Putting Up Curtain Walls: Commercial Retail Fabrication

Putting up curtain walls
Necessary steps for stick, unitized installations

August 1, 2007
COMMERCIAL, RETAIL, FABRICATION
The installation of a curtain wall system begins long before the glazier ever gets to the job site.
The general contractor has selected your company to install the wall. The arrangements have
been made for the materials to be delivered to the job site and the wall components have been
shipped.
What follows is a generalization of the procedures involved with erecting a curtain wall system.
By no means is this the only technique of assembling a wall, but this section covers the steps
necessary to install a stick wall and a unitized
wall.
Stick wall installation sequence

Establish control lines. Find out from the
contractor exactly where the stick wall should
go. Bench marks may be painted on the floor
and over the edge of the floors. They must be
visible on all floors before, during and after
the construction of the curtain wall to be used
by all the trades. Bench marks are used as
reference points for measuring the location of
most everything on each floor.
Layout. The layout determines the exact wall

placement by the use of offset lines and
finished floor levels developed from the
control lines established earlier. This
procedure should be checked and double-
checked by more than one person. The curtain
wall must be one continuous plane up and
around the building. Each floor must have the
proper amount of room for attaching anchors.
Even though the floors are not perfectly level
or plumb, the wall must be.
Anchor plates. One of the most important parts of the building’s construction is the placement
and the type of anchors used. Anchor plates are bolted, welded or cast into the structure of the
building. The type of anchors used depends on the type of wall design, the building design and
the load considerations of the wall.
Most steel beam construction has the anchors bolted or welded on to the structural beams. In
concrete construction impediments or weld plates are cast into the concrete floor. This allows the
anchors to be welded or bolted to a steel anchor, instead of being separately anchored into the
concrete at each location.
The location of the anchors must be precise. The “make it work” theory does not prevail in this
type of construction. Do not use a hand full of washers to make a bolt fit or attach an anchor
extender because the anchor was in the wrong location. Forcing anchors causes poor quality and
weakness in the buildings and curtain wall construction.
Check materials. The materials should arrive on site during the process. Make arrangements
with the contractor prior to their arrival for storage locations or for the materials to be hoisted to
the proper floors as they arrive. Most metal components should be positioned on the proper floor
as they are unloaded from the trucks. Due to the weight of the glass units they should be
positioned next to the columns as they are to be installed. Proper positioning of the materials will
help cut down on continued handling and loss due to damage.
Erect mullions. The verticals usually are the first item to be installed. These must be positioned
plumb and accurately. The verticals usually are about 20 feet to 25 feet and joined by stacking
one on top of the other. Splice sleeves are used to join the mullions. The mullions are
semiplumbed and placed on a plane, and the anchors are fastened but not tightened. Once the
mullions are perfectly plumb and on the same plane, the bolts are tightened all the way. The next
mullion is installed on top of the previous one and so on.
Install horizontals. After all the vertical mullions are in place and secured, install the
horizontals. Use the manufacturer’s installation instructions because horizontals can be anchored
one of many ways: by clips, screw spline or brackets. The wall could also have certain areas that
must be sealed now. Be sure to follow the proper procedures for this step. Once the wall is built,
it is difficult to correct a mistake.
Seal the corners: Where a wall meets a

jamb or corner, pre-packaged flashing
and sealing units usually are supplied
by the manufacturer and should be used
or followed. If the system develops a
leak and you did not follow the
manufacturer’s instructions, your
company will probably be liable for the
damages and the responsibility of fixing
the problem.
Glaze the wall. The curtain wall can be

glazed using different techniques. The
wall could be designed for outside
glazing or inside glazing. The framing
members could accommodate 1⁄4-inch glass and spandrels to 1-inch insulating glass units or
laminated glass products. Generally, these types use a pressure type system. In this system, the
glazing retainers and caps must be removed from the outside of the building. The use of
scaffolding or suspended scaffolding is necessary to install glass in these situations.
Trim. Once the system has been completed, the exterior glazing caps and final sealants should
be applied and installed. The interior usually only requires the installation of drywall caps and
retainers.
Unitized walls
In the case of a unitized wall, the pre-assembled units are hoisted to the proper location in
sequence, snapped together to provide the interlock and anchored to the structure. They snap and
interlock to form a solid unit. The layout and other details of the stick system apply to the
unitized wall as well.
Summary
Metal curtain walls, using glass, allow the architect to make a dramatic statement in the design of
a building. The popularity of the curtain wall, regardless of the installation system, puts it in
great demand. For all its beauty and flexibility, the curtain wall is a major engineering
undertaking. For the glass curtain wall to work successfully, it is necessary that everyone
involved with its design and construction be aware of the many factors that govern its success.
From the architect and wall manufacturer, to the glazier tightening the pressure plates and
snapping the covers, all have a role to play. Each role is important, because a mistake anywhere
along the line can create a problem.

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Putting up curtain walls

Necessary steps for stick, unitized installations

Stick wall installation sequence

Layout. The layout determines the exact wall

Seal the corners: Where a wall meets a

Glaze the wall. The curtain wall can be

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