Metal building for your auto repair workshop

Metal building for your auto repair workshop

Many mechanic shop owners choose steel buildings for their shops because they offer all advantages of low-rise steel construction methods.  A high-quality metal building promises great value— and it delivers on that promise. 

Why Auto Shops Choose Steel Buildings

There are seven main reasons to use pre-engineered metal buildings for auto shops.

1. SPACE: Our metal auto shop buildings feature clear-span framing which eliminates the need for interior load bearing supports, maximizing workable floor space in your auto shop or mechanical building. Without interior columns, you can more easily manoeuvre vehicles inside, creating drive through functionality. You can customize the height of your building up to 12 meter to easily accommodate car lifts. Also our large spans 

2. FAST ERECTION: Tekmetsan steel buildings offer fast construction time for the erection of the workshops. All the steel parts of your building arrives clearly marked and ready to assemble. Experienced owners may even decide to erect the framing themselves to cut construction costs. Our team will support you in the erection process.

3. NON-COMBUSTIBLE: Steel is not a combustible material therefore frequently used flammable products such as gasoline, oil and etc does not bear high risk for the steel structure. Also our fireproof insulated panels are ideal for workshop roof and walls.

With the flexibility metal buildings offer, you’re free to customize the interior of your automotive repair building with functionality & efficiency in mind.

You can configure bays in a variety of sizes and layouts depending on your needs. You can also add an office space or waiting area wherever you’d like. A lot of our clients prefer mezzanines for their offices or storage area in order to save space on the ground floor.

Tekmetsan offers built in mezzanine systems and steel stairs incorporated into the workshop structure.

TEKMETSAN Metal Buildings for Auto Shops

All commercial building owners, including auto service owners, want a well-built, long-lasting structure that holds the value of their investment. That means they want a TEKMETSAN steel building.

Make your upcoming auto industry construction project a TEKMETSAN steel building. TEKMETSAN auto garages provide years of trouble-free service.  

Advances in steel building engineering and manufacturing allow us to custom design a prefab metal building quickly and economically.  And with the TEKMETSAN steel building system, later expansion of your auto shop is quick, easy, and inexpensive.

Conclusion

Tekmetsan offers custom design metal workshops for mechanics and repair shop owners. Our long lasting buildings with our excellent customer service offer high value for your money and exceed your expectations.

5 Reasons to Use Steel Construction For Your Project

5 Reasons to Use Steel Construction For Your Project

Project management requires a lot of responsibilities. You must ensure that the objectives are met, that the quality is of a high standard, and that the customer is satisfied with the end result. The materials you use for the project have a direct impact on these factors. In this blog, we discuss why you should consider steel construction for your project

1 – COST-EFFECTIVE 

Structural steel is generally the most cost effective framing material. It brings greater value to a project because the initial cost is reasonable and because of the nature of the material, it reduces the cost of the other construction works, such as façade systems, flooring and mechanical equipment.

2 – FAST

Structural steel is fabricate offsite which allows other parts of the construction to take place during the fabrication time such as site preparation and foundation works. Once the structural steel is brought to site, it is super easy and quick to erect, thus speeding up the whole project schedule.

3 – LARGE SPANS

As structural steel is both lightweight and strong, it has the capacity to cover long spans than concrete and timber. It also requires less columns, therefore creating open plan floor space.

4 – HIGH PRODUCTIVITY

Structural steel uses advanced technologies to improve the design and construction stages. Computer-aided manufacturing and BIM (building information modelling) are just some of the systems used. These advanced technologies have been proven to reduce or completely eliminate errors, lower project costs and also improve safety.

5 – QUALITY ASSURANCE

As mentioned previously, because structural steel is fabricated offsite, under controlled conditions, the company producing it can ensure that it is to a high standard. By doing this, it can also reduce the number of costly fixes on the job site.

Steel Workshop Building

Steel Workshop Building

Whatever your ideal workshop, TEKMETSAN metal building workshops can create the perfect workspace for you.

Tekmetsan offers a choice of prefabricated workshops suitable for most types of businesses, large and small.

Figure 1 : A modern auto workshop

We can supply the perfect solution to suit your needs from individual stand-alone buildings to blocks of commercial workshops suitable for rental to small businesses.

Our prefabricated buildings are used all over the world as production workshops, vehicle servicing and warehouse units, paint spray shops, valeting bays and many other uses.

We can also provide office & workshop combinations incorporating stairs, mezzanine floors and partition walls.

Our steel framed buildings can incorporate insulated wall and roof panels, with fire resistance as required, which are perfect for energy efficient workshops. Single skin panels are also available for unheated buildings or more price sensitive projects.

Expert Advice

Our expert advisors are on hand to guide you through your building options and to help you realize your concept building design.

Engineer’s Drawings

A full set of General Arrangement drawings will be prepared by structural engineers and a full set of calculations will be supplied on request.

Accessories

You can choose combinations of windows, personnel doors, roller shutters or double sliding doors (other doors available by request) from our range of quality accessories.

Why Choose Steel Prefab Workshops?

TEKMETSAN metal building workshops promise:

• Commercial-grade steel framing with a high-recycled content
• Affordability— especially compared to concrete or timber structures.
• Clear span interior for complete freedom from unwieldy interior columns
• Fast and simple framing erection
• Resistance to damage from high winds, earthquakes, and mould
• Fire-resistance— which is especially important in workshops
• No overhead webbing that attracts messy birds
• Easy expansion
• Increased property value— and sales appeal
• Flexibility of use, as your interests and needs change
• Virtually maintenance-free ownership, so no wasted time on upkeep
• A strong, lasting workshop that retains its beauty and value for decades
• Customizing options to complete your workshop to your specific needs

Conclusion

TEKMETSAN can deliver metal workshop buildings and prefab garage kits to exactly fit your individual need and budget.

Steel Structure Galvanizing

Steel Structure Galvanizing

Galvanizing is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to prevent rusting.
The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, where the steel parts are submerged in a bath of molten zinc.

Hot dip galvanization is a highly-specialized job therefore at Tekmetsan, galvanization works are subcontracted to the specialized subcontractors.

Although it is a more expensive type of coating compared to 2 layer organic paint coating, hot dip galvanization offers the below great advantages;

1. Durability

A galvanized coating is one of the most durable forms of corrosion protection on the market. An average coating thickness of 85 microns, the same thickness as a sheet of A4 paper, can protect a steel framed building for the better part of more than 50 years.

2. Sustainability

The long-term durability provided by galvanizing is achieved at relatively low environmental burden in terms of energy and other globally relevant impacts.

3. Reliability

Galvanizing is a relatively straightforward and closely controlled process. The coating formed is consistent, predictable and simply specified. Hot dip galvanizing is defined by a single standard – EN ISO 1461.

Unlike a paint coating, the metallurgical bond that is formed through galvanizing becomes part of the steel itself and is not merely a chemical or mechanical bond.

Due to the metallurgical bond that is formed when steel is dipped into molten zinc, a galvanized coating offers straightforward, secure protection from the get-go. Hot dip galvanizing requires rust-free, uncontaminated steel for the process to occur. Once the coating is present, it is impossible for it to fail from underneath. Other coatings can adhere to residual contaminants, this can undermine performance, lead to flaking and cause premature failure.

4. Predictability

A galvanized coating offers predictable corrosion protection that weathers in a linear fashion. Coating thicknesses are measurable and offer lifespans that can be easily forecast and relied upon.

Batch hot dip galvanizing is a standardized process which produces a quantifiable coating thickness. The coating is simply specified through European and international standards.

The coating thickness depends upon the gauge of the steel that is galvanized and is produced consistently across the component, both inside and out. This can be measured easily throughout its lifetime, using non-destructive methods.

5. Complete Coverage

There are multiple reasons why hot dip galvanizing outperforms other organic coatings. A crucial factor is the way the process achieves complete coverage of a component, both inside and out.

The dipping of steel into a tank of molten zinc via the hot dip galvanizing process means the zinc can access even the trickiest areas.

A further benefit of hot dip galvanizing is that hollow components are coated on internal surfaces too, meaning that a structure will not corrode from the inside out. In addition, the coating will also build up at vital corners and edges, unlike brushed or sprayed coatings, which traditionally thin out in these areas.

6. Abrasion Resistance

Galvanizing has an abrasion resistance up to ten times better than organic paint coatings. The hot dip process is unique, producing a coating which is bonded metallurgically to the steel.  As a result, galvanized steel has superior resistance to mechanical damage during handling, storage, transport and erection.

Conclusion

Along with paint coatings, Tekmetsan offers hot dip galvanization finish to its steel fabrications. It is essential to know whether products are going to be galvanised right in the beginning of the design phase in order to customise the part design for the hot dip galvanization.

BIM in Steel Structures

Building Information Modelling

The key idea behind BIM (Building Information Modelling) is to have all information related to a facility organized in one application-independent model. Ideally, this model is started at concept stage and expanded during each phase of construction and operation of the facility.

While BIM is centred on a 3D model, it is not limited to geometry. Other possibilities are costs, maintenance information, manufacturers, materials, names, dates and times, position and assembly numbers, phases, revisions, and so on.

In the preconstruction phase of steel structure, performing collision detection and design review using BIM can help to reduce the losses that occur in the construction phase by identifying the problems that can be solved beforehand at the design phase (e.g., design errors). Doing so improves the design quality by reducing design errors, design changes, and rework. In the fabrication phase, the procurement process of construction frame members through BIM-based prefabrication can be simplified, and the productivity of workflow between the designers and constructors can be improved. In addition, in terms of production productivity, the workers that are involved in the production of frame members can utilize the information inputted to BIM objects to support the manufacturing process.

Our engineering department is fully engaged with the BIM software and all design & fabrication activities are carried out within the BIM framework of our clients.

Quick Facts about Steel Buildings

Quick Facts about Steel Buildings

Why do so many people choose metal for building? The pre-engineered steel building facts speak for themselves.

Almost all the industrial buildings and majority of the commercial structures are being constructed with steel frames.

1. Prefab Metal for Building is the deal

The return on investment is one of the major criteria in decision making and steel buildings offer lowest cost per square meter. Like any other business, building owners focus hard on the bottom line. 

Steel certainly could not hold such a lead in commercial and industrial construction if metal buildings were not affordable.

Using steel for building costs less over time, too.  For example:

• Heating and cooling is significantly cheap in a well-insulated steel building 

• Metal structures require very little maintenance

2: A Steel Frame Building Creates a Stronger Structure

Steel has the highest strength to section ratio which provides strongest structures with minimum material usage. Neither concrete, nor timber can provide this performance.

3: Span Farther When Using Steel for Building

Many commercial and industrial buildings require huge, open interiors.  Steel frames enable to build spans over 30 meters without any columns inside the building. Even for the spans less than 30 meters, steel frames offers the cost advantage compared to the concrete and timber frame structures. Steel is the ideal frame system for structures like these;

• Airplane and helicopter hangars
• Barns
• Workshops
• Metal Auto Repair Workshops
• Large restaurants
• Manufacturing plants
• Vehicle showrooms
• Warehouses and distribution centers
• Other large commercial and industrial projects

4: It is Simpler to Build Steel Frame Buildings

Prefabricated steel components make a prefab metal building kit very easy to erect. 

No steel work is left to the construction site, everything arrives cut, welded, shaped, drilled, painted, and marked. After the offside fabrication each part is clearly marked and delivered ready to assemble without further processing.

5: Fast Fabrication and Quick Delivery

Thanks to developments in machining technology, steel parts are all fabricated with state of the art CNC machines providing quick lead times and high quality control.

Tekmetsan optimizes its building design to provide fast and safe erection works, eliminating possible risks and threats beforehand.

6: Sustainable Buildings

Steel buildings also outperform other frame type building in terms of sustainability as well.

When you build steel frame structures, they last decades longer than other types of buildings. Steel framed buildings have longer lifetime, require less maintenance and have a value even when its lifetime is over. 

7: Green Buildings with steel

Steel is also an eco-friendly material, and its 100% recyclable.

No matter how many times steel is recycled, it remains just as strong as it was in its first time.

How to select the right paint for steel?

How to select the right paint for steel?

Selecting the correct paint system for protection against corrosion assures that the most economical and best technical solution is achieved.

A weak paint system might be cheaper at first but additional maintenance cost in the lifetime of the building might boost the overall cost. On the other hand an excess of paint for a very low corrosion environment will be a mismanagement of the project budget.

Identifying the corrosion category of the environment is the most important factor to consider before selecting a protective coating.

When selecting a paint system it is vitally important to define the conditions in which the structure, facility or installation is to operate. To establish the effect of environmental corrosivity, the following factors must be taken into account:

• humidity and temperature (service temperature and temperature gradients)
• the presence of UV radiation
• chemical exposure (e.g. specific exposure in industrial plants)
• mechanical damage (impact, abrasion etc)

The nature of the environment and the corrosive contributing conditions will have an effect on:

• the type of paint used for protection
• the total thickness of a paint system
• the surface preparation required
• minimum and maximum recoating intervals
Corrosion Categories

ISO 12944 distinguishes 6 basic atmospheric corrosion categories:

C1

Very Low

C2

Low

C3

Medium

C4

High

C5

Very High

C6

Extreme

The characteristics of the above categories are as follows;

For every steel structure project, we set the relevant corrosion category together with our clients and determine the paint system according this category.

Tekmetsan offers mainly 4 types of paint coating
1.Alkyd Coatings

Alkyd paints are the modern descendant of oil paints. Instead of pigment suspended in oil, alkyd paints are typically formed by an alkyd resin dissolved in a thinner. These one-component primers are easy to apply and economical but offer limited

protection against rust in the long run. For low corrosive environments, these paints can be used for budget purposes.

2. Epoxy Coatings

Epoxy coatings are typically comprised of an epoxy base and a curing agent. A wide variety of coating properties can be achieved by manipulating either of these components: 

Epoxy polyamide coatings offer great moisture resistance, epoxy mastic coatings offer exceptional film thickness and phenolic epoxy coatings offer good chemical resistance. 

And due to this versatility, you’ll find epoxies used as a primer, intermediate coat or even a topcoat depending on the needs of the application.

Advantages
• Abrasion resistant
• Chemical resistant
• Good performance when submerged
• Can easily build film thickness for enhanced abrasion resistance
• Can be formulated to exhibit a wide variety of favorable coating properties


Disadvantages
• Chalks when exposed to UV light
• Low flexibility

3. Polyurethane Coatings

Polyurethane coatings are widely used —often as a topcoat— in applications where durability and abrasion resistance are key considerations. 

Most often, polyurethanes are chosen as the topcoat of a total protective coating system. For example, polyurethane might be applied as a topcoat above a zinc-rich primer and epoxy intermediate coat. 

Polyurethanes are versatile enough to be formulated to handle a wide variety of service environments.

Advantages
• Abrasion resistant
• High gloss and color retention
• Aliphatic polyurethanes perform well against weathering and UV light
• Aromatics perform well when submerged
• Low VOC formulations available

Disadvantages
• Contains isocyanate (-NCO) ,a harmful carcinogen
• Skilled workers and protective equipment are necessary for application
• Higher priced than epoxies
4. Zinc rich Coatings

As a generic coating type, zinc-rich coatings refer to organic or inorganic coatings with high loadings of zinc dust. 

The zinc provides galvanic protection of the steel surface, meaning that it will corrode instead of the steel beneath it. 

As the zinc-rich coating corrodes it forms a barrier between the steel and its environment

Zinc-rich primers will often be applied as part of a two-coat (zinc-rich primer, polysiloxane topcoat) or three-coat (zinc-rich primer, epoxy intermediate coat, polyurethane topcoat) system. 

Advantages
•     Provides both galvanic and barrier protection to steel
•     Abrasion resistant
•     High level of durability

Disadvantages
•     Must be top coated in many applications
•     Both inorganic and organic variations
have low resistance to acid and alkali
Conclusion

The prevailing service environment —along with factors such as cost, accessibility of the asset, expected labour costs and desired service life of the coating system— will define which coating system is best-suited for your application.

Coating selection happens on a case by case basis, and we can evaluate the specific needs of your application, offering several systems that could work based on our decades of experience in the industry.

Contact our team to get more information about the coating options of your metal building project.