Cladding & Curtain Walling Flashcards
What is meant by the term curtain walling?
A curtain wall is an outer envelope of a building which does not carry structural load
What is stick construction curtain walling?
Stick systems are the most common curtain walling systems in the UK. They comprise a grillage of mullions which are supported from the floor slabs and transoms. They are assembled on site, with openings that glazing or spandrel panels are infilled within. It is more economic that other forms of curtain walling, and the construction is flexible. However the quality of the system is dictated by the site assembly
What is a unitised curtain walling system?
Unitised curtain walling comprises pre-fabricated units, normally one glazing bay by one/two storeys. The units are supported from the floor slab. Whole units are delivery to site, with only perimeter seals required on site. Generally unitised systems are more expensive that stick systems, but result in a higher quality install. Site time is less, but lead in is much longer
What is a panellised cladding system?
Panellised systems involved panels that span column to column, and are supported from the column, not the floor slab. The panels themselves require structural integrity to pass the load to the column, this will either come from the panel or a steel truss. Panellised systems can be faster to install than many other cladding types
What is a rainscreen cladding system?
Rainscreen cladding is a plane of materials used to protect a wall from rain. It can be supported from the wall behind, or as a self supporting structure. Rainscreen cladding systems required a drained cavity between the rainscreen and the wall behind to allow for moisture that gets behind the rainscreen panel to drain away without affecting the internal wall. Sometimes pressure equalised systems are used to avoid water being sucked in through the seals
What is structural glazing?
Structural glazing is a frame-less glazing system, where each glazing unit is supported from a point fixings, normally bolted. True structural glazing should transfer loads, so either via glazing units suspended from one another or through glass fins
What is structural silicone glazing?
Structural sealant glazing is a methods of bonding glazing units to a structural frame, giving the external appearance that the glazing is frame-less. A carrier frame is installed attached to a frame system such as with a stick curtain walling system. The glazing can be framed on two sides and bonded on two, or bonded on all sides. When all sides are bonded mechanical fixing clips will be required
