AWARDED: Passive House Certificate
ECO Cladding is honored to announce that we were awarded the first Passive House Certificate Façade Anchoring System for Rainscreens in North America in 2020. Passive House Certification is a building standard established by the Passive House Institute and recognized worldwide by the International Passive House Association that recognizes components and systems that achieve a high level of energy efficiency while providing comfort and affordability. Passive House is a path toward achieving a net-zero building. A “net-zero energy building produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of nonrenewable energy in the building sector.”
A drained and back ventilated rainscreen is a damp and dynamic environment that requires the highest quality materials. Our aluminum is a 6063 T6 architectural grade product that provides a level of corrosion resistance that is superior to other rainscreen attachment metals such as galvanized steel or galvalume. This is especially important for open jointed systems that can allow moisture flow into the ventilated cavity.
All of our Alpha brackets are extruded with 6063-T6, copper-free, and “marine-grade” aluminum. The aluminum is a silvery-white, nonmagnetic, ductile metal. Aluminum is the #1 most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust, chief ore is bauxite and the third most abundant element. The material has a density of 2.7kg/m3, is lightweight, and stronger than steel. The malleable qualities of aluminum make it perfect to extrude. Aluminum can go places and create shapes that steel cannot, often forming deeper or more intricate shapes. For rainscreen applications, the non-corrosive nature of aluminum makes it a perfect material to use. Since aluminum is more elastic than steel, it is especially ideal for creating precise parts for deep and straight walls and is efficient to fabricate with most punching and extrusion machines. Aluminum is the preferred material of curtainwalls and will become the same for sub-framing systems in North America.