Aluminum Exterior Stairs

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Author Message David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 447 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, April 29, 2005 - 02:36 pm:    I have an architect that would like to use aluminum stairs at the exterior near the loading dock. Has anybody heard of such a product? I am trying to convince him to use galvanized steel. Ronald L. Geren, RA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 128 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Friday, April 29, 2005 - 02:46 pm:    Try JOMY Products, Inc. at www.jomy.com. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 65 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 11:22 am:    There are a number of manufacturers out there doing this sort of thing. Their primary market is refineries and sewage treatment plants. We have been switching to such products for exterior ladders, but the feedback we get is that they are substantially more expensive. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 449 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 01:36 pm:    Here is one company that the project architect found. I still prefer galvanized steel. www.reddteam.com Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 105 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 03:10 pm:    David You must not do too much work in Florida - Aluminum Exterior Stairs much preferred over galvanized which simply does not last more than a couple of years due to all the salt in the air. Many local metal fabricators in the state offer aluminum stair products. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 450 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 03:54 pm:    Jerome, I barely do work outside of the Puget Sound area. Being near salt water I can't figured out why Seattle is not a corrosive environment like other coastal cities. My guess is that the frequent rain washes away any trace of salt. I also don't understand why it it not humid here in the summer. I guess that I better study my meteorology. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 106 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 04:01 pm:    David Near the Ocean in the summer and no humidity - sign me up Anne Whitacre, CCS CSI Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 185 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 04:25 pm:    Jerry, and David: I'm from here (Seattle) and until I went to Florida when I was 29 years old, I didn't even know it COULD rain in the summer -- I thought summers were "dry" by definition. (and that rain only occurred in winter months) However: the prevailing winds in the four summer months in Seattle come from the North and as such come over a dry area and go out to sea -- so that the moist air is being held away from the coast here. Also, the Pacific is colder, and the air around it holds less salt than the warmer southern ocean air. We do not have other corrosive components (ie, acid rain) in the climate in the northwest. I'm sure that if you talked with industrial coatings folks you would find plenty of evidence of corrosion just the same. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 353 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, May 02, 2005 - 07:47 pm:    We have, here in Boston, acid rain and lots of humidity and on-shore breezes. No one uses aluminum stairs. Gets me to thinking though..... Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 33 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - 08:47 am:    Here in Baltimore I can't begin to count the galvanized steel stairs that need to be replaced due to rusting. We try to tell the Owners to use concrete, but...$$$