Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C1/00—Building elements of block or other shape for the construction of parts of buildings
  • E04C1/40—Building elements of block or other shape for the construction of parts of buildings built-up from parts of different materials, e.g. composed of layers of different materials or stones with filling material or with insulating inserts
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04B—GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS; WALLS, e.g. PARTITIONS; ROOFS; FLOORS; CEILINGS; INSULATION OR OTHER PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS
  • E04B2/00—Walls, e.g. partitions, for buildings; Wall construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted to walls
  • E04B2/02—Walls, e.g. partitions, for buildings; Wall construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted to walls built-up from layers of building elements
  • E04B2002/0256—Special features of building elements
  • E04B2002/0269—Building elements with a natural stone facing
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04B—GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONS; WALLS, e.g. PARTITIONS; ROOFS; FLOORS; CEILINGS; INSULATION OR OTHER PROTECTION OF BUILDINGS
  • E04B2/00—Walls, e.g. partitions, for buildings; Wall construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted to walls
  • E04B2/02—Walls, e.g. partitions, for buildings; Wall construction with regard to insulation; Connections specially adapted to walls built-up from layers of building elements
  • E04B2002/0256—Special features of building elements
  • E04B2002/0289—Building elements with holes filled with insulating material
  • E04B2002/0293—Building elements with holes filled with insulating material solid material

Definitions

• This invention relates to a composite building unit, and more particularly to a polyhedral composite building unit for laying with other, similar units in the construction of a wall.
• Architects and builders are nowadays confronted with increasing problems. Their customers are on the one hand conservative in their taste, having a preference for walls made from traditional materials such as brick or stone but on the other hand overridlngly cost conscious.
• different countries apply progressively more stringent building regulations both to ensure safety and, with an increasing awareness of the need for energy conservation, especially in the colder climates of the more industrially advanced countries, the inhibition of heat transmittance across external walls of a building primarily to avoid heat loss from building interiors.
• a common way to achieve heat insulation is cavity wall construction.
• an external wall of porous material such as relatively low-grade, common brick the ⁇ avity serves the additional and more important purpose of preventing water ingress.
• the external brick wall becomes saturated the cavity acts as a vapour barrier.
• measures which are adopted to increase heat insulation after a building has been constructed such as filling the cavity with a settable, heat insulating foam, can be counter-productive. These measures have in any event come into disrepute. Poisonous or noxious emission into the building interior can occur when certain foams are used.
• the interior surface of an external wall must have a "fair facing", i.e. must be more aesthetically acceptable than, e.g.
• a cavity wall consisting of two leaves or skins of brick without plaster or other lining would present a fair-faced interior.
• a brick interior is often specified by the Client, but the standard 105 mm brick used to build two walls with a 50 mm cavity or spacing would not comply with e.g. British building regulations, which require a heat transmittance value across the wall (hereinafter referred to as the " ⁇ value") of less than 0.6 w/m 2 deg. C.
• This value could be achieved by additional measures, such as building with one of the walls a heat insulating or reflective layer adjacent one of the inwardly presented faces of the two brick walls, but any such measures would be highly labour intensive and therefore prohibitively expensive.
• the alternative of providing either or both of the outwardly presented faces of the two brick walls with a suitable layer would also be expensive and, more to the point, would destroy the intended aesthetic effect.
• a single-leaf wall constructed from 150 mm blocks of thermally insulating concrete lined internally e.g. with vermiculite plaster or a dry lining could comply with building regulations but it is rarely used in the construction of habitable dwellings in oool climates. It would require a weather- and water-proof external render. The application of such a render would involve high labour costs and the finished building, having an unfamiliar appearance, would not on the whole be acceptable to conservative customers or planning authorities.
• the unit will have the shape and dimensions of a conventional brick or stone block so that it can be used without special instruction or training by anyone capable of bricklaying. This will particularly be the case if, as in preferred embodiments of the invention, both sides and both end faces of the unit axe of fired clay. In this event the bricklayer need not exercise any thought to ensure that both surfaces of the wall are wholly of brick appearance, even if courses of the wall include "end on” or "header” units.
• the present invention provides a polyhedral building unit for laying with other, similar units in the construction of a wall, the unit having load-bearing top and bottom surfaces and opposite side or end faces which will be exposed when the wall is constructed, characterised in that the unit is a composite wherein at least one of said faces forms part of an enclosure of ceramic or vitreous material or natural or synthetic stone, which enclosure contains and is cemented to a body of cementitious material, the body having lower thermal transmission characteristics than the material of the enclosure.
• the improved thermal insulation characteristics of the cementitious body can be achieved solely by the selection of suitable inclusions for the mixture, or by giving it a layered construction of different cementitious mixtures selected respectively for load-bearing and for thermal insulation characteristics.
• thermal barriers may be included in the body, integrated with the adjacent cementitious material(s) by hydraulic and mechanical bonding. Where these barriers span the body between opposite sides or ends they will be arranged generally parallel with the face(s) of the unit which will be exposed from the constructed wall. For example, if the unit has the overall shape and dimensions of a conventional brick longitudinal thermal barriers may be included in units intended as "facers" and transverse thermal barriers may be included in "headers".
• colourants can be added both to the vitreous material and to the cementitious mixture to produce desired ornamental or practical effects.
• a method of manufacturing the unit defined in Four the three immediately preceding paragraphs comprising prefabricating an enclosure of ceramic or vitreous material or naturalor synthetic stone, placing the enclosure in a mould having an internal shape corresponding to the intended external shape of the unit and introducing into the mould a cementitious mixture capable of bonding hydraulically and mechanically to the material of the enclosure.
• Different cementitious mixtures may be introduced into different areas of the mould so as to produce a layered but unitary cementitious body, all the layers being generally parallel with said at least one face of the finished unit, the layers mutually differing in load-bearing strength and thermal insulation characteristics.
• This layering of the body can be achieved either by prefabricating the layers and positioning them in the mould cementitiously to bond to adjacent layers or to the enclosure or by sub-dividing the interior of the mould with removable partition means and introducing different mixtures on opposite sides of the partitions.
• the partitions may either be physically bodily removed after serving their purpose or may be of a degradeable material which will not prevent bonding of one layer to another.
• one or more thermal barriers may be prefabricated and inserted into the mould, cementitious material subsequently being introduced into the mould on opposite sides of the or each thermal barrier.
• the or each thermal barrier comprises air- or gas-filled spaces.
• the or each thermal barrier may be prefabricated from a similar material and inserted in the enclosure while both components are heat softened so that opposite ends of the barrier(s) fuse in position.
• Figure 2 is a cross-sectional elevation taken on the line II-II of Figure 1,
• FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the enclosure component (only) of an alternative unit in accordance with the invention
• Figure 4 illustrates an optional additional step in the construction of the enclosure component of Figure 3
• Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of a completed unit having the enclosure component of Figure 4,
• Figure 8 is a sectional elevation, on a larger scale, of one of the thermal barriers of Figure 7.
• a unit is provided with has load-bearing top 36 and bottom 37 surfaces, "facer” sides 38 and 39 and “header” ends 40 and 41.
• the external surfaces of the "sides" of the"box" 10 are flush with the exposed surfaces of the body 11 to give a regular, rectangular contour.
• FIG. 1 Figure also shows that weep-holes 20 may be provided in the base 19 for theescape of surplus moisture from the cementitious core 21.
• the choice of materials for the enclosure 10A, with or without a base 19, and for the cementitious core 21, is as indicated in connection with the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2.
• the prefabricated and hardened enclosure component 10A is placed in a cast-iron mould 23 before the introduction of the cementitious mixture.
• clay for the component 10A it may be fired while in the mould 23, the mould being covered by a removable lid 24 having perforations 26.
• the mould 23 may serve the secondary purpose of supporting the component 10A while a cementitious core 21 is formed therein.
• certain layers may provide the unit with the requisite load-bearing strength, being of a dense, high-aggregate mixture while one or more other layers may be reticulated or consist of a high proportion of air- or gas-filled voids.
• layers provided for their thermal insulation characteristics span the length of the core 21 between the end walls 40 and 41 of the unit, or alternatively the width of the core 21 between the sidewalls 38 and 39 of the unit, it is desirable that they should be generally parallel to the sides, or to the ends, of the unit, i.e. that any thermally insulating layer should be perpendicular to the direction in which the unit will face outward of a wall, in use.
• Individual layers may be prefabricated separately, e.g. by moulding, before introduction into the enclosure 10A or alternatively the interior of the enclosure 10A may be sub-divided by removable partition means (not shown) and the cementitious mixtures introduced on opposite sides of the partitions.
• the removable partition means may be physically removable before the wetted cementitious mixtures have hardened, allowing them to bond together, or degradable or porous membrane partition means may be used which, while serving to separate the dry mixtures when introduced so as generally to preserve the shape of the layers, will not prevent the wetted mixtures from bonding together.
• larger units e.g. 150 mm x 215 mm
• larger units may be provided for particular purposes, for example to build an external wall with a ceramic facing in a building of timberframe construction.
• additional insulation between the studwork may be dispensed with if the units of the invention are given adequate thermal insulation properties.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Building Environments (AREA)
• Finishing Walls (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=10575368

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (2)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 1985
  • 1985-03-04 GB GB858505432A patent/GB8505432D0/en active Pending
• 1986
  • 1986-03-03 WO PCT/GB1986/000113 patent/WO1986005226A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1986-03-03 DE DE8686901462T patent/DE3669745D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1986-03-03 EP EP19860901462 patent/EP0247050B1/de not_active Expired
  • 1986-03-03 AU AU54578/86A patent/AU5457886A/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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