020303c Commercial Exteriors

Question 1

What is a curtain wall?

Answer 1

A curtain wall is a wall that carries no load but it’s own.

Question 2

What is the primary function of a curtain wall?

Answer 2

The primary function of a curtain wall is to separate the outside environment from the inside.

Question 3

What is cladding?

Answer 3

Cladding is any part of the vertical building exterior that is directly exposed to the environment.

Question 4

What are some examples of cladding?

Answer 4

Window (glass) and their frames, masonry, concrete, natural stone, metal, wood and stucco.

Question 5

Name and describe the two approaches to keeping a building watertight.

Answer 5

A) The barrier approach - based on the premise that every raindrop should be DEFLECTED at the first defence with a watertight cover.

B) the RAINSCREEN approach - seeks to put a cover around the bundling, but provides some method of water control should it get past the first line of defence.

Question 6

What is the prime difficulty when using glass as a cladding material?

Answer 6

The method used must hold it in position and prevent water leakage at the same time.

Question 7

How is natural stone used now as compared to its use in early low-rise buildings?

Answer 7

Natural stone is now sliced into relatively thin sheets to reduce the expense of using solid blocks.

Question 8

What is masonry?

Answer 8

Masonry is defined here as the use of preformed unit blocks or natural stone units attached to one another with mortar.

Question 9

What are some examples of masonry?

Answer 9

Bricks, concrete blocks, stone and prefabricated units made from these materials.

Question 10

Why are masonry units such as bricks supported individually at each floor?

Answer 10

Bricks are supported at each floor to reduce the total amount of expansion and contraction.

Question 11

What is stucco?

Answer 11

Stucco is cladding made up of sand, Portland cement and lime.

Question 12

What special considerations are to be made after the application of stucco?

Answer 12

Stucco should not be allowed to freeze or dry out before it has hydrated.

Question 13

What product has proven to be the most durable and easily mounded cladding?

Answer 13

Concrete

Question 14

What is the benefit of pre-cast concrete?

Answer 14

Better curing conditions, easier placing, higher face quality, easy insertion of brackets or weld plates into the concrete, easy application of coatings before installation and pre-installation of other parts.

Question 15

Can wood siding be installed in directions other than horizontally?

Answer 15

Yes vert or horiz

Question 16

What are the five most common styles of wood siding?

Answer 16

Clapboard
Bevel
Rabbeted 
Ship lap
Drop siding

Question 17

What is one of the main characteristics of vinyl siding that must be considered during application?

Answer 17

That it expands and contracts much more than other cladding materials.

Question 18

How must Cementitious siding be handled to reduce breakage?

Answer 18

Upright

Question 19

What is the basic structure of exterior insulation and finish systems?

Answer 19

A layer of rigid insulation followed by a layer of mesh embedded with a base coat of the proprietary coating. This is followed by a layer of the finish coat.

Question 20

EIFS can be either polymer-based or polymer-modified T or F

Answer 20

T

Question 21

What are two drawbacks to Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems?

Answer 21

Easily punctured and prone to mould forming behind the barrier style moisture prevention.

Question 22

Is the rise of a masonry arch always the same as the radius?

Answer 22

Not always the same. For a Roman arch, it would be the same, but a segmental arch would be different.

Question 23

What is a springing line?

Answer 23

A springing line is the theoretical starting point of the arch.

Question 24

How is the arch template supported?

Answer 24

Opposing wedges and then dimensional lumber under the wedges directly under the template. The wedges allow fine adjustments of the height and simple release once the mortar has cured.