Give your building a natural and harmonious look & feel
ROCKPANEL Natural
Raw, elemental and imbued with natural beauty, organic and sustainable – all key attributes to creating long lasting design that fits within its natural environment. ROCKPANEL Natural is our product stripped of colour and finish – perfect for creating a building façade that is in touch with nature.
Material and use
The ROCKPANEL Natural boards are produced from compressed natural basalt, a sustainable and readily available volcanic rock and bonded with an organic binder from which all ROCKPANEL products derive their unique properties. The products combine the advantages of stone and workability wood.
The cladding boards are suitable for use as exterior cladding, applications along the roofline and for building detailing.
Under the influence of an ever changing microclimate the look of this durable board changes. Sunlight produces a natural weathering and colour tone that’s comparable to that of other natural materials such as wood, concrete and steel.
Dimensions & tolerances of the board grades (mm)
| Durable | |
| Panel dimensions | 2500 or 3050 |
| Panel width | 1200 or 1250* |
| Panel thickness | 8 or 10 |
| Length/width tolerance | +2 / -2 |
| Thickness tolerance | +0.5 / -0.5 |
Getting great grades
Rockpanel Natural boards are available in the following grades:
Durable > For general applications around the roofline and exterior cladding.
* Available from 100 m²
Because of its composition, our boards offer excellent properties when compared with traditional building materials such as:
wood, fibre cement board (FCB) and High Pressure Laminate (HPL) board material.
Unique composition and properties
Creating fire-safe buildings to protect the people living and working inside is an increasingly important issue. With our Durable and Xtreme we offer grades, which are classified as B-s2, d0. When using ROCKPANEL boards you can create façades with a high level of fire safety with a broad range of aesthetic finishes.
| Property | Value |
| Fire Classification (Euroclass) | EN 13501-1 |
| - ROCKPANEL Durable grade | B-s2, d0 |
| - ROCKPANEL Xtreme grade | B-s2, d0 |
ROCKPANEL boards can be curved and bent easily to create amazing facades.
| ROCKPANEL Durable | |
| Panel thickness (mm) | 8 |
| Panel dimensions (Arch, mm) | 3050 |
| Radius R minimal (mm) | 2500 |
| Angle α | 69,9º |
| Chord (mm) | 2864 |
| Level (mm) | 451 |
| Common ground c.t.c. (mm) | 400 |
| Fixing distance c.t.c. (mm) | 300 |
Our boards are easy to handle on the building site, unlike many other materials, and therefore quicker and easier to install.
| Nominal mass of surface | kg/m² |
| ROCKPANEL Durable 8 mm | 8,4 |
| High Pressure Laminate (HPL) 8 mm | 11,1 |
| Fiber Cement Board (FCB) 8 mm | 15,4 |
Our boards are not affected by fluctuations in humidity or temperature and are therefor very dimensionally stable.
| Dimensional stability (EN 438-2) | mm/(mºK) |
| ROCKPANEL Durable | 10,5 x 10-3 |
| Concrete | 12 x 10-3 |
| Fibre Cement Board (FCB) | 15 x 10-3 |
| High Pressure Laminate (HPL) | 28 x 10-3 |
We offer the possibility to deliver custom sized boards for you, adjusted to your project requirements*.
As a result of our innovative production process, the board can now be delivered in:
- all lengths between 1700 and 3050 mm and
- a width of 1200 or 1250 mm.
Even if a certain project requires a custom made thickness, do not hesitate to contact us. We will advise you on the possibilities.
* Minimal order per length 300 m²
Find a Rockpanel dealer near you
Documentation
Guidelines for processing and installation of external cladding
ROCKPANEL Natural Durable 8 mm and 10 mm / ROCKPANEL Natural Xtreme 8 mm and 10 mm
What is natural weathering & colouration?
ROCKPANEL Natural weathers and changes colour through exposure to natural elements such as UV light, wind, rain and the surrounding environment, for example trees in the immediate area.
Examples of natural weathering are:
- the rusting and tarnishing of metals such as steel, aluminium, Cortenstaal and zinc
- the discolouration of stone and concrete
- the natural discolouration (greying) of wood
ROCKPANEL Natural combines the natural appeal of wood with a number of additional benefits such as high dimension stability and water resistance.
Weathering of ROCKPANEL Natural
Things to keep in mind!
For a perfect final result with ROCKPANEL Natural it is important to work carefully during application and in detailing. Bear in mind the following points:
- Through proper detailing, adhesion of algae can be prevented. The structure should be designed in such a way that the boards drain properly, do not retain capillary moisture and dry quickly through proper ventilation. It is recommended that overhanging vegetation near the facade be avoided.
- Take into account in the detailing that dirt on ROCKPANEL Natural does not wash away as easily as from a coated ROCKPANEL board. For example, by using an aluminium water runoff with a front panel or double roof trim so that dirt from drainage water leaves no tracks.
- Any dirt can be removed with a wire brush. However, this also removes a portion of the weathered surface, which at first is visible on the board. After cleaning, the cleaned portion will weather again and merge into the rest.
- The weathering effect of ROCKPANEL Natural occurs in the top layer. Any scratches or nicks are at first visible, but will weather again and merge into the rest.
- If the board is applied directly on to an aluminum support structure, at the locations of the aluminum rails the heat of the façade is more quickly dissipated than the rest of the board (the ‘span’). Because of this, at the beginning of the ageing curve the difference between the location of the support structure and the span is visible and the support structure can be distinguished. Over the course of time this effect will disappear as the ageing curves of the span and support structure approach each other.
- Due to the weathering in the top layer, We advise using 10 mm where 8 mm is normally used and 8 mm where 6 mm is normally used.