EP2568098B1 - Prefabricated building block for building steps, in particular for swimming-pool construction - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to the field of prefabricated building elements, especially for the realization of works such as swimming pools.

More particularly, the invention relates to a prefabricated building block for the realization of steps of swimming pool stairs.

For a long time now pools of buried pools have been constructed in the form of integrally concreted constructions comprising a raft and vertical walls extending from this raft and connected thereto by pouring concrete, said vertical walls being traditionally made by stacking. and reinforcement of bancher blocks in which concrete is also poured. Once rafting and walls formed and solidified, the inner surface of the basin thus formed is covered with a waterproof film, generally called liner, or decorative ceramic and hydraulic circulation systems and water treatment of the pool installed before its implementation in water.

A disadvantage of pools built entirely in masonry is the length of time and the technical difficulties in controlling the construction by non-professionals. The cost is therefore very important.

To simplify the construction of underground swimming pools, various construction techniques have been developed, such as the construction of polyester basins or modular basins constructed from polystyrene building blocks.

Constructions from polyester basins have the main disadvantage of their difficulty of implementation to the extent that it is necessary to be able to transport the basin fully built, and therefore very bulky, on its installation site. This usually requires particularly delicate towing and crane operations, which must be carried out by professionals, provided that they can access the installation site at the end customer.

In addition, the polyester basins are unfortunately fragile shock and delicate to repair in case of breakage of the hull forming the basin.

The document EP2 085 538 A1 discloses a prefabricated building block for the realization of stair steps having the features of the preamble of claim 1.

As regards the constructions from modular blocks of polystyrene, they are quite simple to achieve, even by non-professionals. However, the blocks always have a greater fragility than concreted boulder blocks. It is therefore excluded to make the entrance stairs of basins using such polystyrene blocks as they tend to crumble and collapse under the weight of people when they enter the basin. For this reason, pool stairs made from polystyrene blocks are exclusively realized to date in the form of traditional concrete structures formed using concrete concrete blocks.

The object of the invention is to overcome this disadvantage and to provide modular building blocks of synthetic material such as polystyrene that may be suitable for the realization of all parts of a pool, including stair treads at the entrances of the basin.

For this purpose, the invention proposes a prefabricated building block for the realization of stair steps, in particular for swimming pools, comprising a body extending in a longitudinal direction and forming part of a parallelepipedal envelope, said body presenting in a plane perpendicular to its direction of longitudinal extension a U-shaped section defined by a central recess opening right through to the longitudinal ends of the body and delimiting two longitudinal walls parallel and symmetrical to each other on either side of a vertical plane median block, said block comprising at least one reinforcing structure of an upper bearing surface of at least one of the longitudinal walls and edges of this surface to increase the resistance to crushing and the leveling of said surface higher.

The building block of the invention thus provides a reinforced modular building element on at least one upper surface and the edges thereof, thereby providing a reinforced reinforced block side particularly for making stair steps. The building blocks of the invention are not completely self-supporting; indeed such blocks to conventional bancher, they are intended to be interconnected by a pouring of concrete in the central recess provided in the block at least, to achieve a link between the different blocks once they positioned and assembled together to form a staircase for example. The final structure achieved is however much lighter and faster to implement and finalize.

Thanks to the reinforcing structure of the upper surface of at least one of the longitudinal walls, the friability and the local crushing capacity of this wall are compensated, which makes it a candidate for a stair step, even if the block body is made of synthetic material.

Moreover, according to one embodiment of the invention, the proposed building body is obtained by thermoforming synthetic material.

In this embodiment, the body is preferably obtained by thermoforming polystyrene.

According to a particular embodiment, the reinforcing structure is constituted by a rigid reinforcement spar fixed on the upper surface of at least one of the longitudinal walls of the body of the block and covering the longitudinal edges of said wall.

Preferably, the reinforcing structure is formed of a sheared polystyrene spar thermoformed on the upper surface and the longitudinal edges of at least one of the longitudinal walls of the body of the block.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the building block of the invention, the latter comprises male and female interlocking members of at least two identical blocks one on the other.

Advantageously in this embodiment, the male interlocking members are formed by projections of material on a lower surface of the body of the block and the female interlocking members formed by reservations of shapes and dimensions identical to the projections formed in the upper surface of the longitudinal walls in the vertical extension of said projections on the underside of the body.

In an advantageous embodiment, the building block of the invention also comprises members for passing reinforcing bars in a bottom wall of the U-shaped recess delimiting the longitudinal walls.

In particular, the passing members of reinforcing bars preferably comprise blocking cleats of said reinforcing bars formed in the body of the block during its production.

According to an advantageous characteristic, the building block of the invention further comprises tubular wells passing right through the body of the block along vertical axes parallel to each other and opening onto a bottom wall of the recess and the wall. lower body, the tubular wells being adapted to receive connecting elements and / or vertical chaining of several blocks stacked on each other.

The members for passing reinforcing bars such as tubular wells advantageously provide quick and easy means of positioning reinforcing bars or bonding chains assembled blocks with each other before pouring concrete to secure the assembly, that the one realizes a wall or a staircase of swimming pool.

Various other characteristics appear from the description given below with reference to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of non-limiting examples, embodiments of the subject of the invention.

• La figure 1 représente un bloc de construction conforme à l'invention dans un mode préféré de réalisation et en perspective ;
• Les figures 2A et 2B représentent, en vue de face et de dessus respectivement, le bloc de construction de l'invention de la figure 1 ;
• La figure 3 représente, en perspective, une construction modulaire formant un escalier, obtenue par assemblage de blocs de construction conforme à l'invention.

In the appended figures:

• The figure 1 represents a building block according to the invention in a preferred embodiment and in perspective;
• The Figures 2A and 2B represent, in front view and from above respectively, the building block of the invention of the figure 1 ;
• The figure 3 represents, in perspective, a modular construction forming a staircase, obtained by assembling building blocks according to the invention.

The present invention presents a building block 1 shown in detail in a preferred embodiment on the figures 1 , 2A and 2B . In reference to these figures, the block 1 is composed of a body 2 formed by thermoforming or molding of synthetic material, preferably according to the invention of polystyrene. The body 2 of the building block 1 has a parallelepipedal general shape extending along a longitudinal axis X-X '. In the body 2 is provided a central recess 5 of section there also parallelepipedic and opening through the body 2 at its longitudinal ends 2a, 2b. The central recess 5 made in the body 2 has a depth from a surface defined therein two side walls 3, 4 symmetrical and parallel to each other with respect to a median vertical plane P1 containing the longitudinal axis X-X '. The two side walls 3, 4 extend vertically from the bottom of the recess 5, thus giving the building block 1 a U-shaped transverse section, taken in a plane P2 perpendicular to the plane P1. The inner surface of the walls 3,4 in the recess 5 are preferably coated grooves 14 to facilitate the setting of concrete when it is poured into the recess to achieve the connection of blocks 1 associated to achieve a work.

According to the invention, the block 1 of construction advantageously comprises at least one reinforcing structure 6 of an upper bearing surface 7 of at least one of the longitudinal walls 3, 4 of the body 2 of the block 1 to increase the resistance at the crushing and leveling of said upper surface 7 of this or these lateral walls 3, 4. In the example shown on FIG. figure 1 it is the side wall 4 which is equipped with such a reinforcing structure 6, which is preferably constituted by an overmoulding of a spar (or angle) of impact polystyrene on the upper surface 7 of the wall 4 and the edges of it. Advantageously, the overmoulding of the reinforcing spar forming the reinforcing structure 6 is achieved by thermoforming an impact polystyrene plate on the body 2 of the still hot block 1 just after its own thermoforming to promote adhesion of the spar 6 to the surface upper 7 of the wall 4 by heat sealing effect between the surfaces of the two assembled parts. Thus, the reinforcement structure 6 is somehow glued on the upper surface 7 of the wall 4 of the body 2.

This reinforcing structure 6 in high impact polystyrene provides an improvement in the resistance to penetration and a resistance to the leveling of the edges and the upper surface of the side wall 3, 4 which is equipped. Of course, it is also possible to coat the two side walls 3, 4 with such a reinforcing structure 6 in order to reinforce both the walls 3.4 and thus benefit from a block 1 of identical use whatever its position. when constructing a building, in particular a swimming pool staircase E as shown on the figure 3 , construction further detailed later in the present description.

As is apparent in particular from Figures 2A and 2B , the block 1 of construction of the invention is advantageously designed to stack easily on other identical blocks 1 . It comprises for this purpose male members 9 and female 8 interlocking. Commonly but nevertheless advantageous, male interlocking members 9 are formed by projections of material on a lower surface 2c of the body 2 of the block 1. These projections can take different forms and position on said lower surface 2c. Among others, they can, as depicted on the Figure 2A , take the form of elongate bars positioned on the lower face 2c of the body 2 in the vertical extension of the walls 3, 4 which they comprise the females 8 interlocking formed by reservations of shapes and dimensions identical to the male members 9 in the upper surface 7 of said walls 3, 4. The male members 9 may also take the form of pins or cylindrical pins in which case the female members will be formed blind holes coaxial with the male pins but on the upper face 7 of the walls 3, 4 .

In order to lighten as far as possible the building block 1 of the invention, this may comprise, as is apparent from the Figures 2A and 2B , Crucibles 10 formed during the thermoforming of the body 2 to minimize the weight and volume of material of the body 2 and thus alleviate the block 1. These crucibles 10 are preferably formed in the solid portion of the body 2 and uniformly distributed over the entire length of the body 2 so as not to create areas of weakness in the block 1.

Furthermore, the building block 1 of the invention also preferably comprises members 11 for passing reinforcing bars advantageously positioned in the bottom wall of the recess 5 defining U-shaped longitudinal walls 3, 4. These bodies 11 Passage of reinforcing bars comprise in particular cleats 12 for blocking said reinforcing bars. These cleats can easily be formed in the body 2 of the block 1 during its thermoforming.

The building block 1 of the invention also preferably comprises tubular wells 13 passing right through the body 2 of the block 1 along vertical Y1, Y2, Y3 axes parallel to each other and opening onto the bottom wall of the recess 5 and the bottom wall 2c of the body 2. These tubular wells 13 are adapted to receive for example PVC connecting tubes and / or chaining knives of several identical blocks 1 stacked on each other and receive concrete allowing to make the connection between these different stacked blocks 1 . The insertion of PVC connecting tubes makes it possible, in particular, to easily set up concrete reinforcing bars and cast concrete until filling the upper row of blocks 1 of each step, the lower rows being they are filled with concrete.

The building block 1 of the invention has been particularly developed to allow the construction of pool pools of a lighter structure and more particularly stairs E entry to the water in pool pools. Indeed, the block 1 of the invention makes it possible, unlike the prefabricated blocks of synthetic material known to date, to make such stairs insofar as at least one of the walls 3, 4 that it comprises is reinforced with a reinforcing spar 6 shock polystyrene which thus prevents crushing and crumbling of the walls under the weight of people when they enter the pool, which is the case with the known blocks.

As is apparent from the figure 3 , Building an e three steps such steps is particularly easy using building blocks 1 according to the invention. It suffices for this to achieve rows of several blocks 1 placed end to end in their longitudinal direction to achieve a step, being careful to position the reinforcement beam 6 of each block in the extension of that of the previous block and the next block and such that this reinforcing beam 6 is located on the free edge of each step, that is to say the free edge of pedestrian support of each step. Once a row of blocks 1 made, assembling the blocks together with concrete bars locked in the lugs 12 provided for this purpose at the bottom of the recesses 5 of the blocks 1 to bind them in the row.

The assembly of the staircase is then carried out by stacks of rows of blocks 1 thus formed. Thus, if the first step, the highest step of the staircase has n stacked rows of blocks, the next step will include a stack of n-1 rows of blocks attached to the first stack in the direction of the descent of the stairs and so until the last step of the staircase consisting of a single row of blocks 1. It remains thereafter only to pass T tubes or vertical chains in the wells 13 of the blocks 1 over the entire height of the stacks made to assemble the rows of stacks together and then pouring concrete into the recesses 5 and the wells 13 blocks to bind the blocks 1, rows and stacks of rows between them and thus form the stair E.

Thus, the block 1 of construction of the invention makes it possible to achieve stairs, including swimming pools, in a simple and fast way while ensuring a good mechanical strength of the steps at their free edge thanks to the reinforcement structure 6 provided on each block 1.

Claims (10)

1. Prefabricated building block (1) for building steps, notably for swimming pools, including a body (2) extending along a longitudinal direction (X-X') being included in a parallelepipedal envelope, said body (2) having in a plane (P2) perpendicular to its longitudinal extension direction a U-section defined by a central recess (5) opening right through at the longitudinal ends (2a, 2b) of the body and having two longitudinal walls (3, 4) parallel and symmetrical to each other on either side of a median vertical plane (P1) of the block, characterized in that it includes at least one reinforcement structure (6) of an upper supporting surface (7) of at least one of the longitudinal walls (3, 4) of the body in order to increase the resistance to crushing and leveling of said upper surface, and in that said central recess (5) delimits said two longitudinal walls (3, 4).
2. The building block according to claim 1, characterized in that the body (2) is obtained by thermoforming synthetical material.
3. The building block according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the body (2) is obtained by thermoforming polystyrene.
4. The building block according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the reinforcement structure (6) is formed by a rigid reinforcement girder attached on the upper surface (7) of at least one of the longitudinal walls (3, 4) of the body of the block and covering the longitudinal edges of said wall.
5. The building block according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the reinforcement structure (6) is formed by a girder made of thermoformed impact polystyrene on the upper surface (7) and the longitudinal edges of at least one of the longitudinal walls (3, 4) of the body of the block.
6. The building block according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that it includes male (9) and female (8) members for fitting at least two identical blocks (1) onto each other.
7. The building block according de claim 6, characterized in that the male fitting members (9) are formed by material protrusions on a lower surface (2c) of the body of the block (1) and the female fitting members (8) formed by recesses with identical shapes and dimensions with the protrusions, made in the upper surface (7) of the longitudinal walls (3, 4) in the vertical extension of said protrusions on the lower face (2c) of the body.
8. The building block according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it includes members (11) for letting through concrete reinforcing iron bars (F) in a bottom wall of the U-shaped recess (5) delimiting the longitudinal walls (3, 4).
9. The building block according to claim 8, characterized in that the members (11) for letting through concrete reinforcing iron bars (F) include cleats (12) for blocking said concrete reinforcing iron bars formed in the body (2) of the block during its making.
10. The building block according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that it includes tubular wells (13) passing right through body (2) of the block following vertical axes (Y1, Y2, Y3) parallel with each other and opening on a bottom wall of the central recess (5) and the lower wall (2c) of the body, the tubular wells being adapted for receiving vertical connection and/or linking elements.

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