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Although a classic wood barn has its appeal, you may find a metal barn is easier to maintain and better for your finances. A metal building can be used to house farm equipment as well as animals. Here's why you may want one or more metal buildings on your farm.

Metal Needs Less Maintenance Than Wood

Metal is easier to maintain than wood. Metal won't rot or be destroyed by insects. Woodpeckers and other animal pests can't destroy metal as easily as they can wood. Less damage means fewer repairs are needed over the life of the building.

Metal has a tendency to rust, but the risk of rusting is lower when you buy metal that has been treated not to rust and when you repair scratches promptly. Metal is easy to keep clean, so the exterior of your building will stay attractive and the interior will stay clean and sanitary.

Metal Buildings Have Price Breaks Built In

A metal barn can be less expensive to own. For one, the maintenance costs are lower since the building doesn't need a lot of repairs. Also, you might get a break on your insurance rate since metal is such a durable material. You might also find that a metal building is less expensive to heat and cool so you save on energy costs as well.

Metal buildings are often cheaper to have built than a comparable wood building. That's because recycled metal is often used, which is cheaper, and because metal is strong so fewer building materials are needed to support the walls and roof.

Metal buildings go up fast, so that reduces labor costs. If you're handy and have friends to help, you could even put up a small metal building yourself using a prefab kit.

Metal Keeps Animals Safer

Since metal is so strong, your animals will have the best protection during a storm with strong winds, hail, or heavy snow. Metal also provides fire protection so a fire doesn't spread as fast as it might with wood.

Metal itself doesn't mold, so as long as the building has good ventilation, the risk of mold growing inside is reduced. Metal is free of odors also and won't bother animals like wood that contains aromatic oils might.

Metal Barns Are Attractive

You may need a variety of steel buildings on your land, both large and small. A steel building can be built to look much like a traditional red barn, so you can keep close to the classic look of barns on old farmland. You can also build small outbuildings for storing hay safely or large buildings for parking tractors and other large farm equipment.

Metal buildings are also easy to expand so your building can grow as you buy more equipment or enlarge your livestock. Best of all, you won't have to spend a lot of time maintaining your building since metal has such low maintenance needs.