Foundations For Temporary Buildings?

Does A Temporary Building Always Need Foundations?

Any consideration of the appropriate foundations for a temporary building has to begin with an understanding of how the building is engineered. The form and material of the building’s frame are particularly important.

A temporary building with a steel frame requires expensive and time-consuming groundwork to handle the weight of the structure. An aluminum-framed building has much more modest foundation requirements, sometimes very minimal. The dramatic difference in the weight of the two metals is the crucial thing that separates them. The speed and economy of preparing a foundation for an aluminum-frame building are impressive advantages. But what sort of foundation work is required for a lightweight building – and does the lighter weight translate into reduced strength or durability?

Foundation-Free Building

A temporary building with an aluminum frame can be erected without the need for purpose-built foundations. Basic preparations during the building process, as outlined below, are sufficient to anchor aluminum-framed buildings:

  • The building site is measured out. Base plates are laid in each corner and at appropriate intervals to support the frame uprights of each bay section.
  • Anchors are placed. Temporary Warehouse Structures uses primarily chemical resin anchors. This involves drilling holes and cleaning them out. The resin solution is injected into the holes and anchor bolts are installed.
  • After the anchor is secured, nuts and washers are attached to fix each of them
  • The frame is laid out for assembly. Each upright is pinned to its base plate. Each section is lifted up into place section by section.
  • With the frame assembled, the roof and wall cladding are installed. Doors are added at the same time, and the building is finished off with additional features like guttering. An ordinary warehouse building without any extraordinary features can be built using this process in under a week.

Is An Aluminum-Frame Building Less Durable?

While aluminum is very light compared to other metal building options and it can be used without foundations, this does not mean that a building with an aluminum frame lacks strength or is more vulnerable than one built with other metals.

Any temporary building with an aluminum frame is still engineered to meet or exceed national safety standards for the most common stress factors it might face, particularly snow and wind. A properly engineered and constructed building can stand up to any sort of weather stress without compromising its structure or becoming unsafe. Aluminum-framed temporary buildings are, when built properly, completely safe.

Aluminum even offers a unique structural advantage over steel: The metal is malleable. This imparts a degree of flexion to aluminum-framed buildings that can actually make them stronger when they are subjected to impacts or sustained loads.

The Advantages Of Building Without Foundations

The key benefits a foundation-free temporary building deliver were touched upon briefly above. The greater the speed, simplicity, and affordability of the construction process can all be ideally suited to a business’s needs. A prefabricated warehouse with an aluminum frame makes a perfect temporary replacement for a warehouse taken down by a fire, for instance. Because such a building can be installed and be ready for use within a week, it might very well be the difference between recovery and ruin.

The economy of aluminum-framed buildings makes them highly appealing to businesses that need more space fast to handle growth opportunities. Short-term or seasonal growth calls for fast expansion. An aluminum warehouse building typically offers a highly attractive return on investment in situations like this.

The speed and simplicity with which an aluminum-framed building can be constructed to minimize the amount of disruption it causes to its owners’ day-to-day operations. This makes temporary aluminum warehouses ideal for protecting stock during, for example, the refurbishment of a permanent warehouse facility. The building can be dismantled and removed just as easily when it is no longer needed.

To elaborate on the point about easy removal, this is another area where the modest foundation requirements of aluminum buildings are an advantage. Once they are no longer needed, aluminum-framed buildings leave behind fewer traces and it is easier to repurpose the space they previously stood on.

When Are Foundation Required?

Circumstances or preferences sometimes demand a proper foundation for even the lightest temporary building. A basic concrete slab is often poured to provide a level interior surface. This is helpful in situations when forklifts or other mobile machinery will be used in the temporary building.

There are also certain situations where a concrete pad is required to give a temporary building the structural stability it needs to meet acceptable safety standards.

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