This guide will help you know more about combustible and non-combustible cladding materials.
You can either use combustible or non-combustible aluminium cladding materials for your project. Due to the growth of the architectural world and technology, construction projects and materials are growing every day. There are various materials for cladding that manufacturers sell for the industry. These materials are combustible and non-combustible. The standards and building codes are intended to limit the usage of flammable cladding materials in non-combustible construction materials. There are different systems and mechanisms to achieve the needed safety.
Using non-combustible cladding materials
The use of non-combustible materials for cladding such as aluminium panels and pre-formed panels made of steel and other reinforced building materials don’t contribute a big amount of fuel to support fire when supported by inflammable materials. The current energy performance requirements state that various insulation systems can be used to reduce heat loss through the wall assembly hence invoking other codes.
The contribution of foam plastics used for insulating the cladding systems is not significant in the context of combustible properties. On the other hand, in non-combustible cladding and building materials such as aluminium, the fuel used in the building can impact the performance of the roofing, walls and ceilings. The standards and regulations are more difficult when it comes to the safety of modern houses and buildings.
Non-combustible cladding
Where composite panels such as ACM are used for the cladding systems of the building, the combustibility can increase due to the insulation in the sandwiched panel structures. Each element has to be assessed for flammability in such cases. However, with modern building materials, manufacturers and suppliers produce aluminium composite materials that feature fire-retardant substances.
We have some fire-retardant-treated timber materials that have composite structures with a high heat release rate of about 40 to 40 MJ/M2 more than the criteria set out in the codes and higher than most insulated ACM panels. The flame spread indicator of a lot of composite panels is typically zero compared to FRTW.
Several modern material manufacturers have subjected their cladding to CAN/ULC s 134 testings. The systems are designed to be used in non-combustible buildings but can be used for flammable structures and won’t affect the practicality and functionality of the cladding. These systems consist of a wall that is insulated with cavity walls to make the structure energy efficient. The division needs a rating and they are usually provided by additional gypsum wall panels on the outside.
Using combustible cladding in non-combustible buildings
Owing to the installation of metal cladding, higher than the expected vertical spread of fire can happen than would be expected if similar substances were installed in a horizontal direction.
External insulation finish system or the EIFS is a lightweight artificial wall cladding system that comes with plastic sealing. The plastic has thin coatings. This means that the non-combustible aluminium cladding requirements of regulations show the criteria developed for testing the external insulation finish system set out in the testing. The standard tests are meant to be indicators of the large-scale behaviour of fire.
