If you are a builder, you are more than a little familiar with metal furring. They are essential attachments. They are a necessary component if you are building in layers. They also are excellent materials when it comes to soundproofing a wall or ceiling. This is a type of metal furring known as the hat channel.
What Is Metal Furring?
If you have a finished material, you may require the use of a metal attachment that is not structural. This is metal furring. It holds the finish material. It can help support one layer as contractors place them one upon the other. It is a particularly effective means of providing support for a second or other layer when it may not easily be done any other way.
Contractors utilize various types of furring e.g. Z-furring and hat channel, to
* Support a layer
* Hold insulation between a layer
* Retain a layer between another layer
* Meet fire rating or fire codes
* Provide soundproofing
A hat channel is one common and popular method of metal furring.
What Is a Hat Channel?
A hat channel is a piece of metal bent into a hat-like shape. It is described as a u-shape with flared ends. It is one of the most popular forms of metal furring. It helps to secure materials when screws and other attachment tools might prove to be too difficult. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to apply this metal furring type over a concrete block, concrete or even a failing plaster wall before moving on to attach any other surface material. Aluminum hat channels are produced through extrusion.
What Do Aluminum Hat Channels Do?
Metal furring serves several purposes in construction. In fact, a contractor may attach a hat channel to the bottom of a bar joist since joists of this nature are not amenable to direct attachment to ceiling or fire rated drywall. In fact, this type of furring is used to achieve a certain type of fire rating. It does so by permitting the addition of an extra layer of drywall to various structural components e.g. beams, columns.
Yet, aluminum hat channels most frequently serve one specific purpose for many contractors. They utilize them for soundproofing. Soundproofing is accomplished by usually incorporating hat channels into the ceiling grid system. They may also be attached to the finished floor instead. In the case of ceilings, the hat channel is the item on which the drop ceiling or other form of wall panels “hangs” or are attached. The look when done correctly is professional. The cost is less expensive than it would be when employing other methods in term of both money and time.
Furring and the Aluminum Hat Channel
If you work in construction, you understand the purpose of furring. You also know that certain types of metal furring suit specific purposes. When it comes down to installing acoustic panels or drop ceilings, the preferred metal furring of choice is the aptly named hat channel.
