There is a lot to love about steel sheds. For starters, they come at a lower cost than their wooden alternatives, and they can easily be customized to suit your needs. For these reasons and many more, steel sheds have grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. However, one concern people often have about steel sheds is if they have the ability to rust. Here, we’ll take a closer look at the matter of rust on steel sheds and how you can get a long life out of your new metal building.

American Steel Carports, Inc. has a variety of steel sheds that are affordable, durable, and fully customizable. Use our Build & Price Tool to explore the many possibilities for your new structure, and receive an instant quote!

The Basics of Rust

To prevent rust, you need to understand how it works—at least on a basic level. It is the combination of moisture, oxygen, and metal that can lead to rust, so you need to take one of those elements away to keep your new building free from corrosion. Obviously, if the building is made of steel, you can’t take that away. Also, oxygen is everywhere, so removing that from the equation probably won’t work.

So, we are left with water. If you want to prevent rust, you need to keep your shed as dry as possible. By keeping the inside of the shed dry throughout the year, you’ll limit the opportunity that rust has to form on the steel. You probably won’t be able to keep your shed completely dry at all times—it lives outside, after all—but some basic steps can limit moisture and reduce rusting.

Building on the Right Base

The surface under your shed is going to have a lot to do with the level of moisture inside the building. If you simply build the shed on bare ground, you will likely have moisture problems, and hence, potentially rust down the line. The ground always has some amount of moisture content, and that is going to lead to condensation in certain conditions.

A better choice would be to build your shed on a concrete pad. That approach will limit how much moisture is available on the floor and it should cut down significantly on the overall opportunity for rust to form.

Don’t Introduce Unnecessary Moisture

If you bring wet items into the shed and leave them to dry regularly, it stands to reason that you may end up with rust problems. One common example is parking your lawnmower in the shed while it is still covered with wet grass clippings. As those clippings dry, the water they release will be trapped inside the building, and you could be contributing to rust. Instead, clean off the mower before you park it, and you will have kept out a significant potential source of moisture.

Address Any Openings Immediately

This one might sound pretty obvious, but it’s easy to overlook if you aren’t careful. If there is a leak in the roof of your shed, that’s something you will want to address right away. Such a leak is going to allow in a lot of water during the rainy season, and you might find that rust starts to develop quickly. Not only is it important to fix any leaks to stop corrosion, but you also want to protect the condition of whatever you store inside the building.

Buy from a Quality Supplier

Rust is a far bigger problem on cheap metal sheds than it is on quality products from a respected manufacturer. If you order from American Steel Carports, for example, you will find that our 12-gauge products carry a 20-year warranty as an indication of the trust that we have in the buildings we sell. If you were to opt for a lesser product from a company that doesn’t stand behind its structures with this kind of guarantee, you may run into more rust issues in the years to come.

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As you can see, steel sheds won’t rust if you take a few simple steps to prevent it. That said, the issue of rust is certainly not something that should stop you from ordering a steel structure! In fact, these buildings are incredibly durable and tend to require far less maintenance than wood structures. To explore the options we have available, get started with our Build & Price tool. We are excited to serve you!