This allows joints to remain open and air to be transferred without visible anchors. The stone fabricator creates slots in the back of the stone pieces for the anchors to fit into. A track system combines wall anchors to support kerf-cut thin stone and works essentially as a clip configuration that allows the stone to be attached to an aluminum or stainless-steel rail with a Type 31 anchor.įunctioning like a tension anchor, the anchor in a track system remains hidden behind the stone and doesn’t sit in the kerf at the edge of the piece. The track-type system is perhaps the most widely used way of securing stone to a rainscreen system. The two most common hanging methods include a track-type system and a rebated kerf design to provide the seamless appearance of unexposed anchors with the strength required to hold granite in place in a rainscreen securely. One of the design team’s primary concerns with anchors for a rainscreen system is keeping them unexposed. Air transfers back and forth, eliminating the buildup of moisture or condensation between the cladding and the building. Rainscreen systems keep buildings moisture-free with open joints that create a breathing exterior skin for the building. When moisture builds up in the air gap, gravity pulls it down to the base course of the building, where channels weep the moisture toward the outside. In a traditional cladding system for stone, anchors connect each cladding piece, and a 1- to 2-inch (2.54- to 5.08-cm) air gap lies between the cladding and the building. When specifying stone for a rainscreen system, it’s important to understand the anchoring systems that work best with the building’s design. By understanding the details of the systems, a team can confidently specify granite for a rainscreen. With today’s rainscreen cladding systems designed specifically to incorporate natural stone, granite can provide a long-lasting, beautiful option for building designs.
Is granite too heavy for a rainscreen system? What kind of anchoring details are required? Will the stone panels remain secure? Can I be confident that a rainscreen with granite will remain low maintenance for years to come? Stone can provide great performance with a rainscreen design, yet design teams often have many questions about incorporating them. However, when an upscale finish or greater design freedom is desired, granite offers an ideal solution. These open joint systems gained popularity in recent years for their benefits to a building’s lifetime performance, with terracotta and metal comprising the most common selections for the cladding material. While open joint, or rainscreen, cladding systems have become an industry standard, many design teams overlook the opportunity of incorporating natural stone into the plan. Photos courtesy of Michael Grimm Photography
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