.svg)
Whether you’re looking to create an office space for a small business or you want to scale up into a larger building for your business, there are many different ways you can modernize your commercial building. In case you’re looking to build a commercial space, here are 7 building materials you might want to consider using.
- Louvers
Louvers serve as protection against outside water, noise, and unsightly environmental features for commercial buildings. They can also add to the aesthetic beauty of a building while providing for exhaust air or ventilation.
There’s a lot to choose from when it comes to architectural louvers from companies like AWV and others. For instance, you could implement some fixed non-drainable louvers, fixed drainable louvers, combination louvers, adjustable louvers, acoustical louvers, wind-driven rain louvers, extreme weather louvers, or penthouse louvers.
- Glass Walls
Modular glass office walls allow you to create an office that can go from fully transparent to completely translucent and private. Not only that, but glass walls remove the need for window coverings, reduce electricity costs, and allow light to filter in without negating your privacy. For office spaces, these are some of the most popular options on the market right now.
- ICF Construction
If you’re looking to maximize energy-efficiency, durability, and comfort without sacrificing style, building with tilt-wall construction is one of the smartest choices you could make. By constructing your commercial building with ICF walls utilizing tilt-up construction techniques instead of traditional wood-framed walls, you will reap all the benefits that insulated concrete forms have to offer. For extreme weather-prone areas, this is an especially wise investment.
- Slot Drains
If you need floor drains in your commercial building, a pre-sloped trench drain is the best available choice. In comparison to heavy trench drains, slot drains are discreet, durable, clean, and require much less maintenance. They can run the entire length of your floors as well, allowing for far more efficient drainage.
- Self-Healing Concrete
Concrete often develops cracks and needs to be repaved consistently. Self-healing concrete, however, is laid with small capsules inside it. These capsules will react to water coming in through any cracks that develop and grow to fill the cracks as they occur.
- Air Cleaning Bricks
Air cleaning bricks are made from concrete and they are laid in a way that funnels air naturally into a cyclone filtration system inside the building. This setup has been shown to remove 100% of the coarse particles in the air, and about ⅓ of fine particles, without using any energy.
- Passive Cooling Ceramics
These are a new, inventive way to cool the air temperature in your building without using energy. The cooling ceramics work much like our skin does, producing water droplets that soak up heat and transfer it into the outside air when the temperature gets too hot.
Commercial Buildings are Always Improving
There are many different ways to stand out from the pack and create a commercial building with all kinds of money-saving and aesthetically pleasing features. The ideas discussed in this article are sure to improve the look and overall functionality of your commercial building.
Matt Lee is the owner of the Innovative Building Materials blog and a content writer for the home building materials industry. He is focused on helping fellow homeowners, contractors, and architects discover materials and methods of construction that save money, improve energy efficiency, and increase property value.
