Stainless Steel Wall Panel System – New Product

Monarch Metal is launching a stainless steel wall panel system that offers the durability and aesthetic of stainless steel without the price tag that typically comes with stainless steel systems.

A typical conversation we have with our customers is the frustration that results from a designer specifying a stainless steel design from shapes that don’t exist and without any consideration for the difficulty, cost and labor intensity of installing with stainless steel material.  Often after a great deal of work, these projects get diverted into aluminum when the designer sees that the cost can be be 4-5x as much as aluminum and as much as $60 to $85 per square foot for an installed wall panel system.

The reason these stainless steel systems are more expensive has more to do with the labor (finishing and fabricating) then it does with the actual material.  Sure, stainless steel is heavier and more expensive than aluminum.  The real story is that fabricating, deburring, finishing, welding and touching up is very difficult work and the quality of the finished product is only as good as the quality of the trade workers performing it.

Monarch Metal’s new stainless steel system takes a different approach by using pre-finished sheet metal and forming the desired reveal.  This process eliminates the expensive finishing, welding and retouching work that is cost prohibitive in typical systems.  Since the sheet is pre-finished, Monarch can offer the system in a variety of stainless sheet metal finishes, including mirror polished, brushed and dull flat.  Since the pieces are formed, reveals from 1/4” to 1” or more are possible without driving a big difference in cost.

The mechanics of they system are fairly simple.  To provide for a smooth intersection, Monarch notches the ends of the pieces to permit the reveal to run continuous through the intersection to create a clean line across your panel installation.  The panels are then installed in the system using Monarch’s MF250 z clip product.  One big advantage of this system vs. progressive panel systems is that the panel is then removable individually for repair or replacement without requiring the removal of the entire wall installation.

The panel system is compliant with the ANSI and Architectural Woodwork Institute standard for expansion joints.  In Section 8 (Wall/Ceiling Surfacing and Partitions) in the 8.6.1 basic rules section of the Architectural Woodwork Standards Second Edition, the standard requires the installer to provide a 3/16” expansion joint per 47” of linear elevation.  for a 4′ x 8′ panel, this would imply a 3/8” expansion joint to accommodate panel expansion and contraction related to relative humidity and moisture content.  The new Monarch system can install with a 3/8” reveal / expansion joint to using our MF250 panel mounting system.