Technical guides from our own production in Đakovo: trapezoidal sheets and roof coverings, sandwich panels, gutters and flashings, steel structures to EN 1090 and prefabricated halls. Standards, load tables and practice from the site — for Slavonia, all of Croatia and the EU.
Steel structures and hallsA garage next to a house in Croatia may be built without a building permit — as an ancillary building up to 50 m² with one storey, to a main design. The difference from a canopy up to 20 m², why a closed garage is not a canopy, how the roof overhang tips it over the limit and five steps to the occupancy permit.
Steel structures and halls“Executed to EN 1090-2” is a sentence with no content until the class is stated. An interactive class selector (CC × SC × PC), the differences between EXC2 and EXC3 in figures and nine documents you may ask for before signing.
Steel structures and hallsWe have dissected our own standard hall of 300 square metres: why an IPE 330 column with an IPE 240 rafter, where exactly 7,438 kg comes from, what a single structural calculation covers without being repeated — and two legal facts for this very size: the checking engineer at the threshold of a 10 m span and the conceptual design for agricultural use.
Steel structures and hallsWe are publishing the structure of the quotation calculation for our standard 10 × 30 × 5 m structure — mass, sections and starting “from” prices (structure from 22,500 € excluding VAT). Along with that: what share of a turnkey investment the structure is, which costs the law has abolished or moved, and why the lightest structure is not the cheapest.
Steel structures and hallsThe same square metre of hall can cost seventy or five hundred euros, depending on what is in it. An interactive selector by use with typical spans and heights, nine items without which two quotations are not comparable at all, and six facts with which you can get a serious budget quotation straight away.
Steel structures and hallsThree myths put to the test (temporary status, tax depreciation, “steel rusts”) and a comparison of six properties for which a source exists: permits, time, spans, thermal inertia, alterations and fire. There is no price for masonry construction here — because we would have to invent it.
Steel structures and hallsNine phases from the enquiry to the occupancy permit, with realistic timescales and a clear separation between what the regulations actually prescribe and what is an estimate. An interactive permit triage under the new Building Act (NN 155/25) and an explanation of why two completely different prices per square metre circulate on the market.
Steel structures and hallsThe 600 square metre limit is the most important figure in the new Building Act for agriculture. Seven steps of the easier route — with article numbers — plus three traps: gross floor area is not the footprint, the use is determined by the spatial plan, and a span of 10 m leads to the checking engineer even for a “small” hall.
Steel structures and hallsAt handover you are given a piece of paper: “all welds inspected, no objections”. Who looked, with what, at how many welds and against which criterion? Four test methods and what each of them sees, why a weld must not be tested too early, when 10 % turns into extended testing, and six things without which a report proves nothing.
Steel structures and hallsThe bolt is the cheapest part of a hall and the only one that somebody tightens by hand on site. Connection categories A to E to EN 1993-1-8, the preload force to EN 1090-2, the four friction classes from Table 18 and the most expensive error during erection — the painted faying surface. With a calculator of the slip resistance per bolt.
Steel structures and halls“It is galvanised” is not a specification — it is a description of a process without a single figure that can be checked later. Corrosivity categories to ISO 12944-2, why the durability class is not a guarantee period, the 80 % rule from ISO 19840 and the clause that makes a contract “to EN 1090-2” deliver untreated edges. With a specification generator you can paste into your enquiry.
Steel structures and hallsThe same IPE 400 carries 480 kN or 2,540 kN — depending only on whether something holds it laterally. An interactive buckling calculator to EN 1993-1-1, why the thickness of the base plate follows from the concrete class beneath it, anchor tolerances to Table B.23 and seven mistakes that stop the crane on site.
Steel structures and hallsTwo quotations for the same hall, at similar prices, but with completely different structures. A lattice girder uses less steel but more hours and more square metres of coating, and it is a whole metre deeper — which is paid for on every metre of wall. An eaves-height calculator, where the economics tip over, and seven questions that separate the two quotations.
Steel structures and hallsThe door does not fit the opening. The steel contractor says everything is within tolerance, the builder says the foundation is as designed, the door manufacturer says the opening is out of true — and all three of them can be right. Essential and functional tolerances to EN 1090-2, the collision with EN 13670 at the foundations, and a calculator that shows how much deviation adds up by the time you reach the building envelope.
Steel structures and halls“I need a hall 20 × 40, how much does it cost?” — a binding quotation cannot arise from those figures, and that is not a sales tactic but a consequence of what the regulations require to go into the structural calculation. An interactive triage of the documentation, who may design and how to check it in the public register, why the checking engineer may not come from the same office, and what the penalties really are.
Steel structures and hallsInvestors sign the contractor’s quotation, work out that it fits, and then receive decisions nobody mentioned. A calculator of public charges with the formulas from the rules: why the utility contribution is paid per cubic metre and measured to the top of the roof, why the water contribution was abolished (and old quotations still charge it), and how much a power connection really costs.
Sheet-metal practiceIn a trade where almost everything is done “on request”, a company from Đakovo keeps public prices by developed-width class. The story of roof sheet production, CNC bending of flashings and the woman leading a steel company — with figures a journalist can check in the register.
Sandwich panels and insulationThe chemistry of fire and of thermal insulation. Why PIR foam is an absolute safety requirement for modern public halls and warehouses.
Sandwich panels and insulation40, 60, 80, 100 or 120 mm? An interactive thickness selector with U-values to EN 14509, the limits of the Croatian regulation (roof 0.25 / wall 0.30), the diminishing saving and the dew point in damp plants.
Sandwich panels and insulationA hall itself produces tens of litres of water vapour a day — workers, livestock, fresh concrete. An interactive moisture balance, the sealing details of the panel joints, cold bridges and why a sealed hall without ventilation becomes a closed vessel.
Sandwich panels and insulationAn analytical look at the dew point under a metal roof. Find out why condensation forms and how anti-condensation fleece physically solves the problem of dripping in prefabricated halls.
Roof coveringsAn interactive engineering guide through three rib heights: the geometry and the weights of the profiles, purlin spacings from the load tables (EN 1993-1-3), snow for continental Croatia and minimum pitches — with a slider that shows which profile stays in the green.
Roof coveringsWhich profile can take a greater snow load? An in-depth analysis of bending moments, batten spacings and the optimum thickness (0.50 mm vs 0.60 mm) of the sheet.
Roof coveringsConcrete tiles park 4 tonnes on top of a house of 100 m²; sheet half a tonne. An interactive tonnage calculator, seismics, renovation of asbestos cement, wind and snow guards — honestly, including what is not saved on.
Roof coveringsNot every galvanised sheet is the same. Dive into the microscopic structure of galvanising, passivation and polyurethane top coats. The deconstruction of the Z275 standard.
Roof coveringsPrimer, top coat, Ruv and RC classes to EN 10169: the interactive anatomy of coating systems from standard polyester to HDX. Why dark RAL shades demand a matt coating and which four questions to ask before ordering.
Roof drainageQ = r × A × C in practice: an interactive calculator that says whether developed width 250, 330 or 417 is enough for your roof. Why a hopper head in the middle doubles the capacity, what gutter fall, what bracket spacing, and why copper above galvanised sheet destroys the system.
Sheet-metal practiceSheet-metal jargon translated into plain language, a developed-width calculator that shows the price and the sheet yield at once, the bending radius that depends on the coating (not on the steel) and six mistakes you pay for over years.
Roof coveringsThe price of a roof is the best-kept secret in the trade — “it depends on the project, get in touch for a quotation”. It does depend, but it can be calculated. A calculator that builds a materials list from the dimensions and the pitch of the house and multiplies it by the prices from our public price list, plus seven items a cheap quotation regularly omits.