It may seem like a dumb question but I asked it to alert you to something you may not have thought about that could impact on your next design.
I won’t go into all the reasons why we have decided to change the shape of our purlins and girts - other than to say the new LYSAGHT SUPAPURLIN® shapes make them stronger, often resulting in better spanning ability and being able to use sections with reduced thickness with no loss of structural integrity. (See illustration below)
All this makes perfect sense in a commercial world where innovation is relentless and the quest is always on to improve efficiency and reduce costs of building components. But this is a structural component so why even tell an architect about it? Surely this is the stuff that only engineers need concern themselves with, right? Well, yes… and no.
From an architectural point of view you still need to know one thing about this evolution of the humble Zed and Cee section. The new LYSAGHT SUPAPURLIN® shape is what is now supplied by BlueScope Lysaght as our “standard” offer in South East Queensland and visually it is quite different. It costs no more, it works better in most cases, but it is visually different and you can quickly see what has been supplied is what you specified because it is unique.
However, next time you design an external sunscreen for instance and you call up LYSAGHT® Zed or Cee Sections to form the shade vanes, please remember that these may well get supplied as the LYSAGHT SUPAZED® or SUPACEE® profile (at least in South East Queensland) unless nominated otherwise and these will have a different look to what you might have expected.
The solution is easy. We can still supply the old style sections, even in South East Queensland, if we are alerted in time. Just remember to always specify LYSAGHT® Cee and Zed purlins and note any substitution will require the written approval from the Architect. For these special areas where aesthetic considerations rather than performance factors govern and you want the old style section only for the plainer appearance, call these up as “traditional” LYSAGHT® Cee and Zed purlins.
Life just got simple again.
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LYSAGHT SUPAZED® or SUPACEE® purlins are engineered for greater strength. It is important not to substitute traditional Zeds and Cees unless agreed by your engineer and then only for aesthetic reasons
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Typically many architects prefer the plainer look of a “traditional” LYSAGHT® Zed or Cee section in locations where these will be a visible feature but not necessarily structural, such as the sunscreens illustrated here.
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