LIGHTWEIGHT SUSPENDED FLOORING SYSTEM TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a lightweight suspended flooring system and, in particular, to a lightweight suspended flooring system utilising expanded polystyrene as a void 5 former.
BACKGROUND
Concrete floors of the type which utilise lattice girder planks are known. They are
10 typically used in multifloor buildings, where they can- be used in all floors suspended above ground level. One such lattice girder plank flooring system is that of the Pittini Group of Italy. One type of known Pittini lattice girder and known Pittini lattice girder plank having a concrete sole are respectively shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The lattice girder planks in combination with lightweight hollow concrete or clay blocks are used to
15. enable the construction of a lightweight floor, with T-shaped load resisting elements. The use of such lattice girder planks in a lightweight floor provide structural performance similar to that of a traditional floor entirely cast in place. Lattice girder planks having a concrete sole, constitute by themselves a structure having good flexural rigidity even before the pouring of the in situ concrete. With the use of lattice
20 girder planks the main bottom reinforcement of the floor is accurately positioned and any additional reinforcement required in the floor can be positioned with greater precision than in floors completely cast in situ. The use of diagonal stirrups (wires) in the lattice girder creates an efficient continuous connection which offers advantages with regards to sheer stresses. The presence of double stirrups provides an efficient
25 connection between the prefabricated elements and the in situ concrete, whilst absorbing sheer stresses.
Owing to their low weight and their easy handling, lattice girder planks can be efficiently used when constructing suspended floors in multifloor building sites.
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A disadvantage of the Pittini lattice girder plank flooring system, is that the lightweight concrete and clay blocks which are used as void formers are of a fixed width and fixed depth and do not provide the flexibility required to construct floors requiring different
beam spacings and different beam depths. As such the beam spacings are based on multiples of the fixed width and depth of the void formers.
A further disadvantage is that if any problems are associated onsite with respect to the positioning of the lattice girder planks, then it is difficult to modify the shape of the concrete or clay blocks to overcome the positioning problems.
Another disadvantage with the use of clay and concrete blocks is that they sometimes do not engage and sit correctly with the longitudinal side edges of the concrete sole of the lattice girder planks. This may occur due to imprecise moulding of the blocks and/or the concrete soles of the girder planks.
A further disadvantage of using the prior art hollow clay or concrete blocks is that they are approximately 200 to 300 millimetres in length and have to be laid individually. In order to achieve a void former length of about 2.5 metres it takes eight to ten of such clay or concrete blocks to achieve this length.
A further disadvantage is that the prior art hollow clay or hollow concrete blocks do not provide sufficient sound insulation due to their hollow nature.
In some floor construction it is also preferable and sometimes specified to provide conduit embedded within the concrete slab for the provision of electrical services. Where clay or hollow concrete blocks are used as void formers, they are not easily pierced to allow placement of conduit for the purposes of electrical services, nor do they facilitate the placement of drainage pipes.
The present invention seeks to provide a method of constructing a floor that ameliorates the known method of constructing a lightweight suspended floor. The present invention also seeks to provide for the construction of a lightweight suspended floor which is lighter than that of the known prior art floors.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
According to a first aspect the present invention consists in a method of constructing a lightweight suspended floor comprising the following steps: (a) positioning a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed lattice girder planks supported by temporary support means;
(b) positioning a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed void formers between and supported by said spaced apart lattice girder planks;
(c) positioning and securing one or more reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements above said lattice girder planks and said void formers; and
(d) pouring a layer of concrete over said lattice girder planks, said void formers and said one or more reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements, characterised in that at least one of said void formers is of expanded polystyrene.
Preferably said void formers are trimmed or shaped with a hand-held cutting implement during and/or after step (c).
In a first embodiment said void formers are pierced to form holes or passages to allow positioning of electrical conduits or to facilitate the location of drainage pipes prior to step (d).
In a second embodiment said void formers have been pre-pierced with holes or passages to allow positioning of electrical conduits or to facilitate the location of drainage pipes.
According to a second aspect the present invention is a lightweight suspended floor comprising a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed lattice girder planks and a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed void formers between and supported by said spaced apart lattice girder planks and a top layer of concrete above said lattice girder planks and said void formers, and one or more reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements embedded in said concrete, characterised in that said void formers are made of polystyrene.
Preferably said polystyrene void formers act as a sound insulator.
According to a third aspect the present invention consists in a lightweight suspended floor comprising a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed lattice girder planks and a plurality of spaced apart horizontally disposed sound insulating elements between and supported by said spaced apart lattice girder planks and a top layer of concrete above said lattice girder planks and said sound insulating elements, and one or more reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements embedded in said concrete, and wherein said sound insulating elements are made of polystyrene.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art lattice girder plank.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a prior art lattice girder which is a component of the lattice girder plank shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of lightweight floor constructed using the lattice girder planks of the prior art type shown in Figure 1 and clay block void formers.
Fig. 4 is a schematic of the T-beam load resisting elements in a floor of type shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of a lightweight floor constructed using the lattice girder planks of the prior art type shown in Figure 1 and concrete block void formers.
Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a lightweight floor constructed using the lattice girder planks and expanded polystyrene void formers in accordance with the present invention.
MODE OF CARRYING OUT INVENTION
Fig. 1 depicts a known Pittini lattice girder plank 1 , which is typically used to construct lightweight floors in combination with hollow clay or concrete block void formers. Lattice girder plank 1 , which is in effect a structural beam, comprises a lattice girder 2, as shown in Fig. 2, embedded within a reinforced concrete sole 3.
When a lightweight floor is constructed utilising a plurality of lattice girder planks 1 , it is necessary to provide a plurality of temporary elongate props (not shown). A plurality of lattice girder planks 1 are then laid end to end in a plurality of rows at substantially right angles to the temporary elongate props. It is then possible to position void formers in the spaces between the adjacent rows of lattice girder planks 1.
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a lightweight floor constructed utilising lattice girder planks 1 in combination with hollow clay block void formers 8a. A plurality of void formers 8a are laid end to end in rows parallel to lattice girder planks 1. At the two lower edges of clay block void former 8a, there are two rectangular cut outs to allow for void former 8a to sit neatly between two adjacent rows 7 of lattice girder planks 1 with edge portions 5 of void former 8a overhanging the edges of concrete soles 3 of lattice girder planks 1. Each of the void formers 8a is supported by two adjacent lattice girder planks 1. During construction, one or more reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements 10 are positioned and secured above void formers 8a and lattice girder planks 1. Concrete 11 is then poured over void formers 8a, lattice girder planks 1 and reinforcing and/or shrinkage control elements 10 to form the lightweight floor. The formation of such a lightweight concrete floor incorporates the forming of a T-beam as shown schematically in Fig. 4.
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a similar prior art lightweight floor to that of Fig. 4, however in this embodiment hollow concrete block void formers 8b are used, rather than hollow clay block void formers 8a as shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of a lightweight floor constructed in accordance with the present invention. In a similar manner to those prior art embodiments of Figs. 3 - 5, rows 7 of lattice girder planks 1 are positioned in a spaced apart configuration. However, in this embodiment the void formers 8c used are of expanded polystyrene.
As void formers 8c are of expanded polystyrene, they may be manufactured in longer lengths than the conventional clay or concrete block void formers, as the expanded polystyrene is more easily handled and transported. In this embodiment void former 8c is preferably provided in lengths of about 2.5m. The use of polystyrene also allows for on-site modifications to be made to void formers 8c, particularly if they do not sit neatly between and on the concrete soles 3 of lattice girder planks 1. If the concrete soles 3 of lattice girder planks 1 have been imprecisely moulded, or the polystyrene void former 8c is excessive in width, the edge portion 5 or other portions of void former 8c may be trimmed by utilising a knife or other hand-held cutting implement, to ensure the correct placement of void former 8c between and upon lattice girder planks 1.
An advantage of polystyrene is that it can easily be formed or cut to suit various widths and depths of void formers 8c, in order to suit the design of the floor being constructed.
The use of polystyrene as the void former material allows for void formers 8c to be pierced where necessary to position electrical conduits therein or facilitate the location of drainage pipes prior to the pouring of concrete 11. It is also possible to pre-cut passages or holes in the polystyrene foam before it is delivered on site, for the purposes of positioning electrical and drainage services.
It should be understood that an advantage of this embodiment is that the total weight of the polystyrene in the finished floor will be much lighter than the weight of conventional clay or concrete void formers. This means that the dead floor load is a lot lighter when polystyrene void formers 8c are used.
A further advantage is that the polystyrene acts as an efficient sound insulation material, as it remains a component of the finished floor. Also as the void former 8c is only pierced and passages placed where necessary its sound insulating properties are not comprised.
Whilst the void former 8c as shown in Fig. 6 is of solid material, it should be understood that in another not shown embodiment the void former may be a moulded component of polystyrene material.
It will be recognised by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and modifications made be made to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.