Frequently Asked Questions about the Baupanel® System construction system

Main questions about the Baupanel® System – construction system, advantages, assembly, regulations, insulation level, budgets etc.

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THE SYSTEM

The Building System

What materials make up the Baupanel® System?

The central core of the panel is made up of expanded polystyrene with a density of 15 kg/m3 – 25 kg/m3 that is cut in an undulated way to improve the adherence of the concrete when discharged.

The mentioned EPS core is flanked with meshes of straight and/or corrugated steel, depending on the kind of panel, which are linked together by a series of connectors that go through the EPS core.

Once the micro-concrete has been discharged, and because of the steel connectors, the panel will act like a compound section before the external loadings.

Is Baupanel® a pre-fabricated system?

Baupanel® is not a prefabricated system. It could be much better defined as an industrialized or semi-prefabricated system, because the panel is made in the factory and delivered with the exact length according to its position in the building design. The micro-concrete is discharged on site.

The main advantages are:

  • Greater flexibility in the building works if it is necessary to reform the project.
  • The setting out can be done with lower accuracy than in prefabricated system.
  • Since the micro-concrete is discharged on site, there is a total lack of joints (except for the structural ones each 40 m), etc.

Previously, it would be carried out by cutting up of the building, or detailed panellizing, with a list of the different types and lengths of the panels to be manufactured.

Up to how many floors can a building be built with Baupanel®?

The Baupanel® System has no regulatory limitations regarding the height of buildings that can be built. The limitations only result from the respective structural calculation and other external factors such as the type of soil on which it should be laid.

Currently, Baupanel® System is the only 3D construction system in Europe that can be considered as a traditional rationalized system.

Baupanel® System has proceeded, as corresponds every 5 years to the renewal of its Technical Suitability Document No. 558/10 that remained in force until the issuance of the new document that was granted on February 15, 2017 with its new identification that adds the letter R and the year of issue: 558R / 17

How many years has Baupanel® System been in the market?

Buildings using this system have been erected all over the world since the 1970s.

Building Applications

Being a system that works through load-bearing walls, what types of buildings can be executed with Baupanel®?

Baupanel® System has many applications. It is a system of load-bearing walls, but it is compatible with free plants using auxiliary concrete or metal structures that integrate perfectly with the system.

An example would be a very modulated residential building on all its floors with a diaphanous basement where the walls of Load have no place. The solution would be to use the structure in loading frames. In the Technical Department specific construction details have been developed for these cases, which have to be studied individually.

Another possibility is to use the system as a facade cladding in buildings with conventional structure, obtaining very good performance in the placement, as well as excellent insulation thermal and acoustic, as well as a gain in useful surface.

Can Baupanel System be used as retention of land?

Yes. Simple Panels can be used as retention of land up to 3 meters high, according to the DIT. The panels would be of the kind BPR (with integrated corrugated reinforcement).

For greater heights, we could use the Double Panel type BPD (with a central core of armed concrete).

System Advantages

Do I save with the use of Baupanel®?

  • Time saving (above all with repetitive elements).
  • Cost saving (we can do without many heavy machinery traditionally used in the building works. Time saving is equal to cost saving).
  • Personnel saving (very few people are needed to erect buildings).
  • Energy saving (During the useful life of the building, there is an important energy saving thanks to the insulation capacity of the System and, therefore, we save money in conditioning).

How do I get a larger living space on a house?

Totally true, since we solve our facade walls by meeting the thermal and acoustic requirements of the CTE with only 17.50 cm, compared to at least 25 cm of traditional solutions. From the accumulated experience, we can affirm that a gain of 3 m2 of useful area is produced in a house of 100 m2 of constructed area.

DURING CONSTRUCTION

Panel Assembly

Building Assembly

Do you need assemblers with special knowledge?

The assembly does not require special knowledge of masonry, as it is very simple and methodical. The micro-concrete projection, on the other hand, does require some specialization in the handling of projection machines (plaster, for example).

In Spain, our technical team carry out on-site training and, after checking the learning, you can carry out approvals from authorized Baupanel® System installers.

On international building, we do provide our manufactured building materials and our technical printed guidelines, but we do train building companies on-site.

How much do a wall and a slab of Baupanel® weigh?

The mass of the walls built with Baupanel® System is approximately 180 Kp / m2 and that of the slabs is approximately 215 Kp / m2.

Which thicknesses are more often used in walls and frameworks? How are those thicknesses defined?

For external facings, we employ panels with a core of 10cm minimum of EPS that, together with the discharged concrete, with a wall section of 17,50 cm (taking into account an environmental exposure class IIa).

This thickness can be used in Spain without having to add any linings or cavity walls, as the thermal transmittance value fulfils the CTE DB-HE (Energy Save Basic Document Building Technical Code) standard in all the national territory.

Nevertheless, by clients’ request and due to design reasons, a greater wall thickness could be used.

If the panel works as a bending stress (as a land retaining wall) the thickness will be established by calculation in order to bear the earth pressure.

In the case of the frameworks, it will be carried out by a pre-dimensioning of the edge according to the main spans of the building to be built with this System. That section will later be checked by calculation. The maximum section of framework elements type BPF is 28 cm (5cm of compression layer, EPS core of 20 cm thick and lower concrete layer of 3 cm thick).

How many people are needed to erect a building with Baupanel® System?

Very few people and machinery is necessary to build with Baupanel® System.

Two people are enough to erect a detached house of 100 m2 with one floor in just nearly 4 weeks. Furthermore, the building works can do without expensive fixed cranes and two people can easily move one panel.

Why the framework panels do not touch the walls during the assembly of the system?

In the assembly phase, the frameworks are supported by angular meshes and they are separated by a few centimetres from the bearing walls in order not to interrupt the concrete sections of the walls along its height; otherwise, the walls would have to be cut causing a weakening line on them along its vertical course.

How long have the frameworks to be shored up?

It must follow the instructions of the EHE-08 standard where this matter is defined. It also depends very much on the weather.

Usually, the frameworks are left shored up for approximately 15 days, although it depends on the Project and Site Management’s judgement.

How are the movement joints settled?

Baupanel® System has a special panel for movement joints or shared walls. The side facing the joint or the shared wall has a double mesh and the concrete is poured in touch with it. The side facing the inside of the building will be of discharged concrete.

The acoustic insulation rate of this panel is 51,30 dBA.

Previously, it is necessary to put a sheet of EPS with a thickness to be defined in the project in order to formalize the very same joint.

How is a building made with Baupanel System calculated?

Calculations are similar to those of the known traditional system. Please, keep in mind that it is armed concrete dimensioned through the methods of material resistance already known in the technical field.

The bearing walls work by simple compression since the frameworks do not transfer momentums to the walls. Thus, it has been checked that in the most requested bearing line of the less favourable point of the building, the admissible tension of the used armed concrete is not surpassed.

The frameworks are plane elements working by simple deflection. The maximum momentum is calculated in the midspan and it is compared with the resistant momentum of the kind of panel chosen for that purpose. If the resistant momentum of the panel surpasses the momentum in the midspan, then it is not necessary to use reinforcements. On the contrary, if the momentum in the midspan surpasses the resistant momentum of the panel, it will be necessary to add reinforcements until reaching the demand of the maximum momentum.

It is necessary to calculate the longest openings of the framework until reaching the maximum lengths that do not need reinforcements.

Concrete and Foundation

Does this System require any kind of special foundation?

Baupanel System is compatible with any kind of foundation usually employed. Depending on the land, it is likely used slab foundation in those buildings with an irregular load lines layout, and continuous footings in those buildings with a more uniformal layout.

What kind of concrete is used?

HA-25 micro-concrete with a minimum resistance of 25 N/mm2 according to EHE-08 standard.

The maximum size of the aggregate is between 0 and 6 mm and it has a special formula based on plasticisers that makes the application and adherence on Baupanel panels easier. It is supplied dry, in sacks or in silos.  Its composition includes fibers that help to avoid the cracks by surface shrinkage.

What is the average thickness of the shotcrete?

The average thickness of the concrete projected on each face will be 4 cm. For more technical information on assembly and foundation, download our assembly manual at:

Pannel Assembly
Finishes and Installations

Does it require any kind of special finishing?

It accepts any kind of finishing, even facings with metal substructures.

Does it require any kind of special woodwork?

No. We can use the usual ones in the market. It uses metal pre-frames for metal windows and doors, and wooden pre-frames for wooden windows and doors.

How are the broken installations repaired?

Installations are set up inside the EPS core before discharging the structural micro-concrete; thus, they are enclosed between the two layers of concrete.

It could happen that during the useful life of a building those installations suffer some damage that needs to be repaired. There is no problem, but it should be done with care.

With a radial machine, we can do a clean cut on the concrete layer to reach the damage and, after repairing it, restore the removed concrete. If the affected area is not very big, it could even be done without restoring the removed mesh.

If the channels are vertical, this is no problem, but in cases where they are horizontal, we must take the precaution of acting on the wall in a discontinuous way, above all if it is a bearing wall.

In a building made with Baupanel® System, is it possible to open windows or doors later on?

There is no problem to open hollows (whether for windows or doors) in non-bearing walls already concreted. It would be also possible to do it in bearing walls as long as a lintel is planned between the hollow and the ceiling so the stresses can be distributed. The mentioned hollows must be opened with a radial machine.

How can we hang a picture up of a wall made with Baupanel®?

Unlike other systems, such as, for example, Pladur, Baupanel® does not need any special fitting and there is not any weight limit to hang objects up on the walls or ceilings.

Since the facings are of armed concrete, the only precautionary measure is to use specific bits for this material.

What kind of material can be used for the plumbing?

In order to carry out the AFS & ACS installations (cold and hot water) inside the Baupanel walls, we must employ pipes of plastic materials (polybutylene or polypropylene) because due to its flexibility they are easier to be set up.

Copper pipes are not suitable in this case due to its rigidity and the possibility of causing galvanic torque due to a hypothetical long contact with the steel meshes that are part of the panels.

INSULATION / RESISTANCE

Thermo-acoustic insulation

What is the acoustic resistance of Baupanel® walls?

The range of simple panels, with the concrete thickness marked in each side (3,5 cm) have an average acoustic insulation of 43,50 dBA.

In the case of the shared walls and dividing elements between the different units of use, we could increase the thickness of the walls up to 5,5 cm for side (2 more cm in each side) with a result of 50,6 dBA of acoustic insulation.

If the walls divide protected enclosures with installation or activity rooms where it is required 55 dBA acoustic insulation, it would be necessary to add some sheeting element on the wall to get the requested acoustic insulation.

What is the thermal resistance and transmittance of Baupanel® walls?

Thermal resistance goes between 2,767 m2K/W for the panel with a 10 cm EPS core and 5,331 m2K/W for the panel with a 20 cm EPS core.

Thermal transmittance goes between entre 0,361 W/m2ºK for a panel with a 10 cm EPS core and 0,188 W/m2ºK for a panel with 20 cm EPS core.

The above data imply an improvement of thermal resistance between a 175% and 430% compared to a 1-foot wall perforated brick. The improvement for the thermal transmittance is between 64% and 81%.

The thermal transmittance data of our range of panels enables us to use them in all the Spanish country since it surpasses the maximum thermal transmittance requested by the CTE DB-HE in all its areas (from A to E) without having to add any kind of additional sheeting.

How does a building made with Baupanel® act from a thermical and acoustic point of view?

From the thermical point of view, it very much increases the value of the closings usually employed, what implies a great energy and financial saving during all the building life. In addition, there is an increase of the useful surface because the walls, with less thickness, have nearly twice the effectiveness than the traditional ones.

From the acoustic point of view, it satisfactorily fulfils the acoustic standard DB-HR without being necessary, in most cases, to add any sheeting or other materials.

Are the buildings made with Baupanel® System resistant and sound?

Indeed. It has to be taken into account that the structures are of armed concrete, although they are lighter thanks to the EPS elements. From the structural point of view, Baupanel® System is as resistant and sound as the armed concrete.

We must use the right covering in external facings to guarantee the building soundness, as it is expressed in the EHE-08 rule.

Structural Resistance

Can it be used as a structural system?

Baupanel® System can be used in building as a structural or non-structural (closing) system.

It can be a structural system because in the construction work we employ a micro-concrete HA-25, specifically formulated for this system, as well as panels including corrugated reinforcements. Thus, the international standards for the concrete, as well as the EHE-08, in force in Spain, are observed.

If this system was just used as a closing for buildings, we could employ discharged mortars of lesser resistance, as well as panels without corrugated steel (just galvanized straight steel).

Is it resistant to shots?

There are ballistic test proving the great resistance of the system to shots.

Is this a resistant system to earth tremors?

Yes. In fact, one of the main advantages of this System is the excellent performance before seismic stresses.

The acting seismic stress on buildings is proportional to its mass. Since the buildings made with Baupanel® System practically weigh 35% less than a conventional building, the acting seismic stress on our buildings is lower in that rate.

In addition, the joints between the panels are reinforced with galvanized plain meshes that give some ductility to the structure junctions. Thus, they have certain capacity to become distorted during the earth tremor and, afterward, to recover its previous form.

As it is a system working with bearing walls, which kind of buildings can be made with Baupanel?

Baupanel® has many applications. It is a bearing wall system, but it is also compatible with clear floors using auxiliary structures of concrete or metal perfectly integrated in our system.

A good example would be a building with many rooms on all the floors but with an open basement where there is no place for bearing walls. The solution would be to rest the structure on bearing frames. Our Technical Department has developed several building specific details for these cases, which must be individually studied.

Another possibility of our System is to use it as façade closing for buildings with a conventional structure. This special use has given a very good performance as well as an excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, together with the benefit of an extra useful surface.

INTERNATIONAL & REGULATIONS

Building Regulations

Does Baupanel® observe the regulations in force in Spain?

Baupanel® observes the Technical Code of Building (DB-AE, HE, HR, HS, etc).

Our Technical Department has all the necessary specific information to fulfil those standards and will inform and help the architects to draw their projects to observe the basic regulation.

Can I contract the Ten Years Insurance for a building made with Baupanel®?

Currently, there are already several insurance companies contracting the Ten Years Insurance for buildings made with Baupanel® System.

Is Baupanel® System in accordance with CE mark?

The DIT replaces the CE mark for non-traditional systems, according to the Instituto Torroja.

Can the OCT cause any trouble when checking and endorsing the project?

Following the technical documents that approve the CTE and the System calculation reports provided by the Technical Department, there should not be any problem attributable to the system for the normal project endorsing and the granting of building licences.

We have signed several collaboration agreements with national OCTs of A level (Euroconsult, Bureau Veritas, Intect, etc).

What tests on Baupanel® System have to be done on site?

For the concrete and steel tests it follows the EHE.08 standard.

The concrete is tested in test-tube on site with the concrete already manufactured or in the laboratory by adding water to the dry mortar. The corrugated steel is tested taking samples from the panels.

International Projects

Can I build with Baupanel® outside Spain?

Baupanel® System is not a building company. We work with architects and building companies all over Spain and in specific countries abroad.

Please note that we can’t attend individual private projects coming from end consumers outside Spain.

We only deliver building materials to companies placing orders, but we cannot supervise works or instruct builders outside Spain, unless there is a previous arrangement, based on large projects.

How can I get a building budget?

Baupanel System is the building System manufacturer. In order to get a building quote on your country, you must contact a local building company and an architect.

We will give a panel supply quote to you, based on your architect technical project.

We need the dimensioned floor and elevation drawings of the dwellings to be budgeted, if possible in AutoCAD software or any other computer medium.

Is it possible to get an industrial license for manufacturing Baupanel® in other countries?

International Baupanel® System has the necessary capacity and experience to develop great industrial and social projects all over the world.

Currently, the industrial implantation of our system out of Spain represents a very important business volume for our company. We count on specialized staff to carry out any kind of project and we have the necessary high technology in industrial machinery to be able to manufacture Baupanel® System in any part of the world.

Read more about international licensing:

International Licence