Michael and Nancy Platz were seeking a contractor who could build them a new home that would stand up to the test of time, be energy-efficient and protect them from the hurricanes that occasionally threaten the Carolina coast. They found what they were looking for at a home show in Charleston.
Steve Bostic, owner of Insulsteel, had a booth at the show and a company with the experience, expertise and innovative attitude to help them out.
“We had a building plan in mind, but it needed to be modified to suit our particular needs, so we were looking for a contractor who could not only build us an efficient, sound home but one who would support us in modifying the plan,” Michael Platz explained.
Since that day, Insulsteel has reached a major landmark. The company now designs and fabricates its EcoShell buildings off-site at its new light-gauge steel factory in the Charleston area. The EcoShell is a state-of-the-art panelized steel and expanded polystyrene composite building system that is used for exterior walls, foundations and roofing systems for residential as well as commercial buildings.
Bostic pointed out that the EcoShell and ExoSkeleton off-site manufacturing integration technologies reduce construction time and material waste compared with traditional concrete, wood and steel construction methods and greatly improve on-site construction productivity. The Insulsteel ExoSkeleton utilizes 3D building information modeling software operating on a Revit platform that integrates seamlessly with architectural and engineering software.
“The software model is used to transfer structural data to the fabrication machinery operating system to produce precision engineered steel studs and track at quality and productivity levels unachievable in today’s wood construction environment,” Bostic said.
In other words, an Insulsteel home can be built faster, more efficiently and without wasting any building materials. Bostic said Insulsteel’s high-speed production line can produce the steel building ExoSkeleton for a 5,000-square-foot building – the interior walls, floor system and roof trusses – in a single day. The building components are panelized off-site and delivered to the building site ready to assemble, “reducing traditional labor framing time by as much as 70 percent and virtually eliminating all construction errors and waste.”
Bostic pointed out that Insulsteel’s “kit of parts,” assembled on-site, exceeds the quality standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum level and state and local building codes for high winds, flooding and seismic activity. He cited the following advantages of Insulsteel over traditional wood construction.
- Insulsteel’s 3D building information modeling technologies software integrates seamlessly into precision manufacturing equipment.
- Off-site manufacturing increases productivity and lowers costs.
- Precise engineering increases quality and structural integrity.
- Light-gauge steel structures can withstand hurricane-force winds.
- Composite steel and panels lower energy bills by 75 percent.
- Solar battery storage lowers energy costs to net zero.
- Termites and other insects and animals cannot damage the steel structure.
- Platz obviously understands the advantages Insulsteel as well.
“The Insulsteel design is put together where there are no thermal breaks at the studs, whereas with wood construction, you have a wood stud and insulation between them. If you were to do a thermal image of a wood structure, where you’d see the studs you’d see heat escaping. In this structure, you don’t see the thermal breaks,” Platz said.
He added that with an Insulsteel house, mold, fungus and termites aren’t a problem – nor are strong winds.
“This building will withstand 220 mph winds,” he said. “That was something Nancy and I really liked. We don’t want to evacuate anymore. Knock on steel, we hope to stay in our house, and, if we have some winds we’ll be OK.”
