The art of building strong commercial buildings has come a long way. In the past, the materials used in commercial buildings were wood, stacked stone, or even straw bales. These materials were readily available and durable enough for practical structures.
Of course, now we know a little better.
Today, when savvy commercial building designers pull together ideas for a new project, they have a handful of popular building materials they can rely on for long-lasting quality.
Consider These Building Materials for Your Next Commercial Building
Concrete
You’re likely familiar with concrete. Concrete is a composite, sandy aggregate composed of coarse and fine substances that is pourable when mixed with water before drying to a rigid finish.
In the construction industry, you’ll most often find reinforced concrete—this type of concrete features embedded steel to help boost the tensile strength of the resulting structure.
Typically, concrete is used to create solid foundations for commercial buildings. Concrete also makes durable bridges and sewers.
Brick
Bricks were initially clay-based. Now, bricks are typically made of concrete — with the most durable featuring steel reinforcements. This has dramatically improved over more traditional bricks, which tended to break easily. Now, concrete-reinforced bricks have high compression strength.
For that reason, bricks make great load-bearing walls. They’re also used for decorating finishes and even some foundations.
Stone
Stone is the original long-lasting building material; most of the world’s oldest buildings are made from stone. While wood may compete with stone for the title of ‘oldest construction material,’ the ancient structures still stand today are stone construction.
Today, the construction industry tends to reserve stone for walls and floorings. In some cases, types of stone with stunning finishes (think marble and granite) are used for statement pieces, such as decorative benches or countertops.
Wood
Wood can be eco-friendly, durable, strong, and flexible. With the proper techniques, construction workers can carve, mold, and bend wood into various shapes. For this reason, wood is often used in the construction industry to frame interior structures in commercial buildings.
Wood provides some level of insulation, which can make it an attractive option. Finally, just like stone, some types of wood are beautiful enough to use as a finishing material for many buildings.
Steel
Although stone and wood were the original building materials, when the industry discovered steel, suddenly, it seemed like only the sky was the limit for commercial buildings.
Literally — steel made it possible for us to build skyscrapers!
Whether building a skyscraper or a shorter structure, you can benefit from steel’s natural strength and functionality.
Steel is easy to shape, cheap to ship, lightweight, and reliable. It’s very stable, so we often use it to create structures for various buildings.
For commercial buildings, you can leverage steel in many different ways. Some of our favorite applications include:
- Roofing. Steel can make excellent cladding and internal ceilings.
- Interior fixtures. Stairs and railings are another great use of durable steel.
- Utilities. You can also use steel to make reliable power, fuel, water, and gas lines!
Considering the Best Possible Materials for Your Commercial Structure? Our GA-Based Team Can Assist
Knowing how to use the most durable, efficient construction materials to keep your commercial structure building in scope is an art.
Fortunately, it’s one that the experts at Peak Steel Contractors are more than ready to help you with. We can assist with design, build processes, and more to help you create your intended commercial building.
Check out our past projects to learn more about our capabilities, and give our friendly team a call when you’re ready to start a conversation.