Looking for modern cladding solutions? If you have a cladding project, this guide will help you know some useful tips for specifying metal composite cladding.
If the versatility of metal composite Alpolic cladding material has caught your eye or you have heard how its rigidity and light weight makes it easy to fabricate, then you may be ready to add metal composite materials (MCM) to your next project.
Some design teams have got templates that get recycled and this leads to a choppy mess of put-together project information. While most manufacturers offer canned specifications designed to make the process simpler, there is still room for confusion. A big obstacle is how to translate what exact specifiers are requesting into a language understood by contractors.
Paint specifications
It is important to know how much information that goes into paint specifications. If you are detailing paint formulations then you have gone too far. Alternatively, vague language or no limits on paint systems open the specifications to products that do not perform correctly.
You should include paint in your specifications rather than getting caught up in the confusing details, specify a paint that meets recognised industry standards suitable for your project.
MCM specification
A common question commonly asked by people is “where do I include metal composite?” the tendency is to include the specifications of metal composite materials panel wall system in the area that makes sense to the person installing the cladding but this can make it hard to find by a person who would put up in an entirely different section. It is important to go by the guideline.
Final products
The architects writing the specifications for modern cladding solutions speak of the finished system but there are a lot of components to a complete wall assembly. The company that makes your metal composite materials panel may not be the company that makes the installation. E.g., performance requirements should be independent of each other to ensure there is clarity.
For the metal composite material panel, you should be specific about the finish, warranty and core needed. For the system, whether it is a sealed system, like a dry seal or wet seal or a form of rain screen, when the components are broken they highlight if something is missing.
Write to code
Safety is very important and everyone from the general contractor and the specifier to the architect is responsible for adhering to codes. When it comes to safety, a poorly written or ambiguous spec is unacceptable. MCM needs to meet the class A standards. These materials are compliant for building under forty feet from grade. Buildings that are above forty feet are needed to have wall assembly that passes code. This isn’t a component test. It is a wall assembly test that needs all elements in the wall to be tested.
Product Warranties
When it comes to Alpolic cladding, not all warranties are equal. It is not enough to say that the panels have a ten-year warranty and the finishes have warranties for twenty years. Warranties are not just about time. The sort of performance guarantees and how they back that up are very important. Specify that warranties will cover the panels repaired.
