GB2093084A - Device and method for use in the construction of a soil pipe in a building - Google Patents

Abstract

A soil pipe is accurately positioned in a building, especially a domestic building, during its construction, by means of a combined soil pipe portion (19) and support comprising, for example, a square box section (11) having upper and lower internal webs (12, 13) and brackets (15, 16, 17) adapted to be hooked over the uppermost course of a partially built brick or block wall (10). The soil pipe may include branch pipes (25) for optional connection to bath or basin waste outlets. The device can be embedded in a concrete floor of the building to permanently and accurately locate the soil pipe, after which the further construction of the building, including further wall courses and upper soil pipe sections, is continued. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Device and method for use in the construction of a building This invention relates to a device and a method for use in the construction of a building. More particularly, the invention is concerned with the installation of a length of soil pipe in a building at an intermediate stage in its construction in order to establish the correct position of the full run of the soil pipe through the building. The invention is especially applicable to positioning the soil pipe before casting a solid floor or sub-floor around it.

The soil pipe in a building is the pipe which conveys waste matter from water closets and the like to the drains. It is normally vertical for most of its length. Its upper end normally terminates in a vent pipe or vent stack. In modern domestic buildings it is located within the building above the level of the ground floor. Below the ground floor level the lower end of the soil pipe is curved to lead out through the footings of the external walls of the building to connect with the external drains below ground level.

Modern houses and other buildings are frequently built with solid concrete floors. After the topsoil has been removed from the site and the foundations completed, the walls are built on their footings up to about 1 5 to 25 cm above the eventual ground level. The next constructional stage is pouring the oversite concrete within the external walls over a layer of hardcore, but before this is done provision must be made for taking the various services, such as rising main, electricity supply and soil pipe, through the floor. In the case of the soil pipe, a length is installed through the footings and up to just above the future level of the oversite concrete before the concrete is poured.Subsequently a damp proof membrane and a cement and sand screed are laid around the top of the projecting length of soil pipe, and the walls are built up over a damp proof course which is continuous with the damp proof membrane in the floor.

Houses built with suspended timber ground floors will normally still include a layer of oversite concrete under the sleeper walls which support the floor joists. Upper floors may also be formed from concrete.

It is very important that a soil pipe passing through a concrete or other floor be properly positioned. The requirement is usually for vertical alignment and accurate location in plan.

Frequently, however, the positioning is not accurate enough, possibly due to difficult site conditions and lack of sufficiently skilled labour.

When the error is discovered, usually when the remainder of the soil pipe comes to be installed, it then becomes necessary to dig the soil pipe out of the concrete, followed by replacement of the pipe correctly and restoration of the disturbed floor.

The device provided by the present invention comprises a combination soil pipe portion and support for locating a soil pipe in a specific position in a building during its construction, comprising a spacer frame carrying a length of soil pipe and provided with means for attachment to the fabric of the building at an intermediate stage in its construction, the spacer frame defining the location and orientation of the soil pipe in relation to the fabric of the building to which it may be attached.

The invention also provides a method of constructing a building which comprises partially constructing the building; attaching to the fabric of the building a spacer frame carrying a length of soil pipe, whereby the length of soil pipe is supported in a definite location and orientation within the building; and incorporating the spacer frame into the structure of the building and the length of soil pipe into the soil pipe of the building during the subsequent continuation of the construction of the building.

Use of the device or the method of the invention to hold the length of soil pipe accurately in position until it is fixed, for example by being embedded in concrete, can save time and expense in correcting faulty initial installations. The spacer frame acts as a template for the installation of the soil pipe.

A preferred spacer frame has a flat external surface for abutting a wall of the building so as to define the location and orientation of the soil pipe in relation to the wall. A spacer frame having two flat external surfaces at right angles can enable the device to be located in an internal corner formed by two adjoining walls of a building. Each such flat surface may be formed by one face of a rigid planar sheet, the other face being internal to the spacer frame and provided with means such as spaced apart webs or arms for carrying the length of soil pipe. These means are most preferably spaced apart along the length of the pipe in order to maintain the alignment of the pipe relative to the sheet.

The soil pipe is preferably such as will interconnect with standard soil pipe sections.

Typically one end, which is to be the lower end when installed, is a plain end which will fit as a spigot into an enlarged socket end of the length of pipe next below it; and the other end, which is to be the upper end when installed, has a similar enlarged socket end which will receive the spigot end of the length of pipe next above it. The socket end may contain sealing means such as an 0 ring.

The length of soil pipe in the device is preferably straight, but could include a bend.

The length of soil pipe may advantageously include a junction with a branch pipe. Such a branch pipe is useful for conducting waste from another location in the building into the main soil pipe, and in particular it enables a junction with the main soil pipe to be made within or below a solid floor. This is especially useful where the source of the waste is only a short distance above the floor, to avoid a near horizontal connection with the soil pipe. The branch pipe may be the same diameter as the soil pipe, for connection to a water closet, or a smaller diameter, for connection to the waste pipe from a bath or basin. In either case the inlet can be provided with the appropriate standard plumbing connection. The branch pipe inlet may be provided with a removable closure, such as a cap or plug, which need not be removed if the junction is not to be made use of.

The means for attaching the device to the building most preferably comprises a bracket adapted to extend over and behind an adjacent leaf of a partially built wall. Alternative means are possible, including for example apertures through which nails can be driven into the mortar bed between courses of bricks or blocks in an adjacent wall.

The spacer frame preferably carries the length of soil pipe and the attachment means arranged in such a way that the device can be attached to the building with the upper end of the soil pipe vertical. In the case of the attachment means comprising a single broad bracket or a plurality of brackets to fit over the uppermost course of a partially built wall, or in the case of nail holes or slots to align with a single bed of mortar, the attachment means will accordingly extend in a plane which is horizontal when the upper end of the length of soil pipe is vertical.

The device is preferably made of a plastics material, including any of those conventionally used for cold water plumbing installations. A suitable manufacturing method is injection moulding. The device can be made as an integral whole, but any of the spacer frame, the length of soil pipe and the attachment means may be made separately and assembled later. The spacer frame may for example be made so that the length of soil pipe is a push fit therein, means optionally being provided for locking the pipe in position. Separate attachment means may also be made of different lengths, or attachable to the spacer frame at different positions, corresponding to different standard locations of the soil pipe in relation to the part of the building to which the device is to be attached.

In carrying out the method of the invention, any run of soil pipe which is installed before the device is installed, such as the run through the footings of the building, should be left loose so that it remains free to be fitted to the length of soil pipe carried in the spacer frame.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a device according to the invention positioned in an internal corner of a building; and Figure 2 is a section through the device shown in Figure 1 on the line AA.

The combination soil pipe portion and support shown includes a spacer frame made up of a square box section 11 provided with upper and lower internal webs 12 and 1 3. Two adjacent sides of the box section carry brackets 1 5, 1 6 and 17 for attaching the device to a wall 10. A length of soil pipe 1 9 passes through the webs 12, 13 which hold the pipe securely in the spacer frame.

The length of soil pipe 19 has an enlarged upper end forming a socket 20. A circumferential recess in the inner wall of the socket contains a sealing ring 21 made of rubber, neoprene or like resilient and water-impervious material. The socket and sealing ring are dimensioned to accept and seal with the plain spigot end of another length of soil pipe. The lower end of the pipe 19 is plain and fits as a spigot into the socket end of a further section of soil pipe, partially shown in dashed outline 22, which eventually leads through the footings of the wall 10 into an external drain.

In the embodiment illustrated the length of soil pipe 1 9 is provided with two branch inlet pipes 25. These pipes lead into the main pipe 1 9 above the lower web 1 3. The inlets to the branch pipes are above the upper web 12 at the same height as the top of the soil pipe 19, but are closed by plugs 26 which are only removed if it is intended to use a branch pipe by connecting it to a waste pipe from a bath of basin.

The webs 12, 13 serve to give the box section rigidity as well as to support the pipe 1 9.

Each of the brackets 1 5, 1 6 and 1 7 consists of a narrow plate extending horizontally from the box section 11 and ending in a downward tab 27.

Each bracket is at the same height on the box. The distance between each tab 27 and the side of the box below the bracket corresponds to the width of the wall 10, normally the width of one brick of block where the wall 10 is the inner leaf of a cavity wall, as in the case of an external wall of a house.

The brackets may be moulded integrally within the box section 11, or may be formed separately so as to be simply attached; in the latter case brackets of alternative lengths can be provided to enable the device to be used with a variety of wall thicknesses.

Brackets 1 5 and 1 6 are located near opposite ends of one of the sides of the box 11 and are by themselves sufficient to hold the device securely against a straight wall with the soil pipe 19 vertical. Bracket 1 7 near the remote end of an adjacent side of the box gives additional support when the device is located in the internal corner of the wall 10 as illustrated.

In modern houses there is a tendency for the location of the internal soil pipe to be a standardised distance inside an external wall, or inside each external wall when the location is in an internal corner. For example, the axis of the soil pipe may be required to be 480 mm away from the inner leaf of the wall. The device can be manufactured in accordance with such standard dimensions. Where there are alternative standard dimensions, the device can be made with the soil pipe 10 offset from the centre of the box section 11 , for example displaced along one diagonal, to allow the distance from the wall to be altered by turning the box.

The pipe 1 9 can be made a push fit into the webs 12 and 13. WHen the soil pipe is provided with branch inlet pipes 25, clearly the portions of the upper web 12 between the cut-outs for the three pipes will also have to be cut away. The correct location of the inserted pipe can be defined by providing a suitable stop on the outside of the pipe 19 which will not pass through the lower web 13.

When the device has been positioned as illustrated, installation can be completed by casting concrete around the box up to about the level of the upper web 1 2 and the uppermost course of the wall 10. When the concrete is firm, the soil and waste pipe sections will be correctly and permanently located in the building.

Construction of the building can then be continued, including the completion of the wall 10 over the brackets 1 5, 1 6 and 17 and the installation of the upper sections of the soil pipe run.

Claims (14)

1. A device comprising a combination soil pipe portion and support for locating a soil pipe in a specific position in a building during its construction, comprising a spacer frame carrying a length of soil pipe and provided with means for attachment to the fabric of the building at an intermediate stage in its construction, the spacer frame defining the location and orientation of the soil pipe in relation to the fabric of the building to which it may be attached.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the spacer frame has a flat external surface for abutting a wall of the building so as to define the location and orientation of the soil pipe in relation to the wall.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the flat surface is formed by one face of a rigid planar sheet, the other face being internal to the spacer frame and provided with means for carrying the length of soil pipe.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means for carrying the length of soil pipe are spaced apart along the length of the pipe.

5. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein one end of the length of soil pipe is a plain spigot end and the other end is an enlarged socket end which is adapted to receive a spigot end of another length of soil pipe similar to the spigot end of the length of soil pipe carried by the spacer frame.

6. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the length of soil pipe includes a junction with a branch pipe.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 wherein the branch pipe is provided with a removable closure.

8. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the means for attaching the device to the building comprises a bracket adapted to extend over and behind an adjacent leaf of a partially built inner wall.

9. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the length of soil pipe is a push fit in the spacer frame.

10. A device as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising alternative attachment means corresponding to alternative locations of the soil pipe in relation to the fabric of the building.

1 A combination soil pipe portion and support substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of constructing a building which comprises partially constructing the building; attaching to the fabric of the building a spacer frame carrying a length of soil pipe, whereby the length of soil pipe is supported in a definite location and orientation within the building; and incorporating the spacer frame into the structure of the building and the length of soil pipe into the soil pipe of the building during the subsequent continuation of the construction of the building.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the step of incorporating the spacer frame into the structure of the building includes embedding it in concrete.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12 or claim 1 3 wherein the spacer frame carrying a length of soil pipe is as defined in any one of claims 1 to 11.

1 5. A method of constructing a building substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.