For a comprehensive supply of steel columns for your construction project in Chicago IL, call Structural Beam 773-917-8998, today!

Support Your Construction with Steel Columns, at a Great Price!

Steel columns are a true game-changer in the construction industry. Impervious to the elements, including fire, they would not decay on you and compromise your building, be it a home or a commercial property. There are a few types of steel columns, learn about them from our experts, and get steel columns for your project from Structural Beam, your steel columns supplier in Chicago, IL

Steel columns, a versatile structural support

Steel columns are the perfect means of providing structural support in many building construction applications, and they come in handy when a repair is due.

Durable steel columns have taken over from the wood beams, and other materials like brick, or even metal-reinforced concrete, due to the great strength-to-weight ratio and low volume of the building’s internal space they occupy, leaving more room for the occupants.

Here are the main steel columns types used in the building construction industry today.

Heavy-duty steel Universal Columns

The mighty H-piles, or Universal Columns, are the sturdiest structural steel beams there are. Essentially, they are extra-strong H-beams, with equal depth and flange widths, with a square cross-section profile, and uniform web and flange thickness.

The Universal Columns are driven into the ground by the pile-driver, a powerful mechanical “hammer” of sorts. Made to penetrate the soil and serve as a foundation, they are made of structural steel. The standard sizes are 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 inches.

There are many steel columns applications, but the main is in the steel-framed building construction. Steel columns are a true backbone of the steel-framed building, transferring the weight of the whole structure to the foundation.

There are standard structural steel columns, made of structural steel beams, mostly W-beams, and H-beams. There are also custom, built-up columns that Structural Beam’s fabricators can fabricate for your project in our steel manufacturing and fabrication shop.

Polished stainless steel columns

Polished stainless steel makes for a great style addition as “exposed metal”, and is often used in modern interior and exterior design solutions. Stainless steel columns seldom have a structural function, and usually bear little or no weight at all.

At Structural Beam, we manufacture, supply, and install polished stainless steel columns for both interior and exterior applications.

Steel and concrete Lally columns

Steel columns made of HSS, filled in with concrete, make really great basement-support steel Lally columns. Steel and concrete have the same thermal expansion coefficient, and work together very well, enhancing each other’s properties, steel being more ductile, and concrete hard and fire-resistant.

Lally columns are almost always custom, and we fabricate and install custom-made high-quality Lally columns, for both new home construction projects, and for the extra support in existing houses.

Jack-post, or adjustable steel columns

Adjustable steel columns with adjustable lengths are used both during the construction, to provide temporary structural support for the beams that are being leveled, and for repair purposes. Steel jack-posts are used to “jack-up” a sagging floor, and that’s why they are always found in the basement or crawl space.

If the wooden beams supporting the flooring are starting to sag, the non-telescopic, adjustable length jack-posts can be introduced as means of structural support.

Basement-support steel columns

The basement-support steel columns can be of various types: Lally columns, HSS’, H-beams, I-beams, and W-beams of various sizes. The basement support columns bear the load of the inner part of your house, along with the structural support walls, if we are talking a mixed-media construction. The size of the structural steel beams, used for the basement columns production, is determined by the structural engineer, according to the IRC building codes.

At Structural Beam, we manufacture, fabricate, and install various types of basement-support steel columns, reach out to us today for a free price quote!

Galvanized steel is a great choice for basement support columns since the basement environment often tends to be a little humid, and a layer of zinc on the surface of galvanized steel columns ensures that the corrosion will stay at bay.

Customers often ask, “how do I choose the column size?”. The choice of the steel columns size is not to be taken lightly, because steel columns are elements of the structural support of your home.

When having a self-contained unit constructed, our builders and engineers go by the IRC building codes, and follow them to the letter, to make sure that the steel columns provide structural stability and safety for the house inhabitants.

Structural Beam arranges the steel beams supply support for all your fabrication and erection projects you decide to do with us. We always have uninterrupted access to a wide variety of structural steel products of various standard sizes, and never have to cut corners and substitute one product for another, due to the right size of the metal beam being unavailable.

Work with the best, work with Structural Beam, and get access to high-quality steel columns, at wholesale price. Call today at 773-917-8998 for your project’s fill of steel columns!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the different types of steel columns?

Structural steel columns, Lally columns, Jack-posts, structural-beam-based basement support columns, stainless steel columns are the most often occurring types of steel columns in residential construction.

How much is a steel column?

The price of the steel column depends on the type, material cost, and manufacturing/fabrication labor cost of the column. The exact answer can be given by a professional steel estimator/detailer. We provide steel estimation and detailing services, reach out today to get the estimate for your steel column project.

What is a steel column?

A steel column is a vertical structural member, with the function of load-bearing, and load-transfer. Steel is a perfect material for most column applications, due to its strength, and structural stability.