What to Consider when buying a Metal Garage?
Protect your vehicle from intense weather
The first step while building a garage is to ascertain what kind of weather and climatic conditions does your city has. A garage is primarily built to protect your vehicle from intense weather, manhandling, and theft. A metal garage is considered the best among all the available garage types.
Find the perfect place
To install a garage, you need an open space. Space must facilitate easy moving of our installation experts and pieces of machinery. Hence, finding a proper place to install a garage is a must.
Can it be installed on your property?
Certainly, it can be installed on your property. Check your local authority or municipality to see if you need a building permit for a metal garage. Please make sure if your local building codes require any permission beforehand.
Customize!
The idea of owning a metal garage is to own a design that is yours! You can choose to customize the garage as the way you want it.
Doors & Windows
It’s ideal for a garage to have custom doors and window. We’ll design a custom metal garage with single/multiple doors and well-ventilated windows to let the light in.
Metal Garage Roof Styles
The roof for your garage largely depends on the climate of your area. However, the styling depends entirely on your taste. You can always find the roof styling of your choice. We offer multiple choices of styling and material. If you couldn’t find the styling of your taste, you can choose to entirely customize the roof as per your need.
VERTICAL ROOF STYLE – BEST
It is one of the A-frame designs which works best for climates with heavy snowfall or rain. The vertical panel allows snow and water residue to slide off easily off the roof. In vertical styling, the roof intersects with the side of the garage allowing residue to pass off easily, hence, it requires less or none cleaning.
BOXED EAVE STYLE – BETTER
Boxed Eave style is known for its roof panel which lies horizontally to the side of the garage. It is an A-frame design however the roof goes horizontally towards the ground. This roof styling is a more affordable than vertical roof styling and works best in the climate with heavy wind.
REGULAR ROOF STYLE- GOOD
Regular style roof is the most economical choice for any metal garage. Regular roof tends to be lighter than Boxed Eave and Vertical style roof. The corrugated ridges run from end to end. This roof style works great in the area with less heavy wind or rain. It can protect your vehicle from direct sunlight or damage from sun exposure or UV.
Choosing the Right Size
Choosing the right size of the garage is easier when you have all the right details for available metal garages. The size of the metal garage you wish to install depends on the availability of area, a number of vehicles, their sizes, and accessibility. Right size guarantees best garages of your need.
Width sizing Chart
The metal garage comes in variable sizes. However, you can choose your own width for your garage. While ordering one, you must be sure that the custom garage is big enough to fit your vehicles, so it doesn’t require any modifications in the future.
The standard garage width sizes are:
12FT, 18FT, 20FT, 22FT, 24FT, 26FT, 28FT, 30FT, 32FT, 34FT, 36FT, and 40FT
The 12FT garage works well for a single car, while 18FT works great for two compact cars. You can choose to have multiple doors with 18FT garages. The garage above the 22FT is well suited for multiple full sized cars or a Truck. Most commercial garages are built with the standard width of 30FT or above.
Please consult with our representative to find the right size of the garage.
Length
The length of your metal garage depends on the number and size of your vehicles. To choose the proper length of the metal garage, you can first ascertain the vehicles you own and possible width size of the garage you may need in comparison to the total area you have around your house. The garage can be used for more than just storing vehicles. You can choose to park family bikes, vehicles, RVs, equipment, and for general storage etc.
The length of our standard garages, but are not limited to, are;
21FT, 26FT, 31FT, 36FT, and 41FT
If you are looking to store a compact car, 21FT metal garage works just fine. The 41 FT works perfectly for storing two cars, RV or truck.
Side Height
The height of the metal garage is always measured from sides instead of the height of the roof from the ground. The height is mainly used to measure the lowest point your vehicle can clear while entering or exiting the garage. You’ll want to build a metal garage that offers just the right amount of height in order to maximize the protection and stability of the structure. You can always choose a custom height for your metal garage.
Steel Gauge Framing
What’s the difference between 14-gauge and 12-gauge steel framing?
Most people new to metal garage shopping may have this question. The 12 gauge steel framing tends to be thicker than 14 gauge framing.
A Gauge stands for, “the thickness, size, or capacity of something, especially as a standard measure, in particular:” The thicker the steel frame, the more strength and value it adds to the overall property.
12 Gauge Vs 14 Gauge
14 Gauge Framing
A 14 gauge steel frame measuring 2 ½” x 2 ½” in diameter. The 14 gauge framing is economical than 12 gauge framing and has a lower tensile strength.
The 14-gauge steel is an economical choice and useful for regular garage or the garages for the mild climatic areas.
12 Gauge Framing
A 12-gauge steel frame measures 2 ¼” x 2 ¼” in diameter
The 12 gauge framing is useful for the metal garage in the vicinity with frequent and heavy snow and wind. It provides more tensile so the chances of breakage are none.
Certification Considerations
Certified v. Non-certified buildings
Most states/cities in the United States require metal garages to be inspected before and certified by the local authority for the safety of the public. The certification implies that the building has been designed by an experienced engineer and can withstand heavy wind and snow load. It’s necessary for the areas with heavy snow and wind.
Some areas don’t require you to polish any kind of certification simply because they do not have to worry about heavy snow load or wind.
We don’t provide any warranty on the certified buildings, as a certification only implies that the building is made to specifications.
To get the building inspected, you must submit the blueprint of the metal structure to the building and construction inspector for the review.
Additional Options
Additional options simply mean additional features or attributes added to your metal garage. The additional features help for certain situations or customization for a particular need.
Windows
Windows allow the natural light to enter your garage. It also adds style to your metal structure. You can always choose the size of the window that you wish to add in your garage. A 30in x 30in window is the standard window size we offer to install in your custom metal garage.
Walk-in Door
The Walk-in door allows the garage owner to access the building without opening the main panels or garage doors. They can be a great addition to your custom garage. They can always be added later to your garage or when you choose to enclose your carport and turn it into a garage. The custom carport allows the owner to fit walk-in doors whenever they need, hence, talk with our customer representative while installing a carport for you.
Insulation
Insulation becomes necessary when you plan to park temperature sensitive vehicles or classic cars in your garage. We offer bubble installation in the units which helps to insulate the vehicle from weather and temperature outside. Our insulation has an R-value of 4.3. It is the standard measure of thermal resistance used in any building or construction. It also prevents condensation and heat from escaping the garage.
Insulation also protects your vehicle from cold weather. If you wish to use your garage as workspace later, adding insulation helps in protecting you from the weather outside.
Panels
Metal Panel is a flat steel structure installed to the sides or frames to provide additional support and strength to the overall structure. It also provides an option to enclose your garage and turn it into a fully-enclosed structure. It also acts as shelving or walls to add additional protection for the vehicles from the weather.
J-trim
J-trim is basically a decorative trim piece installed to the edges of panels for safety. It covers the edges of the panels for added safety and also provides an aesthetic appeal to the structure. J-trim installation adds additional protection to the garage for homes with young children.
Bows and trusses
Bows and trusses provide additional support to the roof by adding supplementary assistance through metal support. It is more useful in the areas with heavy snow and wind. The addition of bows and trusses to the roof and sides of the structure extends its overall holding capacity.
It makes the structure stronger and fits well inside the roof, hence it doesn’t smudge the aesthetic appeal of the structure. Our steel garages with a width size of 24 FT will include a bow, and all garages wider than 24 FT will have a truss.
You can add bows and trusses while building the structure, or as well choose to add them to the structure after the installation is complete.
Anchors
The metal anchors provide supplementary support to the framing or beams of the metal garage during or after installation. The metal anchors can be inserted into the concrete slabs, poured asphalt or ground. Our installation staff will add the anchors to the structure during installation. In order to do that, you must first prepare the concrete base or level ground for our experts to work on.
Colors
We offer 15 different colors or swatches for you to choose as for your new metal garage. The colors range from:
Black, Burgundy, Cardinal Red, Clay, Earth Brown, EverGreen, Merlot, Pebble, Beige, Pewter Gray, Quaker Gray, Red, SandStone, Slate Blue, Tan, White
Installation and Site Prep
You must have the installation site prepared before a metal garage or the structure can be installed. The prep includes getting all the required permissions, utilities and space in place for the new metal structure.
Do ensure that you have prepared or leveled the ground for our staffs to start installing the structure. In case you haven’t cleared the ground beforehand, our staffs will reschedule the installation to a later date which may incur an additional charge.
Our installation crew requires a minimum of 3FT of extra space around the perimeter of leveled or prepped ground to help bring in trucks and heavy equipment to begin the installation. If you couldn’t finish preparing the ground, we can recommend one of the best concrete contractors to get the job done for you.
Site Preparation Checklist
Make sure the ground is leveled for installation. This would be essential if you want to get your building certified. The newly built metal structure cannot be more than 3 inches off level from either front/back or left/right.
If the site isn’t prepared according to the requirement or during installation, our experts will level the site at an additional fee. Ensure that you have cleared the area of debris, machinery or tools so installation team can access the site.
Concrete Pad
- To use a concrete pad as the permanent foundation for a metal garage, you must have the area well prepared, concrete fully cured and settled.
- Ensure that the concrete pad complies with the guidelines stated by your local authority, and get it checked by an expert so there aren’t any issues or problems during installation or the certification process.
Overview of the delivery and installation process
Once you have selected the garage of your choice all we need to do is visit your place and complete the installation.
We’ll get in touch with you and schedule a reliable delivery date. Make sure that you have had the leveled ground ready and cleared it off any debris. On the scheduled day, our staffs will arrive with trucks and tools to install the metal structure and finish it on time.
If you wish to have your metal garage certified, please inform us before the installation. We will get the blueprint of the metal structure ready for you to provide to the inspector.
Metal Garage Pricing
Price Range
The price of a custom metal garage depends on its size, type, roof style and made. The price of our regular garage typically starts at $3,000.
Size
We offer various sizes of garages for both residential and commercial use. You can buy any standard sized garage at a fixed price from us or provide your custom specification, so we can ascertain the cost.
Certification
The owners need to get their metal building or structure certified by the local authority or the Building and Construction inspector for public safety. For this, they require the blueprint of the metal structure along with the usage of the certified steel frame. We don’t charge anything for the blueprint. The price of the metal garage will be determined by the choice of size, material, roof style and add ups for the new structure.
A certified structure for a garage has a steel frame that is built of stronger 12-gauge galvanized steel. The 12-gauge steel frame is thicker than the 14-gauge steel frame and comes with an additional warranty. The 14-gauge frame works excellently in the areas with less snow or wind. A 12-gauge frame is expensive than a 14-gauge frame, so choose wisely.
A Certified building must have a minimum wind rating of 80 mph and a snow-load rating starting at 20 lbs per square foot. Depending on your location and climate, you can choose to increase the ratings. The higher the rating, the stronger the metal structure. You can have a structure with the ability to be rated up to a 150 mph wind and a 60 lbs per square foot snow.
Gauge
Gauge basically stands for the thickness, size, or capacity of the steel, hence, the thicker the framing the more strength and value it provides to the overall structure. A thicker frame may cost more, however, it offers better protection and tensile.
14 Gauge Framing
14 gauge framing tends to be economical than 12 gauge framing and has a lower tensile strength. The 14-gauge steel is an economical choice and useful for regular garage or for the garage located in mild climate areas.
12 Gauge Framing
The 12 gauge framing is more useful for the garages in the areas with frequent and heavy snow and wind. It provides more tensile so the chances of breakage are none.
Galvanized Steel Gauge Chart
| Number | Inches | MM |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 0.1681 | 4.269 |
| 9 | 0.1532 | 3.891 |
| 10 | 0.1382 | 3.51 |
| 11 | 0.1233 | 3.1318 |
| 12 | 0.1084 | 2.753 |
| 14 | 0.0785 | 1.9939 |
| 16 | 0.0635 | 1.6129 |
| 18 | 0.0516 | 1.31 |
| 20 | 0.0396 | 1.005 |
| 22 | 0.0336 | 0.853 |
| 24 | 0.0276 | 0.701 |
| 26 | 0.0217 | 0.551 |
| 28 | 0.0187 | 0.474 |
| 30 | 0.0157 | 0.398 |
Depends upon Addition Options
Additional options simply mean supplementary features you wish to add to your metal garage. The additional features help for certain situations or customization for a particular need. The additions may include steel Gable, J-trim, bows and trusses, windows, walk-in door and anchors. Adding features into your garage is cheaper when you have them added during the installation. If you choose to add features in to a built structure, it may require additional modifications and more cost.
State
The condition and guideline for building a metal garage may differ from one state to another.
