If your home or building is outfitted with skylights, the long, warm days of summer provide ample light. However, the summertime months are also hailstorm season. If your skylights aren’t protected, you can go from filling your rooms with light, to filling them with rainwater, hail, and other storm-related debris.
Per data from NOAA, from 2005–2015, severe hail causes an average of $1.42 billion in property and crop damage in the United States each year. This is the hail that smashes your windshield, destroys the siding on your house, and causes significant roof damage to businesses. Although Florida experiences the most thunderstorms, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming usually have the most hailstorms. The area where these three states meet – a.k.a. “Hail Alley” averages 7–9 hail days per year; however, almost no area is immune.
Many skylights may be storm or impact rated, however they may not withstand a prolonged event. An added protective measure is to affix a screen made from expanded metal. But why expanded metal? Why not use another type of screen?
Strong with Minimal Shading
Expanded metal is manufactured from a continuous metal coil. Unlike common screens- which are punched to produce openings, expanded metal is simultaneously cut and stretched, requiring with no joints or welds that can work loose. By optimizing the openings, ample sunlight can pass through without compromising the integrity of the protective characteristics.
Cost Savings
You get more finished product than you started with! Since it is cut and stretched instead of punched to produce the openings, the typical yield of finished product from raw material is 3-1, and oftentimes greater. No welding, joining, binding, etc. is required. This eliminates additional manufacturing costs typically associated with other products.
Multiple Designs
Expanded metal designs are not limited to a diamond-shaped pattern. Unlike other options that are limited to one design, many decorative patterns are available to complement existing architectural elements. It can also be powder coated, painted, or formed from different metals such as aluminum, steel, and copper.
HOW WALLNER EXPAC CAN HELP
For close to 60 years, Wallner Expac has been listening to and partnering with industry professionals to create solutions. We have the proven knowledge and skills to design and manufacture expanded metal for multiple industries and specialized applications. With five global manufacturing plants, state-of-the-art tool room, and an on-site Engineering and Design Team, we provide a full range of creative and metal forming services.
To discover more uses for expanded metal with skylights, visit our Literature & Resource section or contact Manuel Menchaca, Sr. Marketing Manager at mmenchaca@expac.com or 909.481.8800
