In any green facade or living wall, the plants and trellis systems are intricately linked.
The trellis needs to be designed to support not only the plants as they are at the time of installation, but at maturity, when they are at their full weight and load.
Let’s take a look at the various types of trellis systems, and why stainless steel is an ideal material.
The benefits of stainless steel
Trellises that are made from stainless-steel provide the best type of support structure for multi-storey and commercial projects, in terms of strength, robustness, flexibility and longevity.
Stainless-steel trellis systems also have low maintenance needs, which reduces your costs over time. The beauty of stainless-steel wire is its minimalist appearance. As the plants grow, the trellis virtually disappears – making the living wall appear to float effortlessly.
Examples of trellis systems
Here are some examples of trellis systems.
- Single ropes – consisting of either vertical or horizontal stainless-steel wire ropes or cables. Vertical ropes are well-suited to twining plants while horizontal wires can work well for scramblers.
- Crosshatch and lattice systems – where cables cross over each other providing a suitable support for climbing and scrambling plants.
Pre-formed mesh – useful for climbers, scramblers, securing planter boxes and green-wall panels and for wrapping structures. Mesh can also allow for a very speedy installation.
Whatever system you choose, it must be engineered and pre-tensioned to suit the building and the greenery. Consideration needs to be given to dead loads (the final weight of all components) and transient loads (such as movements and shifts due to factors like ice, rain and wind).
Tensile’s stainless-steel trellis systems
At Tensile, we use Jakob 316-grade stainless-steel wire for our vertical garden and living wall projects. The most common type of wire used in facades is 7×7 wire rope, which consists of 49 strands, making it extremely strong and robust. Every project also undergoes precise engineering prior to installation.
If you have a living wall project in mind, get in touch with us for a discussion about how we can help achieve your goals.
