Beyond a fast-track approach to have walls and buildings erected using kits mostly consisting of lightweight onsite/custom-made steel logs, SteelLogKit, together with its technical TroncoTech support platform, is a departure from conventional thinking in terms of logistics and construction whereby quality work is done in the by far simplest and fastest of ways, regardless of location.

Just in case the meaning of lightweight onsite/custom-made steel logs may not be clear enough, it can be put in another way: rather than having light, 20cm or 8-inch-diameter, hollow steel logs brought from distant workshops to wherever required for assembly into building superstructures, it is the equipment, the materials and components to make logs that show up wherever required.

The SteelLogKit recent system, same as its newly developed equipment and business model, is the offspring of the former Tronco system, which was used over the years to build a wide array of housing and non-residential projects. Hence, despite its newness, the technology is to be seen as an enhanced and simplified alternative to a tested and proven type of construction.

Compared to the former kits, the new ones are so easy and quick for unskilled workers to assemble into wall and building superstructures that the standard for do-it-yourself construction ends up being, literally, re-defined. Moreover, besides contractors ordering building kits custom-made right at the construction sites, kits may just as well be ordered and custom-made at retail outlets.

The system’s reliance on unique, state of the art mobile equipment to make logs of any lengths (steel logs make up the bulk of most kits) not only allows for log production to be performed at sites that may be way off the beaten paths but, also, for log production being performed at multiple locations scattered across target areas, all of which on a simultaneous basis.

Except for an optional wall and building superstructure assembly service, business is limited to making and delivering kits wherever ordered, with actual construction always being taken care of by contractors and/or do-it-yourselfers. If that can be so in various regions at once, it is because regional steel service centers will take it up as a natural extension of their own business.

For steel service centers to kickstart the system’s related business in their areas, it may suffice to add to their mostly unmovable equipment the system’s mobile equipment required for remote kit production. They may also integrate into their production lines optional accessories in the form of high-performance stamping dies, for the local production of key elements.

For as long as steel service centers do not get involved in mass-production of the system’s indispensable key elements for remote kit fabrication, such factory-made parts, same as the mobile equipment and stamping dies, as well as consulting, design and engineering services, may all be supplied on an ongoing basis by the system’s TroncoTech technical support platform.

The SteelLogKit System in a Nutshell

If the SteelLogKit system were to be outlined in just a couple of lines, it could read as follows: bulk and retail delivery of kits essentially consisting of lightweight onsite/custom-made steel logs for anyone to perform in the by far easiest and fastest of ways on wall and building construction.

The concept can be seen as a mix of old and new building methods, combining the time-proven principles of wooden log construction with those of sheet metal. Hollow and light, albeit sturdy, logs are made wherever required in any lengths out of coiled galvanized steel strip material, using mobile equipment. Onsite/custom-made logs make up the system’s basic building kits, which, once assembled into up to four-story building superstructures, can be completed as best suited to their end uses, with the logs either showing or, by means of wall and roof cladding, entirely hidden from view.

Insulated cladding can be in the form of panels that are flat on the outside, with the inner side shaped as a counterpart of the relief on which they are glued. Otherwise, depending on the space left between logs, which may vary from one project to another, double-faced H-section elements firmly held between each couple of logs with no glue nor screws, cover both the sides of walls, to thereafter receive their finish as per the project’s specifications. Alternatively, nearly any type of cladding, like adobe or cement applied on meshes, allows walls to blend into most environments.

Despite logs being bulky, to make them requires disproportionately small volumes of steel coils and factory-made key elements. Furthermore, a team of two operators and a foreman traveling with a kit-making plant from one site to another, and six unskilled workers joining up at each site, shall ensure that the plant delivers on average 4-meter-long logs at a pace of 150 units per hour. These logs are enough for assembly into 50m2, or 540sqf, of superstructure floor area each hour.

Same as for high-tech/low-skill and failproof Lego blocks, no bolts, screws, nails or cement are needed for the assembly of the system’s kits into wall and building superstructures, which should be enticing to do-it-yourself builders. Moreover, superstructure construction may not necessarily have to wait for a cement slab foundation to proceed: combining the logs with materials sourced right at the construction site is all it may take for a well above the ground foundation impervious to flooding.

Beyond the system’s striking simplicity and speed of high-quality wall and building construction, the relatively quick availability possible within target areas of onsite/custom-made building kits ready for assembly is a formula for savings in terms of cost. However, to determine the extent of the savings for any project requires case-by-case evaluation, with one rule applying to all cases: the simpler the design and specifications, the larger the cost advantages over alternative options.

Depending on climate and purpose, as well as on whether temporary solutions can be considered for any given requirements, wall and building superstructures may receive wall cladding long after being built, and yet be used without such cladding. Thereafter, the combined thermal insulation of the hollow logs acting as voluminous air chambers, and the cladding elements covering them, provide for safe and comfortable interior spaces, whether under extremely cold or warm weather.

On a final side note, contrary to conventional wood, steel, and cement-concrete building frames, walls consisting of horizontal logs running from corner-to-corner have no vertical gaps to fill. Hence, there is no need for any reinforced paneling or brick work between studs or columns to ensure the safety and privacy of interiors. Also, by having the interstices between logs shut with caulking, cladding could be applied to continuous and strong surfaces months, or even years later.