GB1577190A - Method of constructing a weather-proof shock-resistant seal between the level surface and wall of a walled terrace - Google Patents

Description

(54) METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING A WEATHER-PROOF, SHOCK-RESISTANT SEAL BETWEEN THE LEVEL SURFACE AND WALL OF A WALLED TERRACE (71) We, SOCIETE NOUVELLE SIPLAST, a French SociCtt Anonyme, of 12-14, rue Cabanis, 75014 Paris, France, 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 statement: The present invention is directed to an improved method of obtaining a water-tight seal between the level surface and the wall of a walled terrace. The term " walled terrace" is to be interpreted throughout the Specification as including any level surface at least in part bounded by a wall and it applies irrespective of the level of that surface.In particular it applies to such terraces when open to motor vehicle traffic for example in the case of parking terraces or, more generaly, any terrace built traffic area. The seal consists of a strip located at the junction between the floor and wall of the terrace. It is intended for sealing this junction against the ingress of leakage water and for this purpose, in the specific case contemplated herein, it must also withstand severe shocks from the vehicles, which might produce cracks.

Up to now a shock-resistant weathertight seal has been formed on the building site through the following operations: 1. Applying a sealing coating of standardized product, mostly of the reinforced bitumen type, having a weight of 40 kg per sq. meter, and consisting as a rule of two coats reinforced in turn by a reinforced bitumen square having a 20-cm developed section.

2. Building up a grate- or otherwise reinforced cement mortar rendering, according to circumstances (welded wire-netting or lattice fastened to the top of the raising, the minimum rendering thickness being 3 cm).

A seal thus constructed must be not only weather-proof but also capable of withstanding shocks of all kinds caused by the traffic on the terrace.

While the weather-proof coating per se, when properly done, is generally satisfactory, with the only inconvenience that it is a long sequence of steps, the cement rendering may be a source of shortcomings, such as: a) it is difficult to fasten; b) it conceals the weather-proof coating, making the location of leakages rather difficult when the coating becomes loose; c) the weather-proof coating may tend to be perforated, damaged and/or prone to carry along the weather-proof coating in case of insufficient bonding, and in this case water may leak behind the coating; d) cracks may develop in the mortar, which is unaesthetic; e) repairs are difficult and expensive; f) in case of leakage, the cement rendering must be destroyed and re-built; g) high cost; h) the construction and finishing operations require considerable time;; i) as a rule, some aesthetic finishing product, such as a coat of paint, is required.

Moreover, in most cases the construction of a seal as disclosed hereinabove; which requires several operations on the building site, is particularly time-consuming inasmuch as it may be held up or disturbed by poor weather conditions (several days are required in case of bad weather), and for all the reasons given hereinabove this construction method is very expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid these various inconveniences by providing a method of constructing a shock-resistant, weather-proof seal between the level surface and wall of a walled terrace especially for terraces on which motor vehicles are normally driven.

According to the present invention, a method of laying such a seal comprises the step of laying in a same and single operd- tion, at the junction between the floor and wall of the terrace, a strip of ready made material, this strip comprising a flexible glass-fibre-reinforced bitumen the exposed surface of which is protected by a stainless steel sheet forming part of the strip.

The material is preferably laid by the conventional use of a blow lamp on this strip to melt the bitumen and thus cause the strip to adhere to the flor and on the wall, of which the junction area must be made with weather and shock resistance.

However, the material may also be laid by bonding by using any suitable and known adhesive substance for the hot application of the reinforced bitumen.

With this method, a weather-proof, shock-resistant seal is obtained which, in comparison with hithèrto knowri shock resistant seals, is characterised by the following advantageous features: 1. Easy laying; 2. Considerable time is saved for its construction, tlius reducing the hitherto costly subservience to external weather conditions; 3. Since a one-piece ready made material is used, any laying defects and all sources of potential leakages or daniages are easily and readily found; 4. Repairs are easy and economical and consist simply in welding, as when repairing a punctured inner tube, by means of a patch of adequate shape and dimensions, cut from the stock strip of material; 5.The cost of the seal is reduced very considerably; 6. Due to the presence of a stainless steel sheet, the seal is particularly strong in the fields contemplated; thus, notably, à very high resistance to shocks and a valuable insensitivity to most corrosive chemicals and weather agents, including Salt sèa-air or fog, is achieved; 7. The technique required for manu- facturing the material is highly developed and therefore well-known, but so far only for anti-corrosion applications; 8.Different surface appearance may be contemplated for the seal, since stainless steel having already a decorative appear- ance may be left bare or painted with an emulsion-like paint, or coated with a coarse layer of the coloured cement-rendering type, or covered with à bitumen layer protected by a coloured inorganic granulated layer; however, these various ways of finishing the raising are given by way of example, not of limitatiOn, with a view to improve the appearance of the raising.

The composition and fabrication method of the material implemented for carrying out the method of the present invention are known per se. The ready-made material is produced in a factory by coating at least one layer of à glass-fibre-reinforcing structure by means of a bituminous binder, with or without filler, of the bitumen, Or bitumen and elastomer, type; the binder is cast in the hot state, for example at 200"C, on the reinforcing structure so as to embed the latter completely in the binder having in all cases a thickness greater than that of said reinforcing structure. Thus, a flexible strip of reinforced bitumen Is obtained.

On one face of this still warm reinforced bitumen there is bonded a stainless steel sheet to which, if desired, a finishing treatment may be applied before or after this binding operation, as already mentioned hereinabove. The other face of the reinforced bitumen strip is coated with a non-adhesive product or material (such as sandstone, silica, talc or paper) allowing the material to be rolled up when cold, thus preventing the turns from adhering to one another. The-matcrial may thus be stored in the form of rolls. When construct-' ing a seal, this material is unrolled gradually while securing it at spaced intervals to the wall and floor, i.e. on both sides of the junction or joint to be protected, which consist as a rule of concrete.The terrace covering, of asphalt or like composition, may be spread on the floor after completing the laying of the seal, So as to cover the horizontal portion thereof.

In the material contemplated herein the glass-fibre-reinforcing structure imparts a dynamic reSistance to impacts, the resist ance to cracking being imparted by the bituminous binder and the static impact strength by the stainless steel Sheet.

A typical and exemplary composition of this material may be as follows: -The reinforcing structure may consist of 50 g/sq.cm. of non-woven glass fibre covered by 280 g/sq.ln. woveh glass fibre; -The binder may consist of a mixture of bitumen and a suitable elastomer, such as disclosed in the French Patent No.

73 17159, and -50-micron thick stainless steel sheet is used.

Of course, various modifications may be brought to the details of the method described hereinabove without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following Claims.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: - 1. A method of constructing á weatherproof, shock-resistant seal between the level surface and wall of a walled terrace com- prising the step of laying in a Single and same operation, at the location of the junction between the floor and wall of the terrace, a strip of a ready made material consisting of a flexible, glass-fibre-reinforced

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

Claims (5)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. method of laying such a seal comprises the step of laying in a same and single operd- tion, at the junction between the floor and wall of the terrace, a strip of ready made material, this strip comprising a flexible glass-fibre-reinforced bitumen the exposed surface of which is protected by a stainless steel sheet forming part of the strip. The material is preferably laid by the conventional use of a blow lamp on this strip to melt the bitumen and thus cause the strip to adhere to the flor and on the wall, of which the junction area must be made with weather and shock resistance. However, the material may also be laid by bonding by using any suitable and known adhesive substance for the hot application of the reinforced bitumen. With this method, a weather-proof, shock-resistant seal is obtained which, in comparison with hithèrto knowri shock resistant seals, is characterised by the following advantageous features: 1. Easy laying; 2. Considerable time is saved for its construction, tlius reducing the hitherto costly subservience to external weather conditions; 3. Since a one-piece ready made material is used, any laying defects and all sources of potential leakages or daniages are easily and readily found; 4. Repairs are easy and economical and consist simply in welding, as when repairing a punctured inner tube, by means of a patch of adequate shape and dimensions, cut from the stock strip of material; 5.The cost of the seal is reduced very considerably; 6. Due to the presence of a stainless steel sheet, the seal is particularly strong in the fields contemplated; thus, notably, à very high resistance to shocks and a valuable insensitivity to most corrosive chemicals and weather agents, including Salt sèa-air or fog, is achieved; 7. The technique required for manu- facturing the material is highly developed and therefore well-known, but so far only for anti-corrosion applications; 8.Different surface appearance may be contemplated for the seal, since stainless steel having already a decorative appear- ance may be left bare or painted with an emulsion-like paint, or coated with a coarse layer of the coloured cement-rendering type, or covered with à bitumen layer protected by a coloured inorganic granulated layer; however, these various ways of finishing the raising are given by way of example, not of limitatiOn, with a view to improve the appearance of the raising. The composition and fabrication method of the material implemented for carrying out the method of the present invention are known per se. The ready-made material is produced in a factory by coating at least one layer of à glass-fibre-reinforcing structure by means of a bituminous binder, with or without filler, of the bitumen, Or bitumen and elastomer, type; the binder is cast in the hot state, for example at 200"C, on the reinforcing structure so as to embed the latter completely in the binder having in all cases a thickness greater than that of said reinforcing structure. Thus, a flexible strip of reinforced bitumen Is obtained. On one face of this still warm reinforced bitumen there is bonded a stainless steel sheet to which, if desired, a finishing treatment may be applied before or after this binding operation, as already mentioned hereinabove. The other face of the reinforced bitumen strip is coated with a non-adhesive product or material (such as sandstone, silica, talc or paper) allowing the material to be rolled up when cold, thus preventing the turns from adhering to one another. The-matcrial may thus be stored in the form of rolls. When construct-' ing a seal, this material is unrolled gradually while securing it at spaced intervals to the wall and floor, i.e. on both sides of the junction or joint to be protected, which consist as a rule of concrete.The terrace covering, of asphalt or like composition, may be spread on the floor after completing the laying of the seal, So as to cover the horizontal portion thereof. In the material contemplated herein the glass-fibre-reinforcing structure imparts a dynamic reSistance to impacts, the resist ance to cracking being imparted by the bituminous binder and the static impact strength by the stainless steel Sheet. A typical and exemplary composition of this material may be as follows: -The reinforcing structure may consist of 50 g/sq.cm. of non-woven glass fibre covered by 280 g/sq.ln. woveh glass fibre; -The binder may consist of a mixture of bitumen and a suitable elastomer, such as disclosed in the French Patent No. 73 17159, and -50-micron thick stainless steel sheet is used. Of course, various modifications may be brought to the details of the method described hereinabove without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following Claims. WHAT WE CLAIM IS: -

1. A method of constructing á weatherproof, shock-resistant seal between the level surface and wall of a walled terrace com- prising the step of laying in a Single and same operation, at the location of the junction between the floor and wall of the terrace, a strip of a ready made material consisting of a flexible, glass-fibre-reinforced

bitumen the exposed surface of which is protected by a stainless steel sheet forming part of the strip.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which the seal is laid by melting the bitumen to cause it to adhere to floor and on the wall of the terrace.

3. A method according to claim 1, in which the seal is fixed by bonding.

4. A method according to any of the preceding claims, m which the material comprises a reinforcement consisting of non-woven 50 g/cm2 glass fibre covering with woven 280 g/m2 glass fibre, of a binder consisting of a mixture of bitumen and an elastomer, and of a stainless steel sheet having a thickness of 50,u.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described.