Building Decorative Materials

Yan Li, Shuxia Ren

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9780857092588
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Civil Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Buildings should not only be functional but aesthetically pleasing. This requires the use of decorative materials both on the exterior and inside a building. Building decorative materials reviews the range of materials available and their potential applications.The book begins by considering the main types of decorative material and the physical, mechanical and other properties they require. It then discusses types and potential uses of decorative stone materials such as marble, granite, slate or gypsum. It then goes on to discuss the ways cement and concrete can be used for decorative effect, before considering the role of ceramics in such areas as tiling. The following chapters review decorative glass for windows or facades, metals and wood before assessing polymer materials such as plastics and textiles. The final group of chapters discuss coatings, including waterproofing materials, multi-functional materials used for such purposes as soundproofing and thermal insulation, and the use of more sustainable decorative materials.Building decorative materials is a useful reference for architects, civil engineers and those studying civil or structural engineering.- Reviews the full range of materials available for both the exterior and interior of buildings and their potential applications beyond conventional uses- Considers the main types of decorative material and the physical, mechanical and other properties they require as the role of sustainable materials- Discusses types and potential uses of decorative stone materials such as marble, granite, slate or gypsum and explores how cement and concrete can be used for decorative effect

1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the classifications and technical standards of building decorative material; briefly states its status and functions in construction projects.

1.1 Status and Development of Building Decorative Materials

Modern architecture should not only meet the need of people’s everyday life, but also create a comfortable living environment for people. Material decorating the building surface and beautifying the environment is called building decorative material or “facing material”, which is the material base of building decoration projects. General decorative impression and function are achieved and highlighted by the texture, shape, design and pattern, and function of building decorative material and other auxiliary products.

The decorative effect of building decorative material, which is the combination of material, technology, model designing and aesthetics, is greatly restrained by the material itself, especially is affected by its decorative features such as gloss, texture, design and pattern. E.g., when the external wall of a high building is decorated with glass curtain wall and aluminum curtain wall, it reveals to people a modernistic architectural style with its bright gloss, brilliant colors and kaleidoscope-like shining appearance. Building decorative material is the important material base of building decoration. Only after we know about the functions and characteristics of building decorative material, make right selections according to building and environment conditions can we maximize the advantages of each material and make the best use of everything, finally realize the design idea. In general, building decorative material has outstanding features in construction practice.

With the rapid development of building industry and the growing demands of people in material and spirit, great progress has been made in modern decorative material in China. And it has also been greatly stimulated by the construction of a great number of luxurious hotels, restaurants, large marketplaces, gymnasiums and entertainment buildings. With the progress of science and technology and the development of building material industry, the field of new decorative material will step into a new stage in type, specification and grade, and will become more and more functionalized, integrated, serialized and standardized. As people are being better off, they will grow higher and higher demands for qualified buildings with more and better functions. All these will be realized mostly depending on material with suitable functions. Therefore, multifunctional building decorative material with features such as lightweight, high strength, high durability, fire proofing, shock resistance, heat preservation, sound insulation and water proofing will be highly required in the future.

1.2 Types of Building Decorative Materials

There are varieties of building decorative material which is classified according to different factors. For instance, according to application site, it is classified to external and internal wall, floor, suspended ceiling and roof decorative materials etc. (See Table 1.1); according to chemical composition, classified to metal, non-metal and composite materials etc. (See Table 1.2).

Table 1.1

Classification of Building Decorative Material Based on Application Site

Type	Application site	Commonly-used decorative material
External wall decorative material	Decorative material applied to all external parts of a building, including external walls, terraces and awnings etc.	Natural granite, ceramic decorative products, glass products, external wall coating, metal products, decorative concrete, decorative mortar
Internal wall decorative material	Decorative material applied to internal structures, including internal wall surface, dados, plinths, partition walls, flower shelves etc.	Wallpaper, wall cloth, internal wall coating, fabric ornaments, plastic facing decorative board, marble, artificial stone, internal wall glazed tile, artificial board/sheet, glass products, thermal insulation and sound absorption decorative board
Floor decorative material	Decorative material applied to such structures as ground surface, floor surface and stairs etc.	Carpet, floor coating, natural stone, artificial stone, ceramic floor tile, wood floor, plastic floor
Ceiling decorative material	Decorative material applied indoors and for ceiling decoration	Gypsum board, decorative mineral wool sound absorption board, decorative perlite sound absorption board, glass wool, decorative sound absorption board, decorative calcium-plastic foam absorption board, decorative polystyrene foam plastic sound absorption board, fiber board, coating

Table 1.2

Classification of Building Decoration Material Based on Chemical Composition

1.3 Brief Introduction of Technological Standards of Building Decorative Materials

To ensure the quality, modernized production and scientific management of decorative material, unified standards must be established to regulate the technical requirements of products, mainly including product specifications, classifications, technical requirements, test methods, regulations of inspection, labels, transportation and storage precautions etc. e.g., each cement, ceramic or steel product has its own product standards.

The standard of building decorative material is the technical basis for grading the quality of products and the inspection and acceptance basis to both sides of supply and demand.

1 Commonly-used Standards in China

(1) National Standard

National standard includes compulsory standard (code name GB) and recommended standard (code name GB/T). Compulsory standard is technical guidance document which must be implemented nationally. Products’ technical specification must meet requirements specified in compulsory standard. Recommended standard can be replaced with other relevant standard.

(2) Industry (or department) Standard

Each industry (or competent department) establishes technical standard to regulate the product quality in the industry. It is also national guidance document though it is issued by the production department in charge. Examples are: Building Material Standards (code name JC) and Building Industry Standards (code name JG) etc.

(3) Local Standard

Local standard is local technical guidance document issued by local competent department (code name DBJ) and applied locally.

(4) Enterprise Standard

It is technical document enacted and issued by an enterprise to guide its own production (code name QB), and only applied to the enterprise. Enterprise standard should be formulated for each product which has no national standard or ministerial level standard to follow. Moreover, the technical requirements in enterprise standard should meet or surpass the similar (or relevant) national standard.

2 World Standard and Regional Standard

World-wide “ISO” international standard.

Leading group standard and company standard in the world, such as ASTM Standards “American Society for Testing and Material”, BS “British Standards” and so on.

Regional standard. Standard adopted in industrially advanced countries, such as Deutsche Industrie Normen “DIN”, Japanese Industrial Standards “JIS” and so on.

1.4 Functions and Selection of Building Decorative Materials

1 Functions of Building Decorative Material

The purposes of interior and exterior decoration of a building are to beautify its appearance and acquire certain architectural art style, create a multifunctional elegant interior environment and effectively enhance its durability. These purposes are mostly realized by using building decorative material on building surface.

Architecture is plastic arts. Its appearance effect is achieved by the color of the material and the shape, proportion and the virtual and real contrast of the whole building, and is also affected by the texture, line style and color of exterior wall decorative material. Functions of decorative material are mainly exhibited in the following four aspects.

(1) Texture

Texture is the comprehensive feeling given by the material’s surface structure, patterns and designs, colors, glosses and transparency etc. Different material gives people different feelings due to its degree of softness or hardness, lightness or weightiness, roughness or slenderness, coldness or warmness etc. Different surfaces of the same material reveal different textures, e.g. common glass and embossed glass, mirror granite and axe-chopped stone give people different feelings with their own textures. Same surface processing approach usually creates same or resembled texture, though sometimes there is a slight difference. For instance, artificial marble or imitative wood wares are not as compatible or real as those made of natural marble or wood, though sometimes they look almost the same as genuine ones.

(2) Color, Gloss and Transparency

Color is the result of the material’s selective absorption of spectrum. Different colors give people diff...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Basic Properties of Building Decorative Materials
• Chapter 3: Building Decorative Stone
• Chapter 4: Gypsum Decorative Materials
• Chapter 5: Building Decorative Cement
• Chapter 6: Building Decorative Concrete and Mortar
• Chapter 7: Building Decorative Ceramic
• Chapter 8: Building Decorative Glass
• Chapter 9: Metal Decorative Materials
• Chapter 10: Decorative Wood
• Chapter 11: Decorative Plastics
• Chapter 12: Building Decorative Fiber Fabric and its Products
• Chapter 13: Architectural Coatings
• Chapter 14: Adhesives
• Chapter 15: Waterproof Materials
• Chapter 16: Acoustic and Thermal Insulating Materials
• Chapter 17: New Energy-saving and Environmental Protective Building Materials
• References
• Index