The invention relates to a brick-laying device; in particular such a device for assisting in the brick-laying process.
Various problems are known with conventional brick-laying processes. In such processes a course of bricks is laid together with mortar and further courses laid on top until a wall, pillar or other brick-work is completed. The standard of the brick-work achieved is normally down to the skills of the individual brick layer, in particular in ensuring an even and consistent gap between each successive course of building bricks or blocks. The main problem in inexpertly laid brick-work is the inconsistency of the finished product. For example the mortar beds vary in thickness giving way to different heights of the brick-work from corner to corner as a result of which the wall may not be level. Bricks can be laid in different planes to one another as a result of the inherent softness of the mortar bed. In particular, any pressure that is applied to the brick forces it further into the mortar bed either directly when the brick is being laid or indirectly when pressure is being applied from an additional course above. Because all bricks cannot be laid with the same pressure these inconsistencies come to light over the finished wall. As a result, even for skilled bricklayers, achieving high quality brick-work is a time consuming task. There is currently a decline in the number of skilled bricklayers who can achieve a good standard of work which in turn gives rise to a problem with the future supply of brick layers as training facilities may not be available.
One known proposed solution to the problem is described in French patent application no. 2600359. According to the arrangements disclosed in this document, a brick laying aid includes a latticed structure having marginal elongate beads. The structure is laid atop a course of bricks with the beads lying along the edges and mortar is added. Once the mortar has dried the bead can be removed or left in place. In either case various problems arise with this arrangement. Because of the external beading the device needs to be positioned precisely onto the brickwork. Mortar is effectively placed within the device, between the beads, such that when the next course of bricks is laid there will be no excess mortar squeezed from between the bricks such that a satisfactory bond may not be obtained. The recess formed by removing the bead may be too deep and the beads may also prevent the effective shedding of water which can be essential for longterm performance. Furthermore the device requires significant amounts of material and, because of the elongated cylindrical beads, can give rise to production and storage problems.
Another proposed solution is described in International patent application number WO 02/090688 commonly assigned herewith and incorporated herein by reference. This document describes a spacer that is laid along a course of brick-work and of smaller width than the brick-work such that it is fully enveloped in mortar during the brick-laying process. The spacer comprises a lattice or mat on which a plurality of spacer elements are joined together by a support structure comprising elongate ribs. The spacer elements are provided at intervals in the elongate direction and the arrangement provides an improved bond because the entire spacer in enveloped in mortar. However, the bond between the bonding material and the building block is not ideal as the bonding material can ‘bottom out’ when the next course of building blocks is placed on top of the spacer and bonding material, the bonding material being squeezed out where the lattice meets the building block. This results in an incomplete bond between building blocks and bonding material at the location of the spacer elements. The ribs joining the spacer elements can also prevent a complete bond between bonding material and lattice mat. Furthermore, although the spacer is designed to be completely enveloped in bonding material, it may protrude from the bonding material if not correctly located on the building block.
Various areas are available for further improvement of the known arrangements. It is desirable to increase yet further the structural stability of known spacer mats and also to reduce the mass of material, such as plastic, at the end of each course of brick-work. It is also desirable to reduce the amount of material in the spacers. It is yet further desirable to provide a spacer capable of compact storage. Although the systems described above provide significant improved bonding between the spacer and the mortar, it is desirable to improve the bonding yet further. Furthermore it is desirable to improve the stability of building elements attached to the end of a course of bricks and to reduce the mass of spacer material at the end of courses whilst retaining the possibility of attaching building elements.
The invention is out set out in the claims.
Various advantages are attached to the aspects of the invention set out in the claims. For example because spacer elements are provided in a non-parallel configuration, the structural strength of the spacer mat is enhanced. In particular “parallelogram” collapse of the spacer mat is avoided. Furthermore, this configuration reduces the amount of spacer mat material at the end of a course of bricks. Because of the provision of cut-out portions in the spacer elements the amount of material is reduced and spacer mats can be stacked more compactly. Because the support elements are significantly inset relative to the edges of the spacer mat yet further improved bonding of mortar or other bonding material around the support elements is achieved. The provision of first and second parallel end spacer elements once again reduces the amount of spacer mat material at the end of the course of bricks.
In other embodiments, the spacer elements of the present invention are enveloped in bonding material in both dimensions and tapered top and bottom to allow maximum contact between the bonding material, such as mortar, and the brick. This allows an improved bond to be obtained.
Because a continuous spacer element is located at the end of the spacer this enables the fixing of door and window jambs by means of screws without the need for rawl plugs or fixing anchors. Because the end spacer element is thickened with respect to the other spacer elements this improves strength and support for screw fixings.
The provision of retaining clips assist in the correct location of the spacer in relation to the brick on which it is placed. This ensures that the spacer will not protrude from the mortar, or bonding material.
The provision of the support strips in the middle of the spacer elements enabling the supports to be encased in the bonding material, to improve the strength of the bond between brick and mortar, top and bottom.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the drawings of which:
a is a perspective view of the spacer mat according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
b is a perspective view of a length of spacer mat;
Referring to
The support strips 16 and spacer elements 18 are preferably formed integrally of plastic material such as a polymer material, polypropylene, PVC, HDPE or nylon. The support strips 16 are preferably circular in cross-section with 3 mm diameter and the spacer mat can be formed in any appropriate manner as will be apparent to the skilled person for example injection moulding, extrusion or a spinning dye, preferably by pressure injection method. The spacer mat can be cut to an appropriate length or shape to deal with corners and angles and the spacer elements 18 preferably extend upwardly and downwardly slightly less than the desired spacing between courses of bricks to take into the account the mortar film that tends to form on the top of the spacer elements 18.
It will be appreciated that the invention can be utilised other than in straight courses of brick-work. For example a pillar arrangement comprises effectively a hollow square formed of bricks in a one and a half brick arrangement. In this case the spacer is cut into lengths and laid atop the course of bricks after which the next course is laid in the manner described above. Generally the spacer mat can fit any angle or curve.
The spacer mat 14 can be provided in lengths or rolls dependent on the material or can be provided as individual elements for example spacers to fit single brick as shown in
In the embodiment shown in
Significantly it will be seen that the support strips 16 extending in the elongate direction are joined by support strips 22 perpendicular to them in the form of cross-bars, providing a generally rectangular grid. The spacer element 18 are located at each vertex of the support elements 16 and 22. The spacer elements 18 extend generally at 45° to the support elements and adjacent spacer elements are orientated perpendicular to one another such that the orientation of the spacer elements alternates in the elongate direction (i.e. in the direction of the course of bricks) as well as the width direction (i.e. transverse to the elongate direction in the plane of the course of bricks). The support elements 16, 22 pass generally through the centre of the spacer elements 18 such that the spacer elements project symmetrically upwardly and downwardly as well as inwardly to and outwardly of the spacer mat. The spacer elements are generally H-shaped, elongate in the plane of the course of bricks and the direction of orientation and with central cut-outs 24 top and bottom. The spacer elements 18 taper from their vertical centres top and bottom.
As a result of the configuration various advantages are realised. By disposing the spacer elements non-parallel to the lateral support elements the amount of material at the end of the course of bricks is reduced. By disposing the spacer elements non-parallel to each other the risk of collapse is reduced in particular in relation to the possibility of a shear deformation of the spacer mat. Tapering of the spacer elements reduces the possibility of “bottoming out” i.e. mortar being pressed out between a top and bottom of the spacer element and the adjacent brick. Provision of the cut-outs reduces the amount of material without affecting the structural strength. In practice as much as 25% less material can be used because of the cut-outs.
The spacer elements are located at regular intervals in both dimensions, providing a number of spacers, in this embodiment eight, underneath each brick ensuring that the brick is level and plumb. The spacer elements intermediate the ends are non-continuous across the width or lateral dimension of the space mat and 20 mm in length with approximately 52 mm separation between inner tips, being joined in the lateral direction by the further support strips 22 defining a centre to centre spacing of the spacer element of 66 mm. In cross section the spacer elements comprise a thickened centre portion of approximately 4 mm width tapering to a point top and bottom. The spacer elements have a height of 9 mm leaving 1 mm mortar top and bottom when embedded.
Because the support strips 16 and 22 are provided intermediate the top and bottom of each spacer element 18 this allows the support strips to be encased more effectively in bonding material. Furthermore because the spacer elements 18 are provided laterally symmetrically about the support elements 16, the support elements 16 are inset significantly from the edge of the spacer mat and from the course of bricks providing improved bonding with and enveloping in mortar.
Referring to
Referring now to
In a further embodiment of the invention 1 as shown in
In an alternative embodiment the support strip or element 16 can be provided close to the edge of the course of brick-work by appropriate dimensioning of the spacer mat 14 and by reducing the inset of the support element 18 relative to the spacer element 18.
Referring to
It will be appreciated that the spacer element can be placed at any appropriate orientation, for example in the range of 10° to 80° more preferably 30° to 60° unless preferably 45°. Of course this range also includes mirror inversions of the angles. In addition although the spacer elements are shown as having alternating orientations, any orientation pattern can be adopted for example two adjacent spacer elements orientated in the first direction, next to in non-parallel direction as so forth or any other appropriate pattern. Furthermore, curved spacer elements can be provided.
In a further embodiment shown in
Referring to
However it will be seen that an end spacer element 15 in the length dimension of each spacer mat is provided which is continuous and preferably thickened in relation to the other spacer elements. The support strips 16 form the elongate edges of the spacer, and the continuous end spacer elements 15 form the shorter edge of the spacer, perpendicular to the support strips. In cross section the spacer elements 518 have a height of 9 mm and comprise a thickened centre portion of approximately 4 mm width tapering to a point top and bottom. Because the spacer elements are tapered in the vertical direction when downward pressure is applied maximum contact is allowed between the mortar and the brick, providing an improved bond.
Referring to
In a further embodiment of the invention as shown in
It will be appreciated that the invention can be utilised other than in straight courses of brickwork. For example a pillar arrangement comprises effectively a hollow square formed of bricks in a one and a half brick arrangement. In this case the spacer is cut into lengths and laid atop the course of bricks after which the next course is laid in the manner described above.
As a result an improved building structure is provided. The spacers are provided internally of the brickwork course allowing a firm bedding to be obtained without blocking excess mortar from escaping. The spacer elements are tapered to increase the amount of mortar in contact with the bricks to either side of the spacer mat, and to prevent the risk of ‘bottoming out’. The end spacer element is continuous and thickened to allow attachment of window/door jambs. The support strips are located in the middle of the spacer elements, to ensure that they are encased in bonding material, to increase the bond between brick and mortar and provide a more stable structure.
It will be perceived that the invention gives numerous advantages in addition to those specified above. This spacer is robust, chemically and temperature inert, stable and long-lived and chemically strong. It is simply and intuitively used and gives rise to a stable strong structure without effecting the appearance of the structure.
The spacer elements themselves can be of any appropriate form and dimension and can be formed integrally with the support structures or bonded or adhered to them. The distribution of spacer elements can be varied as required to take into account building block dimensions, right angles or angled joints. The support strips themselves can also be formed of any appropriate material not limited to plastic material and including, for example, ceramics, cement or metal materials. The spacer elements can be formed in lengths or in other shapes and/or of other materials to meet specific brick-work requirements or for use with other types of building blocks such as breeze-blocks as appropriate.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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0312949.1 | Jun 2003 | GB | national |
0401952.7 | Jan 2004 | GB | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/GB04/02300 | 6/1/2004 | WO | 12/18/2006 |