Most people know that wood is not really a recyclable building material except for grinding it up and using it for other uses not necessarily related to the building industry. Its ground up products can be used for mulches, surfacing materials for pathways and bedding products. It can be pressed into boards but it will never be used for structural purposes after being recycled. Unlike wood, metal can and is recycled into structural building materials and can be done again and again.
It is part of a category of division five construction materials in the greening of the construction industry. This division includes structural steel, metal deck, cold-formed metal framing (steel studs), railings, sheet metal fabrications, castings and ornamental metals. These categories can be made from a variety of different metals including steel, galvanized steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, bronze and brass. For those who are looking for recycled products, and who isn’t these days, steel, aluminum and copper have the ability to easily be recycled. Actually all of the metals presented here and including some not presented here have the ability to be recycled. When it comes to building materials, metals are unique since they can be re-manufactured or recycled indefinitely without losing their structural properties. With the help of the roll forming process metals are now taking on a new role in the construction industry. It is much easier to prefabricate materials like roofing, structural supports, and beams that can be used in both residential and commercial buildings.
A lot of people are not familiar with roll formed products, at least when that is the name used. Most people have seen a sheet metal roof with its scalloped appearance but didn’t refer to it as roll formed. As the use of metal becomes more prevalent in the industry, descriptors like roll form channels will be used more and more in the vocabulary of construction workers and the general public.
In order for metals to become part of the greening of the construction industry, people need to have a mindset change in the way they look at metals. Metals are not typically looked at as environmentally friendly materials. The cost of mining, manufacturing and transportation of metals are some of the highest in the construction material world and it’s going up as speculators raise the prices. This, however, doesn’t take away the positives like recycling, strength, durability and very little out-gassing, putting them into environmentally friendly materials.
As people accept metals as a viable environmentally friendly choice, the roll forming process will make prefabricated materials out of recycled metal a common building material. People will be seeing roll formed products with roll form channels on more and more residential and commercial buildings.
The Roll Forming Process Helps Metals Take on a New Role in the Construction Industry Related Video:
, , ,