February 2012 Monthly Meeting

Traditionally precast panel wall assemblies have been designed as face seal systems. In these systems weather tightness relies on water repellence treatment of the panels and on the detailing of the panel joints, such as binary sealant joints. More recent designs have attempted to incorporate rainscreen principles in the design of precast panel wall assemblies. In a typical rainscreen construction, the backup wall is installed first and then weatherproofed prior to the cladding installation. Such sequence happens to be challenging or impractical when the precast panels are designed as curtain wall to be hung on the building structure. The presenter has been involved in projects which address the need to install the precast panels first while incorporating a drainage path in the wall assembly. This presentation will discuss case studies and lessons learned from three projects recently completed in Vancouver, BC and Portland, OR.