No Clips or Gaskets!

Why use a system that requires ANY clips or gaskets?

We are frequently asked why our NeaCera® Terra-cotta Rainscreen Solutions require NO CLIPS OR GASKETS. The real question should be, “Why use a system that requires any CLIPS or GASKETS?”

NeaCera® uses a unique Lift & Lock Installation system that was designed to eliminate having to use any clips.

Imagine a 45,000-sf terra-cotta rainscreen project using 12” x 36” hollow-core panels. (You would not want to go larger than this because of the panel weight: up to 45-lbs/panel.) There will be at least 2, if not 3, clips (dependent on whose system you might use) required to secure and lock each panel in place. Each panel is 3-sf, so there are 15,000 panels to be installed. At 3-clips per panel, you will need to order 50,000-clips (at least 10% overage for lost or broken clips). (By the way, that might also translate into drilling 55,000 drill-holes in the aluminum sub-construction as well.) This will require at least 2 skilled craftsmen to install the panels at your skilled craftsman’s hourly labor-rate.

Why would I need to add as much as 10% overage? Imagine that your Installer is 10-stories up on a swing-stage, when he knocks over his bucket of clips. Does he:

a) go down to ground level and collect up all the fallen clips before resuming with the installation; or
b) call down for a new bucket full to be sent up to him?

You have entered a CLIP-FREE zone!

Using NeaCera® lighter weight panels with its unique Lift & Lock installation, you can use a larger panel size – 12” x 60”, for example – as it will only weigh 37-lbs/panel. Now you only have to install 9,000 panels. You will be required to order exactly ZERO CLIPS and you will need drill precisely ZERO DRILL-HOLES. As no power tools are required, it is possible to install panels using unskilled labor. This will require ONE UNSKILLED LABORER to install the panels for you.

Our experienced Installers tell us that using unskilled laborers, they can install NeaCera® panels at the rate of 80-sf/hour. They can only install around 40-sf/hour with the hollow-core systems – and even less than that if the panels are any larger than 3- to 4-sf.

So…why use a system that requires any CLIPS or GASKETS?