NZ525996A - Floor assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of assembling a floor by assembling a frame that has joist extending from at least one frame-edge channel fixed at a first edge of the frame to an opposing edge of the frame, each channel has an upright web. The frame edge-channel is fastened between a pair of columns to support the first edge of the frame. The opposing edge of the frame edge-channel member is supported whereby the each frame edge member is fixed to a reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the columns. The beam has an I shaped cross section in which the webs of each frame edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces for receiving the ceiling and floor liners respectively.

Description

PATENTS FORM NO. 5 PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION After Provisional No: 525996 Dated: 21 May 2003 James & Wells Ref: 31313/24 FLOOR ASSEMBLY We, KiwiMark International Ltd, a New Zealand company of 12 Sutherland Avenue, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand 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: „ , „ Intellectual Property Office of NZ 14 MAY 2004 .,er.E IV 2 FLOOR ASSEMBLY TECHNICAL FIELD This invention relates to building structures and in particular to the construction of floors.

BACKGROUND ART In recent times computer-controlled manufacturing systems have become more widely used in the building construction industry. These systems allow precisely dimensioned structural members to be manufactured at high production rates. The structural members can be quickly, easily and accurately assembled. This results in 10 low cost framing construction and provides the flexibility to rapidly produce customised buildings from standard components or sub-assemblies.

Other elements of new buildings, however, have remained more difficult, costly and time-consuming to construct. In typical multi-level construction, joists for supporting the flooring are supported upon beams fixed between columns. The beams and the 15 underside of the joists generally need to be lined with a material such as plaster board for fire protection and this lining should cover all surfaces of the exposed faces of the beam. The lining must be stepped down below the bottom of the joists to "box around" the beam and this is labour intensive due to the number of surfaces of the beam that need to be lined. As a result, construction costs are increased and 20 potentially the time taken for completion of a building may be prolonged.

It will be appreciated that there is a need for an improved floor assembly and method of constructing a floors in multi-level buildings which provides for simple and economical construction and which allows savings to be made in costs associated with installing fire-rated linings. 3 It is an object of the present invention to address the foregoing problems or at least to provide the public with a useful choice. Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description which is given by way of example only.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of assembling a floor for a building including: assembling a frame having a plurality of joists extending from at least one frame-edge channel fixed at a first edge of the frame to an opposing edge of the frame, 10 each frame-edge channel having a substantially upright web; fastening the frame-edge channel between a pair of columns to support the first edge of the frame, and supporting the opposing edge of the frame, whereby each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing 15 channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and wherein the composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and 20 lower faces for receiving the flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

The frame may conveniently be assembled by workers on the ground before it is fixed to the columns, thereby allowing it to be assembled conveniently, quickly and safely. Pre-manufactured components are preferably used to assemble the frame, for example all the members may be formed to length with all the fastener-receiving 4 holes, locating fixtures etc preformed such that the parts need only be correctly positioned and connected to assemble the frame. Optionally, the frame may be assembled completely or partially in a workshop before being transported to the construction site.

The second edge of the frame may be supported upon a wall e.g. a foundation wall or dividing wall, a beam or the like. Preferably the frame is substantially rectangular. It will be understood that the term "column" is used here in a broad sense to include upright structural members. A column need not be tall and may, for example, include a foundation block. The floor may include two, three or four composite beams formed 10 on the edges of the frame.

Preferably a pair of frame-edge channels are provided on opposing edges of the frame and the method of the present invention includes: assembling a substantially rectangular frame having a plurality of joists extending between the pair of frame-edge channels, each frame-edge channel having a 15 substantially upright web; fastening each frame-edge channel between a pair of columns to support the opposing edges of the frame, whereby each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and 20 wherein the composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces extending between the edges of the composite beams for receiving the 25 flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

Preferably each composite beam further includes an upright plate inserted between webs of the frame-edge and reinforcing channels The method of the present invention preferably includes the further step of fastening the ends of each plate to first and second columns of each pair of columns before fastening each frame-edge 5 channel and reinforcing channel to the plate.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is a provided a floor which may be assembled by the method substantially as described above, the floor including: a substantially rectangular frame having a plurality of joists extending from at least 10 one frame-edge channel fixed at a first edge of the frame to a second edge of the frame, each frame-edge channel having a substantially upright web; the frame-edge channel is fastened between a pair of columns to support the first edge of the frame, and the second edge of the frame is supported, and wherein each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and the composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces beams for 20 receiving the flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

The method and floor of the present invention may advantageously be used to construct multi-level column-and-beam type buildings for commercial, industrial or residential purposes. In particular, because the fire-rated linings are provided using sheet material, the continuous planar support face thus provides for savings in 25 materials and labour costs. 6 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description which is given by way of example only and with reference to the 5 accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of a floor assembly of the present invention, and Figure 2 shows scrap section AA from Fig. 1.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, the illustrated embodiment of the floor assembly of the present invention is adapted to be fixed to four columns 4a-4d for supporting a horizontal floor 6 which may be particle board sheets, or the like. In plan view the floor assembly is a substantially rectangular and has a pair of composite beams 1 a, 1b on opposing edges that span between the columns 4a, 4b and 4c, 4d respectively. 15 Extending between the beams 1a and 1c are a plurality of joists 5 connected by bracing members 7.

A rectangular frame 2 includes the frame-edge channels 9, joists 5 and members 7 and is preferably formed as a single sub-assembly, either on-site or in a workshop. ■^r^\Or)s The composite beams 1a, 1b are formed from an upright plate 12 inserted between each frame-edge channel 9 and respective reinforcin^channels 8. The webs 11 of ( the channels 8, 9 abut opposing sides of the plate 12 to'form a Composite section joined by fasteners 13. As shown in Fig. 2, the composite section has an l-shape generally symmetrical about an upright central axis thereof (not shown).

The plates 10 are firstly fixed (e.g. using fasteners - not shown) in situ to the columns 7 4a-4d. The frame 2 can then be positioned and fixed to the plates 10 by the fasteners 13, at the same time as securing the reinforcing channels 8. Optionally, both the plates 10 and reinforcing channels 8 may be fixed to the columns 4a-4b in situ, before fixing the frame 2. Additional floor assemblies may readily be added to 5 produce multi-level buildings.

As best seen in Fig. 2, the floor 6 and fire rated linings 14 (both shown in dashed outline) are mounted directly onto the frame 2. The joists 5 (and optionally also the members 7) have the same depth as the channels 8, 9 and are slightly deeper than the plates 10. The upper and lower faces 20-25 of the channels 8, 9 and joist 5 (and 10 optionally also the members 7) are coplanar with upper and lower support planes 15 and 16 respectively. The parallel upper and lower support planes 15 and 16 extend between the outer edges of the opposing reinforcing channels 8. The upper and lower support planes 15 and 16 allow the sheet material linings 14 and floor 6 to be laid flat and without interruption by any feature projecting above the planes 15, 16 15 e.g. by the plates 10. The channels 8 and 9, joists 5 and members 7 may all conveniently be formed from roll-formed steel channel of the same cross-section.

Aspects of the present invention have been described by way of example only and it should be appreciated that modifications and additions may be made thereto without departing from the scope thereof.

Intellectual Property Office of N.Z. 17 AUG 2004 RECEIVED

Claims (8)

8 WHAT WE CLAIMS IS:

1. A method of assembling a floor for a building including: assembling a frame having a plurality of joists extending from at least one frame-edge channel fixed at a first edge of the frame to an opposing edge of the frame, each frame-edge channel having a substantially upright web; fastening the frame-edge channel between a pair of columns to support the first edge of the frame, and supporting the opposing edge of the frame, whereby each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and wherein the composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces for receiving the flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

2. A method of assembling a floor for a building including: assembling a substantially rectangular frame having a plurality of joists extending between a pair of frame-edge channels are provided on opposing edges of the frame, each frame-edge channel having a substantially upright web; fastening each frame-edge channel between a pair of columns to support the 9 opposing edges of the frame, whereby each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and wherein each composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces extending between the edges of the composite beams for receiving the flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 including the further step of inserting an „ upright plate between the webs of the frame-edge and reinforcing channels and fastening the channels to the plate to form each composite beam.

4. The method of claim 3 including the further step of fastening the ends of each plate to first and second columns of each pair of columns before fastening each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel to the plate.

5. A floor for a building including: a substantially rectangular frame having a plurality of joists extending from at least one frame-edge channel fixed at a first edge of the frame to an opposing edge of the frame, each frame-edge channel having a substantially upright web; 10 the frame-edge channel is fastened between a pair of columns to support the first edge of the frame, and the second edge of the frame is supported, and wherein each frame-edge channel member is fixed to a respective reinforcing channel to form a composite beam spanning between the pair of columns, and the composite beam has an l-shaped cross-section in which the webs of each frame-edge channel and reinforcing channel are substantially parallel, and each composite beam and joist has the same depth and provides substantially parallel upper and lower faces beams for receiving the flooring and ceiling linings respectively.

6. The floor of claim 5 wherein each composite beam further includes an upright plate inserted between the webs of the frame-edge and reinforcing channels.

7. A method of assembling a floor for a building substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. A floor substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. KIWIMARK INTERNATIONAL LIMITED by their Attorneys JAMES & WELLS 11, MAY 2Wt