anyone built with UNISTRUT?..

[dmartin1]

has anybody had any experience messing around with uni-strut 12 gage steel channel?

I work at an electrican distribution wholesale shop and can get this stuff at cost. its like 100$ for 100ft 10 foot pieces.

i was thinking of making a 3/4 way closed carport out of this stuff. its extremely strong and fairly heavy. rigid as heck. and they make every single fitting/plate/bracket etc you can think of.and the brackets are all like 1/4" steel and it can all bolt together as its slotted all the way down.

I was thinking of a 20ft or so wide, and 30 ft long.built just like the steel carports that they sell online or whatever with the corrogated sides. all bolted together,and welded as well where it mahy be needed.Concreted legs all 8 of them.and tension cables where needed.(if needed)
and as for siding/roofing what are the opinions/options?

i do not have the money to shell out for the 20ftx30 ft pre-fab carport kit.they are pretty expensive for what ive seen so far.let alone a real garage lol. i just need protection thats firm in our north az winds and will shade my vehicles.This just seemed fairly easy and simple. for the floor i have a friend with a LOAD of asphalt millings.

maybe im crazy but im just looking for opinions.all i have now is a shed that i had to re-do the roof on. here is a pic of the strut

https://www.google.com/search?site=&...w=1264&bih=621

[donut]

I haven't used the stuff in years, but iirc it's the brackets and hardware that add up.
Kinda like rain gutter.

[dmartin1]

the brackets definately are what are the most expensive but at wholesale shop cost there not bad.at all. and some i may be able to make my own out of the metal all around my lot.and the welder.

[ERASER5]

Brackets are expensive, but there is a bracket for EVERYTHING! A chop saw, tape measure, screw driver, and ratchet is all you need to build anything! And you can un-build it. Or you could weld it if you want. After the build, hanging lights, shelves, or anything else is easy. I used a work bench made of Unistrut once. I think you could park a tank on it. But again, the brackets are everything.

[donut]

ERASER5 is right, there is a bracket for everything. As a whole, it's an easy setup to work with due to the modular nature. Downside, it's weight adds up fast.

If I had it on hand, I think I'd use it. However, price out what you want. You may find it's cheaper to use another materiel (angle iron, pipe...) or just stick build it.

I built a small 8x16' shed for my use. Someone asked for a price to do one for them, that prefab expensive shed was the viable alternative. My lumber cost (total) was equal or more than making a phone call and having one delivered. That didn't include labor to build the thing.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, just check all options thoroughly, you may be surprised.

[BarryB]

I know a friend of mine, bought a pretty good size metal carport. He called and bought just the kit and put it up himself. It was alot cheaper that way. YOu should see what your area offers.
I like donut said, priced out building a shed. just materials alone were what a prefabbed shed was going to cost.

[pritch]

UniStrut is an erector set for grown ups!

I've never heard of anyone building a shed out of it, but there is no reason in the world that it wouldn't work, especially where there is no snow load to deal with.