
This metal is not expensive. For a 2x4 c purlin or 2x2 square in 1.5mm it is about $20, in the 20ft length. A 3x3 is perhaps $30 and a 4x4 in 1.8mm is maybe $45-50. All these pieces of metal are *strong* even the 1.2mm. 1.2mm just sucks cuz it's difficult to weld and it can rot more easily after a few years even if it's galvanized.
For comparison, an 8 foot wet, rough cut wood 2x4 costs perhaps $6 or 7 and you have to use waaaay more in a structure. And you plane it. And sand it. And poison it. And and varnish it. And sand and varnish it again. Oh fug it I'm building this this thing out of metal.
Generally I build out of square metal and paint it brown with this water based galvanized roof paint that works great and is the easiest stuff ever to work with. The brown painted metal gives a wood "ambiance" and actually fools some people. Then I use wood siding and floorboards if some decent trees fell over recently, or there's also this cement board stuff that's like drywall but much stronger. Then you can stucco that and it looks good. Easy building. Cheap building.
There's this other thread up in the projects forum about 2x4 purlins in a prefab building. Got me to wondering about what the metal building world is like up north. I know that those prefab buildings are generally screwed together with what we consider roofing screws, and are called tek screws up north.
I don't believe I've ever seen building metal for sale at a home depot or any other hardware store either before I left or on visits back. So where do y'alls get your metal from and what's available and what do you do with it? Generally I think of up north as the consumer paradise where you buy the best stuff for the cheapest prices but I think we might have you beat on this front. Galvanized roofing too, based on prices I've seen on forum threads.
Oh we have cooler inverter welders here ha ha, but that's an argument for a different thread. $200 will get you a Chinese shoebox that works on 110v and cooks at 180 amps. They last a long time also, I still haven't worn one out and it's been years. I'm surprised that similar inverters aren't available up north. Everything I see is 120v to 80 amps or whatever and more expensive. Or 240v for more amps. Perhaps there's regulations on power conversion or something...
So this is a "just out of curiosity" type question: What kind of Harry homeowner grade building metal do y'alls have available in the US, Canada and whatever other countries are represented on this forum?
I didn't start welding until afterI left the states 10 years ago, carpentry is actually in decline here in Costa Rica and the surrounding countries. Or rather, it's just done with metal anymore. Wood is comparatively expensive and susceptible to tropical termites and fungus rainy season etc.
Here at any hardware store there is a lot of thin gauge galvanized metal in c-profile purlin (2x3, 2x4, 2x6), and 4 sided square and rectangular (1/2x1/2 to 4x4 in square and 1x2, 2x4 and 2x6 rectangular are common sizes). This metal comes in 1.2mm, 1.5mm and 1.8mm thicknesses, which I do believe translates to 18, 16, and 14 gauge. It comes in 6 meter lengths, about 20ft.
It is customarily welded with 3/32 6013. The 1.2mm is a pain in the butt but you can get good welds if you're careful and 1.5mm and 1.8 are a piece of cake once you get used to it. And you can do this work for months at a time. So I guess I'm a professional welder (ha ha pays $5/hr if you're good I try to drive the backhoe more), just in the framing carpenter context. Instead of a 3" nail gun we use little inverter welders with 3/32 6013 all day.
This metal is not expensive. For a 2x4 c purlin or 2x2 square in 1.5mm it is about $20, in the 20ft length. A 3x3 is perhaps $30 and a 4x4 in 1.8mm is maybe $45-50. All these pieces of metal are *strong* even the 1.2mm. 1.2mm just sucks cuz it's difficult to weld and it can rot more easily after a few years even if it's galvanized.
For comparison, an 8 foot wet, rough cut wood 2x4 costs perhaps $6 or 7 and you have to use waaaay more in a structure. And you plane it. And sand it. And poison it. And and varnish it. And sand and varnish it again. Oh fug it I'm building this this thing out of metal.
Generally I build out of square metal and paint it brown with this water based galvanized roof paint that works great and is the easiest stuff ever to work with. The brown painted metal gives a wood "ambiance" and actually fools some people. Then I use wood siding and floorboards if some decent trees fell over recently, or there's also this cement board stuff that's like drywall but much stronger. Then you can stucco that and it looks good. Easy building. Cheap building.
There's this other thread up in the projects forum about 2x4 purlins in a prefab building. Got me to wondering about what the metal building world is like up north. I know that those prefab buildings are generally screwed together with what we consider roofing screws, and are called tek screws up north.
I don't believe I've ever seen building metal for sale at a home depot or any other hardware store either before I left or on visits back. So where do y'alls get your metal from and what's available and what do you do with it? Generally I think of up north as the consumer paradise where you buy the best stuff for the cheapest prices but I think we might have you beat on this front. Galvanized roofing too, based on prices I've seen on forum threads.
Oh we have cooler inverter welders here ha ha, but that's an argument for a different thread. $200 will get you a Chinese shoebox that works on 110v and cooks at 180 amps. They last a long time also, I still haven't worn one out and it's been years. I'm surprised that similar inverters aren't available up north. Everything I see is 120v to 80 amps or whatever and more expensive. Or 240v for more amps. Perhaps there's regulations on power conversion or something...
