Hey everyone, it’s Jake here—been geeked out about building tech for over a decade, and lately, I’ve gotten so many questions about our Continuous Embedded Terracotta Panel System from folks in snow-heavy regions. Like, actual snow—think places that get 5+ feet of the white stuff in winter, where wind chills drop below zero and roofs struggle under ice dams. A lot of contractors and architects I chat with say they’ve heard mixed stuff about terracotta in the cold: “It cracks easy when it freezes,” “It doesn’t shed snow fast,” “It’s too heavy for snowy load requirements.” So I wanted to break this down real, no-BS style—what our system actually does in snow-prone areas, not just the sales fluff we usually push in pitch meetings. Continuous Embedded Terracotta Panel System
First, let’s get one thing straight: not all terracotta panels are created equal. A lot of the “terracotta fails in snow” talk is about cheap, mass-produced panels made with low-quality clay and fired at too low a temp. Our Continuous Embedded system is different—we design every part to handle harsh winter conditions, so let’s start with the big one: freeze-thaw cycles. If you don’t know, freeze-thaw is when water seeps into tiny cracks in a material, freezes, expands by like 9%, and splits the material apart. That’s the main reason traditional terracotta gets trashed in snow zones.
We test our panels for this all the time—way before they leave our warehouse. We do what’s called a Rapid Freeze-Thaw Test, the same one the ASTM uses for building materials. Basically, we soak panels in water for 24 hours, then freeze them at -20°C (-4°F) for 12 hours, then thaw them at +20°C (68°F) for another 12 hours. We repeat that 50 times, which is like simulating a few years of harsh winter in a test. Guess what? Our panels don’t crack. Why? Because we fire the clay at 1,200°C (2,192°F)—that’s hotter than most standard terracotta. That makes the clay super dense, almost non-porous. Water can’t get into it, so there’s nothing to expand and cause breaks. I’ve actually got a set of test panels from a 2021 freeze-thaw test that we still have in the office, no cracks, no chips—you’d never guess they went through that. And for anyone worried about cold making terracotta brittle? We’ve done low-temperature flex tests too—bend it at -30°C (-22°F) and it doesn’t snap like a dry stick. That’s a big win over, say, some natural stone that chips when it’s icy.
Next up: snow load. Every building code in snowy areas has a max snow load requirement, right? Like, some places need to handle 100 lbs per square foot of snow, especially on sloped roofs. Our Continuous Embedded panels aren’t just solid clay—they’re embedded with a galvanized steel core that runs the full length of each panel. That makes them way sturdier than regular clay panels, which are just flat slabs that can bend or break under heavy snow. We calculate each panel’s load rating before it even gets to a job site. For example, last year we did a project in Minneapolis—real snowy, like 8 feet in February. The roof with our system had a total snow load of 110 lbs per sq ft, and the panels didn’t warp, crack, or shift at all. The contractor there texted me pics in March when they finally started shoveling the roof, and I couldn’t even find a mark on them. Compare that to a neighboring building with vinyl siding that had a bunch of panels blowing off under the snow weight—no contest. And hey, we make our panels in different thicknesses too—15mm, 20mm, 25mm—so if a zone has super extreme snow (think Colorado mountains, or New England), we can bump up to 25mm for extra load capacity, no extra hassle.
Then there’s snow shedding, which is something a lot of people sleep on. If panels hold too much snow, you get ice dams, which can leak into buildings and cause water damage. How does our system handle that? First, the finish we use is a matte, glazed ceramic coating that we apply after firing. It’s hydrophobic—water beads up on it, so it doesn’t seep into tiny surface pores (even the ones that might form over time, though our dense clay minimizes those). So when snow melts, it slides right off instead of sitting there and refreezing into ice. Second, we design the panel’s edge to have a slight “lip” that’s embedded into the system’s mounting track, so there’s no gap where snow can get caught. Some cheaper terracotta systems have big gaps between panels that fill with snow and ice, which adds weight and causes damage. Our continuous design means there’s no space for that. A project I’m really proud of is a school in Burlington, VT—they had a problem with old brick and panel systems holding so much snow that the building’s drainage got clogged. We put our system on the side of their auditorium last year, and by early March, the maintenance crew told us they only had to shovel once, compared to three times the year before. The snow just slid off when the sun hit it, no extra work. That’s a huge win for building owners, not to mention safer—less ice falling on parking lots or sidewalks below.
Wait, let’s talk about thermal expansion too, because that’s another big winter issue. When materials get cold, they contract, and if they expand again when it warms up, that constant change can cause stress. Terracotta naturally expands and contracts a little with temperature changes, right? So we designed our mounting system to be flexible, not fixed. The panels slide in the aluminum tracks we use, so they have room to move when temps swing from -10°F to 50°F (which is super common in most snow areas). We tested this in our lab too—we cycle temps from -25°C to +30°C over and over, and the panels don’t warp or pull away from the track. No gaps opening up, no stress cracks. I’ve seen projects where terracotta panels were fixed tight without any flexibility, and by spring, they were pulling apart because of thermal shift. Our system avoids that entirely.
Also, what about ice and chemical damage? A lot of cities in snow-prone areas use road salt to melt ice, and that salt splashes up on building panels. Salt is corrosive, right? And it can damage porous materials. Our panels have that dense, glazed coating that we talked about, so salt doesn’t seep into the clay. We’ve done salt spray tests (exposing panels to a saltwater mist for 1,000 hours) and they still look brand new. Some contractors have told us they’ve had other terracotta systems where salt left white stains all over the facade, but our system—check out pics from the Toronto project we did in 2022, still looks like it was installed last month. No discoloration, no etching. That’s a big plus for long-term maintenance, especially in areas where salt use is high.
Okay, let’s get real for a second—no system is perfect. What are the downsides people mention for terracotta in snow, and how do we address them? First, cost: terracotta is a bit more expensive upfront than vinyl or fiber cement, right? But in snow-prone areas, the maintenance and replacement costs save you way more long-term. Like, if you have panels cracking every 5 years because of freeze-thaw, you’re paying to replace them constantly, plus fixing water damage. Our system has a 50-year warranty, so that’s a big selling point. Second, installation: if you don’t install it right, even the best panels will fail. But we train every contractor who works with our system—we do on-site workshops, send installation guides, have a support line 24/7 for any questions. Last winter, we had a contractor in Buffalo who hit a big snowstorm two weeks after installation, and he called us panicking, thinking he messed up. We walked him through checking the mounting tracks, and turns out he just needed to adjust a couple panels, no big deal. That’s part of the package, not something you have to figure out on your own.
I know a lot of architects and builders in snow zones are skeptical—we’ve all heard horror stories about materials that sound good on paper but fall apart in real winter weather. We don’t just test our panels in a lab, we have real-world data from over 200 projects in regions with 3+ feet of annual snowfall. From Colorado to Maine, from Minnesota to upstate New York, our system is holding up. Last year, we did a residential build in Breckenridge, CO—super high elevation, heavy snow, wind gusts up to 60 mph in winter. The homeowner sent us a video in January after a big snowstorm, and all the panels were still attached, no cracks, no snow buildup. That’s exactly what we want to hear.
If you’re an architect working on a new school, a contractor doing a commercial build in a snowy state, or a homeowner looking to re-siding that can handle winter, this is stuff worth considering. I know choosing building materials in snow-prone areas is stressful—you don’t want to spend money on something that’s gonna cause headaches (and leaks) down the line. Our Continuous Embedded Terracotta Panel System is designed specifically to handle the harsh stuff, not just look good in a showroom.
If you’re curious about specs, load ratings, or real project pics from snow zones, hit us up for a chat. We can send you test data, connect you with contractors who’ve used our system in snowy areas, no pressure. We just want to help you pick a material that’ll last for decades, even through the deepest snow and coldest winters.
Continuous Embedded Terracotta Panel System References:
- ASTM C666/C666M-21, Standard Test Method for Resistance of Concrete to Rapid Freezing and Thawing, ASTM International, 2021
- ASCE 7-22, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2022
- Terracotta Cladding Systems: Performance in Cold Climates, National Building Museum, 2020
- AAMA 2605-21, Voluntary Specification for Organic Coatings on Architectural Metal Products, American Architectural Manufacturers Association, 2021
- Freeze-Thaw Durability of Ceramic Building Materials, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Vol. 32, No. 4, 2020
Shanghai Janemade Architectural Technology Co., Ltd.
With abundant experience, we are one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of continuous embedded terracotta panel system in China. We warmly welcome you to wholesale bulk customized continuous embedded terracotta panel system from our factory. If you have any enquiry about pricelist and free sample, please feel free to email us.
Address: Room 709A, No. 333 Rende Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai
E-mail: janemade@126.com
WebSite: https://www.cnjanemade.com/
