Façade

• Blocks should not be soiled, chipped, broken or too wet, but saturated before construction.
• Cement for mortar should be fresh. Sand free from contaminant and excess moisture.
• Use of a workable mortar of specific mix. Re-tempering is allowed as per instruction by adding a small amount of water. A too strong mortar suffers from shrinkage crack and very low cement content leads to poor durability.

• Layout, straightness, overall thickness, level of bed joints etc should not deviate beyond the specified standard.
• Height for a day’s work should not cross the prescribed limit. Else bulging, buckling, over-stressing of lower joints take place.
• For cavity wall, cavity should be kept clean from all discarded mortar or debris to avoid moisture bridging in later stage.

• Uniform pointing of 15mm throughout the wall for a better key for finishes on wall.

Various pointing (L to R): flashed struck, keyed & recessed

• Curing is required for development of bond strength.
• The fall in the cavity drain should be maintained and checked for leakage or blockage.

• Quality checking same as brick masonry.
• Proper units shall be used for all windows, doors, bond beams, lintels, pilasters etc. with a minimum of unit cutting.

• Any unavoidable cut must be neat and with power driven saw.
• Intersecting walls shall be bonded by staggering the joints, with use of min 1/4″ dia. ties at 24” max spacing and metal lathe.
• Unlike bricks, the blocks are hollow and mortar should be carefully placed on top of block, but not to fall into the void.
• Alignment, level, plumbness and uniform thickness of 3/8” of mortar should be maintained.

• Block masonry is often left un-plastered. Any spillage of mortar should be removed to obtain a neat and clean surface.
• Pointing and curing same as brick masonry.

• Visual inspection of all supplied products for deviation within permissible limit or any defect such as crack, chipping etc.
• Stored in clean, dry area with hard and level ground for organized storage to avoid overloading, cracking, warping, chipping, staining etc.
• Panels are transported horizontally and installed vertically. The stress on panels during such handlings can be reduced by using a tilting platform.

• Once placed at proper location, structural connections and in-situ casting (if any) should be made as soon as possible. Else damage or corrosion occurs.
• Specific tolerance between the panels and structure should be maintained to keep the deviation within acceptable range.
• Fixing on all three directions should be avoided. Else restraint occurs.
• Special care should be taken for few points such as, connection at corner, contact of gasket with panel in case of two stage air sealed joint.

• Adequate curing of substrate to avoid shrinkage cracks. Else it sucks water from plaster or water based paints.
• Moisture content should not exceed 6%.
• Removal of sand, dirt, dust, loose unsound particles or curing agent.

• Cement should be fresh. Sand free from contaminant and excess moisture.
• Use of a workable mortar of specific mix. Re-tempering is allowed as per instruction by adding a small amount of water.

• Tools should be clean to achieve a smooth and dense surface.
• A uniform thickness should be maintained using concrete blocks. But the external edges should be rounded off to avoid chipping.
• Curing is required for min 7 days.

• Adequate curing of substrate to avoid shrinkage cracks. Else it sucks water from plaster or water based paints.
• Moisture content should not exceed 6%.
• Cleaning to remove sand, dirt, dust or loose unsound particles.

• Prolonged storing, inadequate stirring, use of incompatible solvent/ thinner or mixing with leftover paints from previous batches should be avoided.

• Tools should be clean and proper method as per manufacturers instruction.
• The fittings on walls should have received a primer or antirust coat.
• Intermittent testing of wet film thickness and DFT.
• Curing as per specification.

• The substrate should be cured, rendered, and cleaned.  If the evenness is not enough, screed is applied on saturated surface dry (SSD) base. Slurry coat for floor and splash coat for RC wall are applied.
• Screed of right mix (pre-packed type better) is applied usually in 2 layers (<15mm each on wall, roughened and dried for 24 hours to moisture content < 6%. Else specialist finishes are recommended.
• Flatness is maintained by plumb and limiting screed bay to 4-5m and should match with the movement joints.
• Sand, dirt, dust or loose unsound particles are removed without damaging the waterproofing (if any).

• Checking for dimension variance, cracks, warp, chip and non-squareness.
• Careful cutting, smoothening of edge and handling to avoid damage.
• Soaking of ceramic tiles to SSD condition before lying. For adhesive bonding, tiles or bed should not be wetted.
• Impregnation of absorbent stones with water repellent sealer at front to avoid watermarks. No sealer (works as bond breaker) at back.
• The back is kept contaminant-free and proper key provided.

• Adhesive and mortar must be within pot-life and setting time respectively. Chosen as per tile manufacturer’s specification.
• Spread of bedding < 1 sq.m. or open-time of bedding product.
• Tiled shouldn’t be laid on cracks and movement joints brought to surface.
• Tiles are tapped on mortar bed. Use of spirit level, plastic spacer etc ensures uniformity in tiling.
• Excess bedding material from tile surface and excess mortar from joints –esp. movement joints are brushed off.
• Few sampled tiles are turned to check completeness of coverage.
• Consistency in size, thickness of skirting, pointing, and alignment of joint should be checked.

• Applied only after sufficient curing of the bedding mortar. Usually between 24-48 hrs for wall or as per supplier.
• Tiles to be saturated beforehand to prevent migration of grout pigments into the tile pores except for resin-based / polymer-modified grouts.
• For colour consistency, grouting in one area is done in one operation.
• A proper mix is to be spread over the entire tiled surface and pressed with rubber float to make it uniformly flow along the joint and fill up all voids.
• Excess grout should be wiped off immediately to avoid staining of tiles.

• The consistency in size, thickness of skirting, pointing.
• Alignment of joints.
• Evenness, cleanliness and colour tone of surface.
• Any sign of chipping, cracking, and hollowness.

• Covered immediately with water resistant and non-staining material. (polythene sheets, cardboards or wooden boards etc) to prevent abrasion, impact or droppings from sub-sequent construction activities.
• Tiles should not be subjected to any loading / vibration unless set.

• Structural frame is checked before installation.
• Correct tool (drill, torque, spanner etc) and accessories (washer, spacer, resin, components etc) are arranged.
• Fixing components upon delivery to site are checked for number, type and conformity.
• For bonded fixing, resin is prepared by using specified mixing technique, time and temperature. Shelf life of resin and grouts should not be exceeded.
• Panels are stored in a cool dry place and handled as per manufacturer’s instruction to avoid physical damage or corrosion.
• Pre-fitted lugs of cast-in fixings should not be bent by mishandling.
• Quality check for any dent, crack, colour inconsistency of panels.

• Primary fixings are set as per shop drawing without any field modification – use of field fabricated product, omission of movement joints, mixing two material causing galvanic corrosion, adjustment in packing or hole location.
• For post-drilled fixing, holes should be drilled perpendicular to the face of structure unless otherwise specified to the required depth. Holes are cleaned with blow out pump and round brush.
• For cast-in method, fixings are positioned with T-head bolt, and then concrete is poured. Fixing should never be inserted after concreting.
• For bonded injection anchor, adequate curing time is required.
• Final checking of critical points such as packing thickness within limits, edge distance, tightness of bolts, washers are installed to allow load distribution from nut to angle, bracket or cramp.

• Panels those are cut and formed from same sheets should be placed in the same orientation to have better colour matching.
• The setting out is controlled by using the spacers or jigs mounted on supporting framework. It helps proper alignment of joints.
• Overlapping is preferred to cutting of the sheet. This is for better strength, weather resistance and alignment of joints.
• Fixing on all sides / at middle is never allowed. It forms thermal restraint.
• Special attention given to the edge of sheets for workmanship. Minimum edge distance prevents warping.

• Joint faces are thoroughly cleaned by grit blasting / other mechanical means.
• Any sign of rust should be removed and the substrate is treated with a compatible anti rust paint.
• If faces are not dry, a thermally insulating separator should precede pouring of sealant.
• Joint filler material such as board (If used) should fill the whole width.
• For movement joints, a bond breaker (e.g. polypropylene tape) between sealant and filler should be placed so that sealant is not restrained during closing and opening of joints.
• Masking tapes on sides of joints are used to obtain a neat finish.
• The primer should not be omitted if it is specified.

• Quality should be checked to be of acceptable standard.
• For hot sealant, a correct temperature should be maintained for proper adhesion.
• For two parts sealant, thorough mixing at right proportion and at right speed as per manufacturer’s instruction.

• A nozzle that fits exactly in the joint slot should be used.
• Pouring should not be too slow to form beads or too high to be discontinuous.
• A single run is preferred. For deeper sections, more than one run is applied only when the previous run is hard, dry and cleaned.
• Finally, the masking tape is removed and joint is tooled. This is essential to ensure a compact and full application.
• For places with significant temperature variance, the surface is flashed.
• Sealant should be fully cured before putting into operation.

Sealant application: scraping, masking tape removal, tooling