EP0237044A1

EP0237044A1 - Building made of modular caissons

Info

Publication number: EP0237044A1
Application number: EP87103487A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Raymond Couture
Original assignee: THERMOCUBE Inc
Current assignee: THERMOCUBE Inc
Priority date: 1986-03-11
Filing date: 1987-03-11
Publication date: 1987-09-16

Abstract

Modular caisson units are pre-fabricated and erected and assembled at the building site. The caisson units make the external walls (8) and the roof panels (42) of the building or house. They carry their own heat insulating material (14) and provide passages for the servicing of electric cables and water pipes (28). They act as structural elements for the house. Some caisson units serve as a beam (31) disposed across the house openings which permit great versatility in the location and dimensions of such openings. These beam units (31) serve also to interlock with the roof caissons (42). An eave unit is also provided to interlock the wall caissons (8) with the roof caissons (42).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to building components for the construction of buildings and preferably residential houses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that the cost of constructing houses by standard methods in which all of the building components have to be separately brought to the site, assembled and erected, is time consuming and consequently very expensive. Attempts have been made to pre-fabricate at a manufacturing plant large parts of a house to be transported by large trailers at the building site and erected on the foundation. The transportation of such a large and wide load on highways is detrimental to the normal traffic and besides such large building sections are liable to damage during transit and erection. Moreover such a method of pre-fabrication is not flexible in that the house, once erected,cannot easily and cheaply be modified, for instance enlarged.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The general object of the invention is to provide a building system which obviates the above noted disadvantages.
A more specific object of the present invention is the provision of a building system composed of pre-fabricated modular caissons designed to form the exterior walls and the roof of the house, said caissons serving as structural elements for the house as well as providing heat insulating wall and roof panels.
Another object of the invention is to provide such caissons having passages for electric cables, piping and the like.
Another object of the invention is to provide special beam caissons which serve to interlock the wall caissons with the roof caissons and also to close the top of the building apertures whereby the size and locations of such apertures can be varied.
Another object of the invention is to provide a house made of building components of the type mentioned said components being easily disassembled for later modification of the house.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided, as a building component, a caisson of generally rectangular shape including inner and outer rigid space parallel main panels, end and side panels rigidly interconnecting said main panels at the periphery of the latter, heat insulating material filling the caisson, the caisson serving as an external wall or as a roof section and being also a structural element. Preferably, the caisson is stiffened by additional panels extending within the same. Preferably, a sheet of corrugated cardboard extends within the caisson between the heat insulating material and the outer main panel and is spaced from the latter to form an air space between the sheet and the outer main panel. The side panels of the caisson have a stepped formation so that when two caissons are abutted in side by side relation the step portion defines a channel adjacent the inner main panel to accommodate electric cables, water piping and the like. The wall caissons have the same height except at the building windows and beam caissons extend horizontally across the wall caissons and close the top of the window openings whereby the size and location of the latter can be varied. The beam caissons serve as support and connection for the outer ends of the roof caissons. The beam caissons are preferably pre-fabricated with an integral eave forming structure. Preferably, special additional eave structures are provided which also serve to join certain exterior walls with the roof panels. preferably, adjacent wall caissons of right angle walls are joined to each other through the intermediary of a corner caisson so as to decrease the number of different sizes of wall caissons required to construct the house.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a typical residential house erected with the building components of the invention.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the house taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a partial view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a plan section of a corner of the house taken along line 4-4 of Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a partial section taken along line 5-5 of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a vertical section through the top of the sloping roof; and
Figure 7 is a vertical section taken along line 8-8 of Figure 1 and showing the junction of side wall caisson, a roof caisson and an eave structure at the side wall.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Figure 1 shows a typical house built with the pre-fabricated modular caissons in accordance with the present invention. The house comprises a front wall 1, a similar rear wall and side walls 2 all of said exterior walls supporting a double sloping roof 3. Front wall 1 has window openings 4. The walls 1 and 2 are mounted on a concrete foundation 5 which is poured and set at the building site. The roof is extended by a front and back eave structure 6 and natural eave structure 7. The walls 1, 2 and roof 3 are made of several caissons disposed side by side and joined together.
Figure 2 shows a wall caisson 8 of generally rectangular shape of a size for instance of 7ʹ long by 4ʹ wide with an interior width of about 7ʺ. The caisson 8 is constituted of an outer panel 9, an inner panel 10, top and bottom end panels 11 and 12 and side panels 13 (see Figure 4) all glued and sealed one to another to define an inner space which is filled with heat insulating material 14 such as glass fibres. The panels 9 to 13 are preferably made of wafer-board or a similar dimensionally stable material which has also good resistance to tension and compression. The thickness of the main panels 9 and 10 may be for instance 5/8 of an inch while the thickness of the end panels 11 and 12 and side panels 13 may be 7/8 of an inch. The interior of the wall caisson is provided with a series of partitions 15, spaced from each other, for instance at 23 inches centre to centre, and, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, retained in a groove 16 of the side panels 13 and between blocks 17 secured to the inner panel 10 and blocks 18 and 19 secured to the outer panel 9.
The heat insulating material 14 is retained on its outer side by a sheet of corrugated cardboard 20 which is maintained spaced from the outer main panel 9 by the blocks 19 to thus define an air space 21 for air circulation as shown in Figure 2.
The sheet of cardboard 20 is pervious to humidity and also is a good acoustic insulation.
The bottom end panel 12 is doubled by a narrower saddle 22 glued to the panel 12 and defining in inwardly opening step 23 to accommodate a plank 24, for instance a 2 by 4, which is secured along the top of foundation 5. The step 23 is abutted against the plank 24 with the inter position of a sealing sheet 25. Then the bottom end of the wall caisson 8 is fixed to the plank 24 by nailing or screwing 26. The step 23 defines a passage 27 for the horizontal insertion of electric cables 28, water piping or the like. This passage 27 is to be eventually closed off by the interior finish of the house, such as plasterboard to be applied to the inner main panels 10 with the interposition of a water vapour barrier sheet. The finition is completed by the usual base board. All this interior finishing is not shown in the drawings.
Similarly the outer cladding of the house is not shown and is to be applied to the outer panels 9 and also to the skirt panels 29, preferably made of wafer-board, applied to the exterior face of the foundation 5.
Figure 2 shows also that the top end panels 11 are doubled by an extra top panel 30 which protrudes from the top edges of the main panels 9 and 10 to make a lap joint with a beam caisson 31 to be described hereinafter.
Figure 4 shows that the side panels 13 are doubled by narrower panels 32 defining an inwardly facing step 33. The side edges 34 of the inner panel 10 protrude from the side panels 13. When two wall caissons 8 are joined side by side with the inter-position of a sealing sheet 25, they can be nailed together by a connector strip 35, also made of of wafer-board, this strip is first nailed to one caisson, the caissons are assembled and the last row of nails is accessible through the gap between the edges 34 of the inner main panels 10. The defined passage 36 is also accessible for the insertion of electric cables or water piping to run vertically and the passages 36 are in communication with the horizontal bottom passage 27.
Most of the wall caissons 8 may have the same height, including those for the front and back walls except at the window openings 4 and, for instance, except at the area around the front door 41.
The wall caissons 8 for the side walls 2 can be a single unit for the full height of the house with a sloping end to suit the slope roof or made of a lower caisson of standard height with an upper caisson of the required height with a top sloping end.
The beam caisson 31 is made in a long section of a sufficient length to extend, for instance, across the front wall 1 from one side wall 2 to the door area and another section to extend from the other side wall to the door area, each beam caisson 31 extending across and closing the top of the window openings 4, therefore the width and locations of these window openings can be varied.
The beam caisson 31 comes pre-fabricated with the eave structure 6 and its top face is so designed as to make a seat for the outer end of the sloping roof caissons 42. More particularly, the beam caisson 31 is formed of an inner main panel 43 of double thickness and of two waferboard outer panels 44 spaced from each other by suitable studs for the continuation of the air passage 21 which opens up within the eave structure 6. The bottom panel 45 sits on top of the wall caissons 8 with the inter-position of a sealing sheet 25. The connector strip 35 is extended upwardly to be connected to the beam caisson 31 at each junction of the wall caissons 8 and by nailing accessible through suitable openings made in the beam caisson 31. The top of the beam caisson is closed by three top panels 46, 47, 48 with panel 46 forming an upwardly facing step, middle panel 47 forming an abutment to seat and retain the outer ends of the roof caissons 42. The abutment panel 47 is at the required angle to fit squarely against the square outer ends of the roof caissons 42. Panel 48 completes the closing of the column caisson and reinforces abutment panel 47. The beam caisson is filled with heat insulating material 14 and comes already pre-fabricated with the eave structure 6 which includes a top eave panel 49 and spaced apart dependent studs 50 to give access for nailing the outer end of the roof caisson 42 by means of nails 51.
Once the structure is erected, the eave structure 6 is completed by the installation of aluminium sheeting 52 along the top, front and bottom of the eave structure 6.
Referring to Figure 4, the sides of the wall caissons 8 at each corner of the house do not overlap but are inter-connected by a corner caisson 53 of generally square cross section also made of waferboard panels 9ʹ glued together and reinforced by studs 54 which serve to space the corrugated cardboard sheet 20 retaining the heat insulating material 14 filling the interior of the column. A stud 55 is glued to the outside of the interior corner of the corner caisson and fits the step 33 of the adjacent wall caisson 8; it serves to nail the two caissons together by means of nails 56.
The roof caissons 42 are of similar construction as the wall caissons 8 and have a length to extend from the crest of the roof to the beam caissons 31. Both ends of each roof caisson are defined by end panels 57. As shown in Figure 7, each side of each roof caisson 42 is formed of a double panel arrangement 58 defining a downwardly facing step 59; thus, when two roof caissons 42 are joined side by side, the steps 59 define a passage for electric cables similar to the passage 36 of the wall caissons as shown in Figure 4. The roof caisson includes an inner main panel 61 and an outer main panel 62 joined by glue to the end panels 57 and side panel 58. The roof caisson is filled with a heat insulating material which is retained in place by mean of a corrugated cardboard sheet 20, defining an air space 63 for air circulation underneath the outer main panel 62. The ends of the roof caisson 42 are supported at the crest of the roof on a roof beam 64 and the adjacent ends of said roof caisson are interconnected along each of their sides by metal strips 65. The space between the adjacent ends of the roof caisson 42 is preferably filled with insulating material 66. A ventilation cap 67 is fixed along the crest of the roof in communication with the air spaces 63 on both sloping sides of the roof. The roof caissons 42 are stiffened by studs 68 running longitudinally thereof at their bottom corners, and also by stiffeners partitions such as the partitions 15 of the wall caissons 8.
Referring to Figure 7, there is shown a lateral eave structure 7 pre-fabricated in one piece and formed of a roof panel 69, a side panel 70 and of outer spaced vertical studs 71 and horizontal studs 72 interconnected by a board 73 running longitudinaly of the eave structure. This eave structure 7 is designed to be fixed to the side of the laterally outermost roof caisson along the same as by nails 74 and to extend over the sloping ends of the wall caissons 8 of the side walls 2 and to be nailed thereto by nails 75. Thus the eave structures 7 serve as a firm connection between the roof and the side walls. Each eave structure 7, once in position, is covered by aluminium siding 76 in a manner similar to the covering of the front and back eave structure 6.
It is apparent that the wall caissons 8, roof caissons 42, corner caissons 53, beam caissons 31 together with the front and back eave structure 6 and finally the lateral eave structures 7 can be pre-fabricated as different units in a manufacturing plant, and transported to the building site while taking a minimum of room where they are erected on the already laid concrete foundation 5.
All the joints are completely sealed by sealing sheets 25. The exterior walls, assembled from wall caissons 8, beam caissons 31 and corner caissons 53, are very strong and serve as structural elements to support the roof. The roof caissons 42 successfully resist tension forces along their bottom panel.
Once erected, all the external joints are sealed and covered by any suitable cladding.
The electric cables and water piping can be run in passages 27, and these passages can accommodate electric box outlets.
A house can be very quickly erected and since all the exterior walls and the roof are pre-fabricated at the manufacturing plant, the cost of the house is much lower than a house built according to conventional techniques.
It should be noted that the caissons and eave structures can be disassembled for use at another building site. Also the house can be easily modified to enlarge the same.

Claims

1. A building component comprising a composite, generally rectangular modular caisson (8) including inner and outer rigid spaced parallel main panels (9, 10), end and side panels (11, 12, 13) rigidly interconnecting said main panels at the periphery of the latter, heat insulating material (14) filling said caisson (8), said caisson constituting a structural element suitable for exterior wall or roof use, with said inner and outer main panels adapted to face the inside and outside of the building respectively.

2. A building component as defined in claim 1, further including partitions (15) extending within the caisson, fixed to at least some of said panels and serving as stiffeners for the caisson.

3. A building component as defined in claim 1, further including a sheet (20) of porous material extending within the caisson between said heat insulating material (14) and said outer main panel (9) and spaced from the latter to define an air space (21) inwardly of said outer main panel (9).

4. A building component as defined in claim 3, wherein said porous sheet (20) is made of corrugated cardboard and said panels (9) are made of waferboard.

5. A building component as defined in claim 1, wherein said side panels (13) define a step (33) adjacent to and facing said inner main panel (10) whereby when two caissons (8) are joined side by side with said steps in register, there is defined a passage (36) extending at the joint between the two caissons and accessible between the inner main panels (10) of the joined caissons for the insertion of electric cables and the like.

6. A building component as defined in claim 5, further including a connector strip (35) insertable within said passage (36) and adapted to be fixed to the adjacent side panels (13) of two joined caissons through a gap between the inner main panels (10) thereof which terminate short of each other at said joint.

7.A plurality of building components as defined in claim 1, wherein certain of said caissons (8) are roof caissons (42), other are exterior wall caissons (8) adapted to be positioned upright, and including first wall caissons of the same height, and second wall units terminating at a lower level to define window apertures (4), and further including beam caissons (31) adapted to rest on the upright first wall caissons and extend across said window apertures to close the top of the latter, each beam caisson including sealingly interconnected, longitudinal panels (43 - 48) forming the top, bottom and inner and outer sides of said beam caisson, the top panels (46 - 48) of said beam caisson (31) forming an upwardly extending seat for abutting and seating the outer ends of said roof caissons (42), and further including an open work eave structure (6, 49, 50) fixed to said beam caisson (31) and adapted to be covered by sheeting (52) at the building site.

8. A plurality of building components as defined in claim 7, including a pre-fabricated open work eave structure (7) shaped to overlap and be secured to the top of certain wall caissons (8) and be secured to the side of outermost roof caissons (42) of the roof, so as to interconnect these outermost roof caissons with the last named wall caissons (8).

9. A plurality of building components as defined in claim 5, wherein said wall caissons (8) form two perpendicular exterior walls (1, 2) of the building and further including a corner caisson (53) of generally square cross-sectional shape and adapted to abut and be joined to adjacent wall caissons of the two perpendicular walls.

10. A plurality of building components as defined in claim 7, wherein said roof caissons (42) are designed to be installed at a slope and the seat (46, 47, 48) of said beam caissons includes a right angle recess, angled with respect to the inner and outer side panels (43, 44) of said beam caisson (31) to form a square seating for the sloping roof caissons.