Patent Application
20180320384
The present invention relates to a cladding system and particularly, though not exclusively, to an architectural cladding kit for attachment of masonry slips to walls, ceilings, openings, reveals, soffits or other overhanging, inclined or vertical surfaces.
Modern architectural practices involve providing the appearance of solid thick-wall brickwork which, for reasons of cost, are actually constructed from thin-wall, single leaf brickwork. It is also known to achieve the appearance of solid thick-wall brickwork by adhering cut and profiled brick slips (also known as veneer bricks) onto concrete slabs which are in turn attached to an underlying structural frame of a building. A related architectural trend involves exposing brickwork on ceilings, openings and hanging soffits. This effect can also be achieved by adhering cut and profiled brick slips onto, for example, ceiling-mounted concrete slabs.
Concrete slab substrates can be large and therefore very heavy thus adding considerable additional loads to a building structure. Moreover, the requirement to manoeuvre such large, heavy and often fragile, and hence easily damaged decorative features from ground level and through scaffolding to an external building surface presents practical difficulties for the brickwork or cladding contractor. Furthermore, for safety and insurance reasons, there is reluctance on the part of some contractors, and warranty and insurance providers such as the United Kingdom's NHBC, to rely solely on adhesives to secure heavy ceiling-mounted or wall-mounted masonry products and the masonry slips or components embedded within their structure.
A need has therefore been identified for a fail-safe means for securing architectural cladding to walls, ceilings, reveals openings, soffits and other over-hanging surfaces, and which overcomes or at least ameliorates one or more of the aforementioned problems.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an architectural masonry cladding kit comprising a panel substrate; at least one joint bracket having a base and two free ends; a plurality of resiliently expandable fasteners for fastening the at least one joint bracket to the panel substrate; and at least two substantially rectangular masonry slips of a material selected from the group comprising clay bricks, natural or cast stone, ceramic tiles, and concrete tiles; each slip including:
It will be appreciated that the free ends of a series of joint brackets provide a fail-safe means of supporting the masonry slips in the event that a conventional adhesive bond between the inner face of the slip and an underlying substrate should fail.
Optionally, each slot extends width-wise into the slip along a notional axis extending parallel to both the inner and outer masonry slip faces.
Whilst this slot arrangement has been found to be optimal, it will be appreciated that the slot could instead be inclined towards the inner face and/or have a non-rectangular cross-sectional profile.
Optionally, each slot extends lengthwise in a straight line along the full length of each edge face.
Such an arrangement allows the use of elongate joint brackets which support the slips along their entire length; or a number of aligned shorter joint brackets which provide support to the slips at discrete spaced apart intervals along their length.
By reducing the width of the inner face and rear portion, additional space is available to accommodate adhesive or mortar between the edge faces of each slip and its associated joint bracket thus enhancing the bond between the two.
Optionally, the depth of the front portion is greater than the depth of the rear portion.
Suitable intermediate panel substrates may include one or more of cement particle board, plastics, woods including water and boil-proofed ply-woods, hardwoods, timber or Metsec® studwork, sheet steel, composite sheet materials including nylons, glass-reinforced plastics, etc. However, it will be appreciated that direct fixing of masonry slips to precast concrete or block work structural walls may also be appropriate in certain renovation scenarios.
Optionally, the joint bracket is substantially U-shaped and provided with oppositely directed flange extensions at its respective free ends, each for engagement within a said slot.
As such, the joint bracket assumes a square omega shaped (Ω) sectional profile which advantageously matches the general outline of the “top-hat” profile defined by the opposing slots (i.e. the brim of the hat), the opposing rear portions of each edge face (i.e. the walls of the hat), and the surface of the substrate to which the joint bracket and masonry slips are attached (i.e. the upper surface of the hat). This profile also minimises the volume occupied by the joint bracket within the space between adjacent masonry slips, and hence maximises the available pointing depth. In particular, mortar can be inserted into substantially the full depth of the volume between adjacent masonry slips which affords certain structural advantages discussed in more detail below.
Optionally, the cladding kit further comprises a C-shaped end bracket having a first flange extension at one of its respective free ends for engagement within a said slot; and a second flange extension at the other of its respective free ends for engagement with the building structure and/or an intermediate panel substrate.
The C-shaped end brackets are used to support slips located at the outermost edge of a clad area.
Optionally, the depth of each slot within each edge face is greater than the length of each flange extension on the joint bracket.
By providing an oversized slot and a reduced width rear portion this permits some lateral movement or play to facilitate adjustment, insertion and removal of slips from the flange extensions.
Optionally, one or more surfaces of the joint bracket are roughened or textured.
Additionally or alternatively, one or more apertures are formed through the said one or more surfaces of the joint bracket.
By providing roughened, textured or perforated surface features on the joint bracket this provides a mortar key to reduce the risk of masonry detaching and falling out of the gap between adjacent slips.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of preparing architectural masonry slips for subsequent attachment to an inverted surface, including the steps of:
Optionally, the method includes the steps of adhering further courses of slips to the substrate alongside each preceding course and engaging slots along the opposing edge faces of adjacent courses within the flange extensions of an interposed joint bracket.
It will be appreciated that multiple courses of slips can be adhered as required to fill a panel substrate.
Optionally, the method includes the further step of engaging the aligned slots in each edge face of the first single aligned course of slips with a free end of a C-shaped end-bracket.
Optionally, the method includes the further step of attaching the C-shaped end-bracket to a perimeter edge of the panel substrate.
It will be appreciated that steps of engaging the aligned slots with a free end of a C-shaped end-bracket, and attaching said bracket to a perimeter edge of the panel substrate may be performed either before step (v) above or after step (vi) above.
Optionally, the method includes the further step of mechanically fastening the joint brackets to the panel substrate.
Optionally, the joint brackets are fastened to the panel substrate by means of a resiliently expandable fastener.
Advantageously, no part of the U-shaped joint bracket extends behind the inner face of a masonry slip. By locating the U-shaped joint brackets such that they are entirely confined within the space between opposing edge surfaces of adjacent masonry slips, this affords several advantages which will become evident below.
Further features and advantages of the first, second aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the claims and the following description.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following diagrams, in which:—
Each joint bracket 12 is connected to the substrate 10 by a suitable fixing means. In one embodiment (e.g. as shown in
In an alternative embodiment (see
It will be appreciated that this structural relationship, together with the inherent resilience of the plastics material, allows the two shaft members 116, 118 and their bulbous ends 122, 124 to be squeeze through the aforementioned aperture. Once the bulbous ends 122, 124 pass through the aperture they resiliently expand. In doing so, their combined diameter in the at least one plane mentioned above is greater than the diameters of the apertures within the substrate 10 and the base 12a of the joint bracket 12 (i.e. as shown on the right in
The head 120 of the expandable fastener 114 is configured to receive a driving instrument to assist in inserting it through the aforementioned apertures. When fully inserted, the head 120 may be countersunk within a correspondingly shaped recess formed in the surface of the substrate 10.
As shown in
Overall length: 22 mm
Length of head 120: 5 mm
Length of bulbous end 122, 124: 8 mm
Length of shaft members 116, 118 (minus bulbous end): 9 mm
Maximum width of head 120: 10 mm
Maximum combined width of shaft members 116, 118: 4.8 mm
Minimum combined width of bulbous end 122, 124: 4.8 mm
Maximum (expanded) width of bulbous end 122, 124: >10 mm
Other conventional metallic fasteners such as self-tapping Tek® screws, rivets, woodscrews, cartridge nails, and nuts/bolts etc. may also be used to secure the joint bracket 12 to the substrate 10. However, since the joint bracket 12 will usually be formed from stainless steel, galvanic or bimetallic corrosion can occur over time and compromise the strength and reliability of the connection between the fastener and the joint bracket 12. In a worst case scenario, the connection may fail. To avoid this potentially dangerous scenario, a tubular insulation collar 150 is positioned within the U-shaped space bounded by the base 12a and side walls 12b, 12c of the joint bracket 12. As shown in
A series of cladding masonry slips 16 (shown in more detail in
Each masonry slip 16 comprises an inner face 18, an outer face 20; and two oppositely directed edge faces 22, 24 each having a length dimension (i.e. perpendicular to the plane of the paper) and a depth dimension (i.e. between the inner and outer faces 18, 20). A slot 30 is formed in each edge face 22, 24. Each slot 30 has a breadth along a notional width-wise axis which extends perpendicularly with respect to both edge faces 22, 24; and has a length which extends in a straight line along the full lengthwise extent of each edge face 22, 24.
Each slot 30 divides its edge face 22, 24 into front and rear portions 22f, 22r and 24f, 24r. The front portions 22f, 24f are bounded by the edge of the outer face 20 and the slot 30; and the rear portions 22r, 24r are bounded by the edge of the inner face 18 and the slot 30. As can be seen by comparing
As shown in
As shown in
The process for manufacturing and installing architectural cladding according to the present invention is as follows. Firstly, masonry slips 16 are manufactured in a workshop at, or off-site from, the construction site. Here, an experienced brick-cutting operator would cut suitably dimensioned masonry slips 16 using a masonry saw with appropriate dust extraction or water based dust suppression in place. When cut to a correct thickness the slips 16 are passed through a purpose made spindle slot cutting process to form the elongate slots 30 along their end faces 22, 24. The prepared slips 16 are then dried and blown clean with compressed air to remove all dust and loose granular material.
A suitable panel of substrate material 10 is cut to the required dimensions and laid on a bench or surface in readiness for fabrication. The surface of the panel substrate 10 is abraided with grit paper and is also blown clean with compressed air. The panel surface is then coated with well mixed fresh two part epoxy adhesive (British Board of Agrément (BBA) approved or UKAS approved), and combed to a thin layer ready for laying slips 16 thereon. The inner surface 18 of each slip 16 is coated with the same adhesive and the thin layer wiped off to leave a smear of adhesive over its whole inner surface 18. The prepared slip is then pressed into the thin layer of adhesive on the panel substrate 10 and this is repeated until a single course length is complete.
The above process is started at a peripheral edge of the substrate panel 10 and a flange 40b of a C-shaped end cap/bracket 40 is then fitted into the aligned slots 30 along the edge face 24 of the first course of slips 16. Individual slips 16 may be adjusted in position before the adhesive cures to provide an even joint width and a straight alignment as required by the design. The straight steel length of the C-shaped end cap/bracket 40 assists in this process. A first flange extension 12d of the elongate omega shaped joint bracket 12 is inserted into the slots 30 running along the opposite edge face 22 of the first course of slips 16 with any necessary positional adjustments being made.
A second course of slips is then pushed into position with individual slots 30 in each slip being engaged with the opposing flange extension 12e. The straight edges of the omega shaped joint bracket 12 therefore ensures that the second course of slips extends parallel to the first course. The process steps of coating the panel substrate 10 with adhesive; sliding joint brackets 12 into slots 30 in the previous course; and pressing adhesive-smeared slips 16 into position is repeated until the panel substrate 10 is completely covered (see
Each joint bracket 12 may be secured to the substrate panel 10 along its length (for example, by a series of fasteners of the type described above) after one course of slips is positioned, and before the next course is positioned alongside. Alternatively, the process of securing all joint brackets 12 to the substrate panel 10 may be performed after all masonry slips 16 are correctly positioned, either before or after the adhesive has cured.
Where two panel substrates 10 are to be joined (see
Once the adhesive is fully cured, individual panel substrates 10 may have other holes drilled and other fixings and/or sub-frames attached in readiness for their direct or indirect mechanical attachment to a building structure by a cladding contractor. A series of panel substrates 10 may be seamlessly connected together as indicated in
The fixing of clad sections must meet engineers' requirements for the support of load and structural strength, e.g. using test data (provided by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) or other accredited laboratories prescribed for such activities). The mechanical fixing methods and arrangements used to secure the substrate panels 10 to the building structure—e.g. by hex bolts 14—are prescribed and recommended by organisations such as the NHBC and other warranty bodies. A scissor jack may be the most appropriate device to assist installation on site. Substrate panels 10 can be bolted together in situ to create a solid independent hanging surface with soft joints allowing movement around the perimeter margins to prevent stress cracking or fractures.
Although particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein in detail, this has been done by way of example and for the purposes of illustration only. The aforementioned embodiments are not intended to be limiting with respect to the scope of the appended claims. It is contemplated by the inventor that various substitutions, alterations, and modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. In particular, the precise dimensions of the various surfaces in each of the joint bracket, end bracket and masonry slips can each be adjusted to suit particular requirements. Also, the order of performing each of the individual method steps of the second embodiment can be varied.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1519456.6 | Nov 2015 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/GB2016/053315 | 10/25/2016 | WO | 00 |
