GB1570218A - Facings for attachment to walls or ceilings - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN FACINGS FOR ATTACHMENT TO WALLS OR CEILINGS (71) We, PERM-U-BOARD (UK) LIMITED, of 20 Water Street, Liverpool, 19, England, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following state menu: The present invention concerns facings for attachment to walls and ceilings for the decoration thereof.

Facings of foam plastics material, usually foamed polystyrene, are known which are attached to the walls and ceilings and which either have a decorative finish or a plain finish suitable for receiving decoration.

These known facings are closely abutted on the wall or ceiling. They are flammable and not liked by the fire authorities. Some improvement in the fire resistance can be obtained by rendering over the facings on the wall or ceiling but even so these facings are still rewarded as a fire hazard. For example, if the fadnos cover an entire wall which is exposed to heat, the foamed plastics material may collapse away from the rendering which can fall away as a sheet.

According to the present invention, there is provided a facing for attachment to a wall or ceiling comprising a body of foamed plastics material which is coated on both faces and the edges with a fire resistant rendering.

By rendering the entire surface of the facing both on the exposed face and the concealed edges and the reverse face, if the exposed face is exposed to heat so that the foamed plastics material shrinks away from that face, the exposed face remains part of an integral skin and the rendering on this face will not fall away. In fact the foamed plastics material will be protected by the rendering skin so that on increase of heat the foamed plastics material will collapse shrinking away from the hot surface at a comparitively low temperature at which the foamed plastics material will not emit fumes.

The rendering on the edges also forms fire dams so that if the foamed plastics material does ignite, the flame cannot propagate itself behind the rendering for a substantial distance. The importance of having a coating of rendering on the reverse face is mainly that the facing does not rely on the installer ensuring that the integral skin is adequately bonded by the adhesive used to stick the facing to the wall or ceiling but it serves a manufacturing purpose as well in that rendering tends to shrink when setting and, unless the facing is supported as by being supported on a surface as in the prior art or unless the shrinkage is balanced by having rendering on both faces as in the present invention, the facing will warp or tend to warp.

There are a number of desirable properties for the rendering. It is preferably water based, sets at room temperature, does not soften with the application of heat after it has set, is not attacked by water and/or oilbased paints, can be cut when set without serious chipping to enable a facing to be cut to fit into a corner or edge, and has minimal shrinkage when setting A material which has been found to meet these properties to a substantial extent is the material sold under the trademark "ARTEX" by Gypsum Industries Ltd. and by competitors under different trademarks; these are adhesives and renderings sold for foamed plastics materials.

It is possible to decorate the facing with textured patterns such as ribbing, or stippling. This factory produced texturing enables unskilled labour such as do-it-yourself handy-men to get a professional texturedplaster finish. Such decoration is acheived in the factory by evenly coating the facing with a thin coating of the rendering and after this has set applying a thick bed of extra rendering which is to take the texturfng which can be applied by conventional plastering techniques of brushing, stippling or combing or by a stamping operation. With a stamping operation, the rendering could be prevented from sticking to the mould by a layer of talc or other non-flammable powder applied to it before stamping; it is of course essential that the powder should not spoil the appearance of the facing.Such a powder could be used in conjunction with or in place of a silicone or other release agent on the stamping tool.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a schematic cross-section through a facing according to the present invention.

A body or slab 1 of foamed polystyrene has a thin coating 2 of Artex applied to it covering all the faces and edges. The body typically has a thickness between 9 and 1 inch. Artex is a known material sold for rendering and adhering foamed plastics materials to walls and ceilings and includes chalk, gypsum, glue and other additives.

The coating 2 is formed by dipping or otherwise wetting the entire surface with a watery Artex mixture with a thin creamy consistency. After this coating 2 has set, a layer 3 of Artex having a paste-like consistency is applied to one face of the coated body; if the body has chamfered edges the face involved is that reduced in size by the chamfer. Before this layer is set, it is used as a bed for a brushed, stippled or combed effect. When this layer 3 is set, the facing is ready for sale or dispatch to site. Artex and the like are commonly known as plastic compounds.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A facing for attachment to a wall or ceiling comprising a body of foamed plastics material which is coated on both faces and the edges with a fire resistant rendering 2. A facing according to claim 1 wherein a further bed of rendering is applied to one face of the completely coated body and this bed is given a textured pattern texture.

3. A facing according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the rendering is a so-called plastic compound.

4. A facing substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (4)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. applied to it before stamping; it is of course essential that the powder should not spoil the appearance of the facing. Such a powder could be used in conjunction with or in place of a silicone or other release agent on the stamping tool. An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a schematic cross-section through a facing according to the present invention. A body or slab 1 of foamed polystyrene has a thin coating 2 of Artex applied to it covering all the faces and edges. The body typically has a thickness between 9 and 1 inch. Artex is a known material sold for rendering and adhering foamed plastics materials to walls and ceilings and includes chalk, gypsum, glue and other additives. The coating 2 is formed by dipping or otherwise wetting the entire surface with a watery Artex mixture with a thin creamy consistency. After this coating 2 has set, a layer 3 of Artex having a paste-like consistency is applied to one face of the coated body; if the body has chamfered edges the face involved is that reduced in size by the chamfer. Before this layer is set, it is used as a bed for a brushed, stippled or combed effect. When this layer 3 is set, the facing is ready for sale or dispatch to site. Artex and the like are commonly known as plastic compounds. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A facing for attachment to a wall or ceiling comprising a body of foamed plastics material which is coated on both faces and the edges with a fire resistant rendering

2. A facing according to claim 1 wherein a further bed of rendering is applied to one face of the completely coated body and this bed is given a textured pattern texture.

3. A facing according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the rendering is a so-called plastic compound.

4. A facing substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.