GB2592400A

GB2592400A - Improvements relating to passage of services through walls

Info

Publication number: GB2592400A
Application number: GB2002758.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hassall Albert
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-02-27
Filing date: 2020-02-27
Publication date: 2021-09-01
Also published as: GB202002758D0

Abstract

A unit 30 configured to be built into a block-built wall is disclosed. The unit enables the passage of a service through a wall, which could include drain pipes, other pipes and conduits. The unit comprises a hollow cuboidal housing 32 having a front side 57 and a rear side 58. An elongate conduit 42 passes through the housing from front to the rear sides, and enables the service to be connected at both ends of the conduit. The conduit is able to move laterally with respect to the housing. The unit may contain a fitting for coupling a service to the conduit and packing material (54, fig3).

Description

IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO PASSAGE OF SERVICES THROUGH WALLS

The present invention addresses challenges arising in the construction industry where drain pipes and other pipes and conduits emerge from block-built walls.

Drain pipes and other pipes and conduits (collectively referred to herein as "services") associated with a building often need to pass through a structural element of the building such as a wall. Commonly this occurs beneath the building. For example, drains routed beneath a building typically need to emerge beneath the floor level from the building's foundation to reach a sewer. Often the perimeter of the foundation is formed by a wall of conventional laid block construction and the drain needs to emerge through an opening in the foundation wall.

It is necessary to provide for some freedom of lateral movement of the service relative to the foundation wall. Failure to do so may cause damage to the service as for example settlement results in movement of the wall. Building regulations applied in the United Kingdom make such provision for lateral movement mandatory. But at the same time it is desirable not to leave any open space between the opening in the wall and the service, since that might provide a route for entry of foreign material or of small animals such as rodents into the crawl space beneath a building.

A solution which is commonly adopted at present is represented in Figures land 2. An oversize round duct 10 is built into the wall 12 as it is laid. The service 14 is led through the oversize duct 10 with a clearance space being left between the two to allow for movement. This clearance space is packed with a non-rigid packing material which may be fibreglass wadding 16. Covers 18, 20 are fitted on either side of the wall 12 to retain the filler and resist entry of small animals or other matter. The covers 18, 20 are often made on site by scribing sheet material such as corrugated plastic to fit around the service 14. They may be secured to the adjacent wall using mastic to permit some movement of the covers. In this particular example a lintel 21 is built into the brickwork over the duct 10 to maintain structural integrity.

There are various problems with this approach, from the point of view of the builder. It is reliant on provision of small quantities of several materials -ducting, wadding, sheet material and mastic. Installation of services may be on the critical path so that delays due to lack of any such materials can be costly. Incorporating the round oversize ducting into the bond of the wall during its construction creates an extra complication and the bricklayer needs to flaunch around the duct which is somewhat time consuming. The process of installing wadding, scribing the covers to fit and securing them with mastic also takes up time and adds to costs. Whether the covers will remain in place over a building's lifetime is questionable. The provision of a lintel, where this is required, adds to the trouble and expense involved.

A more effective solution is required.

In accordance with the present invention there is a unit configured to be built into a block-built wall and to enable passage of a service through the wall, the unit comprising a hollow cuboidal housing having a front side and a rear side and an elongate conduit passing through the housing from front to rear enabling the service to be connected to the conduit at both ends of the conduit, the conduit being able to move laterally with respect to the housing.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a section in a vertical plane through a wall with a service passing through it, the arrangement depicted in this drawing belonging to the prior art; Figure 2 is a view of the same wall depicted in Figure land belonging to the prior art, viewed from one side; Figure 3 is a view from one side of a service installation unit embodying the present invention; Figure 4 is a plan view of a cover used in the unit depicted in Figure 3; and Figure 5 is a side view of the unit.

Referring to Figures 3 and 5, the unit 30 comprises a hollow cuboidal housing 32. In the present embodiment this is a unitary moulded plastic item although any suitable construction method may be adopted. It could for example be fabricated in steel, extruded in aluminium or steel, and so on. The housing 32 has top and bottom panels 34, 36 linked through upright left and right side panels 38,40 to form a square or rectangular shape when viewed from the front or rear, as in Figure 3. Although the housing is referred to as cuboidal and its vertices do define a cuboidal shape, it has in this embodiment open front and rear faces.

A conduit 42 passes through the housing 32 from front to rear, extending beyond the housing 32 in both the forward and rearward directions as seen in Figure 5. The conduit 42 is in the present embodiment a circular tube. It could take other forms in other embodiments. For example it could be a tube of a different sectional shape.

The conduit 42 is coupled to the housing 32 in such a way as to be kept in position in the housing 32 during installation of the service unit 30, without preventing the conduit from moving laterally -i.e. either up and down or from side to side, as represented by arrows in Figure 3. This may be achieved by coupling the conduit 42 to the housing 32 through one or more compliant members. In the present embodiment flexible elastic spacers 44, 46, 48, 50 extend radially from the conduit 42 to the housing 32. One extends upwardly, one downwardly, one to the left of the conduit and one to the right. The spacers 44 -50 may for example comprise rubber or some other suitable resilient material.

The arrangement used to retain the conduit 42 in the housing 32 may however take a whole variety of alternative forms and need not utilise compliant members. Alternatively it may in some embodiments be dispensed with altogether.

In the present embodiment an oversize duct 52 is provided within the housing 32, around and roughly co-axial with the conduit 42. This may be dispensed with in certain embodiments.

A packing material 54 is provided in the volume within the housing 32 around the exterior of the conduit 42. In the present embodiment the material used is fibre glass wadding, which is also referred to as fibreglass wool and is often used for thermal insulation. Other suitable packing materials may instead be used. In the illustrated example the packing material 54 fills the volume between the conduit 42 and the duct 44, providing resistance against drafts and against passage of small animals or foreign matter.

The otherwise open front face of the housing 32 is provided with a front cover 57 having a through-going opening to receive and closely fit to the conduit 42, which emerges through the front cover 57. The front cover 57 is coupled to the housing 32 through a sliding guide 51 which allows the front cover, and hence the conduit 42, to move laterally (up/down and left/right), without permitting the front cover 57 to move along the fore and aft direction. That is, the cover 57 is not permitted to move away from the housing 32. Likewise a rear cover 58 covers the rear face of the housing 32 and has a through-going opening that receives and fits closely to the conduit 42, a sliding guide 52 enabling it to move laterally whilst retaining it in engagement with the housing 32. The front and rear covers 57,58 serve to close the front and rear faces of the housing 32. In doing so they provide further protection against passage of drafts, small animals or foreign matter, and they also serve to retain the packing material 54 in position. Thanks to their sliding mountings the covers permit the conduit 42 freedom of lateral movement.

A forwardly-projecting portion 68 of the conduit 42 is configured to couple to an adjacent end of the service which is being led through the wall. A suitable coupling may be provided on the forwardly projecting portion 68. In the present embodiment this takes the form of a collar 64, although any suitable coupling may be provided or alternatively the forwardly projecting portion 68 may be of plain external shape in order to receive or be received by a complementary fitting. Likewise a rearwardly projecting portion 69 of the conduit 42 is configured to couple to a still further adjacent conduit. In the embodiment depicted it has a collar 70 for the purpose.

The housing 32 is typically incorporated into a block-built wall. The invention imposes no particular limitation on the material and nature of the blocks from which the wall is constructed, which could for example be bricks, concrete or aircrete construction blocks, aggregate blocks, or any other suitable form of construction block. In the present embodiment certain dimensions of the housing 32 are selected to enable it to be straightforwardly incorporated into the bond pattern of the block-built wall. The height of the housing 32 is chosen to match the height of the blocks of the wall. In the present embodiment this height is chosen to be 205mm, which is a standard height for construction blocks.

The width of the housing 32 could be chosen to match the width of a construction block but in the present embodiment it is smaller, and specifically it is half a block width. The depth of the housing 32, along the direction perpendicular to the plane of the wall, is in the present embodiment chosen to match the full depth of the wall into which the unit is to be incorporated, which typically includes two layers of blockwork separated by a cavity.

During laying of the block-built wall, the unit 30 can, very simply and straightforwardly, be laid in the wall in similar manner to the blocks making up the wall, being secured in place with the same mortar used in construction of the wall. As the housing 32 is only half a block in width it will often be necessary to lay a half width building block next to the housing 32 in the wall, but otherwise no interruption of the bond pattern of the wall is needed. The housing 32 may be secured in the wall using whatever mortar or other material is used in the wall's construction. Typically no lintel or other reinforcement is required to maintain structural integrity of the wall.

The unit 30 can be supplied and installed in the form of a ready-assembled and self-contained unit, with the conduit 42, packing 54, front and rear covers 57, 58 all pre-fitted. Hence its installation involves a minimum of labour and no need on the part of the brick layer for any additional materials other than the service unit 32 itself. The unit 30 is closed against passage of foreign material, including rodents or other small animals.

Once the unit 30 has been built into the wall, the service is simply connected to it. That is, the service is divided into separate parts on opposite sides of the wall and these are coupled through the conduit 42. On one side of the wall, the service is connected to the forwardly projecting portion 68 of the conduit 42 and on the other side of the wall, the service is connected to the rearwardly projecting portion 69.

The unit 30 provides the required freedom for the service to move laterally in any direction and to change its inclination.

The @foregoing embodiment is presented by way of example and not of limitation. Numerous variations and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, the embodiment above has a conduit 42 that projects out of the housing 32 to the front and rear to couple to the service, but in other embodiments the conduit 42 may have female fittings on one or both its ends to couple to the service, in which case little or no projection of the conduit outside the housing may be needed.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A unit configured to be built into a block-built wall and to enable passage of a service through the wall, the unit comprising a hollow cuboidal housing having a front side and a rear side and an elongate conduit passing through the housing from front to rear enabling the service to be connected to the conduit at both ends of the conduit, the conduit being able to move laterally with respect to the housing.
2. A unit as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a cover which covers the front or rear side of the housing and which has a through-going opening through which the conduit passes, the cover being retained to the housing but able to move laterally with respect to it.
3. A unit as claimed in claim 2 comprising a pair of covers, one covering the front of the housing and one covering the rear of the housing.
4. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which the conduit extends out of the housing on the front side and on the rear side of the housing.
5. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which at least one end of the conduit is provided with a fitting for coupling to the service.
6. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which the housing contains an oversize duct through which the conduit passes.
7. A unit as claimed in any preceding claim in which a volume around the conduit and within the housing contains packing material.
8. A block-built wall comprising a unit as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the height of the unit corresponds to the height of blocks of the wall.
9. A block-built wall as claimed in claim 8 in which the unit is secured in the wall using mortar.
10. A block-built wall as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9 which is a cavity wall, the unit bridging the cavity of the wall.
11. A method of building a block-built wall with a service passing through the wall, the method comprising laying in the wall a unit according to any of claims 1 to 9 and coupling ends of the service to the elongate conduit on both sides of the wall.