Solutions and products - Rural construction - Farm Building

Reliable wall made of panels

Sandwich panels are perfect for construction of walls and roofs of farm buildings, enabling extremely fast development of such facilities.

Experts in the field of construction believe that farming in Poland can develop even more rapidly, if farmers become convinced of the advantages offered by sandwich panels. The problem lies, however, in the traditional, stereotypical beliefs of Polish farmers and their affection for traditional building methods. Erecting any building, a typical farmer wants it to serve not only him, but also his children, grandchildren and their kids. In the countries with highly developed farming industry, particularly in the USA, Canada and Australia, the time horizon for every construction project is totally different. A facility is expected to be built quickly and remain usable until a given production profile ceases to be profitable. More and more European farmers are adopting this way of thinking. Farm buildings cannot be too expensive and investments must be completed quickly, so that you do not have to wait to long for the returns. It is also recommended that the facilities can be used for other purposes during weaker periods in the market. Is it easy to adapt a piggery constructed of bricks or hollow blocks into a warehouse or a commercial workshop? Certainly not. On the other hand, you can quickly and easily adapt a building made of sandwich panels, so a piggery can be turned into a chicken coop, a mushroom growing room, a warehouse for storage of fruit or a garage, which will require no more than minor technical adjustments and some additional equipment.

Custom-sized building

Buildings made of sandwich panels can be ordered in sizes specified by the client. More and more manufacturers offer complete designs of farm buildings, including full sets of materials; the buildings have usually modular structure, which facilitates their further development, along with the development of the farming activity. Ready-made wall components supplied directly to the construction site are mounted on a steel structure, i.e. the frame of the building. The process takes no more than several working days of a team consisting of a few workers. The longest stage of the development is the preparation of the construction site and the foundations, since taking into account safety requirements applicable to cattles or piggeries, it is recommended that the panels are mounted on foundation walls reaching 120 cm over the ground level. A sandwich panel consists of steel facing and a core. The core is a thick layer of insulating material (Styrofoam, mineral wool or polyurethane foam) faced with steel sheet on both sides. Cold (i.e. not insulated) buildings are constructed of trapezoidal steel panels (thickness: 0.50 – 1.25 mm) galvanised and painted with protective polyester lacquer on both sides. If humidity-sensitive goods will be stored in the building, the roofing sheet should have anti-condensation coating on the inner side, in order to prevent condensed water vapour falling from the ceiling.

Wall insulation

Polyurethane foam offers the most advantageous thermal properties. Encapsulated in tight coating, the foam is not exposed to weather conditions, humidity or rodents. Thermal conductivity of a wall made of such panels is 0.025 W/mK, i.e. over 30% better than in the case of panels with Styrofoam core, which are still quite “warm”, despite being the “coldest” of all sandwich panels. If we compare walls erected of traditional ceramic materials (bricks, hollow blocks, concrete blocks) and walls made of panels with Styrofoam core, the latter will definitely get a higher score in keeping heat inside the buildings. One centimetre of Styrofoam in a sandwich panel provides equal thermal insulation as 7 cm of aerated concrete, 19 cm of full brick or 25 cm of silicate brick. The results of such a comparison are even better for sandwich panels with polyurethane core.

Panel facing

Panel facing can be made of stainless steel, which is the best solution for buildings where food is going to be manufactured or processed. There is also a brand new solution available in Poland, i.e. thermo-insulating panels in aluminium foil, providing full protection against adverse impact of ammonia and other aggressive substances that are always present in inventory facilities. Such panels are mounted on the inner side of the building by screwing them to the rafters. In order to compare the costs of development of a building using sandwich panels and traditional materials, we might just count the costs of one square meter of wall made of those materials. Sandwich panels are cheaper not only in the very process of construction, but also during the use of the building in the future. Sandwich panels can be a construction material of many diverse types of farm buildings, such as cattles, piggeries, chicken coops, warehouses, garages, workshops, storage rooms, cold rooms or mushroom growing rooms. The buildings of those materials successfully meet the requirements of all soil and weather conditions. Light structures do not require excessively strong foundations and have high aesthetic quality: sandwich panels are available in a broad range of colour versions and can be painted any colour. They are not easily flammable and polyurethane does not absorb water. The assembly of ready-made components does not require any specialised equipment, since the largest single modules weigh no more than 100 kg. Farmers planning the development of their farm buildings and facilities usually face the most fundamental dilemma: which material should I choose for walls? The range of wall materials available in the market is very broad and sandwich panels are definitely among the best choices.

By: Andrzej Kozak
Source: Dom i Zagroda 1/2008