Knight Wall Systems announced the company now offers its popular PanelRail cladding attachment rails for use with systems other than Knight’s own proprietary rainscreen attachment systems, according to company president Doug Knight.

PanelRails, which up to now have only been available with Knight’s CI System, HCI System and MFI System rainscreen attachments, can be employed as a second layer of rails to help accommodate different panel layouts and sizes to add depth, and can also be used in assemblies not requiring exterior insulation, where rails are installed directly over the substrate (steel studs with gypsum sheathing, wood studs with sheathing, CMU, etc.), enabling increased air flow behind the cladding while allowing water to drain efficiently.

“PanelRail is one of our most adaptive, flexible products,” Knight said. “We recognized it could be used with rainscreens of all types and dimensions, on many different types of buildings, so we decided to make it available to the broader construction market.”

Where a typical furring channel would require a hole drilled in the field for the wall anchor, pre-punched holes on the PanelRail for the wall anchors make installation simple over CMU, concrete and wood studs – saving time and cutting labor costs. Rails may be attached to substrate or other rails in a vertical or horizontal orientation, with a standard depth of 3/4″ in face dimensions of 2″, 3″, 4″ or 5″. PanelRail’s regular perforation pattern prevents water to accumulate and enables free air movement. The rails are available in 18-gauge and 16-gauge, high corrosive-resistant Zn-Al-Mg ZM40 (ZAM) coating for a long service life and can be specified in standard silver or a coil-coated, black, PVDF finish (18-gauge).

As with all Knight Wall Systems products, a 10-year limited warranty is available for PanelRail. The product usually ships within two weeks.