- What materials is a curtain wall made of?
- The frame is extruded aluminium, as vertical mullions and horizontal transoms. The infill is glass, aluminium composite panel, metal panel, or stone. It is completed by structural sealant, gaskets, and steel brackets tying the frame back to the building. That material combination determines most of a facade's cost and weight.
- How thick is a curtain wall?
- Curtain wall glass is generally 8 to 12 mm as a single layer, and thicker where laminated or double glazing is used. Mullion depth has no standard figure: it follows the floor-to-floor span and the wind load at your building's height, so the number comes out of the calculation.
- What is the difference between curtain wall and window wall?
- A curtain wall sits outside the floor slab edge and runs continuously past several floors, hung from the building structure. A window wall sits between two floor slabs and is supported by the slab beneath it, one unit per floor. Because it passes the slab edge, a curtain wall needs fire safing at every floor and gondola access for cleaning. Which one suits a building is read from its height, wind load, slab arrangement and facade shape, not from the name of the system.
- What is a window wall?
- A window wall is a glazed facade system installed between two floor slabs, with its load carried by the slab below. Because it is installed from inside floor by floor, it does not always require a gondola. A cost comparison only becomes useful once both systems are scoped the same way.
- When should unitized be used instead of stick?
- Unitized usually makes sense above roughly ten storeys, where panels repeat and the installation schedule is tight. Stick makes sense where the facade design varies a lot or may still change. We calculate both when a project sits on the boundary.