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Olympia Steel Buildings vs. Pole Barns

Olympia Steel Buildings building systems surpass our competitors’ pole barns and pole buildings to build a vastly superior metal building with the highest steel building quality to last you a lifetime.

The most important part of any building is the roof. If the structure of the roof isn’t sound, it collapses. If the roof leaks, you don’t have a dry building and the items you store will be ruined. If the roof rusts, you will have leaks and maintenance on your building. The roof takes a beating from  wind, snow, and rain, from the dust and all the elements in the atmosphere.

Roof

Olympia Steel Buildings

Olympia’s steel building roof is made of Galvalume® which is AZ55 – 55% of the coating on the roof is made of aluminum, 44% zinc and 1% silicon. The more aluminum in the coating, the more resistance to rusting.

With AZ55, we offer a 40-year limited rust-through perforation warranty on AZ55 Galvalume® roof panels.

With a Galvalume roof you have no maintenance.

Galvalume will not turn gray, but retains the same luster as when it was originally installed, so you will never have to paint or maintain your roof. The cost of AZ55 over AZ50 is well worth it for this exceptional material./p>

Pole Barns

Olympia’s competitors offer only a 15-year guarantee on the roof, and use, in some cases, only a zinc coating which will oxidize, turn dark gray, and rust. Some of Olympia’s competitors use only AZ50, providing only a 20-year warranty on the roof.

Fasteners

Olympia Steel Buildings

Olympia Steel Buildings use a stainless steel capped fastener which has a limited lifetime warranty that it will not rust. It is important to know that the fasteners on the roof have to be compatible with the AZ55 or AZ50 or the steel mill will not warranty the roof.

Olympia Steel Buildings capped fasteners are made of stainless steel, which is steel which has 18 parts chrome and 8 parts nickel.

Stainless steel will not tarnish, turn dark or black and will not rust. The roof remains free of rust and retains its beauty for a lifetime!

Pole Barns

Some companies use a zinc fastener, which will rust, therefore, your warranty is not valid.

Other companies use a long life alloy head, which will not rust but which will turn dark gray or black, and the roof does not retain its beauty.

Roof Panels

Olympia Steel Buildings

Olympia Buildings’ roof panels are made of 26 gauge AZ55 Galvalume, 80 yield, which makes the steel durable, and hard, so you can actually run up and down the roof.

Olympia Buildings have a 1¼” depth in our corrugation in the sheeting on the roof. Olympia’s depth of corrugation adds tremendous strength to the roof.

The sheets on the roof overlap at each bay. If your building is 60’ long, you will have 3 bays, as every 20’ is a frame.

When the sheeting overlaps at each bay, the Olympia Building panel overlap goes all the way to the bottom of the corrugation and along the bottom like a reversed “L”. This prevents water from backing up through the overlap into the building, thus preventing leaks and giving you a dry building.

The design of this overlap, which goes over the top of the corrugation, and to the bottom of the corrugation, and along the bottom like a reverse “L” looks like the letter “Z” resembling the purlins on the roof which join the rafters together.

This purlin braced roof provides tremendous strength and prevents the roof sheeting from bending or cracking.

Pole Barns

Other companies use only 29 gauge steel on the roof, which is 35% lighter than 26 gauge so you cannot have the same strength or durability.

Other companies use only a 5/8” depth of corrugation, which is a full 50% less depth than the 1 ¼” corrugation and do not provide the strength.

Some companies use an R panel roof, which means that the sheeting overlap goes only 1/3 of the way into the corrugation and not to the bottom and along the bottom like a reverse “L”.

This means you will develop leaks, as the water will back up into the building.

This short overlap also does not provide the strength that is required for the roof.

Paint

Olympia Steel Buildings

The polyester baked-on paint Olymlpia uses on the sides and ends of the building has a 40-year limited warranty against chipping, cracking, peeling and blistering. So your building maintains its beauty year after year.

Pole Barns

Our competitors only warranty the roof for:

  • 10 years
  • 15 years
  • 20 years
  • 40 years – Only Olympia Buildings

Girts and Purlins

Olympia Steel Buildings

To protect against rusting, the purlins – the 8″ Zees, 16 gauge beams, which join the rafters together, and the girts – the 16 gauge 8” beams joining the columns together at the side of the building, have a zinc-galvanized coating applied at the mill. This is not a primer, which is only an oxide, but a zinc-galvanized coating applied at the mill.

15-20 years from now the purlins and girts will not corrode and leave unsightly rust leaking from the roof and sides of the building.

Pole Barns

Our competitors use wooden girts and purlins, which will bow or bend causing screws to loosen, sheets to flap, and causing leaks.

Frames

Olympia Steel Buildings

Rigid frame, plate steel, H beam construction

  1. No warping, unlike wood
  2. No fire hazard
  3. Insurance: 25 – 40% less
  4. Termite proof
  5. No cord going across truss, which means:
    • complete space in building
    • no way for birds to perch and defecate on machinery – saves tremendous costs in maintenance

Pole Barns

Wood frames

  1. Wood rafters will warp over time
  2. Fire hazard, as wood will burn
  3. Insurance: 35 – 50% higher
  4. Termites will eat the wood
  5. Cord goes across truss width, causing:
    • loss of space
    • birds perch on cord and defecate on machinery – causing harm to equipment, and tremendous costs in maintenance