GB2516054A

GB2516054A - Cladding panel, system and methods

Info

Publication number: GB2516054A
Application number: GB1312324.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul James Bishop
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-07-09
Filing date: 2013-07-09
Publication date: 2015-01-14
Also published as: GB201312324D0

Abstract

A cladding panel 10 for an exterior wall of a building comprises a facing layer 24 including a weather-resistant facing substrate 12 and powdered aggregate 18 bonded to the facing substrate; and a backing layer including a backing substrate 32 to which the facing layer is attached. The powdered aggregate may be recycled from cast-off inorganic material such as brick, stone or rock. The facing layer may be divided into tiles and attached to the backing layer in a spaced apart relationship to mimic the visual appearance of stacked brick or stone. The backing substrate may be a thermally insulating board. A cladding panel system may be formed from adjacent panels having interdigitable edges. Also claimed is a method of forming a cladding panel and a method of improving the thermal insulative characteristic of an exterior wall of a building. The forming method may include curved facing and backing substrates.

Description

I

Cladding Panel, System and Methods The present invention relates to a, preferably double-insulated, cladding panel, a cladding-panel system for an exterior wall of a building using such a panel, and a building having such a panel on its exterior wall. The invention furthermore relates to a method of fornilng such a cladding panel, and to a method of improving a thermal insulative characteristic of a building.

Cladding for buildings, such as domestic and commercial premises, is known, and traditionally comes in individual tiles which are laboriously apphed by hand to the exterior wall of the building. before then being grouted. However, the tiles first have to be produced, and these may either be moulded plastics, which are low-cost and have minimal longevity, or may be sliced from premanufactured brick. This latter case is hugely wasteful, since only the outer surface is required and thus around 90% of the brick is then discarded, typically being disposed of in landfill.

Other options for cladding exist, such as plaster or render stucco material. However, such outer layers on buildings are prone to cracking over a relatively short period of time due to the impact of seasonal climate change, along with relatively rapid fading.

A yet further problem exists when trying to apply such cladding to buildings during inclement weather. When traditional cladding materials are applied to an exterior surface, moisture and dampness can cause efflorescing and lime bloom as percolating salts within the traditional materials, such as cement, migrate to the exteriorly facing surface.

Furthermore, current cladding is highly repetitious, leading to a clearly unnatural finish and one which cannot be matched to the surrounding built and historical environment.

The present invention seeks to overcome all of these problems.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a cladding panel for an exterior wall of a building, the cladding panel comprising: a facing layer induding a weather-resistant facing substrate and powdered aggregate bonded to the facing substrate; and a backing layer including a weather-resistant backing substrate to which the facing layer is attached.

Preferable and/or optional features of the first aspect of the invention are set forth in claims 2 to 7, inclusive.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a cladding-panel system for an exterior wall of a building, the system comprising a plurality of cladding panels in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, at least two neighbouring said dadding panels having interdigitatable edges.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a building having at least one exterior wall and at least one cladding panel in accordance with the first aspect of the invention mounted to an exterior surface thereof to improve a thermal insulation of the building.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a cladding panel for an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the steps of: a] grinding solid inorganic material to form a powdered aggregate; b] bonding the powdered aggregate to a weather-resistant facing substrate to form a facing layer; and ci mounting the facing layer to a weather-resistant backing substrate.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming a cladding panel according to the first aspect of the invention for an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the steps of: a] grinding solid inorganic material to form a powdered aggregate; b] bonding the powdered aggregate to a weather-resistant facing substrate to form a facing layer; and c] mounting the facing layer to a weather-resistant backing substrate.

Preferable and/or optional features of the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention are set forth in claims 14 to 26, inclusive.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of improving a thermal insulative characteristic of an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the step of providing an exterior surface of an exterior wall with a cladding panel attached thereto, the cladding panel having an outer insirlative substrate covered with recycled powdered aggregate bonded thereto, and a backing insulative substrate to which the aggregate-covered first insuative substrate is mounted.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of improving a thermal insulative characteristic of an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the step of providing an exterior surface of an exterior wall with a cladding panel according to the first aspect of the invention attached thereto, the cladding panel having an outer insulative substrate covered with recycled powdered aggregate bonded thereto, and a backing insulative substrate to which the aggregate-covered first insulative substrate is mounted.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1. 2a to 2c, and 3 show one embodiment of a method of production of a cladding panel, in accordance with the present invention; Figure 4 shows a portion of a first embodiment of a cladding panel, formed using the method of Figures 1 to 3 and colour matched to provide a first exterior appearance; Figure 5 is a cross-sectiona' view alnng line A-A through the cladding panel shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 shows a portion of a second embodiment of a cladding panel, formed using the method of Figures 1 to 3 and colour matched to provide a second exterior appearance which is different to that of the first exterior appearance shown in Figure 4; and Figure 7 shows a portion of a third embodiment of a cladding panel, formed using the method similar to that of Figures 1 to 3 and curved.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 5 of the drawings, there is shown a method of forming a light-weight weather-resistant cladding panel 10 which is at least suitable for an outer surface of an exterior wall of a building, typically being exposed to the environment.

The production process of the cladding panel i0 can be automated on a production line but, for clarity, is broken down into sections in Figures 1 to 3. Referring to Figure 1, a weather-resistant facing substrate 12 is initially provided, and this may be any size from centimetres in length and width to metres in length and width, dependent on necessity.

In this case, the facing substrate 12 may beneficially be calcium silicate board or magnesium silicate board, although other silicate or weather-resistant and thermally insulative materials may be considered, such as cement particleboard.

The substantia'ly rigid planar facing substrate 12 is coated on at least one major surface 14 with an adhesive 16. Advantageously, the adhesive 16 may be wet-workable and wet-curable, thereby being impermeable or substantially impermeable to moisture. This enables use in damp or moist ambient environments, and thus use in inclement outside conditions during installation, for example.

By way of example, a suitable wet-workable epoxy adhesive 16 is Metofix 31 RTM by Chemfix Products Limited of Mill Street East, Dewsbury, West Yorks, WFI2 9BQ, UK.

Another possible adhesive is Metofast 31 RTM, being a derivative of Metofix 31 RTM, also produced by Chemfix Products Limited.

With the facing substrate 12 coated, a layer of powdered aggregate 18 is overlaid, building up a stone or brick exterior appearance. as shown in Figure 4. The powdered aggregate 18 is preferably ground castoff solid inorganic material, thereby allowing recycling of disposed bnck, rock and stone, for example. On a production line, a hopper of such powdered aggregate 18 may be provided above a conveyor on which the adhesive coated facing substrate 12 travds. More than one layer of adhesive 16 and powdered aggregate 18 may be applied to the facing substrate 12, and this may be via multiple hoppers or applicators, andlor by multiple passes of the facing substrate 12.

To achieve a desired finish or appearance. thereby allowing matching or substantial matching to the building's local, historic or architectural environment and/or to its original finish, the powdered aggregate 18 may be colour matched using a system similar to that used for colour matching paint or other liquid coating products. In this way, during formation of the powdered aggregate 18, the correct colour and texture of materials can be chosen to produce the required finish.

Additionally, more than one different type of powdered aggregate 18 may be utilised, thereby enabling a base colour or appearance 20 with patches 22 of weathering or other random anomalies appearing thereon, such as in-grained dirt or other particulate debris or detritus which ordinarily build up through years of standing in the open environment and being subjected to all kinds of weather.

Prior to curing, the powdered aggregate 18 may also be subjected to mechanical marking to enhance realism. For example. striation marks may be appfied via a scraping device to impart peaks and valleys across an outer surface replicating slicing by a mechanical cutter.

Refening to Figures 2a to 2c, once the facing layer 24 is cured and hardened, see Figure 2a, it is preferably separated into a plurality of tiles 26 by a cutting device. See Figures 2b and 2c. On a production line, this may take the form of a reciprocating or band saw.

or a laser cutting device, for example. A further layer 28 of adhesive 16 and powdered aggregate 18 is provided on the edges 30 of the tiles 26 to cover an edge thickness of IS the facing substrate 12 which has now been revealed by the cutting process.

It should be understood that this separating stage is optional. since the formed facing layer 24 can be utilised as a single panel without requiring cutting. The facing substrate 12 may indeed already be suitably small to be of general tile size, thereby again not requiring separating or cutting.

As shown in Figure 3, a weather-resistant backing substrate 32 is utilised. Such a backing substrate 32 may conveniently be similar or identical to the facing substrate 12 described above. An adhesive layer 34 of the wet-workable bonding agent 16, again conveniently being as described above, is uniformly or substantially uniformly applied to a major surface 35 of the backing substrate 32. The tiles 26 provided by the facing layer 24 are pressed into the adhesive layer 34 in uniformly spaced-apart relationship, to in this case provide the appearance of a brick or stone wall.

Whilst the adhesive layer 34 remains tacky or workable, a grouting layer 36 of the powdered aggregate i8 or other grouting material, such as sand, which provides a finished visual appearance of grouting, is applied between the tiles 26. This may take the form of simply overlaying the entire backing layer 38 with the grouting layer 36, and then removing surplus grouting-layer material from the outward facing surfaces 40 of the tiles 26 once the bonding agent 16, exposed between neighbouring tiles 26, has cured. For example. the removal may by simply tilting the cladding panel 10 to an upright position and brushing, inverting, or washing.

When tiles 26 are utilised to provide the visual appearance of stacked bricks or stone, as shown in Figure 4, it is preferable that adjacent rows of tiles 26 are offset, typically by half or 50% of the length of a tile 26. Consequently, once the bonding agent 16 on the backing substrate 32 is cured, it is preferable that the backing layer 38 is cut at its lateral ends to follow the offset of the tiles 26. This thereby allows neighbouring cladding panels 10 to be interdigitated. which again disguises jointing.

The finished dadding panel 10, with in this case double insulative ayers formed by the rigid facing substrate 12 and the rigid backing substrate 32, can then be mounted to an outwardly-facing surface of an exterior wall. The mounting may be by any suitable IS fixing or fastening means, such as, preferably wet-workable, adhesive or screw-threaded fasteners. Fixing apertures andJor joint lines can then be disguised or filled by small amounts of the wet-workable adhesive 16 mentioned above and the powdered aggregate 18 used to form the facing layer 24. Due to the adhesive 16 being wet workable, the installation of the cladding panel 10 or cladding panels 10 is not restricted by weather conditions.

As shown in Figure 6, by utilising different compositions of powdered aggregate 18 including specific randomised anomalies 22, different external visual appearances can be derived. In this second embodiment of a cladding panel 10, a much darker solid inorganic mineral material 42, preferably again recycling castoff bricks, stones and rock as required, has been selected for bonding with the weather-resistant facing substrate 12.

For the grouting layer 36, once the facing layer 24 has been attached to the weather-resistant backing substrate 32, again a darker sand 44 or powdered aggregate 18 has been utilised. Weathering has been applied by the incorporation of lighter coloured powdered aggregate 18, giving the impression of light moss patches 46.

Referring now to Figure 7, the present method can be utilised to form a non-planar cladding panel 110, as required. In this third embodiment, a rear surface of the planar weather-resistant facing substrate 12 of the first embodiment may be laterally scored or cut. Once the adhesive layer 34 and the layer of powdered aggregate 1 8 have been applied, and prior to curing, the facing substrate 12 is curved to provide the required arcuate form. In this case, the curvature is across oniy the longitudinal extent of the cladding panel I 10. However, the curvature may be over the lateral extent and/or the longitudinal extent, as necessity dictates.

The facing substrate 12 is then separated into tiles 26, as required, a rear suiface of the backing substrate 32 is similarly scored or cut and curved to provide an identical or similar arc. The tiles 26 are applied as described above, followed by the grouting byer 36 to finish the curved cladding panel 110.

With a plurality of cladding pands 10, 110 formed, these can be easily stacked and transported to the installation site due to their relatively light weight and slim design, as shown in Figure 5. The cladding panels 10,110 thus provide for a cladding-panel system which can be mounted to existing exterior wails or even existing cladding, and which allows interconnection between adjacent cladding panels 10. It is also therefore possible to provide a building with improved insulation by utilising such a cladding panel 10, which makes use of two, preferably thermally insulative, boards 12, 32 fastened together. To further improve the thermally insulative qualities of the cladding-panel system, one or more further dedicated or specific thermally insulative boards, for example, formed of Rockwool RTM or polystyrene may be provided at a rear of the backing layer, using suitable fastening means such as bonding, or even incorporated within the cladding panel itself. It may even be possible to form cavities within the cladding panel in which can be inserted liquid insulation. The preferred bonding between the facing and backing layers 24, 38 results in an extremely strong and impact resistant panel 10. 110, whilst still retaining a bespoke and non-repetitious visuai appearance or façade. Such a building utilising the cladding panels 10, 110 of the invention can thus cost-effectively retain its original exterior appearance, or a new brick or stone appearalwe. whilst also improving its thermal insulation. It is also possible to provide a claddiiig panel 10, 110 which can be installed during substantially any climatic condition without issues of moisture absorbency and thus blooming and sail migration.

The words comprises/comprising' and the words having/including' when used herein with reference to the present invention are used to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may a'so be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the invention which are, for brevity.

described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

The embodiments described above are provided by way of examples only, and various other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the field without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A cladding panel for an extenor wall of a building, the cladding panel comprising: a facing layer induding a weather-resistant facing substrate and powdered aggregate bonded to the facing substrate; and a backing layer iiicludthg a weather-resistant backing substrate to which the facing layer is attached.
2. A cladding panel as claimed in claim 1, wherein the powdered aggregate is recycled from castoff solid inorganic material.
3. A cladding panel as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2. wherein the powdered aggregate is at least one of brick, stone and rock.
4. A cladding panel as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the powdered aggregate is bonded to the faciiig substrate and/or the facing layer is bonded to the backing layer using a wet-workable adhesive.
5. A cladding panel as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the facing layer is divided into tiles, the tiles being attached to the backing layer is spaced apart relationship.
6. A cladding panel as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a grouting layer between the tiles.
7. A cladding panel as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the facing substrate and the backing substrate is a thermally insulative board.
8. A cladding panel substafflially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3, Figures 4 and 5, Figure 6 or Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings.
9. A cladding-panel system for an exterior wall of a building, the system comprising a plurality of cladding panels as claimed in any one of claims I to 8, at least two neighbouring said cladding pands having interdigitatable edges.
1 0. A dadding-panel system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3, Figures 4 and 5, Figure 6 or Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings.
11. A building having at least one exterior wall and at least one cladding panel as S claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 mounted to an exterior surface thereof to improve a thermal insulation of the building.
12. A method of forming a cladding pand for an exterior wall of a bufiding, the method comprising the steps of: a] grinding solid inorganic material to form a powdered aggregate; b] bonding the powdered aggregate to a weather-resistant facing substrate to form a facing layer; and ci mounting the facing layer to a weather-resistant backing substrate.
13. A method of forming a cladding panel as claimed in any one of claims ito 8 for an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the steps of: a] grinding solid inorganic material to form a powdered aggregate; b] bonding the powdered aggregate to a weather-resistant facing substrate to form a facing layer; and ci mounting the facing layer to a weather-resistant backing substrate.
14. A method as claimed in claim 12 or daim 13. wherein, in step a], the solid inorganic material is at least one of castoff bnck, stone and rock, whereby the powdered aggregate is a recycled material.
15. A method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 14, further compnsing a step d], subsequent to step b] and prior to step c], of separating the facing layer into a plurality of tiles.
16. A method as claimed in any one of daims 12 to 15, wherein, in step c], the facing layer is bonded to the backing substrate.
17. A method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising a step e], subsequent to step ci, of applying an overlying grouting layer to the facing layer before an adhesive boding the facing layer to the backing substrate cures, and removing a surplus of the grouting layer following curing. ii
18. A method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein an adhesive used for the said bonding is a wet-workaHe adhesive.
19. A method as claimed in any one of daims 12 to 18, wherein the weather-resistant facing substrate and the weather-resistant backing substrate are formed of thermally insulative material.
20. A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the thermally insulative material is a silicate board.
21. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the silicate board is one of calcium silicate, magnesium silicate and cement particleboard.
22. A method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 21, wherein, in step b], the weather-resistant facing substrate is curved.
23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein, in step c], the weather-resistant backing substrate is curved.
24. A method as claimed in any one of daims 12 to 23, wherein, in step a], the powdered aggregate is colour-matched dependent the exterior wall of the building andlor a locality of the building.
25. A method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 24, wherein, in step b], the facing layer is marked with a marking device to impart a deformity substantially matching that of a cutting device.
26. A method as claimed in claim 25, wherein the marking of the facing layer is prior to curing of the bonding of the powdered aggregate.
27. A method of improving a thermal insulative characteristic of an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the step of providing an exterior surface of an exterior wall with a cladding panel attached thereto, the cladding panel having an outer insulative substrate covered with recycled powdered aggregate bonded thereto, and a backing insulative substrate to which the aggregate-covered first insulative substrate is mounted.
28. A method of improving a thermal insulative charactenstic of an exterior wall of a building, the method comprising the step of providing an exterior surface of an exterior wall with a cladding panel as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 attached thereto, the cladding panel having an outer insulative substrate covered with recycled powdered aggregate bonded thereto, and a backing insulafive substrate to which the aggregate-covered first insulative substrate is mounted.