Ep. #28: Understanding Industrial Fabric Curtain Walls

This episode of Right from the Source features. A product manager with right height. He discusses what industrial fabric curtain walls are and how facility managers can use them to. benefits from temperature separation to noise reduction. You're listening to right from the source, expert insights on productivity, energy savings, and environmental control.

All right, Kyle. Well, thank you for joining our Right from the Source episode today. We're gonna be talking about curtain walls. Let's give the listeners a little uh background on yourself, your name, title, years in the industry. Sure. First and foremost, it's good to see you again. My name is Kyle Justice. I'm the product manager for Right Height Environmental Enclosures. And my specialty or my focus is twofold. One, the zone works, industrial fabric walls.

as well as the dock seals and dock shelters that go around the loading dock over. And I've been, like I said, in the industry for twenty-five years. And my hobbies and passions are probably related to finding a good rare bourbon, college football, college basketball, things of that nature. Love to hear it. So today's topic uh is about industrial fabric curtain walls. So first off, let's start off with a a definition uh so people can understand what an industrial fabric curtain wall really is.

Sure. I like to define uh a fabric curtain wall as a modular system of fabric panels and the panels can be generally have vinyl layers on the outside. It may or may not have an insulating component on the inside. But the idea is that those modular panels are put together along a linear run to make an easy space separation for whatever the the need is environmentally.

But it's just an easy, low cost alternative to traditional building walls. Yeah, I feel like you could even do I mean, I guess our our listeners wouldn't see this, but Yeah. a little Van a White for your we're we're doing a virtual call here for this podcast and and Kyle I'm I'm really digging your background here, which are curtain walls in in fact. Yeah, and and actually this is uh an application up in uh the Wisconsin area.

Very large open loading dock and we were able to close it off uh over the across the dock positions to help them save some energy. So that's a little plug for saving energy. And a a great application, which is a a wonderful segue into our next question here, which is what are the types of applications that fabric curtain walls can be used for?

Yeah, generally anything inside the plant to separate an environment for whatever reason. Most of the time when we say space separation, they may be trying to control a a process or improve a process. or keep equipment at a certain level or protect it from dust, things of that nature. There's always a temperature separation application and that's H VAC um or refrigeration, depending on if it's a freezer.

type environment. And then one of the big ones lately, um, and continues to be a big one, is the uh sound deadening or or sound control. A lot of noisy machines out there in production areas and things like that. And as you know, we're trying to keep employees uh around for the long haul and keeping them safe and and happy.

Yeah, the sound one is kind of an interesting aspect too and something that a lot of people might not think about. In some applications, do you simply separate an area in a facility that kind of just cordon off maybe a a twenty foot by twenty foot area with a with curtain walls, or do you even have curtain walls that can specifically kind of conform to to maybe stationary loud machines?

Well, we do a little bit of both. I mean, every every application is different, obviously being a custom made product, but uh we prefer, if possible, if the footprint allows. to go ahead and cordon it off and take the the curtain wall all the way up to the roof deck area. It just does a much better job of sealing off and deadening the sound.

And certainly if you needed to change if the facility had different needs or new equipment, I feel like in that instance too it would be easy enough to simply change where the curtain wall itself is. That's that's one of the the beauties of of a curtain wall in general, correct? Yeah, that definitely appeals to uh the end users or the customers, you know, especially the manufacturing business.

We don't know what's gonna happen eighteen months from now. You know, case in point we're living through, you know, what we've been living through for the last two years. So sometimes You want to modify the footprint a little bit and and maintain your space, but close it off for whatever reason.

And um we can certainly do that with the fabric curtain walls. So I feel like that's kind of a a good segue into our our next question as well, in terms of what some of the benefits are to fabric curtain walls versus a a traditional uh hard permanent wall, the ability to to change that footprint as your needs evolve. Can you talk about that a little bit more? You know, I think for most customers

Being able to reconfigure or have the opportunity to reconfigure is very attractive. And it helps helps play into, you know, the lower cost of the product in general makes it even more attractive. So if they have a lower cost alternative to traditional building walls with the advantage of being able to move it,

or move them uh very simply and quickly. I think in their head that's pretty much a home run. You know, our job is just exposing them to the product because many customers don't know as simple as the product is. They don't know that that's available in a fabric type wall instead of traditional building wall.

In terms of setting up the wall too, probably a lot easier. I mean it y you don't need a permit in most cases. It's probably a quicker not even construction time, but really just hanging time or whatever the application might be. Yeah, it's um the the product again getting to how simple it is. Typically doesn't require a building permit in most parts of the country because it's considered a temporary barrier. But from a a speed standpoint and interrupting the daily operation of a company.

It goes in so much faster than other building wall types of construction. It can also fit into really tight areas. without, you know, much of an eruption or having to move product around, things of that nature. So it It's very, very simple. Customers get that. They know what a wall is, obviously. And then when we can add the caveat out being able to do it very quickly or much quicker than traditional walls, it turns out to be a win win.

What about durability? I mean, obviously a traditional hard wall, you know, you're thinking like that's it's strong, it's stable, but something like a curtain wall. You know, people might think it's it's kind of flimsy. You know, what so what are those concerns about durability and are they valid?

Well, it does have some flexibility to it. You know, by the time you get all the panels installed, you have a complete wall. But it is fabric. So if let's say a forklift were to run into it, it's going to move. Somewhat, but the beautiful thing about the product is and the way it's designed. is let's say a forklift runs into it and and maybe rip uh a small gash in a curtain that can be fixed very quickly with patch tape. Whereas a traditional wall, you know, you're repairing drywall or you're

Getting a new panel for an insulated metal panel wall, things of that nature. And then we can go to the full aspect of somebody somehow really destroys a curtain panel, all the end user has to do is look at their project drawings that we gave them and tell us, hey, it's panel A twenty four, send us a new one of those and we can get that out the door really quickly. So from a lead tab standpoint,

That goes very quickly compared to other building wall types. The other thing is because it is fabric and it does move, if it were to be impacted, you don't have to spend the money to put concrete curving or steel guardrail. at the base of the wall to protect it. That's an added cost that a lot of times gets forgotten in the big picture of the project. And we don't need that obviously because our curtain can move and take an empty

So as far as customers and their feedback, obviously when they first purchase a curtain wall, they're intrigued by the product. They think it's gonna do a good job. But any specific feedback or general feedback that you and your team might get, Kyle, on uh on their curtain walls? Yeah, there's a few. Um I think first and foremost it's I can't believe it went in that fast.

with very little interruption to our our daily program. The other thing that I hear the most is it got really quiet in here because it does block off some sound no matter where you put it, um, which is a good thing. And then the other thing is that we're saving money across the board. In new construction projects.

Kyle, why would general contractors or architects? be specifying a fabric curtain wall and I mean I know you spoke a little bit to the benefits earlier and I'm sure some of those apply here, but is there an any particular reason why, you know, a building would be going up and an architect or general contractor would say

Yeah, curtain walls are your best bet. Well, I think where we see it on, I'll I'll say the front end of a project because we're always looking at at, you know, project drawings and things like that. Um, where I see it being spec. um or specified is when there's a large floor space that maybe the final use hasn't been determined.

or it's they know it's gonna be a multi-use type floor space. And instead of having the permanent wall structures that kind of lock in what can be done in that area, some of our contractors that we work with and architects will say, Hey, here's an alternate that can be moved around anytime you want. And then maybe once you get things set the way you want, then you can put up other permanent walls, what have you. But it just makes it real attractive and for the end user.

But for the architect and the contractor to be more competitive, they have another alternative to just the stick built. or you know, the block wall or the insulated metal panel wall that maybe their competitors aren't bringing to their end user customers. I know curtain walls have been around for a little while, like a couple decades ish or so. Our general contractors, architects,

really kind of starting to to see those benefits? Is that a relatively new thing where they're starting to specify this product? Are you are you finding? I think more so over the last five or six years, just from the publicity of uh you know, marketing campaigns and things like that to make them aware. They're looking for, I think, anything that will do the job correctly at a lower price.

in general is good for everybody. And we fit in that niche where we have an alternative. Um it's not permanent. And across the board it generally comes in at a lower cost. All right, well Kyle, thank you for joining us today. It was a pleasure to to talk with you and learn a little bit more about industrial curtain walls.

Thanks again. And listeners, be sure to follow Right Height on all social media platforms and visit right height.com for additional information or to connect with a team member. If you enjoyed this episode of Write from the Source, be sure to subscribe on your preferred listening platform and follow Right Height's social media channels. Want more supply chain logistics solutions for your facility?