When you design steel cladding into your building you have a wide range of profiles from which to choose. Whilst roofing and walling obviously have to keep out the weather, they also have significant effects on the looks, cost and durability of a building.
Walls
The design of walling from a steel perspective is fairly straightforward. Once you have made the aesthetic decision of which profile to use, the main considerations are the support spacings, fixing details and the details of flashing.
Roofs
There are many factors in designing roofs including:
- the shape: is the roof to be ‘flat’ or pitched or curved?
- the supporting structure and support spacing;
- the wind forces that the roof must sustain;
- the pitch which affects the looks, the profile’s ability to efficiently carry rain to the gutters, and fixing details;
- thermal expansion of long sheets;
- the attributes of other materials used in the roof design.
The aesthetic aspects of steel roofing and walling, and its installation, have particular characteristics and you should get advice from relevant specialists where required. Lysaght publishes tables of recommended support spacings and the maximum roof length for pitch and rainfall intensity for LYSAGHT® steel roofing products. The appropriate design will depend on your particular needs and circumstances. You should get advice from the relevant specialists where required.
