Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 8: Building Envelope 8 - 4 2 TYPES OF METAL CLADDING SYSTEMS There are a number of proprietary types of cladding that may be used in industrial buildings. These tend to fall into a few broad categories as described in this Section. The steel sheet is generally coated with a zinc or zinc-aluminium alloy in a hot-dip process. The top coating is an organic coating to provide an attractive finish, typically based on Polyvinyl–chloride (PVC or Plastisol), Polyvinylidene–fluoride (PVDF or PVF2), Polyester or Polyurethane formulations. Aluminium cladding sheets are also available. For hot-dip galvanised sheeting, typical design lives are shown in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Typical design life for coated steel sheet Coating Design life (years) PVC – 200 microns 10 – 30 PVC – 120 microns 10 – 25 PVDF or PVF2 – 25 microns 10 – 15 Polyester – 25 microns 5 – 10 Polyurethane – 50 microns 10 – 15 2.1 Single-skin trapezoidal sheeting Single-skin sheeting is widely used in agricultural and industrial structures where no insulation is required. The sheeting is fixed directly to the purlins and side rails as shown in Figure 2.1. The cladding is generally made from 0,7 mm gauge pre-coated steel with a 32 mm to 35 mm trapezoidal profile depth. 1 1 Slope Figure 2.1 Single-skin trapezoidal sheeting