Joint member

A joint member that is fixed between vertically adjacent external wall panels in an external wall construction for fastening the external wall panels to a side of a building frame by means of a fixture driven from a surface side, the vertically adjacent wall panels comprising an upper external wall panel and a lower external wall panel each having a front face, a rear face, an upper end surface and a lower end surface, the joint member comprising:

• a hat joiner and a joint cover;
• the joint cover comprising;
• a substantially vertical lower edge portion that is brought into contact with the front face of a lower external wall panel in the course of construction, and
• a joint groove portion having flat upper and lower plates, the lower plate extends from an upper end of the lower edge portion to the rear face without contacting the upper end surface of the lower external wall panel,
• the hat joiner comprises a base plate that serves as a fixed surface to a side of the building frame, and a hat joiner convex part having upper and lower side surfaces, the hat joiner convex part protruding from the base plate to the front face and being sandwiched between the ends of the upper and lower external wall panels in the course of construction;
• the joint groove portion is formed into a shape that covers at least a top surface of the hat joiner convex part and the upper end surface of the lower external wall panel with the joint member and the upper and lower external wall panels fastened to each other, and
• wherein the upper and lower plates of the joint groove portion are separated by a distance that is less than a distance separating the upper and lower side surfaces of the hat joiner convex part.