It’s your home away from home. It’s your palace, your sanctuary, your Fortress of Solitude. You spend all year sitting through meetings, or running that infernal machine, or whatever you do to pay the bills, just so you can get those few weeks off to enjoy your favorite season.
I’m not talking about spring. I’m not talking about fall. I’m talking about hunting.
If you’re the kind of guy (or lady!) who is serious enough to own a hunting cabin, you should consider steel. It’s not the obvious choice. When you think of roughing it, you think of stone and logs. But the benefits of steel, even for a structure that only gets used a few weeks a year, make it the perfect choice for your hunting cabin.
What does steel offer to the rustic outdoors person? Here are five solid reasons to invest in a steel cabin.
Easy Assembly.
Just because it’s unfamiliar doesn’t mean it’s difficult. Most steel frame buildings come pre-cut with pre-drilled holes for easy assembly. Think of it as the largest Erector set you ever saw. With only a few pieces of equipment, a small cabin can be framed and sheeted in a matter of days compared to a post-frame house.
Protection from the Elements.
Whether you’re out in the desert, beside a stormy lake, or in the thick of the woods, your cabin will take some hits from Mother Nature. A steel framed, steel-clad hunting cabin is going to provide more protection than a wood-framed structure. The wind and storms will not shake steel like they will wood. Falling tree branches will find more resistance from steel roofing than shingles. And steel is much more fire-resistant than wood.
Lower Maintenance.
Wood-framed cabins decay. The wood rots. Moss and mold gather and grow on the outside. After a few years, you may find yourself spending the first few days of hunting season doing preventative maintenance instead of hunting. A steel building holds up much better to the march of time. You’ll spend less time looking for wood rot and more time looking for that ten point buck.
Exterior Options.
When you purchase a steel building, you get a solid steel frame that’s built to last. You also have options as to how you can clad that building. Steel manufacturers have a wide range of colors including greens, browns, and other rustic hues that will give your cabin the perfect huntsman look. If steel siding isn’t for you, no worries. Your building can be engineered for any sort of façade, from stone to brick to wood. You can even find steel sheeting that mimics the look of stone and wood.
Creature Comforts.
Whatever you can do in your wood cabin, isolated from the world, you can do with a steel building. If running water and electric are available, they can be installed. If electric’s not available, steel roofing is much better suited for solar than wood or shingles. Your steel building can take insulation, interior paneling, carpeting, and any of the comforts of home you desire. So if that hunting cabin is, in actuality, nothing more than a man cave for watching TV, you’ll find your steel cabin to be just as cozy as any wood-framed option.
Steel won’t make the fish bite more often, and it won’t make you a better shot. But it will provide durability, comfort, and long-term value other building materials cannot match. You’ll have peace of mind knowing your favorite home away from home is built to last.
