Steel Building Kits Designed Just For Alaska

Hundreds of customers in Alaska have trusted SteelMaster’s experienced design specialists to help them find a building that meets their size and budget requirements.

From Barrow down to Ketchikan and even up and down the Aleutian Islands, our buildings are able to be shipped to almost anywhere in the 663,268 square miles of the state to be used for different applications like tool sheds, garages, cabins and homes.

SPEAK WITH AN
ALASKA BUILDING SPECIALIST!

Quick & Easy Construction

Cold weather, high winds, heavy snow, and frozen ground are all things that residents in Alaska have to consider before building a Quonset Hut. Because of this, the opportunity for assembling buildings is much shorter compared to other states.

Some of our buildings are located in Valdez, Alaska, where residents can see as much as 551 inches of snowfall during a harsh winter. Snow can start as early as September, but most of the accumulation happens between January and early March so for at least three months of the year (or year-round in the extreme north of Alaska) your building needs to be strong enough to survive accumulated snow weight.

With consistent cold weather and snowfall, construction time is typically limited to late spring and warmer summer months so the need for a building that can be delivered and erected quickly is critical. SteelMaster’s prefabricated Quonset Hut kits are quick and easy to assemble—you don’t need to have any building experience to put together our structures. Many of our buildings can be shipped within 30 days and put together in just a few days. Buildings can also be easily unbolted, dismantled and moved to a new location to be reinstalled.

The frozen ground can also present a unique problem in the building process. To fix this, some customers elevate their buildings on platforms to prevent their structures from sinking during warmer months.

Cabin-owner and Alaska resident Anita Tomsha came to SteelMaster for help when she was ready to build her metal Quonset Hut home. Although there was a learning curve for her, she says it was not difficult at all for her to build.

Anita says her Quonset Hut building was affordable, provides the strength she needs and is easy to maintain.

“I wanted a dome-type structure and something I could do easily myself,” said Anita. “My main goal was to have low maintenance.”
Anita T.

Shipping and delivery to Alaska can sometimes be complicated. Cargo that would be trucked in other states often requires air or barge transport in Alaska due to logistical challenges.

SteelMaster has decades of experience handling shipping and delivery logistics in the state, so we know the most cost-efficient and fastest methods for getting you your building in time for construction season in Alaska. Our building specialists will work with local Alaskan freight forwarders to save you money and time without sacrificing quality.

We have the ability to ship to ports, docks and terminals in Alaska, including major ports like:

• Anchorage (Port of Alaska)
• Soldotna/Kenai
• Fairbanks
• College Fjord
• Glacier Bay
• Haines
• Hubbard Glacier

So no matter where you are in Alaska, we can get you your building kit!

Your SteelMaster building materials will be shipped either palletized or crated and ship LCL (less than container load). The arches will be stacked on top of each other, similar to a can of Pringles. This provides two key advantages:

1. Unlike steel buildings with beams and frames, the building can be stacked to save space and therefore shipping costs

2. Makes loading and offloading the building kit easy.

We will also ship all of the necessary nuts and bolts you need to assemble your steel Quonset hut. If you choose to purchase our optional endwalls or additional accessories, you’ll also receive those items with the arch panels.

Take Building Delivery (Almost) Anywhere

You’ll be able to decide if you’d like the building delivered for pick up at the dock or delivered right to your property. We’ll contact you once your building is ready for pick-up and/or coordinate the delivery straight to your building site.

David K.’s SteelMaster building was delivered to Beluga, Alaska, where the only way to get large cargo is by a barge a couple of times a year due to the Bore Tide of the waterway between Beluga and mainland Anchorage. Another method of delivery in the area is to wait until the middle of winter when the waterway freezes over so a bulldozer can drag sleds with the cargo across the ice.

Customer Bob C. said the hassle-free shipping and delivery process was one of the reasons why he purchased his 30’ x 38’ X-model workshop from SteelMaster.

“To actually have a shop that size delivered to your door—there’s just no way I could say no.”
Bob C.

Popular Prefab Buildings In Alaska

Whether you’re a resident or a business, looking for a prefab home in Alaska or an industrial building, if you can dream it, the chances are we can deliver it to you in Alaska. We have an extensive track record in Alaska with hundreds of buildings and happy customers already in the great state of Alaska. With decades of experience working with individuals and large industries out of Alaska, you can count on us to deliver.

Versatile Agricultural Storage Sheds & Barns For Anchorage & Beyond

Although the state of Alaska has 365 million acres, only 880,000 acres are farmed in the state. Most of the state’s 500 farms are located northeast of Anchorage.

Although greenhouse and nursery crops are the fastest growing industry in Alaska, the state is best known for its seafood industry, which accounts for over 60 percent of commercial seafood harvested in the U.S. Additionally, the timber industry is vital to the local economy and spans over 25 million acres.

All of these agricultural industries benefit from SteelMaster’s collection of versatile buildings. Store large tractors or expensive equipment, keep hay or harvests safe, or even provide shipyards with sturdy alternatives with Quonsets.

Designed To Withstand Alaskan Winters & Natural Disasters

If you’re planning to build in Alaska, you better also plan to have a building that can handle blizzards, avalanches, ice jams, wildfires and earthquakes.

SteelMaster’s prefabricated steel buildings are designed to withstand some of the most severe weather events no matter where you are in Alaska.

This is because of our roofless, arch design and the strength of steel compared to other building materials.

Handles Heaviest Snow Loads In Alaska

Alaska is the snowiest state in the union by a wide margin with many cities seeing close to or well over 100 inches of snow a year and places like Thompson Pass and Valdez getting three to five times that.

Alaska’s unique position geographically guarantees large amounts of snowfall. It’s relatively close to the north pole and sees cold air that funnels from the Alaskan snowfields and glaciers mixing with moist air that comes up from the Gulf of Alaska yielding about 74.5 inches of snowfall on average statewide. So the need for a building to be tough enough to handle any snowload is not just a luxury but a necessity.

Factors getting a building with the highest snowloads:

• Materials – High tensile strength and yield strength like that of steel
• Roof pitch – Higher-pitched roofs allow for snow to slide off easily
• Roof layout – Peaks and valleys on a roof can trap snow excessively, simple is better
• Sun and wind exposure – Uneven exposure due to shadows or wind currents creates uneven loads
• Maintenance – Required maintenance to prevent beam and connector corrosion or rotting wood compared to steel arches that require no maintenance

These are a few factors that allow Quonset huts to be built in the snowiest of parts of Alaska. First, metal Quonset huts can be designed to withstand your area’s snow load requirements, which in some cases can be 300 pounds per square inch. Additionally, SteelMaster’s building experts can design structures that have the optimal 4:12 roof pitch and require no maintenance.

SteelMaster offers several models that are able to protect people and property from heavy snow. Any of our models can accommodate these loads, including the A-Model, S-Model, the classic Q-Model and the X-Model, which is the most popular for heavy snow. We also offer a C-Model that serves as the best carport in snowy climates.

The design of the Quonset Hut evenly distributes the wind load, transferring the pressure to the bottom of each arch.

There is no chance of the roof blowing off in a harsh winter blizzard because there is no separate roof.

Each prefabricated, steel arch is bolted together and overlapped to ensure maximum strength when dangerous winds occur.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Anchorage on November 30, 2018. The earthquake brought down phone lines, knocked out power and caused devastating damage.

However, Jerry and Jana Gooch’s SteelMaster garage in Palmer, Alaska stayed completely intact.

Jana said she and her husband are building a SteelMaster Quonset Hut home because of the frequent earthquakes that hit Alaska.

“I’m very pleased with the construction of this earthquake-proof building. [There was] not a bit of damage. Arches not bent or twisted; bolts still intact. Not a single rip or tear on the interior (insulation). The best part, all of my husband’s tools stayed put on the shelving we built inside.”
Jana G.

Wildfires

For the amount of acreage of dense forest found throughout the state, Alaska sees a surprisingly small amount of wildfires. This is partly due to weather patterns and less human activity in the wild. That said, the chance of a wildfire spreading to your home or community isn’t zero

People who own steel buildings have a significant advantage over those who have traditional buildings due to the engineered fire resistance in a Quonset Hut.

Steel buildings are considered to be both type 1 and type 2 buildings in fire codes by the IBC. Type 1 categorizes it as fire-resistant and type 2 determines that the structure is non-combustible.