Outdoor steel storage

[JiffyPark]

What is everyone's thoughts on storing steel outdoors? I usually store all my steel in a stack between bays of my shop but it's getting out of control and I can't move larger items from bay to bay without going out through the roll up doors. I just picked up a really nice 8' tall cantilever rack which is 14' long. I'm thinking about moving this back behind my shop and building a wood frame around it and attaching a tarp to the frame. Then I can slide my 10' and 20' sections out one of the sides. Does anybody else do something similar to this? This next year we will be ramping up production and will likely need to store way more stock so I'd like to get this sorted now instead of it becoming an issue down the road.

[tinker001]

Are you planning to put a solid roof over it and use the tarp to keep the weather out? Just remember that most tarps will flap in the wind and make lots of noise. Unless you have them restrained some way.

[wornoutoldwelder]

No problem, but it will actually rust lots slower if not draped in tarp, but with rain shed roof over it and all sides open to wind....That is the way many sales yards stow it for sale and rust is minimal, especially with HRS.

Here we have very large manufacturer of really big/tall high tension electrical towers(DisTran), and they store ALL materials out in open. They have acres of steel HRS plate and beams laying out in total open and lift them in as required...Many lay out for months and the mill scale protects them well....Their fab buildings also cover many acres and have the biggest and longest cut/weld tables I ever seen inside.

Here is a flyover view of their shops few miles from me....You can see all their laydown areas.

[JiffyPark]

Are you planning to put a solid roof over it and use the tarp to keep the weather out? Just remember that most tarps will flap in the wind and make lots of noise. Unless you have them restrained some way.

I'm still in the planning stage so I'm not exactly sure what I'd do for the roof. Maybe some metal roofing material. Or I might just angle the wood frame and go with a tarp. but we can get some heavy snow here some years so the tarp route is probably asking for trouble.

[blackbart]

I finally bought a used 40' shipping container for $2000 and built racks in it. I was ruining too much steel outside.

[bigb]

I built a porch roof the length of the side of my house. Still get a little rust, very little. It's on the opposite side of the lot from my shop so not the most convenient but works for me.

[Jimmy_pop]

I finally bought a used 40' shipping container for $2000 and built racks in it. I was ruining too much steel outside.

I was just about to mention a shipping container. Use the doors on the end to access the steel housed on a grid pattern rack system. Or cut a 26' openable window to access the racks from the side with a forklift. cheap square footage, water tight and no foundation needed.

[bigb]

I finally bought a used 40' shipping container for $2000 and built racks in it. I was ruining too much steel outside.

Not everyone with a wife is allowed to bring a shipping container home.

[derekpfeiffer]

I do a quite a bit of work for a construction company that carries a substaintial amount of steel. We poured footings next to the shop to set the shipping container on. I built a rack that would just barely fit inside it and we slid it in from the end. Then we cut a hole at about 24' so you can pull it from the other end without going outside if you only need a couple foot or so. Then put other smaller racks for the drops at the end of the 40' container. It's nice being able to slide it all in from the outside. Hold it up on the forklift and just slide it in.

It worked out very well!!

[lotechman]

Corrosion rates are highly dependent on temperatures and humidity. Each geographic location has its own problems. Keep in mind sheet can be easily ruined if moisture gets between the sheets of material. Often when you separate hot rolled plates that have been stacked wet you will see a black material and the plates are pitted. They didn't rust in the conventional manner but still they are ruined.
Something else to consider is to order material as you need it. Having extra is OK but too much extra and your profit goes out the window with handling and storage costs. The most competitive shops I worked in followed the principle that they only stocked what they needed for the job. When the job was completed the inventory was small.

[jameslo]

I don't store anything outside unless it's weatherproof and meant to be out there, like the sheets of metal for a metal building roof. Everything else is inside. Trailers, air compressors, steel, lumber (unless it's sealed)... all of it.

[thegary]

Corrosion rates are highly dependent on temperatures and humidity. Each geographic location has its own problems. Keep in mind sheet can be easily ruined if moisture gets between the sheets of material. Often when you separate hot rolled plates that have been stacked wet you will see a black material and the plates are pitted. They didn't rust in the conventional manner but still they are ruined.
Something else to consider is to order material as you need it. Having extra is OK but too much extra and your profit goes out the window with handling and storage costs. The most competitive shops I worked in followed the principle that they only stocked what they needed for the job. When the job was completed the inventory was small.

This is true if you buy enough volume to get good pricing. I have found for me that this does not work very well for a small shop. The steel companies do not give good pricing on 1000 lbs of steel. If you give them at least a couple larger orders a year you get better rates on the small orders also. If you have a shop that buys 10,000 lbs a week , no problem a 1000 lbs a month forget about getting any kind of good pricing.