Construction Fixings

A new generation of fasteners for fixing thermal insulation, such as polystyrene, mineral wool, as well as wood wool, has been introduced by Polish specialist Klimas Wkręt-met – the ThermoDrive V2 fastener. 

The new, versatile ThermoDrive V2 fastener can handle many inaccuracies in thickness, insulation surface and substrate discrepancies often encountered during construction. The fastener’s performance parameters, and its high load bearing capacity values, make it suited for fixing a wide range of External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) products, including on buildings undergoing thermal modernisation – ETICS on ETICS.

“Mechanical fasteners actually perform a number of functions in external wall insulation, one of which is load transfer – primarily protecting the ETICS system from wind suction forces and detachment from the substrate,” explains Klimas Wkręt-met. “Mechanical fasteners have the task of stiffening the entire insulation system, eliminating movement and deformation of individual insulation boards; limiting the formation of point thermal bridges; as well as protecting against failure due to loss of adhesion and load bearing capacity of the adhesive layer with the substrate. These are the basic parameters that should be met by mechanical fasteners in ETICS insulation systems.”

Klimas Wkręt-met believes it has gone a step further with the introduction of its ThermoDrive V2 fastener, which, while maintaining fundamental required parameters, can be used to attach polystyrene and mineral wool to, amongst other substrates, concrete, solid ceramic brick, ceramic hollow brick, elements made of lightweight aggregate, as well as cellular concrete. 

The company points out that the ThermoDrive V2 fastener owes its versatile performance to its design, which it says integrates the advantages of well known products from both the WKTHERM-S and the ECO-DRIVE series of products. Attributes of these are characterised by easy and secure installation, reliability, and versatility, as well as offering the maximum achievable pull-out load.

Regardless of the chosen installation method, the fastener can be used effectively for a wide range of insulation thicknesses up to and including around 40cm. In addition, the unprecedented wide tolerance range for uneven substrates on the market means ThermoDrive V2 can be used with a variety of material surfaces within a single project, e.g solid and hollow materials side by side using only one fastener length. In addition, the design of the 25mm – 65mm universal anchorage zone guarantees a solid anchorage for the fastener even with hollow materials, hollow centres, and thin-walled internal masonry structures. Until now, even fastener sizes a few centimetres longer in a similar class would not guarantee as effective an anchorage, due to the shorter and limited anchorage zone and the greater likelihood of missing the zone in thin walls of the internal structure of the masonry element.

Regarding the mechanical fixing of ETICS, as well as ETICS on ETICS, the new fastener is ideal during the renovation of external walls of buildings made with large slab technology. From a formal point of view, it can be used in a concrete ‘texture’ layer with a minimum thickness of 40mm, achieving high strength parameters. This is due to its high performance parameters demonstrated during the certification process. According to Klimas, more than 90% of façade connectors/fasteners currently on the market do not have this capability.

For ETICS contractors and system providers, the very high rigidity of the plate, which increases the durability and safety of the insulation systems, is a major benefit. The sleeve of the fastener has also been designed in such a way that the screwed-in steel pin, which enables the insulation layer to be fixed, is sufficiently insulated and, as a result, ThermoDrive V2 is characterised by a minimum point, thermal conductivity coefficient. Particularly noteworthy, too, for a metal shank fastener with such a wide range of applications, is the fact that the point thermal conductivity value of only 0.001 W/K, applies irrespective of the thickness of the insulation to be fixed to the substrate.

For its part, Klimas Wkręt-met, which has been present in the Polish construction market for more than thirty years, has made a significant contribution to the development of the entire sector. The launch of ThermoDrive V2 is proof that the company is actively working on the evolution of a group of mechanical fastening systems for thermal wall insulation, compatible with the requirements of various ETICS insulation systems. The company is also actively involved in organisations such as the National Association for Thermal Insulation Systems, the European Association for Composite External Thermal Insulation Systems – EAE, and the French Association Le Mur Manteau, which together ensure the dissemination of complete technological solutions with documented quality.