Brisbane Builder Tackles The Hard Yards

Location:	Karana Downs, QLD
Country:	Australia
Construction Date:	April 2000
Builder:	Kevin Crane of KC Homes
Products Used:	LYSAGHT® Zed & Cee Purlins and Girts LYSAGHT QUIKA-FLOOR® LYSAGHT TOPSPAN® 120

A Brisbane builder has used a purpose designed steel flooring system to overcome the challenges of building on sloping sites and difficult terrain. Kevin Crane of KC Homes adopted the LYSAGHT QUIKA-FLOOR® solution when he was contracted to build two houses on sites with difficult topography. One property lay on a particularly steep slope and the other straddled a gully.

To minimise the impact of construction on each site, Kevin Crane chose elevated platform and pole home designs respectively. He then investigated the best means of achieving the desired home designs in terms of cost, construction ease and durability.

"It was the first time I had seriously looked at the BlueScope Steel flooring system," Mr Crane said. "The house at Karana Downs was pretty much a test case for QUIKA-FLOOR® as far as I was concerned. The common factors in both houses were the difficulties posed by the terrain, not just in achieving the 'right' finished design but in ensuring minimum disruption to the natural fall of the land."

"A big challenge was machine access to both properties. "Bringing in special equipment to move materials around the sites would very quickly have added to the cost of the building process," Mr Crane said.

An important advantage of the QUIKA-FLOOR® system was that the steel used, despite its inherent strength, was relatively lightweight and easy for one or two men to move around the site. Mr Crane said the flooring system went together quickly and easily because of its factory-manufactured tolerances at no cost disadvantage. He said the timber required for similar spans would have been very difficult to handle.

An added benefit provided by the BlueScope Steel materials became apparent when alignment pegs for the timber decking were removed at the site. In just a couple of weeks the timber pegs had become infested with white ants.

"Termites don't have any effect on steel, so by using a QUIKA-FLOOR® steel substructure we effectively provided another barrier against termites gaining access to the house," Mr Crane said.

QUIKA-FLOOR® is an engineered steel flooring system designed primarily for ground-floor domestic market applications. Manufactured from lightweight, high quality galvanised BlueScope Steel, most QUIKA-FLOOR® components are pre-cut at the factory for minimal site work.

The system utilises LYSAGHT UNI-PIER®, LYSAGHT® CEE PURLIN bearers and joists, load bearing joists and angles, bracing and brackets.

KC Homes builds up to 35 homes a year covering all price ranges, but with an emphasis on first home buyers.