An overview of Knauf AQUAPANEL® Cement Board
Knauf experts, Mark Sandford and Richard Lord, discussed the benefits of AQUAPANEL® at the Knauf Clerkenwell showroom during Clerkenwell Design Week 2021.
The Knauf AQUAPANEL® range of cement boards includes products for inside and outdoors, that offer significant performance advantages for all types of building.
The boards themselves have an aggregated Portland cement core with coated glass fibre mesh embedded in the front and back surfaces. Their edges are rounded (EasyEdge™), reinforced and finished smoothly.
AQUAPANEL® boards are 100% water-resistant; they are resistant to moisture, weathering, mould and mildew. They do not contain any organic matter so do not swell or change shape and they are dimensionally stable so there is no movement or cracking. The boards are non-combustible and impact resistant. They can also be curved with a bending radius of 1m at full board size.
The boards are safe and hygienic to use, they can be scored and snapped minimising dust and negating the need to take mechanical tools on site.
Knauf AQUAPANEL® comes in a number of different forms:
AQUAPANEL® Cement Board Outdoor
- Ideal exterior render carrier board
- Freeze-thaw cycle proven
- BBA certified
- Non-combustible – building material class A1
- Recommended carrier for 20 render manufacturers
AQUAPANEL® Cement Board Indoor
- Known as a tile backer in the industry
- Recent weight reduction of boards from 15 to 11kg/m²
- Faster installation with improved score and snap technique for easy cutting
- Supports tiling up to 50 kg per m²
- Non-combustible – building material class A1
AQUAPANEL® Cement Board SkyLite
- One cement board for external and internal ceiling use
- Lightweight for above-head installation
- Complete system with finishing products
AQUAPANEL® Cement Board Floor Tile Underlay
- Ideal thin substrate for underlaying tiled floors
- Best solution for very low floor heights with only 6mm board thickness
- Suitable for all types of tiles
- Easy to screw-fix with no pre-drilling required
AQUAPANEL® Cement Board Rooftop
- This is the newest AQUAPANEL® product
- Used as a component part of a Flat Roof System Providers System
- A1 non-combustible
- 6mm board used as cover board:
- Protect waterproofing membrane and insulation from punctures and heavy loads (hailstones, foot traffic or industrial equipment)
- Enhanced wind-uplift performance
- Separation of combustible insulation materials and waterproofing layer
- 12.5mm board used as substrate board:
- Working platform for roofers
- Mimics a concrete deck
- No damage of the vapour barrier during installation
- Thinner flat roof design by bridging deep crimps of steel deck
- Increased sound insulation
Moving away from building with brick and block, and building instead with an AQUAPANEL® Outdoor boarded cladding system has several benefits for all stakeholders:
- Architects – provides greater design flexibility to create curved lightweight structures.
- Building merchants – lightweight and stackable, and can be carried on smaller lorries for delivery
- Contractors – less storage required than brick and block equivalent, and can be left outside or even on scaffolding
- Installers – it’s lightweight and easy to use, easily cut and no pre-drilling required
- Building owner – an AQUAPANEL® exterior with render increases internal floor space by 5% compared with using a block and render finish
Knauf AQUAPANEL® Cement Boards have been used in a number of high profile building projects including the London Olympic Stadium, the Iceberg Skating Palace at the Sochi Olympics and the Audi Ring in Frankfurt. What could it do for your project? Visit the Sochi Olympics case study: https://www.knauf.co.uk/project-showcase/case-studies/2021/07/22/18/52/winter-olympic-venue-incorporates-aquapanel-technology
To watch the presentation in full, visit the Knauf AQUAPANEL® Video of the event here.
