1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to insulated concrete form (“ICF”) wall bracing, and more particularly, to a system and method for bracing an insulated concrete wall form to a support/bracing structure to align and support the ICF wall during construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional building construction utilizes concrete walls that are normally produced by constructing form walls, pouring concrete into the space between the walls and, upon setting of the concrete, removing the form walls. A conventional concrete form wall is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,289 to Strickland. The form wall includes a pair of spaced opposed panels made from plywood and defining therebetween a space into which fluid concrete is poured in forming the wall. Horizontally spaced vertical stiffeners or strongbacks are provided outwardly of each plywood panel to provide major strengthening for the panel support structure. Elongate beams or walers are also provided to extend horizontally along the outer side of each panel. An outwardly opening pocket formed as part of the waler retains a wooden nailer to which the plywood form panel can be nailed, screwed or otherwise fastened to the waler.
Another system for temporarily attaching a reinforcing beam to a poured concrete structural member is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,838 to Truitt et al. An insert is adapted to be set in the poured concrete member. The insert has a body that creates a void in the concrete structural member and leg members that are partially set in the poured concrete with portions thereof extending through the body of the insert so as to be free of concrete. A special bolt engages with the leg members and provides a means for securing a reinforcement beam to the concrete structural member.
More recent building systems involve the use of insulated concrete forms (ICFs), which use a foam insulating material to construct permanent concrete form walls. The form walls are typically constructed by placing separate building components (also known as form blocks) upon each other. The concrete is then poured and the form walls are left in place after the concrete hardens to become a permanent part of the wall. Advantages provided by the use of ICFs include a reduction in the number of operations normally associated with building construction and generally the elimination of a need to provide further insulation. An example of particularly advantageous types of ICFs appears in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,390,459; 5,657,600; and 5,809,727 to Mensen (Mensen), the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. In general, the ICFs taught by Mensen are made from a building component or block that includes first and second foam side panels. The side panels are preferably made of expanded polystyrene and are arranged in spaced parallel relationship with their inner surfaces facing each other. Plastic bridging members hold the side panels together against the forces applied by the fluid concrete. Each bridging member includes end plates, which may be arranged to line up when the components are stacked to form furring strips for attachment of finishing materials.
With the advent of the use of stay-in-place forms or permanent concrete form work, such as ICFs, there is a need in the building construction art for an efficient, cost-effective and reliable system and method to support the building components that make up the ICFs against construction loads, and to align the walls during construction. The insulated side panels of an ICF do not provide a strong surface to which reinforcing beams can be easily attached, as with plywood side panels. Commercial, institutional and industrial buildings often require walls higher than 8 to 12 feet (hereinafter referred to as “tall walls”) in order to incorporate machinery, warehousing and high wall assemblies. Wall forms used in pouring in place such high vertical walls must be supported against various construction loads including wind loads, alignment loads, scaffold loads, and loads created by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid concrete poured into the wall forms. Falsework is the construction industry term for structural supports and the necessary bracing required for the temporary support of loads during construction. Existing means for attaching strongbacks or reinforcing beams to wall forms do not lend themselves to attachment to insulated panels on ICFs as they do to conventional falsework.
Existing bracing systems used in ICF wall construction also do not adequately address the problems of supporting and controlling ICFs during construction, particularly in high wall applications of ICF (such as when the ICF is used to construct a wall of greater than 12 feet in height).
Accordingly, a bracing system such as shown in
Other bracing systems may be used in ICF wall construction such as the bracing system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,024 to Sculthorpe et al., which is commonly assigned with this application. The bracing system disclosed in this patent includes an anchoring member adapted to be set in pourable building material received in the wall form and supported by the bridging member extending between the ICF form walls. A flexible tensioning member may be wrapped around the anchoring bar to secure a bracing member to the ICF form. While the bracing system of Sculthorpe et al. is advantageous, the anchoring member typically is supported by the bridging members and generally spans the distance between two or more bridging members. Moreover, the location of the anchoring member then is limited by the location of the bridging members.
Hence, the foregoing discussion shows that there is a need for a temporary bracing system capable of supporting and aligning ICF walls during construction, particularly in tall wall applications, that can be more easily, reliably and efficiently used with a variety of falsework systems than heretofore possible.
The invention solves the problems and avoids the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a system and method for efficiently and effectively bracing an ICF to a variety of falsework systems and aligning the ICF. The system should provide adequate structure to transfer a portion or all of the construction loads on the ICF to the falsework. One of those loads, wind loads, increases with height above ground and varies depending upon factors such as geographic location, proximity to open areas and wind tunneling effect of adjacent structures. Conventional structural design generally requires that construction bracing of tall walls be kept in place until the top edges of the walls are supported laterally such as by a roof structure. The pouring of concrete into the wall forms also creates an alignment load that should be compensated for in order to maintain the poured wall in a vertical position. The hydrostatic pressure created by fluid concrete being poured into the wall form is carried by and retained by panels and connecting structure within the ICF. If the pouring of concrete into the wall form is not done in stages to allow the concrete to start to set before the height of fluid concrete becomes too great, hydrostatic pressure would become more significant as the height of the wall is increased or the rate of pouring is increased. An excessive rate of pouring of concrete could result in a “blow out” of the insulation panels on the ICF.
In a first aspect of the invention, these problems are solved by providing a system for temporarily bracing an insulated wall form having generally parallel spaced panels, at least one of which is formed from insulating material having outside and inside faces. A bracing member is disposed adjacent to the outside face of the insulating panel and adapted to support the insulated wall form. A tensioner has a first portion disposed against a portion of the inside face of the insulating panel and a second portion securing the bracing member and the insulating panel together to align and brace the wall form.
In a first embodiment, the first portion of the tensioner may be an anchoring member having a plate with a flat portion disposed against the inside face of the panel and a projection disposed to be set in pourable building material received in the wall form. The second portion of the tensioner may be a flexible member such as a wire or strap extending through one or more openings in the insulated wall form or through an interface between upper and lower blocks of the wall form and have ends that are attached around the bracing member.
In a second embodiment, the first portion of the tensioner may be a plate disposed against the inside face of the insulating panel and the second portion of the tensioner may be a flexible member having a portion disposed to be set in pourable building material received in the insulated wall form. The plate may have openings designed to engage and hold barbs formed on the ends of the flexible member to maintain tension on the flexible member when connected to the bracing member. Again, the flexible member may extend through one or more openings in the insulating panel or through an interface between upper and lower form blocks of the insulated wall form.
In third and fourth embodiments, the tensioner may be formed from a single flexible member, such as a metal wire or rod, that carries out the anchoring and tensioning functions of the invention. In the third embodiment, the first portion of the tensioner comprises a portion of the flexible member that extends generally horizontally across the inside face of the insulating panel, and the second portion of the tensioner comprises a portion of the flexible member that loops around the bracing member. The flexible member may have a third portion disposed to be set in pourable building material, e.g., concrete, received in the wall form. Again, the flexible member is positioned through holes or an interface between blocks in the wall form and manipulated into position maintaining the wall form and bracing member in snug engagement.
The fourth embodiment functions similarly to the first, but the first portion of the tensioner comprises a portion of the flexible member that extends generally vertically, instead of horizontally, across the inside face of the insulating panel. In addition, portions of the flexible member may be fixedly attached together, e.g., by welding, to help resist deformation during use.
The bracing member may be an open-top scaffolding frame or other scaffolding frame, and include an alignment member disposed diagonally or otherwise in the scaffolding frame for adjusting the vertical alignment of the insulated wall form. The alignment member may be spaced from the scaffolding frame to allow adjustment without interference from the wall form. The bracing member may be a scaffolding attachment member, which is adjustable in width to align the wall form substantially vertically and disposed between the insulated wall form and a scaffolding frame.
The bracing member may be a system scaffold having interconnection members configured to allow positioning of a leading edge of the system scaffold in close proximity to the outside face of the wall form. The interconnection members may be rosettes having perimeters that define a curved arc portion and a straight portion, where the straight portion is disposed adjacent to the outside face of the wall form.
In another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for temporarily bracing an insulated wall form, in which the following steps are performed. A bracing member is positioned adjacent to an outer face of an insulated wall form having generally parallel spaced panels, at least one of which is formed from insulating material. An interface member is positioned adjacent to an inner face of the insulated wall form opposite the bracing member. A tension member is disposed between the bracing member and the interface member, and a portion of the interface or tension member is positioned to be set in pourable building material received in the wall form. The tension member is tensioned to secure the interface member, wall form and bracing member together to align and brace the wall form.
The tensioning step may include the step of securing the ends of the tension member in a position maintaining the tension between the interface member and bracing member, such as securing the ends together or to the interface member.
The tension member may be positioned through at least one opening in the insulated wall form or in an interface between upper and lower insulated wall form blocks. The interface member and the tension member may be integrally formed as a single piece, which may be manipulated between the innerface of the wall form and the bracing member to carry out the tensioning step.
The method for temporarily bracing an insulated wall form of the invention may include the steps of aligning the wall form in a substantially vertical orientation, filling the wall form with a pourable building material, and allowing the pourable building material to substantially set. To build a tall wall in stages, further steps may include positioning a second wall form on top of the first wall form, positioning a second bracing member above and connecting it to the first bracing member, positioning a second interface member adjacent to an inner face of the second wall form opposite the second bracing member, disposing a second tension member between the second bracing member and the second interface member to secure the second bracing member to the second wall form, and aligning the succeeding wall form in a substantially vertical orientation. These steps may be repeated as necessary to build even higher walls.
The system provides an inexpensive, relatively easy to install bracing structure that supports the ICF against loads imposed during construction and before a roof or other lateral support is in position across the top edges of the finished walls, as well as a simple and effective method for maintaining the ICFs straight and plumb during construction.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the invention may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and together with the detailed description below serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
a–c illustrate a first embodiment of the ICF wall bracing system of the invention. More particularly,
b is a plan view of the anchor member of
c is a partial cross section view of a wall bracing system using the anchor member of
a is a perspective view of the vertical adjustment member of
a is a perspective view of the diagonal adjustment member of
b is a perspective view of another embodiment of the diagonal adjustment member of the invention.
a is a partial cross section side elevation view of a scaffolding spacer of the invention.
b is a perspective view of another embodiment of the scaffolding spacer of the invention.
a–b illustrate a second embodiment of the ICF wall bracing system of the invention. More particularly,
b is a plan view of a flexible strap tensioning member of the invention designed for use with the anchor plate of
a–c illustrate a third embodiment of the ICF wall bracing system of the invention, in which the anchoring and tensioning members are integrally formed from wire-like material. More particularly,
b is a partial cross-section side elevation view of the third embodiment of the invention.
c is a front elevation view of the third embodiment of the invention.
Reference will now be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
An anchoring member, such as anchor 20, is provided within the ICF wall to attach the wall to falsework or scaffolding during construction. A primary function of anchor 20 is to distribute loads from the bracing system across an inner face 62 of insulating panel 58. As seen in
A bracing member 56 is used to keep ICF 68 straight and plumb during construction, and may be selected from any conventional falsework or scaffolding frame. Bracing member 56 is positioned with its inner side against the outer face 60 of insulating panel 58.
After ICF 68 is positioned against bracing member 56, anchor 20 is oriented so that back 26 is flush with inner face 62 of insulating panel 58 and positioned opposite of bracing member 56. A tension member, such as wire 64 is then routed around the bottom of central upper plate 52 through tension member notches 40, 40, through holes cut through insulating panel 58, and around bracing member 56. Ends of wire 64 are drawn tight and crimped or twisted together, thus drawing bracing member 56 against the outer face 60 of insulating panel 58 and drawing anchor 20 snug against inner face 62 of insulating panel 58, with tab 48 extending perpendicularly inward within a space located between insulating panels 58, 59 for receiving pourable building material such as concrete. Tab 48 helps fix the system in place once the concrete sets. Alternatively, instead of making holes in insulating panel 58, wire 64 may be routed around a base end of central upper plate 52 through tension member notches 40, 40, through an interface joint 218 (see
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, bracing member 56 is a scaffolding frame member.
Referring to
In another embodiment of the invention, vertical adjustment members 70 may be disposed diagonally between front and rear scaffolding frame members as shown in
In another embodiment of the invention illustrated in
Another embodiment of the anchoring and tensioning members of the invention is shown in
As with the first embodiment of anchor 20, a bracing member 56 is used with this embodiment to keep ICF 68 straight and plumb during construction, and may be selected from any conventional falsework or scaffolding frame. Bracing member 56 is positioned with its inner side against the outer face 60 of insulating panel 58.
After ICF 68 is positioned against bracing member 56, anchor 20′ is oriented so that back 26′ is flush with inner face 62 of insulating panel 58 and positioned opposite of bracing member 56 in the same manner shown in
Yet another embodiment of the invention is shown in
After ICF 68 is positioned against bracing member 56, part 20″ is disposed such that bracing member interface portion 84 surrounds the outer perimeter of bracing member 56, panel joint portions 86, 86 traverse the interface joint 218 between upper and lower insulating panels 58 of upper and lower ICF blocks, insulating panel interface portions 80, 80 lie against, preferably flush with, inner face 62 of insulating panel 58, and concrete interface portions 82, 82 extend into a concrete receiving space of the ICF wall for assisting in fixing the system in place once the concrete sets. Interface portions 80, 80 may extend horizontally along inner face 62 of panel 58 in a step-wise manner as shown in
In particular, the distance between panel portion 80 and the outer surface of bracing portion 84 is L1, concrete interface portion 82 has a length L2 and bracing member interface portion 84 forms a semicircle having diameter d. Typical dimensions for L2 and d may be 2 inches each and L1 may be 4½ inches. Of course, other dimensions may be used depending upon the particular application and other factors that are readily known to those skilled in the art.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of temporarily bracing an insulated wall form is provided. First, an anchoring member, such as 20, 20′, 20″, 20′″ previously described, is provided within the ICF wall to attach the wall to falsework or scaffolding during construction.
A bracing member 56 such as a scaffolding frame is positioned with its inner side against the outer face 60 of insulating panel 58.
After bracing member 56 is positioned against ICF 68, the anchor is oriented so that its back is flush with inner face 62 of insulating panel 58 and positioned opposite of bracing member 56. A separate or integrally formed tension member, as described above, is then connected to or around the bracing member to draw the anchor snugly (preferably flush) against the insulating panel as described previously.
The vertical alignment of the scaffolding or spacer members and the ICF wall may then be adjusted by adjusting vertical alignment members previously described herein, and the concrete or other pourable building material may be poured into the concrete receiving space of the ICF wall. The height of the fluid concrete column received in the ICF wall is limited by the strength of the ICF wall, as the hydrostatic load of the concrete column will strain the ICF wall. A typical height for a first column of fluid concrete is approximately 11 feet, which may be placed in 3 foot lifts.
Upon substantial setting of the first concrete pour, additional scaffolding and ICF wall blocks may be joined to the first scaffolding frame and ICF wall, extending the scaffolding and ICF wall vertically upwards in stages as shown schematically in
Although the foregoing description is directed to the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is noted that other variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
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