The Steel Arrives
As the sun broke over Alliance, the very first truckload of steel arrived at Boardsort’s new facility. The timing could not have been more perfect — the concrete docks still carrying the faint sheen of their cure, the air crisp, and a golden dawn glinting off the bundle straps and primed beams. After months of groundwork, pylons, and slab pours, this delivery marks the beginning of the next chapter: the rise of the building itself.
An early-morning parade of 18-wheelers delivered the backbone of our new structure — a meticulously fabricated steel skeleton engineered to bear the loads of a modern industrial recycling facility. Each beam, column, and girt was shop-primed in a rust-resistant red oxide coating, a common finish that protects structural steel during shipping and early erection before the full envelope is sealed. These coatings, typically made with iron oxide pigments and alkyd or epoxy binders, form a tenacious barrier against oxidation — giving the steel valuable weeks of protection from the elements during construction.
The brown-red members stacked on the truck are C-shaped purlins and girts, precision roll-formed from high-strength structural steel. They’ll form the horizontal framing members that tie the building’s vertical columns together — carrying the load of the roof and wall panels and bracing the entire frame.
Each piece is precision-cut and labeled to match the engineer’s shop drawings, effectively making the building a massive 3D jigsaw puzzle of several hundred uniquely numbered parts.
The material used is ASTM A572 Grade 50 & A992 steel, capable of handling 50,000 psi (345 MPa) of yield strength.
The flanges you see with pre-punched bolt holes ensure that erection crews can assemble the structure rapidly using high-strength bolts (ASTM A325 & A490) — no on-site drilling or welding required.
And here it is, the star of the show…the unmistakable Boardsort green sheet metal siding, still wrapped for protection. These panels are galvalume-coated, baked-on finish steel, chosen for both durability and thermal efficiency. The galvalume process bonds zinc, aluminum, and silicon to the steel’s surface, providing corrosion resistance up to three times better than galvanized coatings. On top of that sits the factory-applied green finish, an SMP (Silicone Modified Polyester) paint rated for decades of UV stability — colorfast, chalk-resistant, and reflective enough to keep heat gain in check.
This siding will soon wrap the frame from base girt to roofline, transforming stacks of beams into a weather-tight shell. When fully erected, the system will tie into rigid steel frames anchored to the same pylons poured weeks earlier — the bolts you saw set into the concrete finally finding their match.
This jacket of steel and galvalume, with it’s rich Boardsort green coloring will welcome visitors for years to come. There will be no mistaking this for anything other than the headquarters of boardsort.com.
Why Structural Steel Matters
Every one of these pieces plays a part in a larger mechanical symphony. Structural steel remains the gold standard for industrial buildings because of its combination of strength, speed, and recyclability — a fitting material for a recycling company’s expansion. It boasts one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios in construction, and every beam is 100% recyclable, often made from 90% or more recycled scrap itself. Unlike concrete or timber, steel’s properties are precisely predictable, allowing engineers to model and fabricate entire buildings to millimeter precision long before the first truck arrives.
Looking Ahead
In the coming days, cranes will rise where floodlights once stood, hoisting these members skyward and locking them into the anchor bolts embedded in our pylons. Piece by piece, the steel skeleton will take shape — rafters, girts, purlins, then finally the roof trusses. And soon after, the signature green siding will close in around it, making the transition from foundation to full enclosure.
From this morning forward, the view on our lot changes daily. The arrival of these beams means that for the first time, the Boardsort expansion can finally be seen above ground — tangible, bold, and ready to grow skyward.