Professional Documents
Culture Documents
05 Cladding
05 Cladding
05 Cladding
1. Functions of Cladding
The major purpose of cladding is to separate the indoor environment of a building from the
outdoors in such a way that the indoor environment can be maintained at levels suitable for the
intended use.
Cladding must prevent the entry of water, e.g. rain, snow and ice into a building,
especially when water on the face of a building is often driven by wind at high
velocities and high air pressures, in every direction. The water must be drained
away from a wind-ward building face during a heavy rainstorm, and the water
pushed by wind, will readily penetrate the smallest crack or hole and enter the
building.
The cladding must prevent the unintended passage of air between indoors and
outdoors. Smaller air leaks are harmful because they waste conditioned air, carry
water through thewall, allow moisture vapour to condense inside the wall, and
allow noise to penetrate the building.
Controlling light
The cladding must control the passage of light, especially sunlight. Sunlight is
visible light, useful for illumination but bothersome if it causes glare. Sunlight
includes destructive ultraviolet wavelengths that must be kept off human skin and
away from interior material that will fade or disintegrate.
The role of cladding is to regulate the flow of radiant heat from sun, it should
present interior surfaces that are at temperatures that will not cause radiant
discomfort. (not too cold and not too hot)
It must resist to the required degree of the conduction of heat into and out of the
building. It should avoid thermal bridges, wall component such as metal framing
members that are highly conductive of heat and therefore likely to cause localized
condensation on interior surfaces.
It must retard the passage of water vapour. Vapour moving through a wall
assembly is likely to condense inside the assembly in cold weather and cause
problems of staining, lost insulating value, corrosion and freeze-thaw deterioration.
Controlling sound
It should isolate the interior of a building from noise outside, or vice versa. Noise
isolation is best achieved by walls that are airtight, massive and resilient.
Adjusting to movement
Several kinds of forces are always at work throughout a building, tugging and
pushing both the frame and the cladding: thermal expansion and contraction,
moisture expansion and contraction, structural deflections.
Resisting Fire
Keep water completely away from the wall, however, this is impossible as it requires
a very broad overhang.
Eliminate or neutralize all the forces that can move water through the wall.
a. Gravity
It is a factor in pulling water through a wall only if the wall contains an inclined plane that slopes
into the building.
a. Momentum
It is the horizontal component of the energy of a raindrop falling at an angle toward the
face of a building. Momentum is easily neutralized by applying a cover to each joint in the
wall.
b. Surface tension
It causes water to adhere to the underside of a cladding component, it can allow water to
be drawn into the building. The provision of a simple ‘drip’ on any underside surface to
which water might adhere will eliminate the problem.
c. Capillary action
It is the surface tension effect that pulls water through any opening that can be bridged by
a water drop. This action can be eliminated by providing a concealed ‘capillary break’
somewhere inside the opening.
d. Wind currents
The generic solution to the wind current problem is to let wind pressure differences
between the outside and inside of the cladding neutralize themselves through a concept
know as the rainscreen principle.
3. Sealant Joints in
Cladding
The time of year when the sealant is to be installed must be taken into account when specifying
the size of the joint and the type of sealant.
In cold weather - sealant will have to stretch very little during its lifetime but will have
to compress a great deal in summer.
In hot weather - as the materials around it expand and crowd together. Sealant will
have to compress very little but will be greatly stretched in winter.
4. Curtain Wall
4.1 Connection
Their fixing must be designed accordingly. Fixings should be of stainless steel or non-ferrous
metal and so designed, that should one fail the remaining fixings are capable of taking all the
loading on the walling. This provides a margin of safety and prevents progressive failure of a
number of fixings.
Fixing devices must be capable of adjustment in any direction to provide for inaccuracies in the
structural surfaces to which the framing is attached. Cast-in anchor channels are commonly
used in concrete frames to provide the horizontal adjustment.
Fixing to steel frames is to plates welded to the steelwork at the required fixing points. Bolt holes
should be slotted and packing pieces or shims used to provide for movement and adjustment.
Plastic washers should be interposed between adjacent surfaces to allow adequate tension in
the bolts combined with sufficient reduction in friction to permit differential movement.
Advantages
Principles
Applications