Steel prices

etat · March 21, 2004, 07:42:59 PM

Here's what'll happen. You get ya a few zillion dollars worth of financing and you go into a town somewhere and buy up the land. Then when you start working on permits and such by the time you get through fighting the town, the government, the politicians, and the environmentalist you done spent most of yer zillion dollars.

Somehow all that needs to give. We oughta be producing our own steel, but who you gonna get to invest knowing all that.

J_T · March 21, 2004, 08:29:17 PM

CK not long ago a Co wanted to put a tire grinding plant in South Fulton . They were going to recycle old tires and make electrecty. You just told what happened they built else where .But we got lots chicken houses :D :D

Corley5 · March 22, 2004, 07:16:42 AM

We always put the screws in the ribs when the metal's on a roof. Screw it on the flats when it's used on walls. It's more apt to leak especially in climates where you may get ice dams on the eaves if it's screwed on the flats. The neoprene washers will deteriorate and let water in. You won't see a metal roof around here that's screwed in the flats.

etat · March 22, 2004, 07:49:49 AM

Corley, that would have to be a regionial thing that I am unaware of.

Links manufacturers recommendations

http://www.metalroofingwholesalers.com/installation.htm

http://18004654533.com/Howto/metal.asp

Corley5 · March 22, 2004, 08:08:27 AM

8) page CK. I wouldn't want my roof screwed down like they show. Where water always runs off I'm sure it'd be fine and maybe better than in the ribs but where water may lay under snow and ice it'd leak after a few years. I've had to replace some screws along my eaves and need to replace a few more this summer as I've had some drips from water backup. It's nothing that a few minutes with the snow rake and new screws later on doesn't cure. The roof's ten years old now so I guess replacing a few screws isn't too bad. Metal roofs are the best as far I'm concerned and more and more people are coming to that conclusion. It's great when the temp gets around 35 and the snow just slides off. No shoveling required ;D ;D

Patty · March 24, 2004, 01:46:39 PM

We tried to have Morton put a steel roof on the last house we built, and they refused :( saying we had to many ridges and valleys. I think steel is definetly the way to go if you can.
Speaking of steel prices, I checked into buying some T-fence posts at the local farm store. Holy Cow!

They said prices were going up about twice a week right now. The cost for an 8' post was $3.59... EACH! Guess we'll be looking at farm auctions instead.

Ron Wenrich · March 24, 2004, 01:54:52 PM

I talked to our banding supplier the other day. He said he has had 4 increases in price since January. They result in about a 50% increase.

He normally buys in truckload lots. They won't guarantee a price. They say there will probably be a price increase before they can deliver.

Larry · March 24, 2004, 03:05:45 PM

Lot of difference in quality of metal roof coatings. Kynar (sp?) is the best and most expensive. We had Morton use it on our shed about 15 years ago and it is holding up extremely well. Built another building last year and used metal from Central States. Not as good as Kynar but still has a 25 year guarantee.

When we built our house, we decided to put on a standing seam metal roof that we had seen on a few commercial buildings. The roof doesn't have any exposed metal fasteners. It has a 50-year guarantee. We like it well but it is very high priced installed as it is labor intensive to install.

When I build our next house, I am going back to the Kynar.

Thanks for the tip on the price of steel. I still need a bunch of it for another building. My supplier will store it forever if I pay up front so gonna get my order in next week.

Norm · March 25, 2004, 03:49:54 AM

We need to put up some new fencing soon so called for pricing on t-posts. Guy said the price had gone up twice last week and once this week. Yeah those steel tariffs were a good idea. >:(

Ron Wenrich · April 15, 2004, 03:11:21 PM

Yesterday I was talking to a farmer who was going to take his steel roof off of his chicken house. Some guys would come in and take it off and pay for the scrap. He said they were too cheap, and he was going to do it himself and he would show them.

Today he says the price of scrap has dropped, and some places aren't accepting. Seems that the Chinese demand has dropped for US scrap. Its dropped 10% in the past couple of weeks, and authorities think other steel prices will soon follow.

I guess he should have taken the roofers up on the offer. Seems that hindsight is 20/20.

Timbo · April 15, 2004, 04:31:04 PM

I got pounded with egg size hail last week. I must put a new roof .I was wanting to put steel painted green. Prices will be up. Jeff it is easier than shingles not as bad on the knees.
Also lost my vinyl siding also. I want to put log cabin siding of yellow pine.
Can someone tell me what to preserve or stain this wood with. I want it to have the wood look for as long as possible.

Jeff · April 15, 2004, 04:33:29 PM

Up here the log home builders mostly swear by this stuff. Its what we put on the cabin in da U.P.

http://www.nam.sikkens.com/index-english.cfm

Tom · April 15, 2004, 04:40:49 PM

Ron,
I wonder if the problem with scrap U.S. steel might be that it became inundated with "cheap" chinese steel and the chinese want better quality. ..not realizing that they were the ones that produced what they were getting back. :D

Jeff · April 15, 2004, 04:53:03 PM

Tim, this is what the cabin looks like. About 7 years on the cedar.

Den Socling · April 15, 2004, 05:41:31 PM

Talk about a kick in the butt, the 4 pieces of 1/4" SS that I need for a 14' vacuum chamber cost less than $2000 last fall. Now those 4 cost $5000. And the mills won't guarantee prices more than 3 days. How am I suppose to get a price, calculate for a proposal, get an order and get back to order the steel in three days> ??? It's crazy!

A friend told me the other day that containers going back to China are being loaded with scrap metal. Your recycled junk can be hauled the whole way to some Chinese mill and be reclaimed for less than here.

And there is a staging area along the highway near me that is loading veneer logs into containers for the return trip to ports unknown that don't care about the green wood importation rules that we have to deal with. Man, we have to level this playing field.

old3dogg · April 15, 2004, 07:10:26 PM

Well! At least I aint the only guy mad at the Chinese!
All they took from me was my job.
We tried to set up a mill to make pallet wood.We found out that we couldnt buy pole wood because it was all being chipped into containers and shipped to china >:(?
We will all be working at wal mart before long.

timberbeast · April 15, 2004, 11:42:36 PM

I work for an investment casting company in the machining department. The price of our raw steel has gone up over 40%, and, yep it's because China is buying it as fast as they can. There are lots of investment casters in the U.S. now who are just brokering Chinese castings, due to labor costs. We hope that in the long run, our quality will win out over the price differences, and so far it's working, we're actually hiring, a lot.
If you're riding a newer Harley, you're probably shifting with, steering with, and resting your feet on components that my crew machined and my company cast.

rebocardo · April 17, 2004, 05:56:24 PM

> I may need to replace the roof on our house,
> before we sell it

The cheapest shingles from Home Depot, you will never recoup the costs of steel or 80 MPH+ 30 year shingles.

Though I agree with what someone else posted, always take off the old shingles. I know most local laws allow up to three layers, but, that is an awful amount of weight and you can never do a long lasting job by nailing one layer over another. Especially, since you can not renail broken boards etc.

I would not mind someone putting up the cheapest asphalt singles they could buy, I would mind a lousy job doing it renailed it over bad material that will leak later.

Corley5 · April 17, 2004, 06:11:08 PM

I was told the other day that Chinese buyers are coming into the scrap yard in Gaylord once a week and buying everything they've collected since the last visit. It get's loaded on trucks and is hauled to a rail yard and then makes its way to a Mississippi river port where it's loaded onto barges for the trip to New Orleans where it gets put on a ship for China. Seems like Japan did something similar prior to the 1940s :

Captain · April 18, 2004, 04:43:21 AM

I had two "parts" cars removed from the property yesterday as they have given up all that they could for me over the years., I was having a conversation about scrap steel prices with the owner of the salvage company. He said that the scrap prices have peaked here in Massachusetts and are going down. They peaked about 2 weeks ago and are down 25% (peaked at $100/ton, now are $75/ton)

Captain