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TcLip system from Engineered Assemblies. august 2015 | 37 Metal Roofi ng/Cladding By eliminating installation stages on-site, like membranes for the vapour barrier, sub-girts and insulating cladding panels, IMPs can reduce installation time by up to 75 per cent, Merrick says. He points to a project that saved time and money by using a IMP system instead of aluminum composite material (ACM). "We achieved the look the client wanted, as well as the timeline, with a foam-insulated metal panel system." Tight schedules for on-site work are also spurring demand for roll-formed sys- tems, he says. A recent transit project in B.C. used a roll-formed Kalzip roof for its stations. "Some of the roofs are 160-feet long. For that, we roll-formed on-site in aluminum sheets. We were able to roll-form curves to joint sections and that way the roof looks like it has a continuous band." In the early 2000s and up until the recession, the metal cladding sector had been growing at an average of about eight per cent per year, Merrick says. He adds that the recovery has started to once again see the growth of the sector. Increasingly, cladding installation outfits are buying roll-forming machines. "They can then buy the metal, with all the specs – colour, gauge, finish, etc. – all spec'd by the design authority involved, and then roller-bend the metal to the profile required. They can do a wide range of profiles," says Rob Harris, technical manager with the Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia (RCABC). A variant on low-profile standing seam, perhaps the most common type of sloped metal roofing, is called snap-lock. It is gaining popularity as it improves fastening speed and hides the fastener. "Because of a slight spring action, no seaming tool is required. That means more rapid installation. It's about twice as fast to install. A curved roof could be difficult with this system, so you're mostly limited to a flat panel system. With on-site roll-forming and snap-lock, there's almost no waste and it's a lot faster," says Harris. Because of an architectural sheet metal apprenticeship program in both roofing and cladding at RCABC, more highly trained installation specialists should soon be widely available. The program has a Red Seal Standard so journeyman can ply their trade interprovincially. "It's a full ticket, not just part of a regular sheet metal worker trade certificate," Harris says. Better overall quality and envelope performance are also helped by the improved design found in many of today's metal roofing and cladding systems, which support the integrity of the whole insulation envelope system, says Kerry Gladson, presi- dent of AMCABC and Kerrian Metalhouse Ltd., a metal roofing and cladding firm. The potential for metal roof- ing and cladding systems to achieve better thermal perfor- mance has increased signifi- cantly with the recent arrival of a range of thermal-break solu- tions. "Two or three years ago there were hardly any products for stopping thermal bridging in the cladding. Now, there are lots of solutions. It's happened fast, but it seems that many are still not aware of it," says Blair Davies, VP and general manager at Engineered Assemblies Inc. With tighter energy codes and other measures, B.C., Ontario and the Maritimes have so far put the most emphasis on the issue, Davies says. Engineered A ssemblies, a specialist in building envelopes, includes among its products a thermally-broken, non-combus- tible TcLip that is compliant with ASHRAE 90.1 2010. Not only do such devices improve thermal performance, they can cut costs through greater on-site construc- tion efficiency. "Installation of many envelope systems is sped up with a thermally- broken TcLip, especially if it's adjustable. It can address alignment issues between floors and speed up construction," says Davies. To help broadcast the message about the availability of solutions to stop thermal bridging, the company has done presentations at 14 trade shows and conferences to groups of architects.

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