How to Specify a Security Guard House Shelter

Getting the most value from your investment in a factory assembled steel guardhouse building has never been more important that it is in today’s economy. Par-Kut portable steel buildings are long lasting and portable, so that you can move a Par-Kut portable steel building such as Parkut guardhouse many times during it’s service life, as your locational needs evolve.

For those starting the process of designing or specifying a guard house, we suggest the following:

1) Determine the footprint (approximate size of booth desired). This
may be limited by cost, available space, or driven by intended task. Additional factors are the number of occupants, how many hours per day the building is to be staffed, and if there are to be any visitors allowed in the guard booth. On a related note, if the building is to be staffed around the clock, or for an entire 8 hour shift, there should be consideration given to including sanitary facilities.


2) Location decides door arrangement - island in middle of road, one side
or the other, sliding or swing, side or rear if money operations, etc. For example, is the guardhouse shelter an officer whose job it is to greet visitors in their passenger cars at the entrance to a corporate facility? Or perhaps the job is to check trucks in and out of an industrial facility with the security officer inspecting weigh bills, truck seals, and the like? Other applications may include an elevated platform for dealing with trucks “eye to eye”, or simply for better visibility in an observation role. Situating the guard house building on your site plan is a critical step towards developing your requirements for the booth.


3) Style of the unit. Par-Kut offers basic standard units, guard houses with butt glazed glass to glass corners, booths with rounded ends, guard enclosures with radius corners, and guard booths with colonial style (Presidential) treatment. Of course the style of the guard house is driven by both by budget and by the desire of the designer and or owner to blend the booth with existing architecture, have it make a statement, or on the other end of the spectrum, be an unobtrusive part of the landscape.


4) Ballistic protection required? Security is everyone’s concern and high security can be designed from the start into your new Par-Kut guard house. Using high strength steel and laminated glass products, the company is regularly producing bullet resistant buildings complete with doors, climate control and factory wired electrical systems. The company web site features specifications on the levels of ballistic protection available, but it can be said that all levels of protection are available for protecting against hand held guns and even rifles and automatic weapons. Ballistic shrouds can be specified to protect thu wall HVAC units and sliding portals are available for the officers within the guard house to return fire if need be. Also, hatches and roof top railings can be included to provide an alternate position for security officers to engage an opponent.


5) Accessories – the top features found in a guard house include heat, a/c (roof or wall), shelving, tinted and/or insulated glazing, low E glass, electrical outlets, interior and exterior lighting. Typically due to the rapid loss of heat due to a window or door being opened, heaters are oversized or back up units are included. Same can be said for air conditioners. The environment of a steel building out in a parking lot or gate entrance or security perimeter can be brutal. Anything that can be done to keep the loss of conditioned air should be considered. Tinted glass, tinted insulated glass, and even tinted Low E insulated glass help the building stay cool, and in turn, help the security officer do their job more effectively. Sometimes using a sliding window instead of going in and out of a door is more efficient in terms of saving the guard steps and can be more energy efficient as well. Guard houses will usually have a package of electrical provisions that in addition to electrical outlets, include preps for phone, data and cameras. Electric strikes for doors can be built into the booth during fabrication. Dimmable interior lighting is a helpful feature for guard houses operated during night time hours. Flood or spotlight fixtures mounted on the exterior of the booth help illuminate the surroundings and assist the officer in making ID’s of vehicles and license plates.


6) Any special issues required for complying with state or local building codes need to be factored in as well. Prefabricated guard house structures are most commonly regulated by the state programs that cover prefabricated homes, portable class rooms, job site construction trailers and the like. Par-Kut follows most model building codes such as IBC, and the National Electrical Code, but each state is different. Make sure the final location of the guard house building is made known up front during the specification process so that the particulars of that state’s codes are adhered to.


7) Finishes - floor, walls, roof, counters, etc. A standard Par-Kut guardhouse comes to location finished in a single color of choice using polyurethane paint. Upgrades can be as simple as two tone or multi color paint schemes (for example, two colors outside and a lighter color inside the booth). Or the finishes of the booth can include EIFS on the exterior to present a faux stucco or masonary finish, a brick veneer factory applied, or an exterior prepped for site application of brick, block or stone. Different roof lines and overhangs can be added for esthetic or functional reasons. Standing seam metal roofs are a very popular option these days. Booth interiors can include a finish floor such as VCT or sheet vinyl instead of standard treadplate. Alternately, PVC or rubber floor tile can be installed.

The best place to start when beginning to determine your specifications for a portable steel guardhouse is to seek out a professional with plenty of practical experience in the field. Visit www.parkut.com or call Par-Kut to speak with one of our sales professionals. Budgetary quotes and design assistance are complimentary.
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