The installation of a curtain wall system for the building that we chose begins long before

the glazier ever gets to the job site. The general contractor has selected this company to install
the wall. The arrangements have been made for the materials to be delivered to the job site and
the wall components have been shipped.

After observing the building, there is a few generalization of the procedures involved with
constructing a curtain wall system. During our observation, the contractor also told us that by no
means is this the only technique of assembling a wall, but this building involves the covers steps
necessary to install a stick wall and a unitized wall for it curtain walls.

1. Stick wall installation sequence

Firstly, establish the control lines. Find out from the contractor exactly where the stick
wall should go. Bench marks should be painted on the floor and over the edge of the
floors. They must be visible on all floors before, during and after the construction of
the curtain wall to be used by all the trades. We all know that bench marks are used
as reference points for measuring the location of most everything on each floor. So, it
is important to set a bench mark before constructing the curtain wall.

2. Setting the layout

The layout determines the exact wall placement by the use of offset lines and
finished floor levels developed from the control lines established earlier. This
procedure is checked and double-checked by more than one person. The curtain
wall must be one continuous plane up and around the building. Each floor must have
the proper amount of room for attaching anchors. Even though the floors are not
perfectly level or plumb, the wall must be.

3. Placing the anchor plates

One of the most important parts of the buildings construction is the placement and
the type of anchors used. For this building, the anchor plates are bolted and welded
into the structure of the building.

4. Check the materials

The materials should arrive on site during the process. The metal components
should be positioned on the proper floor as they are unloaded from the trucks. Due to
the weight of the glass units they should be positioned next to the columns as they
are to be installed.
5. Erect the mullions
The verticals usually are the first item to be installed. These must be positioned
plumb and accurately. The verticals are about 20 feet to 25 feet and joined by
stacking one on top of the other. Splice sleeves are used to join the mullions. The
mullions are semi-plumbed and placed on a plane, and the anchors are fastened but
not tightened. Once the mullions are perfectly plumb and on the same plane, the
bolts are tightened all the way. The next mullion is installed on top of the previous
one and so on.

6. Install horizontals
After all the vertical mullions are in place and secured, install the horizontals. Use the
manufacturers installation instructions because horizontals can be anchored one of
many ways: by clips, screw spline and brackets. After that, the wall could also have
certain areas that must be sealed.

7. Seal the corners

This is where a wall meets jamb or corner, pre-packaged flashing and sealing units
that are supplied by the manufacturer. It is should be used and followed.

8. Glaze the wall

The contractor also mentioned that the curtain wall can be glazed using different
techniques. The building used a pressure type system. In this system, the glazing
retainers and caps must be removed from the outside of the building. The use of
scaffolding or suspended scaffolding is necessary to install glass in these situations.

9. Trimming
Once the system has been completed, the exterior glazing caps and final sealants
should be applied and installed. The interior usually only requires the installation of
drywall caps and retainers.

10. Installing the unitized walls

The pre-assembled units are hoisted to the proper location in sequence, snapped
together to provide the interlock and anchored to the structure. They snap and
interlock to form a solid unit. The layout and other details of the stick system apply to
the unitized wall as well.
Advantages

1. Reducing building sway

A curtain wall isnt intended to provide for structural stability, but it does reduce the
sway of the building overall, thereby making the structure more secure.

2. Slowing the spread at fire

Curtain walls are additionally able to slow the spread of fire between floor, by acting
as a barrier and preventing the fire from easily transferring across the surface of the
building.
It is important for taller building, where the fire would otherwise quickly be able to
spread upward.

3. Thermal efficiency
Curtain walls are able to stabilize the temperature within and cut down on the
operating costs of the building itself.
Additional glazing can reduce UV light, which will keep items within the building from
fading or degrading quickly.

4. Appearance and attractiveness

A curtain wall gives a clean, sophisticated and unique appearance, which is
associated with contemporary design.

5. Keeping out air and water

Curtain wall have the primary purpose of keeping air and water out of the building,
essentially acting as both a buffer and an insulator.
Building that have curtain wall will be easier to maintain, and will last longer in
general as they have this addition protective shield build in.
Disadvantages

1. Maintenance
A sealant must be applied to the perimeter of the curtain wall, and this sealant must
be replaced every 10 years or so.

2. Time constraint and cost required to install them

Curtain walls utilizing the stick system, for example, it requires a great deal of time to
assemble and their performance depends on the quality of the installation.
Unitized curtain walls consist of factor-assembled frames which reduces installation
time and cost but incurs greater costs for shipping and storage.

3. Light pollution
Glass curtain walls of the light pollution refers to coating has been used in the high
rise building curtain wall glass or coated glass.
Glass curtain wall reflection noise generated by the light, can cause people to
become dizzy and temporary blindness, often have an accident.

4. Dust pollution
Glass curtain wall is easy to be polluted because it is more likely to dust nurgle.

5. Glass explosive
Glass explosive will usually occurs in different types of glass depends on what is
being chosen for the building.