IE20180576A2 - Prefabricated house - Google Patents

Abstract

A prefabricated house (1) is for mounting on a conventional concrete slab foundation (2) constructed in the usual way at a building site where the prefabricated house is to be located. The prefabricated house (1) includes a set of ground floor building sections (3). An associated set of upper floor building sections (4) sit on top of and are secured to associated ground floor building sections (3). A roof comprises a pair of roof sections (6, 7) which sit on and are secured to the upper floor building sections (4). Each of the building sections (3, 4) and the roof sections (6, 7) are sized such that they are transportable on a road trailer from a factory at which they are manufactured to the building site where they are lifted onto and assembled together on the concrete slab foundation (2) to form the prefabricated house (1). Each building section (3, 4) comprises a frame with integral spaced-apart lifting brackets.

Description

Introduction This invention relates to a prefabricated house of modular construction.

A commonly used house building method includes providing a concrete slab foundation upon which blockwork walls are built to form an exterior of the building.

A weatherproof cladding is then applied to an outer face of the walls. Internal walls are also built to sub-divide an interior of the building which is subsequently fitted out with services and internal cladding. A disadvantage of this type of construction is the relatively long construction time involved. Further, much of the construction work can be delayed due to inclement weather, or delays in the availability of key personnel such as plumbers, electricians and the like at critical times in the construction process.

The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.

It is known to provide temporary accommodation, storage, or office space by means of an ISO container which can readily be transported to a site on a semi-trailer, or the like. These are commonly used to provide temporary office space on a building site for example and may be fitted with windows and a door for access. Whilst these serve a useful purpose in such applications, they are not suitable as a permanent domestic dwelling.

Summagg of the Invention According to the invention there is provided a prefabricated house for mounting on a concrete slab foundation, including: at least two associated building sections and at least one complementary roof section for mounting on top of the building sections; each of said building sections and said roof section being transportable on a road trailer; each building section comprising a steel frame having a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel upright side wall frames interconnected at their upper ends by a ceiling frame to form an open-bottomed building section; means for attaching each side wall frame to the concrete slab foundation; and means for securing the building sections and roof together to form a prefabricated house.

In one embodiment of the invention each side wall frame has a pair of spaced-apart lifting brackets mounted at a top of the side wall frame and integrally formed with the side wall frame. in another embodiment of the invention each side wall frame comprises a horizontal bottom rail and a horizontal top rail spaced above the bottom rail, a plurality of spaced- apart substantially parallel vertical studs extending between the bottom rail and the top rail perpendicular to the bottom rail and the top rail.

In another embodiment of the invention each lifting bracket comprises a rectangular frame having vertical side panels which are bolted to side faces of adjacent studs in the side wall frame and a horizontal top panel flush with an upper face of the top rail, a central through-hole in the top panel and a bolt welded to an inner face of the top panel in alignment with the through-hole for reception of a lifting eyebolt.

In another embodiment of the invention the rectangular frame is formed by an endless metal plate.

In another embodiment of the invention one or more of the building sections has an end wall frame extending at least partially between the side wall frames and perpendicular thereto. in another embodiment of the invention one or more of the building sections has an intermediate wall frame mounted within the building section to sub-divide an interior of the building section.

In another embodiment of the invention the intermediate wall frame is parallel to the side wall frames. in another embodiment of the invention the intermediate wall frame is perpendicular to the side wall frames.

In another embodiment of the invention the building sections include open-bottomed building sections forming a ground floor of the house and at least two upper floor building sections for mounting on top of the ground floor building sections, each of said upper floor building sections comprising a steel frame having a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel upright side wall frames interconnected at their upper ends by a ceiling frame and interconnected at their lower ends by a floor frame, at least one of said floor frames having an opening for reception of a stain/vay, and means for securing a bottom of each side wall frame to a top of the associated side wall frame of the ground floor building section upon which it seats.

In another embodiment of the invention the securing means comprises L-shaped fixing brackets engagable between corners of the side wall frames. §rief Descrigtjolqf the Drgwimg The invention will be more clearly understood by the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a prefabricated house according to the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged exploded perspective view showing a set of ground floor building sections forming portion of the prefabricated house; Fig. 3 is an enlarged exploded perspective view showing a set of upper floor building sections fomting portion of the prefabricated house; Fig. 4 is a detail elevational view illustrating an integral lifting bracket mounted on the building sections; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the lifting bracket arrangement shown in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail perspective view showing a fixing bracket for interconnecting ground floor building sections with upper floor building sections in the prefabricated house. l_Jetailed Qescription of the Preferred Embodiments Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a prefabricated house according to the invention indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. The prefabricated house 1 is for mounting on a conventional concrete slab foundation 2 constructed in the usual way at a building site where the prefabricated house is to be located. The prefabricated house 1 includes a set of ground floor building sections 3, an associated set of upper floor building sections 4 which sit on top of and are secured to associated ground floor building sections 3 and a roof 5 comprising a pair of roof sections 6, 7 which sit on and are secured to the upper floor building sections 4. It will be noted that each of the building sections and the roof sections are sized such that they are transportable on a road trailer from a factory at which they are manufactured to the building site where they are lifted onto and assembled together on the concrete slab foundation 2 to form the prefabricated house 1.

The set 3 of ground floor building sections has in this case four associated building sections, namely a front ground floor building section 9, an intermediate ground floor building section 10, a rear ground floor building section 11 and an annex building section 12, all of which fit together on the concrete slab foundation 2 to form a composite ground floor of the prefabricated house 1. The annex building section 12 incorporates a sloped roof 13.

Similarly, the set 4 of upper floor building sections comprises in this case three upper floor building sections, namely a front upper floor building section 14, an intermediate upper floor building section 15 and a rear upper floor building section 16, each of which sits on and is secured to the associated ground floor front building section 9, intermediate building section 10 and rear building section 11, respectively.

Referring in particular to Fig. 2, each ground floor building section 9, 10, 11, 12 comprises a steel frame having a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel upright side wall frames 20, 21 interconnected at their upper ends by a ceiling frame 22 to form an open-bottomed building section 9, 10, 11, 12. Each side wall frame 20, 21 comprises a horizontal bottom rail 24 and a horizontal top rail 25 spaced above the bottom rail 24. A plurality of spaced-apart substantially parallel vertical channel- section studs 26 extend between the bottom rail 24 and the top rail 25 perpendicular to the bottom rail 24 and the top rail 25. The ceiling frame 22 comprises a number of spaced-apart parallel ceiling rails 27 extending between the top rails 25 of the side wall frames 20, 21. it will be noted that in the intermediate ground floor building section 10 an opening 28 is provided in the ceiling frame 22 to facilitate mounting a stairway between the ground floor and upper floor of the pre-fabricated house 1.

A number of the building sections 9, 10, 11 have intermediate wall frames 30, 31, 32 mounted within the building section 9, 10, 11 to sub-divide an interior of the building section 9, 10, 11. Some of the intermediate wall frames 30, 31, 32 may have doorway openings 33 formed therein. Thus, in the example shown different rooms and a hallway can be formed in the ground floor of the prefabricated house 1. The intermediate wall frames 30, 31, 32 may conveniently be formed by a plurality of spaced-apart parallel vertical studs extending between a horizontal bottom rail and a horizontal top rail which are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the studs.

End wall frames 34, 35 may extend either partially or fully between the side wall frames 20, 21, perpendicular to said side wall frames 20, 21. Window openings 37 may be provided in side wall frames 20, 21, or end wall frames 34, 35.

Referring in particular to Fig. 3 the set 4 of upper floor buildings sections 14, 15, 16 is shown. These are also of steel frame construction and are generally similar to the ground floor building sections 9, 10, 11, 12 but further include a floor frame interconnecting the lower ends of the side wall frames 20, 21. A stainlvay opening 41 is provided in the floor frame 40 of the intermediate upper floor building section 15 for alignment with the associated opening 28 in the ceiling frame 22 of the intermediate ground floor building section 10 upon which it sits in use.

Referring in particular to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, each side wall frame 20 has a pair of integral spaced-apart lifting brackets 45 mounted at a top of the side wall frame 20, 21 adjacent each end of the side wall frame 20, 21. Each lifting bracket 45 has a rectangular frame 46 with vertical side panels 47 which are bolted to side faces of adjacent studs 26 and a horizontal top panel 48 flush with an upper face 49 of the top rail 25. The rectangular frame may be formed by an endless metal plate. A central through-hole (not shown) extends through the top panel 48 and a bolt 50 is welded to an inner face of the top panel 48 in alignment with the through-hole for reception of a lifting eyebolt 52.

Referring in particular to Fig. 6, an L-shaped fixing bracket 60 is shown engaged between corners of the side wall frames 20, 21 to secure the upper floor building sections 14, 15, 16 to the ground floor building sections 9, 10, 11. As can be seen, the fixing bracket 60 wraps around the comer and is bolted to the top rail 25 of the lower side wall frame 20 and the bottom rail 24 of the upper side wall frame 20 and also to the ceiling frame 22 of the ground floor building section 9, 10, 11 and the floor frame of the associated upper floor building section 14, 15, 16.

In use, the various building sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and roof sections 6, 7 are manufactured in a factory and then delivered to a building site for assembly on the concrete slab foundation 2.

Although not shown in the drawings, the various building sections may be fitted out with cupboards to form a kitchen for bedroom for example, and also may be fully wired and all plumbing with kitchen and bathroom sinks, showers etc. installed prior to the delivery to the building site. At the building site lifting wires are attached to the four eyebolts 52 on each building section to lift the building section into place. The four ground floor building sections 9, 10, 11, 12 are placed directly on the concrete slab foundation 2 and are rigidly secured thereto by bolting or any other suitable means and they are also bolted together end to end to form a composite ground floor of the building. After removal of the eyebolts 52, the upper floor building sections 14, 15, 16 can be lifted onto and placed upon the associated ground floor building sections 9, 10, 11 and secured thereto by means of the fixing brackets 60 as previously described.

After removal of the lifting eyebolts 52, the roof sections 6, 7 can be placed on top of the upper floor building sections 14, 15, 16 and secured thereto and to each other.

The prefabricated house 1 can then be connected up to electrical and water supplies Cladding can be attached to outer faces of the side wall frames 20, 21 and end wall frames 34, 35 in the factory, or alternatively the cladding can be attached on site.

Further, if desired, an outer brickwork, or blockwork skin can be built up on the concrete slab foundation 2 outside the side wall frames 20, 21 and end wall frames 34, 35.

Advantageously, by providing open-bottomed building sections for the ground floor this reduces the weight of each building section module and each ground floor module can be bolted directly to the concrete slab foundation which fonns the floor as with conventional blockwork house construction methods. Further, various house designs can be readily easily modularised with building sections which are factory constructed and finished for assembly on site, with minimal site works, thus greatly reducing on- site build time.

The prefabricated house of this invention has been described for mounting on a concrete slab foundation. It is envisaged that it could also be adapted for mounting on a rising blockwork wall foundation.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described which may be varied in both construction and detail within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (4)

1. A prefabricated house for mounting on a concrete slab foundation, including: at least two associated building sections and at least one complementary roof section for mounting on top of the building sections; each of said building sections and said roof section being transportable on a road trailer; each building section comprising a steel frame having a pair of spaced- apart substantially parallel upright side wall frames interconnected at their upper ends by a ceiling frame to form an open-bottomed building section; each side wall frame having a pair of spaced-apart lifting brackets mounted at a top of the side wall frame and integrally formed with the side wall frame; means for attaching each side wall frame to the concrete slab foundation; and means for securing the building sections and roof together to form a prefabricated house.

2. The prefabricated house as claimed in claim 1, wherein each lifting bracket comprises a rectangular frame having vertical side panels which are bolted to side faces of adjacent studs in the side wall frame and a horizontal top panel flush with an upper face of the top rail, a central through-hole in the top panel and a bolt welded to an inner face of the top panel in alignment with the through- hole for reception of a lifting eyebolt.

3. The prefabricated house as claimed in claim 2 wherein the rectangular frame is formed by an endless metal plate.

4. The prefabricated house as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each side 35 10. 11. wall frame comprises a horizontal bottom rail and a horizontal top rail spaced above the bottom rail, a plurality of spaced-apart substantially parallel vertical studs extending between the bottom rail and the top rail perpendicular to the bottom rail and the top rail. The prefabricated house as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein one or more of the building sections has an end wall frame extending at least partially between the side wall frames and perpendicular thereto. The prefabricated house as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein one or more of the building sections has an intemiediate wall frame mounted within the building section to sub—divide an interior of the building section. The prefabricated house as claimed in claim 6, wherein the intermediate wall frame is parallel to the side wall frames. The prefabricated house as claimed in claim 6, wherein the intennediate wall frame is perpendicular to the side wall frames. The prefabricated house as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the building sections include open-bottomed building sections forming a ground floor of the house and at least two upper floor building sections for mounting on top of the ground floor building sections, each of said upper floor building sections comprising a steel frame having a pair of spaced-apart substantially parallel upright side wall frames interconnected at their upper ends by a ceiling frame and interconnected at their lower ends by a floor frame, at least one of said floor frames having an opening for reception of a stainivay, and means for securing a bottom of each side wall frame to a top of the associated side wall frame of the ground floor building section upon which it seats. The prefabricated house as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the securing means comprises L-shaped fixing brackets engagable between comers of the side wall frames. The prefabricated house substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.