Securing Cladding to Girts from Inside of Building

[canwesteng]

We seem to have quite a few experts on building envelope on the forum, and I most certainly am not one of them. I'm trying to work out a detail to fix cladding to the girts from the inside of the building. The cladding comes up in sheets (pre assembled where insulated cladding is required) and then is screwed to the girts. I have come up with a less than elegant solution of screwing the cladding to subgirts and then sliding it into place and screwing it in. Alternately, if some kind of expanding screw is available that could be a better solution, but I need to find a suitable screw first. My sketch is attached, does anyone see glaring flaws or room for improvement?

 

[jjl317]

Having spent a considerable amount of time in the cladding industry, I can't think of an instance where the cladding sheets were installed from the inside of the building. How is the building sealed for air/water infiltration?

Or, do you mean that the goal is to pre-attach the cladding sheets to some type of framing, then attach to the building (with the air/water barrier at the face of the building, and the cladding and framing to the exterior)?

 

[canwesteng]

Well, there are two systems that I'l looking to apply the detail to. The first is a single sheet FRP system for an uninsulated building, so the building is not sealed for air infiltration (the design should be wind proof/water proof but not air tight). The second system is an exterior metal panel, with insulation and sub girts connecting to a metal liner with sealed joints. So the most feasible option in my mind is to preassemble these sheet on the ground with a frame attached, and the frame connects to the girts (like the first option in my sketch). Once these panels are lifted into place, the joints can be sealed and some small amount of insulation and cladding is added to cover the joint.

 

[jjl317]

One system that I have used in the past (with ultra high strength concrete panels) utilizes a proprietary interlocking aluminum extrusions, in which the outer half is pre-installed to the panel, and the inner half mounts to the existing structure (typically vertical girt, accommodating in/out adjustment, and room for insulation). The panels are set bottom to top, and have at least two rows of horizontal extrusions with the upper including a jacking bolt for up/down adjustment, and dead load support (lower rows resist lateral loads perpendicular to the panel). Maybe more involved than you are looking for, but the feedback from the field was very good. I have attached a rough (actually very rough) sketch, that hopefully explains it better.