EP0341110B1 - Covering for an exterior wall of a building - Google Patents

Abstract

Cladding comprising a multiplicity of elongate supports (2) fixed substantially horizontally onto the external face of the wall (1) of a building and uniformly spaced in height, and a multiplicity of covering elements (10-1, 10-2) juxtaposed and superposed on the surface of the wall, each comprising a layer (11) of thermally insulating material and a facing (12) adhering to the external face of the latter, and positioned on the wall by attachment of the insulating layer on two neighbouring elongate supports. According to the invention, the cladding also comprises a multiplicity of retention components (13), of which each is disposed between two superposed covering elements (10-1, 10-2), a first (15) of its ends engaging with one and/or the other of the insulating layers of these elements (10-1, 10-2) and/or with the elongate support connected in common to the latter, and its second end (18, 19) being folded over the external surface of the cladding in order to retain the facing of at least one of these elements (10-1, 10-2). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a covering comprising a multiplicity of supports fixed to the external face of the wall of a building along substantially horizontal lines regularly spaced apart in height, and a multiplicity of covering elements juxtaposed and superimposed on the surface of the wall, comprising each a layer of thermally insulating material and a facing adhering to the external face thereof, which has an upper side and a lower side cooperating in their shapes respectively with two adjacent elongated supports for positioning the covering elements on the wall, the elongated supports extending over only part of the thickness of the insulation layer.

Such clothing, as described in particular on pages 17 and 19 of the Catalog of building products "Sélection HLM 1988", published by Cahiers techniques du Bâtiment and published in March 1988, constitutes a simple and economical means of insulation by exterior, and has an aesthetic appearance, for example comparable to that of a stone wall, thanks to the juxtaposition and the superposition of suitable facings.

In the cladding as described above, the facing is only held in place by means of the layer of insulating material, to which it adheres in particular by gluing. It follows that if, over time, the facing ceases to adhere to the insulation, for example due to aging of the adhesive, the facing falls. Security considerations therefore prohibit the use of this clothing beyond a certain height.

The object of the invention is to remedy this drawback, and to improve the known clothing so as to allow it to be used safely without limitation in height.

To this end, the covering according to the invention also comprises a multiplicity of retaining members, each of which is disposed between at least two superimposed covering elements, a first of its ends being immobilized by cooperation of shapes with one and / or the other of the insulating layers of these elements and / or with the elongated support linked in common to them and its second end being folded over the external surface of the cladding to retain the facing of at least one of these elements.

Two overlapping covering elements are two adjacent covering elements belonging to two neighboring "stages", and may have a lateral offset with respect to each other. "At least two overlapping covering elements" means that the retaining member may be situated between a covering element or two juxtaposed covering elements of the upper floor on the one hand and a covering element or two juxtaposed covering elements on the other floor.

The elongated supports are for example profiles of which a wing is applied against the wall and of which at least one other wing penetrates into grooves provided in the upper and lower sides of the layers of insulation. By "at least one other wing" is meant that the grooves on the lower side of the insulation layers of the upper floor and the grooves on the upper side of the insulation layers of the lower floor can receive either the opposite edges of the same wing of the profile, or two different wings of the latter.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the first end of the retaining members is in the form of a hook and interposed between the assembly groove of one of the adjacent covering elements and the wing of the profile which enters this groove. Preferably, the end enters the groove on the upper side of the insulating layer of the lower covering element.

Advantageously, each retaining element is folded up and down at its second end to contribute to retaining the facings of the two overlapping covering elements simultaneously.

The retaining member may be in the form of a folded sheet metal strip which, advantageously, at the second end, is folded upwards over part of its width and downwards over the remaining part of its width.

The invention also provides evacuation grooves extending from the upper side to the lower side, formed at the interface between the layer of insulation and the facing of the covering elements. In the same covering element, some of these evacuation grooves may have a different appearance from that of the other evacuation grooves of the same element to facilitate by locating a regular arrangement of the retaining members.

• la figure 1 est une vue partielle en perspective d'une vêture selon l'invention en cours de réalisation;
• la figure 2 est une vue partielle de cette même vêture, en coupe transversale par un plan vertical;
• la figure 3 est une vue en perspective d'un organe de retenue utilisé dans la vêture; et
• la figure 4 est une vue partielle de dessus d'un élément de revêtement, dans une variante de l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the detailed description below and the attached drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a garment according to the invention in progress;
• Figure 2 is a partial view of the same clothing, in cross section through a vertical plane;
• Figure 3 is a perspective view of a retainer used in the clothing; and
• Figure 4 is a partial top view of a covering element, in a variant of the invention.

The cladding shown in Figures 1 and 2, intended for the insulation and / or decoration of an exterior wall 1 of a building, comprises a multiplicity of elongated profiled supports 2 fixed to the wall, extending horizontally along that here and regularly spaced in height. Each of the sections 2 comprises a core 3 arranged horizontally, a first vertical wing 4 extending upwards from the core 3 and a second vertical wing 5 extending upwards and downwards, symmetrically with respect to the plane of the core 3, in the form of two half-wings 6 and 7 respectively, opposite the wing 4 with respect to the width of the core. The wing 4 is applied against the wall 1 to which it is fixed by means of screws 8 engaging in holes 9 distributed along this wing, while the second wing 5 is spaced from the wall. The length of the profiles being generally less than the width of the wall to be covered, several profiles are arranged in the extension of one another to form substantially continuous horizontal rails over the width of the wall.

The cladding also comprises a multiplicity of covering elements 10 each formed from an insulating layer of expanded polystyrene 11 and from an external facing 12 made of stabilized fiber cement 12 bonded to the external face of the layer 11. Each element 10 has the form of a rectangular plate, the height of which is very slightly less than the pitch of the rails formed by the profiles 2. The wall covering is produced by the superposition of stages each formed by juxtaposed elements 10, held between two neighboring rails. The immobilization of the elements of a stage is ensured by the penetration of the half-wings 7 of the profiles of the upper rail into assembly grooves 17 formed vertically and longitudinally in the polystyrene layer 11 from the upper side of the elements 10, and by penetration of the half-wings 6 of the lower rail into similar grooves 16 formed from the lower side of the elements 10. In the example shown, the position of the assembly grooves and the dimensions of the profiles are such that the polystyrene layer 11 is substantially adjacent to the wall 2. It could also be ensured that this layer is spaced from the wall. The elements 10 are arranged in staggered rows, the elements of one stage being offset laterally by half a step with respect to those of the neighboring stages. This provision is also optional.

The cladding according to the invention finally comprises retaining members 13 in the form of strips of folded sheet metal, one of which is shown in FIG. 3. A middle portion 14 of the member 13 is arranged approximately transversely to the wall 2 , between two covering elements 10-1 and 10-2 (Figure 2) belonging to two neighboring stages, from the wing 5 of the profile located between these two elements to the external face of the facings 12 thereof. At its end facing the wall, the member 13 is folded down from the portion 14 in the form of a hook 15 which surrounds the free edge of the half-wing 6 of the profile and is inserted therewith. ci in the assembly groove 16 on the lower side of the insulating layer of the upper element 10-1. At its end facing away from the wall, the member 13 is cut longitudinally at mid-width into two tabs 18 and 19, which are folded up and down respectively on the external face of the elements 10-1 and 10-2. We see in Figure 1 that each facing 12 are associated with four retaining members 13, two of which are adjacent to its lower edge and cooperate with its outer face by their tongues 18 and the other two are adjacent to its upper edge and cooperate with its external face by their tongues 19. Two members 13 adjacent to the same upper or lower side of an element 10 are also adjacent to the lower or upper sides of two juxtaposed elements 10 of the upper or lower stage. The four retaining members cooperating with a facing keep it in place in the event of detachment and prevent it from falling to the ground. The members 13 can be provided over the entire height of the wall, or only beyond a determined height.

The covering element 10 ′ shown in FIG. 4 is almost identical to the elements 10 described above. It differs from it only in the presence of evacuation grooves formed vertically in the external face of the polystyrene layer 11 ′ and therefore adjacent to the internal face of the facing 12. These grooves can be produced, for example using '' a wire heated or by mechanical machining, before the gluing of the facing. They allow the evacuation of the water which could be trapped between the layer 11 ′ and the facing 12 as a result of the presence of microcracks and / or surface irregularities of the polystyrene. These grooves are uniformly spaced along the horizontal direction of the interface between the layer 11 ′ and the facing, and are of two kinds, the grooves 21 having an equal width and a depth greater than those of the grooves 20. This difference in dimensions allows easy visual identification of the grooves 21, which serve as benchmarks for the positioning of the retaining members 13, these being thus correctly aligned in the vertical direction and regularly spaced in the horizontal direction, thanks to an appropriate arrangement of the grooves 21 in each covering element 10 ′. By way of example, the grooves 20 have a width and a depth of 2 mm and the grooves 21 have a depth of 4 mm. One-dimensional covering element horizontal of 60 cm has eleven grooves spaced from each other by 5 cm, the extreme grooves being 5 cm from its lateral edges. Two grooves 21 are provided, 15 cm respectively from these two lateral edges, the other grooves being of type 20. By arranging the covering elements according to the staggered configuration shown in FIG. 1 and by positioning each retaining element in coincidence with the upper end of a groove 21 of a covering element of the stage which has just been produced, one obtains, for the retaining members, the arrangement also shown in FIG. 1, in which they are mutually aligned in the vertical direction and spaced apart from each other by 30 cm in the horizontal direction, each of them being located mid-length of the adjacent portions between them on the lower side of a covering element of the upper floor and on the upper side of a covering element of the lower floor.

Of course, the evacuation grooves can be used independently of the retaining members according to the invention.

Other modifications can be made to the embodiments illustrated without departing from the invention. Thus, the elongated sections 2 juxtaposed end to end can be replaced by discrete supports aligned horizontally and each cooperating with the covering elements over a fraction of the width of these, for example over a few centimeters. These discrete supports can be sections of a profile as described in the example, and for example two such supports are provided for an upper or lower side of a covering element.

The insulating layer of the covering elements can consist of any thermally insulating material. The facing may be made of a material other than fiber cement, waterproof and having a decorative appearance, for example polyester.

The retaining members are not necessarily sheet metal and may have a shape different from that of a folded strip. PVC can be used as a material, for example. The internal hooks of the retaining members can be placed around the upper wing of the supports and in the assembly groove on the lower side of the covering elements.

Claims (9)

1. Cladding comprising a multiplicity of supports (2), which are fixed to the outer face of the wall (1) of a building along substantially horizontal lines, uniformly spaced in height, and a multiplicity of covering elements (10) juxtaposed and superposed on the surface of the wall, each comprising a layer (11) of thermally insulating material and a facing (12) adhering to the outer face of this layer, which layer exhibits an upper side and a lower side interacting by means of their shapes respectively with two adjacent elongate supports in order to position the covering elements on the wall, the elongate supports extending over only a portion of the thickness of the insulating layer, characterised in that it also comprises a multiplicity of retention members (13), each of which is disposed between at least two superposed covering elements (10-1, 10-2), a first (15) of its ends being immobilised by means of interaction of shapes with one and/or the other of the insulating layers of these elements (10-1, 10-2) and/or with the elongate support linked together to these elements and its second end (18, 19) being folded back over the outer surface of the cladding in order to retain the facing of one at least of these elements (10-1, 10-2).

2. Cladding according to claim 1, characterised in that the supports are profiled sections (2), a flange (4) of which is applied against the wall and at least another flange (5) of which penetrates into assembly grooves (16, 17) provided in the upper and lower sides of the insulating layers (11).

3. Cladding according to claim 2, characterised in that the first end (15) of the retention members is shaped into the form of a hook and interposed between the assembly groove (17) of one of the adjacent covering elements and the flange (5) of the profiled section which penetrates into this groove.

4. Cladding according to claim 3, characterised in that the hook-shaped end penetrates into the groove (16) of the lower side of the insulating layer of the upper covering element (10-1).

5. Cladding according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that each retention element is bent upwards (18) and downwards (19) at its second end in order to contribute to the simultaneous retention of the facings of the two superposed covering elements (10-1, 10-2).

6. Cladding according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that each retention member is in the form of a folded strip of sheet metal.

7. Cladding according to claim 6, characterised in that at the second end the strip is folded upwards over a portion of its width and downwards over the remaining portion of its width.

8. Cladding according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that drain grooves (20, 21) extending from the upper side to the lower side are provided at the interface between the insulating layer (11′) and the facing (12) of the covering elements (10′).

9. Cladding according to claim 8, characterised in that each covering element exhibits drain grooves (21) whose appearance differs from that of the other drain grooves (20) of the same element in order to facilitate, by reference marking, a uniform arrangement of the retention members (13).

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