Be Careful With Your Curtain Wall Systems

Curtain walls are most often made from high-quality, durable glass and expensive, flexible metals. Therefore, they can cost more than traditional walls made of concrete, plaster, metal, or stone. But when assembly and installation methods are factored in, curtain walls can be cost-effective.

In any curtain wall construction, the prime responsibility of construction quality assurance of curtain walls lies with the fabricators and contractors. In other words, the best design will fail if not properly implemented. As a result, it is very important that designers and owners ask for demonstrated proof of QA/QC measures. Curtain wall manufacturer and installer must develop QA/QC manuals to help standardise and streamline the quality control process. These manuals should include checklists of quality control and inspection points to be reviewed for every assembly fabricated and installed. For example, misalignment of adjacent curtain wall elements can have serious consequences, which is often due to errors in laying out the structural framing systems, but might also result from lack of coordination of building structure tolerances and curtain wall tolerances, or improper layout of imbeds to receive curtain wall anchors. In the case of coordinating construction tolerances, if the construction tolerance for the structural frame is +/- 1 inch over the height of the building and the tolerance for the curtain wall is +/- 1/4 inch over that same height, it is the curtain wall that will need to be adjusted to conform to the looser tolerance of the curtain wall structures which needs to be taken care by the site team.

In addition, leakage is the biggest concern for any curtain wall system. Largely these occur due to lapses in execution or due to tampering of the system in interior fit outs. These problems tend to increase in smaller projects where appropriately qualified contractors are not appointed by some clients. Meanwhile, cleaning and replacement of glass are another challenge if there is no proper BMU (building maintenance unit). Many clients are not willing to incur much cost towards the same, which leads to problems in maintaining curtain wall facades and addressing defects post-handover. Furthermore, there is huge room for improvement of quality in curtain wall production, transportation and erection. The industry needs to improve the skill sets, and SOP’s for QA/QC. Often one gives more weightage to completing a project faster, which tends to a compromise on quality. Improper or substitute materials used, resulting faulty facade works and the building degrades quite faster and lose the building value within the very short period.