When considering Stone Curtain Wall Systems, it is helpful to review the differences between Unitized Curtain Wall Systems and Stick Built Curtain Wall Systems. Here we go.

Unitized systems are typically composed of large glass elements that are built and glazed off-site in a factory setting. Arguably, the major benefit of this approach is the quality control achievable in the environmentally mitigated factory setting. Upon delivery to the jobsite, the units are hoisted into place and anchored to the building appropriately.

Benefits also include speed of installation once material is on-site, reduced actual jobsite labor costs, and greater facility in high rise settings, since the units can be installed from inside the building.

Stick Built systems tend to be used in low and mid-rise settings. Simply put, in this type of curtain wall system, lengths of aluminum are installed between the floors of the building both vertically and horizontally. This serves to transfer the load of the glass back to the structure. As you can see below, this assembly gave rise to the name “stick built.”

Stick curtain wall

Since glazing and erection take place onsite, small jobs and projects with lots of panel variables can benefit from this method. Compared to unitized, lead times are shorter in terms of delivery to the project, but then installation time onsite is longer. Storage space at the project is a factor to consider with stick built walls.

Our Stone Curtain Wall Systems can work in either of the above methods with no problems at all. Thanks for reading!

On another topic, read more about rainscreens here.