Overcoming The Recladding Conundrum

The recladding of a building is increasingly about having to overcome the thermal performance and available space conundrum

Written by Neil Kirwan and Hitesh Pattni, Specification Managers in SFS Group Fastening Technology Ltd.

In this edition, we discuss how we can overcome the issue with planning when it is not possible to increase the space for cladding zones to accommodate the change in insulation to mineral wool. This specifically revolves around overcoming the challenge of meeting thermal performance using mineral wool insulation and restrictions to available cladding zones.

SFS Talks - Specifiers Playbook: Overcoming the recladding conundrum

Thermal Performance vs Space

With the recladding of buildings becoming an even bigger focus in 2021 there are several challenges that the market faces.

These challenges are highlighted even more on mixed use buildings and those in cities where the potential to increase the building footprint just doesn’t exist due to boundary and border restraints. At a minimum our buildings need to perform thermally to at least their existing standards and this is the main challenge that is faced by specifiers.

How can we remove 125mm of combustible insulation and replace it with a much thicker non-combustible alternative? Whilst maintaining both the boundary and thermal performance of these buildings?

Materials

It is obvious but different materials have different mechanical and physical properties. So it is important to look at the multitude of material options available to you to ensure that you can find the right solution. In rainscreen subframe systems it is important that manufacturers explain and help designers understand the differences not only of system types but also of material types. At SFS we have designed our NVELOPE® Thermal Solution range to include aluminium and stainless steel brackets with additional variants with high insulating thermal pads.

Aluminium vs Stainless Steel

It may be on some projects that an aluminium support system might not be sufficient and you may need to look at Stainless Steel or Stainless Steel plus Thermal pad. A solution to increase performance and keep any increase in insulation thickness to a minimum. We are on hand to assist with options for every challenge.

Look beyond the name

Often we assume that the generic name means that materials described say as stainless steel are the same. But this can be deceiving as there are many types and grades of stainless steel.

So it is worth looking beyond the generic name and look at the different grades of material that you are evaluating. For instance stainless steel grades like 316 austenitic which offers high corrosion resistance.

The right tools

Aluminium & Stainless Steel brackets and thermal pad options are great tools to help you overcome the recladding conundrum of satisfying thermal performance with limited cladding space zones. By offering rainscreen subframe systems in these material options enable the Architect and Designer to identify if a potential reduction in insulation thickness, cladding zones and bracket sizes, whilst maintaining thermal performance; would better suit the project overall.

Narrow Options

So it is important to narrow down your options and identify the right solutions. A good idea is to use one of the manufactures online tools, such as SFS’s NVELOPE Project Builder to do this. Ensure that you find one which produces Static Calculations, Downloadable PDF documents, U-value Calculations, NBS specifications and ones that do this within 24hrs.