EP1486618A1

EP1486618A1 - Method and means for building a basement

Info

Publication number: EP1486618A1
Application number: EP03447147A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Etienne Heirwegh
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-06-12
Filing date: 2003-06-12
Publication date: 2004-12-15

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of constructing a room which is at least partially sunked in a ground, the method including:

inserting a plurality of hollow elongate elements (11) provided with flanges (12,13) into the ground at a circumference of the room to be formed,

providing a plurality of double wall panels (50), each double wall panel (50) being located between neighbouring elongate elements so as to form an at least partially enclosed space,

excavating spoil from within the at least patially enclosed space so as to clear said partially enclosed space,

providing an upstanding water stop (80) inside each of the double wall panels, and providing a substantially horizontal water stop (81) connected to at least some of the upstanding water stops.

The present invention also provides a sunken or partially sunken room thus obtained, and a kit of parts for making such room.

Description

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method as well as to means which can be used to carry out the method for constructing a basement, cellar or room which is at least partially sunken into the ground, as well as to a sunken or partially sunken room thus obtained, such as for example a cellar, a basement or a garage.

Background of the invention

The design of water resisting basements has been discussed in detail in "Water-resisting basements", report 139, CIRIA, 1995. In constructing a sunken or partially sunken room such as a cellar, basement, semi-basement, store or garage, several problems can arise. Often the basic procedure involves pre-draining the ground, excavating a hole, laying a floor and building walls upward from that floor. The procedure may involve excavating a hole somewhat larger than the room will occupy both sideways and downwards, so as to provide a working area and to allow drying space as the walls are constructed. This is referred to as "construction in open excavation".
When working between existing buildings, the building techniques which may be used are often limited to those which cause a low level of vibrations. High energy vibrations may cause structural damage in neighbouring buildings and may even result in partial collapse of these. Working methods must also be safe for the operators of equipment at the building site as well as for passers-by. Access to building sites between existing buildings may also be restricted as roads and other thoroughfares may be close and in continuous use. Furthermore, in between existing buildings excavating a hole which is larger than the room to be constructed is often not possible. Where there is only limited space "top down" or "bottom up" methods can be used.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved building methods and apparatus for the construction of sunken or at least partially sunken rooms, such as cellars or garages for example. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus suitable for the construction of sunken or partially sunken rooms between existing buildings.
The above objectives are accomplished by a method and device according to the present invention.
The present invention provides a method of constructing a room which is at least partially sunken in a ground, the method including:
inserting a plurality of hollow elongate elements provided with flanges into the ground at a circumference of the room to be formed,
providing a plurality of double wall panels, each double wall panel being located between neighbouring elongate elements so as to form an at least partially enclosed space,
excavating spoil from within the at least partially enclosed space so as to clear said partially enclosed space,
providing an upstanding water stop inside each of the double wall panels, and
providing a substantially horizontal water stop connected to at least some of the upstanding water stops.
The method according to the present invention may furthermore comprise providing a ground anchor in at least one of the plurality of hollow elongate elements.
The method according to the present invention may furthermore comprise filling the hollow elongate elements with solid or solidifiable material, such as concrete for example, or material which swells when coming in contact with liquid material, such as bentonite for example. Also the double wall panels may be filled with solid material or material which swells when coming in contact with liquid material.
Inserting the hollow elongate elements into the ground may comprise forcing them into the ground by means of high frequency vibrations. Inserting the elongate elements into the ground may comprise flushing a liquid into the hollow elongate elements. Providing a double wall panel in between two neighbouring hollow elongate elements may include forcing said double wall panel into the ground.
A method according to the present invention may furthermore include installing a floor at the bottom of the cleared space.
The present invention also provides a room, at least partially sunken in the ground, formed by
a plurality of hollow elongate elements provided with flanges at the circumference of the room,
a plurality of double wall panels, each double wall panel being located in between two neighbouring hollow elongate elements to form an at least partially enclosed space,
an upstanding water stop inside each of the double wall panels,
a substantially horizontal water stop connected to at least some of the upstanding water stops.
The hollow elongate elements and/or the double wall panels may be filled with solid material. This solid material may be concrete for example.
A double wall panel may further comprise a blade edge extending along a ground cutting portion of said double wall panel and adapted to aid ground cutting of said double wall panel. The blade edge may, but does not need to, comprise an oblique slanted surface sloping from an inside face of a panel of said double wall panel at the top of said blade towards an outer face of that panel of said double wall panel at the bottom of said blade edge. Said blade edge may comprise an outer skin of cutting material. Said blade edge may be fixedly attached to the wall panel, in which case it is left there when finishing the room, for example by applying a floor, or it may be removably attached to the wall panel, so that it can be removed and recuperated before finishing the room.
The upstanding water stop and/or the substantially horizontal water stop may be formed by a sheet-like material, such as a metal sheet or a sheet of plastics material. Alternatively, the water stops may be formed by a material that swells when coming into contact with liquid, such as bentonite for example.
The present invention furthermore provides a kit of parts for a room according to the present invention and as described above, said kit comprising a plurality of hollow elongate elements provided with flanges,
a plurality of double wall panels
a plurality of first water stops for application inside the double wall panels, and
a plurality of second water stops for substantially horizontal connection to the first water stops when located within the double wall panels.
The kit of parts may furthermore comprise a template suitable for placing the plurality of hollow elongate elements at equal distances from each other.
These and other characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. This description is given for the sake of example only, without limiting the scope of the invention. The reference figures quoted below refer to the attached drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is a transversal cross-section of a tube according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a transversal cross-section of a tube according to a second embodiment of the present invention, the tube comprising two I-profiles attached together.
Fig. 3 illustrates a match plate suitable for placing tubes at equal distances from each other.
Fig. 4 is a transversal cross-section of a corner tube according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a top view of a wall element according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 6 is a side view of the wall element illustrated in Fig. 5, the wall element being provided with a blade edge. Fig. 6, Fig. 6a and Fig. 6b illustrate different embodiments of blade edges.
Fig. 7 is a top view of a tube according to the first embodiment of the present invention, provided with vertical weir fixing plates and a horizontal weir plate.
Fig. 8 is a side view of a wall element in which a vertical weir plate and a horizontal weir plate have been applied.
Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional side view of a part of a wall of a sunken or partially sunken room built according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 10 is a top view of a part of a wall of a sunken or partially sunken room built according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 11 is a top view of a corner of a wall of a sunken or partially sunken room built according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the different figures, the same reference signs refer to the same or analogous elements.

Description of illustrative embodiments

The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. In particular the invention will be described with reference to a cellar, although it will be appreciated that other sunken or partially sunken rooms such as garages, basements, semi-basements, storage spaces, etc. may be constructed in a similar fashion. With a partially sunken room is meant a room which is located partially under the ground level and partially above it.
The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn on scale for illustrative purposes.
Furthermore, the terms first and second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.
The present invention allows to put into place prefabricated elements for realising a room which is located at least partially under the ground level. Such a room may be "shallow" or "deep". By shallow is meant that less than one storey is underground and by deep is meant more than one storey underground. The time necessary for building such rooms is less than the time necessary for building conventional sunken or partially sunken rooms, and costs are reduced by about 30% to 40%. In particular, the present invention provides methods and apparatus to form a water resistant and even a waterproof or watertight room.
To this effect, the invention comprises in a first aspect a method for realising an at least partially sunken room.
A first step of the method comprises providing a plurality of hollow elongate elements, tubes 10 provided with flanges, at least over a part of the longitudinal direction thereof. These tubes and flanges may be made from any suitable material, such as for example metal such as steel, concrete or plastics material. A transversal cross-sectional view of such tube 10 where flanges are present is shown in Fig. 1. Such tube 10 may be made from a pipe 11 which has a hollow central part which in cross-section is e.g. rectangular or square, but can have any suitable shape in cross-section, such as e.g. circular, hexagonal, octagonal etc., and onto which flanges 12, 13 are fixed at two opposite longitudinal sides by any suitable fixing means, for example by welding, gluing or bolting. Alternatively, such tube 10 according to the present invention may be made by fixing together, in any suitable way such as for example welding, in longitudinal direction two I-profiles 20, 21, as illustrated in the transversal cross-section in Fig. 2.
The plurality of tubes 10 are provided substantially vertically in the ground, at modular distances. With "modular distance" is meant a distance suitable for later on sliding prefabricated wall elements between two neighbouring tubes 10, so as to form a substantially vertical wall.
The tubes 10 can be placed at modular distance e.g. by means of a matching plate or template having suitable dimensions and suitable excisions. An example of such a matching plate 30 is shown in Fig. 3. It comprises two excisions 31, 32 into which tubes 10 fit. The shape of the excisions 31, 32 matches the shape of the tubes 10. Alternatively, instead of simply having excisions 31, 32, the matching plate 30 may comprise upstanding legs at the edges of the incisions, e.g. obtained by folding back cut material of the matching plate. For example, the matching plate 30 may be made from a piece of sheet metal into which incisions are made, for example by means of a laser, so as to enable pieces of metal to be folded back so as to free holes 31, 32 which match with the shape of the tubes 10.
When starting the building of the sunken or partially sunken room, a first tube 10 is arranged substantially vertically into the ground. This may be done by exerting downward forces onto the tube 10, e.g. by means of high frequency vibrations, or by means of a combination of liquid such as water and a downward force. In this later case, e.g. water is made to flow into the tube 10 to be introduced into the ground, which tube is erected on the ground. The flowing of water weakens the resistance of the ground, and the tube 10 is pushed substantially vertically into the ground. This may be done by, e.g. hydraulically, applying a pushing force on the top side of the tube 10, and/or by applying vibrations to the tube 10. This way, the tube 10 is pushed into the ground over a first distance. Thereafter, the tube 10 is preferably brought deeper into the ground over a second distance without using the liquid, in order to more firmly fix it into the ground. The total depth the tube 10 is brought into the ground equals a summation of the first distance and the second distance, which is preferably deeper than the floor level of the sunken or partially sunken room to be built, for example about 2 meter deeper. The second distance may for example equal 2 m.
After the first tube 10 is inserted into the ground, a second tube and further tubes 10 may be inserted also, in the same way, preferably by using the matching plate or template 30 in order to position the plurality of tubes 10 at the suitable distances for later erecting the walls.
In this way, a complete circumference of the sunken or partially sunken room to be formed is provided with tubes 10. At corners, slightly different tubes 40 can be to be provided, of which a transversal cross-section is illustrated in Fig. 4. Such corner tube 40 also comprises a hollow central part 41 which may be square or rectangular in cross-section, or can have any other suitable shape as the tubes 10. Onto this hollow central part 41, flanges 42, 43, 44, 45 are provided, engageable with the walls to be erected later on. In order to put such corner tubes 40 at the right location, a suitable matching plate (not represented in the drawings) different from the matching plate 30, and matching the shape of one tube 10 and the shape of one tube 40 is preferably provided.
When the tubes 10, 40 are brought into the ground, they can be fixed by means of a ground anchor (not represented in the drawings), in any suitable way known by a person skilled in the art. They are then filled with a filling material or grout such as e.g. concrete, which provides stability and firmness to the tubes 10, 40.
Soil is then removed in between two tubes 10, 10 or between a tube 10 and a corner tube 40 where a wall element is to be provided.
Such wall element 50 is illustrated in top view in Fig. 5 and in side view in Fig. 6. Such wall element 50 is preferably a double wall panel. The double wall panel 50 for use with the present invention comprises a first wall 51 and a second wall 52, kept at a distance from each other by means of distance keepers 53. The distance keepers 53 may be bars or rods made of any suitable material, e.g. from metal or glass fibre for example. Such double wall panels can for example be obtained from Omnidal, Wieze, BE. They consist of two concrete wall panels 51, 52 forming the double wall panel, kept apart by means of metal rods 53.
The first wall 51 is intended to be placed towards the inside of the room to be built, and the second wall 52 is intended to be placed towards the outside of the room to be built. The first wall 51 and the second wall 52 preferably have the same width, but the second wall 52 is preferably higher than the first wall 51, for example about 0.5 meter higher. The top face of both first and second walls 51, 52 is at the same level, so that the second wall 52 is extending more downwards than the first wall 51.
When soil is removed between two tubes 10, 10 or 10, 40, a double wall panel 50 can be provided between those two tubes 10, 10 or 10, 40. In the following, the description will be given for placing a wall element 50 between two tubes 10, 10, but the invention is not limited thereto. Placing a wall element 50 between a tube 10 and a corner tube 40 can be done in an analogous way and is not described in detail anymore.
A wall element 50 is slid in between two tubes 10, where it is guided and kept into place by the flanges 12, 13. The wall element 50 is forced downwards into the ground towards its intended location. The forcing may be performed hydraulically or by any other means.
The bottom side of the wall element 50 is preferably provided with a blade 62, running preferably along its bottom. The blade 62 may comprise an oblique slanted surface 63, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The slanted surface 63 slopes from the inside of the second wall 52 downwards and outwards to form a cutting edge along the very bottom of the wall element 50. The blade 62 may be made from a metal, such as for example steel. The blade 62 may be hollow or filled with concrete and provided with an outer skin adapted for ground cutting, such as for example a tempered steel coated with an anti-friction material, e.g. PTFE.
According to another embodiment, as illustrated in the detail of second wall 52 shown in Fig. 6a, the blade edge 62 may be removably attached to the bottom of the second wall 52. The blade edge 62 may be provided with fixing means for removably attaching the blade edge 62 to the bottom of the second wall 52. In the embodiment illustrated, the fixing means can be slid over the bottom part of second wall 52, but other removable fixing means may be provided as well. When the blade edge 62 is removably attached to the second wall 52, it can be removed after the wall element 50 is brought into position, thus it can be recuperated and reused.
According to still another element, as illustrated in the detail of second wall 52 shown in Fig. 6b, the blade edge 62 may be fixedly attached to the bottom of the second wall 52. The blade edge 62 may for example be fixed into the concrete of the second wall 52.
In the embodiments illustrated in Fig. 6a and Fig. 6b, the blade edge 62 does not comprise a slanted surface. However, it is possible to provide a slanted surface for both embodiments.
As described above, wall elements 50 can easily be placed at their intended location under pressure, helped by gravity forces on the wall elements themselves. Therefore, such walls can be erected particularly quickly.
The intended position of the wall element 50 is so that the bottom side 64 of the first wall 51 is at a level somewhat below the finalised floor level of the room floor, i.e. at least one cm below the finalised floor level. This means that the bottom side of the second wall 52 is about 50 cm lower.
After all wall elements 50 have been put into place, excavation inside the formed wall structure is performed so as to clear a space inside the wall structure which will form the inside of the room to be built. This excavation extends downwards under the intended finalised floor level of the sunken or partially sunken room.
A water stop, a water resistant element sometimes known as "tanking" is provided for making the sunken or partially sunken room watertight. This may be done by providing vertical water stop or tanking fixing means 70 at the tubes 10, as illustrated in Fig. 7. These vertical water stop or tanking fixing means 70 may be fixed to the tubes 10 in any suitable way, for example by welding. Furthermore, a horizontal water stop or tanking fixing means 71 is provided, which is attached in any suitable way, for example by welding, to the tube 10 and to its vertical water stop or tanking fixing means 70.
Vertical water stop or tanking plates 80 are then attached to the water stop or tanking fixing means 70, inside the wall elements 50, by any suitable means such as for example by welding. Horizontal water stop or tanking plates 81 are attached to the vertical water stop or tanking plates 80 and to the horizontal water stop or tanking fixing means 71, also by any suitable means such as for example by welding. The horizontal water stop or tanking plates 81 preferably have a length suitable for covering the whole width or length of the sunken or partially sunken room to be built. The result is a sandwich tanking. The vertical and horizontal water stop or tanking plates 80, 81 may be made of any suitable material, such as metal, for example steel, plastics material or bentonite for example.
If the blade edges 62 at the bottom side of second wall panel 52 have to be recuperated, this is done before the stabilising layer or any other layer of the floor is applied.
Thereafter, a stabilising layer is preferably provided at the bottom of the sunken or partially sunken room to be built. The stabilising layer may comprise a 10:1 sand and cement mix. A plastics layer, such as e.g. PVC, which may form an internal water resistant layer or internal tanking may also be provided. Concrete or a suitable equivalent is then poured into the sunken or partially sunken room such that it forms a floor.
Also the wall segments 50 are filled with any suitable filling material, such as concrete for example. This way, a stable and strong sunken or partially sunken room is provided. A vertical cross-section of a part of a wall of the room is shown in Fig. 9, a top view of a part of the wall is shown in Fig. 10 and a top view of a corner of the room is shown in Fig. 11.
In the above way, a strong and watertight, at least partially sunken room is erected in a much faster way than conventional erection of an at least partially sunken room, this inevitably leading to a cost reduction as materials used are not more expensive than conventional materials.
It is to be understood that although preferred embodiments, specific constructions and configurations, as well as materials, have been discussed herein for devices according to the present invention, various changes or modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.

Claims

A method of constructing a room which is at least partially sunken in a ground, the method including:

inserting a plurality of hollow elongate elements (11) provided with flanges (12, 13) into the ground at a circumference of the room to be formed,

providing a plurality of double wall panels (50), each double wall panel (50) being located between neighbouring elongate elements (10, 10; 10, 40) so as to form an at least partially enclosed space,

excavating spoil from within the at least partially enclosed space so as to clear said partially enclosed space,

providing an upstanding water stop (80) inside each of the double wall panels (50), and

providing a substantially horizontal water stop (81) connected to at least some of the upstanding water stops (80).
A method according to claim 1, furthermore comprising providing a ground anchor in at least one of the plurality of hollow elongate elements.
A method according to any of the previous claims, furthermore comprising filling the hollow elongate elements with solid or solidifiable material.
A method according to any of the previous claims, furthermore comprising filling the double wall panels with solid or solidifiable material.
A method according to any of the previous claims, wherein inserting the hollow elongate elements into the ground comprises forcing them into the ground by means of high frequency vibrations.
A method according to any of the previous claims, wherein inserting the elongate elements into the ground comprises flushing a liquid into the hollow elongate elements.
A method according to any of the previous claims, wherein providing a double wall panel in between two neighbouring hollow elongate elements includes forcing said double wall panel into the ground.
A method according to any of the previous claims, furthermore including installing a floor at the bottom of the cleared space.
A room, at least partially sunken in the ground, formed by
a plurality of hollow elongate elements provided with flanges at the circumference of the room,
a plurality of double wall panels, each double wall panel being located in between two neighbouring hollow elongate elements to form an at least partially enclosed space,
an upstanding water stop inside each of the double wall panels,
a substantially horizontal water stop connected to at least some of the upstanding water stops.
A room according to claim 9, wherein the hollow elongate elements are filled with solid material.
A room according to any of claims 9 or 10, wherein the double wall panels are filled with solid material.
A room according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein a double wall panel further comprises a blade edge extending along a ground cutting portion of said double wall panel and adapted to aid ground cutting of said double wall panel.
A room according to claim 12, wherein the blade edge comprises an oblique slanted surface sloping from an inside face of said double wall panel at the top of said blade towards an outer face of said double wall panel at the bottom of said blade edge.
A room according to any of claims 12 or 13, wherein said blade edge comprises an outer skin of cutting material.
A room according to any of claims 9 to 14, wherein the upstanding water stop and/or the substantially horizontal water stop are formed by a sheet-like material.
A kit of parts for a room according to any of claims 9 to 15, said kit comprising
a plurality of hollow elongate elements provided with flanges,
a plurality of double wall panels
a plurality of first water stops for application inside the double wall panels, and
a plurality of second water stops for substantially horizontal connection to the first water stops when located within the double wall panels.
A kit of parts according to claim 16, furthermore comprising a template suitable for placing the plurality of hollow elongate elements at equal distances from each other.