What Is Recladding And When Do You Need To Do It?

The construction industry has made recladding a priority. The replacement of old, damaged, or non-compliant facade cladding can significantly increase the life span and safety of a building. However, it is vital to understand compliance laws as they relate to facade recladding.

Installers, builders, and architects must have a thorough understanding of cladding, its purpose, and how it can be disposed of in a sustainable manner.

What is recladding? When do you need to do it?

Recladding involves removing an existing facade from a building and replacing it with a new one. This process can be required for a variety of reasons. For example, it may be needed to fix damaged facade panels or give a building an updated facade design. Recladding may be required when the cladding starts to degrade, leading to damage to a building.

After combustible panels caused fires in high-rise buildings, recladding is now a major concern for the Australian and International construction industry. Following the discovery that certain types of Aluminium Composite Panels were responsible for these fires, governments around the world have introduced stricter regulations. Many regulatory bodies have banned cladding panels with more than 30% combustible materials.

According to estimates, tens and thousands of square meters of non-compliant exterior cladding on commercial and residential buildings will have to be replaced as a result of stricter Australian legislation. The state governments are conducting cladding audits to identify which buildings need to have non-compliant siding replaced. In the last few years, state governments conducted a state-wide cladding audit, identifying the buildings considered to be moderate-to-high risk. Some of the buildings identified as having combustible exterior cladding are still undergoing rectification work. This highlights the importance of re-cladding.

What you should know before starting a rectification project.

Code of compliance & The laws.

It is important that you understand the building regulations before you embark on a cladding repair project. The National Construction Code (NCC), which is a set of requirements and best practices for building and recladding, outlines the regulations. When choosing a new system of cladding, regulations for thermal performance and waterproofness will be applied.

Code compliance is important to your recladding. The laws that were in place when the old cladding systems were installed could have been changed or updated. It is important to follow the latest regulations and best practices when installing the new system. It is important to comply with fire safety regulations, especially when selecting a material. In Australia, ACPs that have a polyethylene core that is combustible are no longer allowed to be used as cladding materials.

Fire safety laws require that cladding materials be tested more rigorously and that certain facades have compartmentation boundaries to reduce the spread of fire.

Cladding materials.

When it comes to recladding, choosing the right material for your project is crucial. Recladders are now looking for alternatives to plastic-core ACPs and Expanded Polystyrene. These include solid aluminum sheets, ceramic materials, or mineral-core ACPs. Not only should the ideal cladding comply with the building code, but it must also meet the building’s aesthetic requirements and be in line with its needs. Weatherproofing is a key factor in the decision-making process. Cladding products need to be able to resist the conditions that the building faces, like humidity, salt spray, or high temperatures.

Disposal options cladding.

A second important consideration is how to dispose of the old material after it has been removed. The state governments have strict regulations for disposing of combustible materials, such as transporting them in a manner that prevents spontaneous burning and sending them to specially equipped facilities. To reduce the environmental impact of non-compliant materials, it is important to think about how they can be diverted away from landfills.

Recladding is important, but it can also be critical. The plastic-core ACP is hazardous and can be lethal to the building’s inhabitants. It is important to remove potentially flammable cladding, not only for compliance reasons but also out of concern and to ensure safety in the workplace or at home.

Recladding projects: How to reduce the environmental impact.

It is important to think about sustainable disposal when it comes to cladding. In addition to increasing waste, dumping old cladding in landfills also results in more resources being depleted due to the need to source and process new material. In response to these concerns, environmentally-conscious suppliers have implemented ACP recycling programs – such as Eco-loop.

Eco-loop’s separation process is carried out onsite in Australia’s ACP recycling facility. Eco-loop’s unique separation process ensures that all ACP waste components, including cores, aluminum skins, and accessories, are repurposed. This results in a 100% landfill diversion. The panels are broken down into their individual components and sent to various repurposing plants, including aluminum smelters and plastic fabricators, to create new products. Process Engineered Fuels are created from non-recyclable materials to offset the use of coal. This innovative process contributes to cladding rectification and reduces emissions.

EBOOK: Implement a sustainable rectification project.

Each recladding job has its own challenges. Eco-loop Program helps architects, installers, and builders understand how to meet their social, environmental, and compliance obligations and dispose of cladding scrap responsibly.

You can read more about it here.

Building owners, architects, and engineers must navigate a complex and important process when recladding in auckland. Leading industry expert for cladding, staying a breast of all compliance requirements, and providing advice and guidance on all recladding.

Recladding involves more than just replacing the cladding. It also includes disposing of non-compliant materials in a responsible manner. Learn more about Eco-loop and how you can execute a compliant and sustainable rectification project.