One of the most widely used materials in the construction industry is sheet metal. But have you ever consider it for sheet metal home decor? This material consists of a flat sheet which can be made from a variety of metals, including steel, aluminum, brass, tin or nickel. The main reason for this is how it’s completely ductile, meaning it can be used to create another object with great ease.
12 Great Sheet Metal Home Decor Ideas
Sheet metal home decor ideas – headboard project.Source
Sheet metal laundry room ceiling project. Source
Looking for more ideas for your laundry room space? Check out our Laundry Room Makeover Ideas for your Mobile Home.
The Process
Sheet metal fabrication is an extensive process that normally involves shaping and bending the metal into the correct shape and thickness. It’s even possible to create a number of complex hollow sections or shapes depending on the area it will be used in your home.
Sheet metal home decor – wall covering project. Source
Sheet metal home decor – bedroom wall covering project. Source
The Uses
It’s amazing just how many uses this material has been incorporated with. This includes airplane wings, hospital tables, care bodies and soda cans. Now more people are choosing to use them on their manufactured home thanks to how durable it is.
As technology has improved over the years, the production of sheet metal is now incredibly advanced. This allows fabricators to create some of the highest quality sheets that can be used for a variety of purposes, especially for the home.
Thanks to processes such as laser cutting, it’s now even easier to accomplish efficient slitting, perforating, cutting or even seaming. These were previously tough to do, often having a high margin for error. Due to CAD (Computer Aided Design), manufacturers have been able to provide the most sophisticated of cuts without a struggle.
Sheet metal wainscoting project. Source
Using sheet metal as a wall accent. Source
The Resistance
When using a specific material when creating a home, it goes without saying that it needs to be resilient. If not there can be major internal damage, high replacement costs and even life-threatening issues including rot. This is where sheet metal proves to be a worthwhile investment. It’s resistant to corrosion, moisture, and sun, making it ideal for use in the modern environment where the weather can be unpredictable.
Keeping on the topic of weather, the wind is an element that has caused a lot of problems throughout the world. The last thing you want is your home to be torn apart because the material couldn’t handle the intense speed and pressure. If choosing a sheet metal roof, most can handle gusts up to 140 miles per hour.
Maintenance is kept to a minimum as well. There’s no need for any special treatment that other materials often require, normally costing a significant amount of money. The only thing required is to periodically check to ensure no repairs are needed.
A metal roof can last anywhere from 40 to 70 years, material dependent. This is incredibly impressive, especially when you compare it to traditional asphalt, which has a life expectancy of 12 to 20 years.
Sheet metal backsplash. Source
Sheet metal bar project. Source
The Environmental Impact
A number of sheet metal roofs consist of anywhere between 25% to 95% recycled content depending on the material. The most notable benefit is how they are 100% recyclable once the use by date is up. To put that into context, the majority of shingle tear off waste ends up being part of the building-related waste, costing a significant amount of money for maintenance.
There are very few materials that can claim to be resistant to natural threats without being harmful to the environment, something sheet metal manages to achieve. Couple this with widespread availability, there’s little reason to use anything else.
As a matter of fact, a metal roof reflects heat from the sun to great levels. This can help to reduce cooling costs by anywhere between 10% to 20%. In modern times energy bills are constantly becoming more expensive so this type of advantage is extremely popular. It can be a key feature which helps improve the value of your property.
Sheet metal home decor – lighting project.
The Workaround
Regardless of the material being used, the workaround is an important aspect. In most cases, there’s a strict time frame to stick to, regardless of how intricate the process is. Thankfully sheet metal is one of the most versatile materials available, allowing a number of processes ranging from hand tools or specialist machines.
The problem with hand tools is how long they can take to complete a piece of work, and the margin of human error. Laser cutting has proven to be one of the best tools to work with sheet metal. Not only does can they do a variety of processes to the finest degree of quality, but they can run 24/7 to cope with large demands.
Many manufacturers actually prefer to work with sheet metal thanks to how good the quality is for construction. High levels of durability mean that maintaining the actual sheets isn’t tedious, an aspect that is all too common with other materials. This also saves on costs that are normally spent to provide the correct storage environments.
Transportation is made easy as sheet metal is lightweight. This is essential when it comes to constructing a home, as costs need to be kept to a minimum so the project can be completed in due time.
Sheet metal shower project. Source
Sheet metal bedroom wall project. Source
The Safety
Safety is of the utmost importance when living in a home. Whilst you may have control over what goes on inside the building, design decisions made during the construction phase can have a knock-on effect later down the line. Thankfully, sheet metal is one of the safest options on the market.
One of the main locations it’s used is for the roof. They won’t spark or ignite into flames in case of a lightning strike or wildfire. This is a major problem for people that live in afflicted areas so can be a necessity.
Sheet metal kitchen island project.Source
Sheet Metal, Perfect For A Manufactured Home
After reading this blog, it’s clear just how beneficial sheet metal can be for your manufactured home. The list of advantages is extensive and allow it to stand out as a worthwhile material. From affordability to easy manufacturing, more people are expected to embrace sheet metal for construction purposes more often.
This blog was written by Jennifer Smith on behalf of Yorkshire Profiles, a laser cutting specialist.
Thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
I am considering using sheet metal in my hallway I have a childcare in my home and would like to hide finger prints on walls but I want to use something white as a top my walls are gray and I have a white trim across bottom of wall
I think that sheet metal looks lovely as a siding for the kitchen. I’m trying to remodel my kitchen and I need some fresh ideas. I really want to look into sheet metal for this.
That would be a great idea!
We are considering purchasing an older one and remodeling. I’m thinking that this might be a good cover-up of added interior insulation in a bedroom. Put foam board behind it? Hmm.
How did you attach the sheet metal to the wall in the shower?
waaaay to much metal for my taste. But I love everything about your bedroom minu the metal wall, the farm slide doors just beautiful.
Hi Kay! I’m so glad you commented. I was thinking about you recently! I can’t get Facebook to work right – it won’t let me check my old messages at all. I would still love to feature your home!
I’ve got to replace our front door in the next month or so – this past winter was rough on it and it won’t shut right so we’re just going to replace it. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and write our steps in an article. Windows are on our to-do list but I probably won’t get to them till after we move so I’ll try to write up an article and just scout around for some photos. Photos are my biggest obstacle for the How-to articles.
Thanks again! I’m so glad you commented!
I really like metal roofs look nice and are long lived. I would like to see a DIY article on replacing exterior doors and windows on MH. I need to replace my doors and an wind and would like to be better informed on the procedure.
Thanks
GREAT article and pics! Thanks!