Fixings for steel clad buildings

[Hugh Potter]

when i put up 2x 8×4 dibond sheets on this metal clading, i used those hex headed self drilling bolts, the fine threaded ones, not sure if they’re suitable for you application, but worth a look anyways !

hugh

[David Rogers]

Cladding screws………self drilling & do exactly what you need!

try your local Hilti or screwfix for example

http://www.screwfix.com/sfd/i/cat/81/p1221381_l.jpg

[Peter Normington]

I would be a bit carefull of cladding screws for a tray this large.
The cladding itself is very thin, the screws are designed to hold the cladding to the building frame, not to attach stuff to the cladding. Although they are fine for smaller signs, for this job I would fix at least the top rail to an internal purling. If you cant get internal access to use bolts, you can use "butterfly" screws, similar to drywall fixings, but beefier.Screwfix is a good source for "blind" fixings.

Peter

[Rod Gray]

There are 2 types of "cladding" screws.

1 type has a fine, tight thread designed to fix the cladding sheets on to the steel rails of the building.

The Second type is a "stitcher" which has a much wider thread and is designed to "clamp" or "stitch" 2 sheets together.

If you use the fine threaded version to stitch a thin aluminium sign on to thin cladding, there is the risk that you strip the self-tapping thread which means the sign ain`t fixed properly.

Also, if you try to use a "stitcher" type to go trough 5mm steel, you won`t get very far as the threads are too wide and soft.

Just a heads up.

[David Rogers]

Valid points on the fixings & loading. But with enough of them the load is spread very well, and as it’s primarily a ‘deadweight’ they are simply supporting the weight, not any significant twisting or pulling forces. So using EVERY corrogation should be fine an a fixing point – you might even catch some of the ‘girders’ in the subframe.

eg. The sign on the side of our building is 2mm (solid) aluminium sheet held up with cladding fixings. (Course thread type)

https://www.uksignboards.com/files/thumb … .3_190.jpg

it’s 15m x 2.5m – (49′ x 8′ 2") and been up for a couple of years in an exposed area.

Dave

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[Peter Cox]

Thanks for all your advice.

In the past I have used Drywall Screws on each corrugation for light signs, on heavier signs I have added Toggle Bolts as belt and bracers, but this sign is a heavy mother and as I said , I don’t want it to fail.

Cheers Peter

[John Childs]

I have fitted aluminium and dibond panels to metal clad buildings with no problem using just coarse threaded cladding screws. However, a sign tray is likely to be quite a bit heavier and place a lot more load on the building.

It’s all very well saying "use more fixings" but what you have to look at is how many screws are holding the cladding to the building. You could wind up in the situation where the hundred screws you use to hold the sign to the cladding work perfectly but the six holding the cladding to the building frame let go.

I’m with Pete. If in doubt get some fixings onto the frame of the building. I did one once where I simply used some roofing bolts hooked over the angle iron building frame, through the cladding, through my sign and with a nice satisfying washer and nut on the end, clamped up tight.

You don’t need many, four (one per panel) should do it, but if you can get these towards the top of your sign then you have a fail-safe in that even if every cladding screw on the building fails your sign will still hang on these bolts rather than go spinning off down the high street.

[David McDonald]

I usually pop rivet lengths of 1" ‘L’ extrusions of aluminium top and bottom and then use self tappers through the sign tray top and bottom to fix the tray to the angles.

Pop rivets give a very secure fixing – I’d put one in every 1ft they only take seconds to do.

Macky