Curious to learn more about parapet wall coping and its benefits?
Regardless of whether you’re undertaking a home renovation project, an extension, or simply want to improve the appearance of your business premises, choosing the right coping solution for your parapet wall is essential.
To find out why parapet wall coping is a necessary addition to any parapet wall, continue reading.
What is a parapet wall?
A parapet wall refers to any kind of wall that extends beyond the roofline of a building.
Often, they can be found around the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, or walkway. Typically, parapet walls have an aesthetic purpose and are designed to improve the exterior appearance of a building, but they can also be installed for practical reasons.
Due to the fact that parapet walls usually complement the type of building they are installed on, they can be made from a variety of materials, including stone, brick, or concrete.
What is the purpose of parapet coping?
Once a parapet wall has been constructed, coping is often required to protect its top surface.
This is because unprotected brick walls are porous, meaning they allow water to penetrate into the structure which can cause mould, damp, and rot. The primary purpose of parapet coping, therefore, is to preserve the wall’s structural integrity.
Once you’ve chosen a parapet wall coping solution that meets the practical requirements of your project, you can explore the secondary purpose – its aesthetics.
Adding aluminium coping in one of 26 RAL colours as standard, or any BS or RAL colour with longer lead time and surcharges, to your parapet walls can create a splash of colour.
How to install parapet wall coping
To help make the installation of parapet wall coping easier, the manufacturer (and Rainclear) will supply helpful (pdf) instructions to ensure the product is correctly fitted.
We always recommend following this guidance if you want to take advantage of any warranties and ensure the longest life for your coping system.
To help you achieve the best finish, however, we’ve listed some other important factors to consider below.
Choose the right parapet wall coping solution
Choosing the right coping solution for your project is essential.
It should work well with the architectural style, building materials, and the roofline design of the building for the best results.
For example, Rainclear supplied the aluminium coping in RAL 7016 Anthracite grey for the parapet walls on the roofline of Heelis, the National Trust HQ in Swindon because rainwater was leaching through the mortar between the existing parapet wall coping stones on three of the building’s four sides.
To prevent this doing any further damage, or reoccurring in the future, we collaborated with the chosen installers from the outset when they conducted an initial survey.
The unique saw tooth roofline profile proved challenging because it required more than a dozen different coping angles to be bespoke fabricated.
Take the elements into consideration
Wind, rain, sunlight, and even temperature variation can all affect the level of protection provided by your parapet wall coping if it is not installed appropriately.
Our aluminium coping, for example, includes a bracket with a rubber seal that needs to be positioned over a weatherproof membrane, applied to marine plywood, to form an effective barrier.
Sunlight and temperature variation, on the other hand, can lead to some thermal expansion and contraction in metal coping systems.
As a result, any fixing methods you decide to use should take this into consideration (i.e. a 3-4mm gap between coping lengths – the rubber seal mentioned above ensures no water reaches the wall beneath it).
Installing aluminium parapet wall coping
Rainclear supplies standard or sloping aluminium parapet wall coping solutions.
Installation of these coping systems is designed to be quick and easy, starting with the waterproof membrane over marine plywood mentioned above (sourced from others).
Our coping products have fixing straps with an EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) rubber seal, avoiding penetration of the capping while allowing ventilation over the top of the wall. It should maintain a 3-4mm expansion gap at all joints.
In most cases, fixing can be carried out from the roof so no external access is required.
If you’d like to find out more about installing one of Rainclear System’s coping solutions, then don’t hesitate to explore our comprehensive installation guide for the Skyline coping system.
Straightforward to install, this parapet wall coping system is suited to renovations and new builds.
Where to find parapet wall aluminium coping
Here at Rainclear Systems, we stock aluminium parapet wall coping – both standard and sloping – in the most popular colour – RAL 7016 anthracite grey – in two sizes for next-day delivery.
Ideal for retrofit and new build projects, our contemporary wall coping solutions are also available to order in a variety of sizes, and one of 26 standard RAL colours, to suit your specific building requirements and these usually have a 10-day lead time.
If you’d like to find out more about parapet wall coping products from the UK’s specialists in metal rainwater, roofline, drainage and architectural ranges, contact a member of our team today.
You can either give us a call on 0800 644 44 26 or send an email to [email protected]. Alternatively, you can also complete and submit our convenient online contact form.
However you decide to get in touch, we’ll get back to you shortly to find out more about your parapet wall coping requirements.