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Building construction for plating

We are planning on building a new facility for our plating operation- anodizing,nickel,zinc etc. The building will be approximately 60,000 sq ft. Does any one have any suggestions on building material that is cost effective and corrision resistant.

Thank you in advance.

Allen Tompkins
Tompkins Metal Finishing Inc.
1998

If you can afford it, prestressed concrete roof is ideal. Going along with that would be prestressed concrete walls or concrete blocks walls. Walls and ceiling painted with white enamel.

Second choice would be steel beam supports, with either wood or metal roof. Steel bar joists work, but they are more of a long term maintenance problem than beams. The only construction that scares me is wood trusses with those toothed expanded metal joining plates because if they corrode you'd have a big problem.

If you use sheet metal walls and roof (Butler building), avoid aluminum sheet metal, and avoid aluminized or galvanized steel.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
1998