Facade work refers to the construction or renovation of the outer shell or exterior of a building. The facade of a building is the first thing that people see, and it plays an important role in the building’s overall appearance and functionality. Facade work can include a variety of activities, such as:
Cladding: This involves covering the exterior of a building with a material such as brick, stone, metal, or glass.
Rendering: This involves applying a layer of cement or plaster to the exterior of a building to create a smooth or textured finish.
Painting: This involves applying paint to the exterior of a building to improve its appearance.
Window and door installation: This involves installing new windows and doors or replacing existing ones to improve energy efficiency and aesthetics.
Structural repairs: This involves repairing or reinforcing the structure of the building to ensure that it is safe and stable.
Roofing: This involves installing or repairing the roof of the building to protect it from the elements and improve its energy efficiency.
Insulation: This involves adding insulation to the exterior of the building to improve energy efficiency and reduce noise.
Facade work is important because it can help to improve the appearance of a building, increase its value, and make it more energy efficient. Additionally, facade work can help to protect the building from damage caused by the elements, such as wind, rain, and snow.
How does one achieve a Facade Planning that works?
Every project has a unique facade and so it needs unique planning. There are no thumb rules to planning. One needs to understand the sequence of operations at site, optimum production planning, ease of execution, wind directions and favourable time for implementation, site storage and stacking, and finally marketing needs. Here, the Façade specialist plays the most important role to ensure the site is receptive when the Façade contractor comes on board.
How do Weather Conditions impact facade planning and execution?
Understanding the weather pattern is an essential requirement. High rise facades need facade elements transported at great heights. Wind and rain poses a huge problem at times stalling installation for months if not planned properly. The windiest sides of the project should be excuted in the lean wind period of the month and year. This will ensure that there is no negative wind pressure on the other faces on windy days. When planning to install facade elements from the outside face, the wind can be very dangerous when installing large panels. Taking panels at high locations where wind speeds exceed 3Kpa needs careful planning of vertical hoisting equipment to avoid wind effect.
What are the Vertical Logistics that need to be considered for high rise facades?
This clearly depends on the type of facade, orientation of facade as per wind direction and building plan providing access to vertical logistics. A crane, twin mast or mast climber, cradle and mechanical winch are common hoisting equipment while material hoist is used when other access is limited. Use of super decks that cantilever allowing material pallets to be lifted with cranes to specific floors are costly but the quickest option for unitised panels and other Façade elements that greatly increases the speed of logistics.
What does Production Planning involve?
Often the production is at a tangent to the site requirement. Whereas the site requirement is planned as per fronts available or sequence or challenges and needs a somewhat flexible planning, the production is often rigid and concentrates on bulk and optimisation. One needs to identify the balance in sequence and production in the beginning of the project, even before the material is ordered. The material must be ordered in batches to suit the site requirements and not to suit only optimum production, or it will lead to choking of storage space at site or mismatch in delivered material v/s required material.