Which Cladding Material is the Best for Facades?

Metal cladding is used in a wide variety of applications e.g., exterior cladding. Each application has a metal cladding choice, from high-end commercial to residential to agricultural.  

Metal cladding is used in a wide variety of applications e.g., exterior cladding. Each application has a metal cladding choice, from high-end commercial to residential to agricultural.  

However, do you know which metal cladding is ideal for your exterior cladding project?  

Steel, Aluminum, Zinc, and Copper are the metals most frequently used for cladding (in order of ascending cost at the time of writing).   

This blog post will list a few benefits of each metal cladding material and offer many examples to compare and draw ideas from.  
 
Metal Claddings for Your Facades 

• Steel Cladding: Steel is the most expensive and heaviest of the four materials. It is typically lacquered with a polymer, such as polyester or plastisol, to stop rust and corrosion. Various colours are available in coatings, allowing for some design freedom. Due to their affordability, profiled steel sheets are used extensively in industrial and agricultural applications.  
  The steel sheets' profiles add some structural stability and stop warping. This added toughness is crucial for agricultural and industrial applications where accidents and impacts are likely to occur.  
• Aluminium Cladding: Due to the lightweight yet robust nature of aluminium cladding, manual handling and craneage of aluminium systems are typically easier. This may account for aluminum's prominence in remodeling and refurbishing plans. The lightweight design is perfect for covering the current substrate.  
  When unexpected designs or configurations are sought, aluminium is advantageous because it is very workable and simple to bend on location. Aluminum, therefore, is more suited to daring or futuristic cladding designs. Aluminum cladding is a very flexible design option because it comes in various colours, textures, and sheet lengths.  
  Aluminum has a high coefficient of expansion, which means that it changes size in response to changes in temperature. When employing shorter aluminum spans, this effect is less of an issue (shorter sheets). Specialized bracket systems enable the aluminium to 'slide' as it expands rather than staying rigidly attached in places where long individual sheet lengths are desired.  
• Copper Cladding: Copper has been used in construction for a long time. It is regarded for its inherent resistance to corrosion and the striking colour variations that occur as copper cladding ages and develops with its environment. As its protective patina forms, copper changes from its reddish elemental form to darker colours of brown. Once the copper's exterior layer has entirely oxidized, copper will continue to have its recognizable green patina finish for many years.   

High-Quality Metal Cladding & Facades with Metaguise  

Metaguise offers a seamless experience and produces exquisitely constructed modular metal art and architecture e.g., elevation cladding projects. Our products, made of alloys of aluminium, are expertly manufactured and maintain an accuracy of up to 3 mm. Every building's facade is specifically tailored using Solidworks, Rhino, Grasshopper, and AutoCAD. We create kinetic and parametric structures and a broad range of forms.  

Conclusion  

All metal elevation cladding systems are highly durable, need little upkeep, and completely withstand rain. Due to their endurance, they are frequently marketed with lengthy warranties (sometimes 30 years or more). Some best practices need to be taken into consideration to achieve this lifespan.