AU727854B2 - Building structures and construction methods - Google Patents

Description

WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 1 TITLE: "BUILDING STRUCTURES AND CONSTRUCTION METHODS" FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements to building structures and construction methods.

This invention has particular but not exclusive application to dwelling houses and for illustrative purposes reference will be made to such an application. However, it is to be understood that this invention could be used in other applications, for example, for offices, warehouses, halls and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Traditionally, houses are constructed in distinct stages comprising foundations, floor, walls and roofing which are interconnected for structural integrity. Typically the walls are constructed from wall frames which are fixed to the floor or the floor joists and which are then cladded externally and internally.

Such traditional methods of construction require substantial amounts of time and the services of differently skilled WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 2 tradesmen. Consequently, houses constructed according to these methods are undesirably expensive.

The general object of the present invention is to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages and to provide improvements to building structures and construction methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the foregoing in view, this invention in one aspect resides broadly in a construction method, said method comprising: providing a lower wall panel support member having a base portion for engaging a foundation; providing an upper wall panel support member spaced from said lower wall panel support member; and providing a wall panel support means for supporting at least one wall panel between said lower wall panel support means and said upper wall panel support means.

WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 3 Preferably, said base portion comprises: an upper surface for engaging an upper surface of said foundation; and a first side portion depending from one edge of said upper surface of said base portion and adapted to engage a front face of said foundation.

Preferably, said upper surface of said base portion is laterally inclined so that, in use, any water impinging on said upper surface will drain away from said wall panel support means.

Preferably, said wall panel support means comprises: a second side portion depending from that edge of said upper surface of said base portion opposite to said one edge and in a direction substantially opposite to that of said first side portion; and a locating means on said upper surface of said base portion spaced from said second side portion; wherein said second side portion and said locating means WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 4 are adapted to support said wall panel to prevent lateral movement thereof.

Preferably, said wall panel is an elongate slab-like member adapted to engage with an adjacent complementary elongate slab-like member wherein one face of said slab-like member is supported against said second side portion and wherein said locating means engages said wall panel at or near the base thereof.

Preferably, said locating means is at least one pin, rib or the like adapted to be received in a complementary recess formed in said wall panel.

More preferably, said locating means is a rib or tongue adapted to engage in a complementary groove formed in said wall panel.

Most preferably, when said base portion engages a foundation such as a floor or a floor joist, said second side portion and said rib or tongue extend substantially perpendicularly from said foundation.

Preferably said upper wall panel support member is adapted to transfer loads, such as roof loads, to said wall panel(s).

WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 More preferably, said upper wall panel support member is substantially of U-shape of square or rectangular cross section and is adapted to receive an upper end portion of said wall panel, thus providing lateral support therefor and capable of transferring the roof load to a number of adjacent wall panels.

Most preferably, one arm of the U-shaped wall panel support member is longer than the other arm.

Preferably, the wall panel is a load bearing panel adapted to transfer loads from the upper wall panel support member to the lower wall panel support member.

Preferably, each wall panel is adapted for weatherproof engagement with an adjacent wall panel.

Although in no way limiting, the upper wall panel support member and the base portion with integral wall panel support means are particularly suitable for manufacture by extrusion, especially from aluminium.

WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 6 DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation of a dwelling constructed according to the method of the invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional elevations illustrating alternative floor and floor support constructions for a dwelling constructed according to the method of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed sectional elevation of the upper section of the wall illustrated in FIG. i.

FIG. 5 is a pictorial representation of the upper wall panel support member utilised in the dwelling of FIGS.

i, 2 and 3.

FIG. 6 is a pictorial representation of the lower wall panel support member of the wall of the dwelling of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 7 FIG. 7 is a pictorial representation of part of the wall of the dwellings of FIGS. i, 2 and 3.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional plan of the wall of the dwelling of FIGS. i, 2 and 3 illustrating the mounting of a window in the wall.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are sectional plans illustrating wall panels used in the invention.

The dwelling (10) illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of posts or, alternatively, bearers (11) which support a pair of parallel spaced apart longitudinally extending floor joists (12) and (13) which support a floor (14) and at least one wall panel (16) respectively. The wall panel (16) in turn supports a roof (17).

An alternative method of construction is illustrated in FIG.

2 wherein floor joists (18) extend laterally.

Yet another alternative method of construction is illustrated in FIG. 3 wherein the wall panel (16) is supported on a concrete floor (21) and concrete footings (22).

In each of the three alternatives, the wall panel (16) is supported at its lower end by a lower wall panel support WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 8 member (24) and at its upper end by an upper wall panel support member (26) each of which are more clearly illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively.

The lower wall panel support member (24) is an extruded section and includes a longitudinally extending plate-like base (27) for resting on the top of a foundation which suitably is the joists or floor as illustrated in FIGS. i, 2 or 3. A side flange (29) extends upwardly from one edge of the base (27) for supporting a plurality of wall panels (16) thereagainst. Another side flange (31) depends from the other edge of the base (27) in a direction opposite to that of the side flange (29) and rests against a front face of the foundation. A rib (28) extends upwardly from the upper face of the base (27) at approximately its centre line and extends parallel to the side flange (29) and is adapted for engagement in a complementary recess formed in the bottom edge of the wall panel Suitably, the upper surface of the base (27) is sloped downwardly from the rib (28) towards the side flange (31) wherein water may drain therefrom.

The upper wall panel support member (26) includes a longitudinally extending plate-like upper section (33) and two side flanges (34) and (35) depending from the opposite edges thereof in substantially identical directions. One WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 9 side flange (35) is of greater width than the other side flange (34).

In use, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7, the lower wall panel support member (24) is fixed to the floor joist (13) as illustrated in FIG. i, or to the joist (18) as illustrated in FIG. 2 or directly to the concrete floor as illustrated in FIG. 3. Alternatively, when a concrete floor is used, a conventional floor plate (not illustrated) may be first fixed to the concrete floor and the lower wall panel support member (24) attached to that floor plate.

The lower wall panel support member (24) may be fixed to the floor or the joists by screws or other suitable mechanical fastening elements extending through the base (27) and/or the side flange (31).

The wall panels (16) may be then arranged to stand on the base (27) wherein the rib (28) is received in the complementary recesses (38) formed in the lower ends of the wall panels The rib (28) prevents lateral movement of the wall panels The upper ends of the wall panels (16) are capped by the upper wall panel support member (26) wherein the upper section (33) caps the upper ends of the wall panels (16) and the side flanges (34) and (35) engage the rear and front faces of the wall panels (16) WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 respectively. The wall panels (16) are secured to the lower wall panel support member (24) by screws (39) (FIG. 1) which extend through the side flange (29) into the wall panels Similarly, the upper wall panel support member (26) is fixed to the wall panels by screws (42) and (43) extending through the side flanges (34) and (35) into the wall panels Advantageously, the extruded upper wall panel support member (26) in cooperation with the lower wall panel support member (24) thus maintains the wall panels (16) in alignment.

The upper wall panel support member (26) may be tied to the floor joists (13) or (18) or the footing (22) or the roof bearers (48) (FIG. 4) by tie down bolts (44) which extend upwardly through apertures (46) formed in some of the wall panels Such designated wall panels preferably are those wall panels adjacent to doors and/or windows as illustrated in FIG. 8.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7, 9 and 10, the wall panels used in the present invention can vary in cross section. Although it is preferred to have two complementary "tongues (49) and grooves on the respective edges of the panels to enable adjacent panels (16) to be engaged, it is not essential and fewer or more tongues (49) and grooves (50) could be present.

For the corners of the dwelling, adjacent panels (16) can be suitable rebated as illustrated in FIGS. 9 and WO 97/11236 PCT/AU96/00565 11 Racking and cyclic uplift load trials on walls constructed in accordance with the present invention were undertaken by the Cyclone Structural Testing Station, Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. The results of those tests were issued in reports TS448 and TS449 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

These reports established that wall panels constructed by the method of the present invention will be well suited for use in cyclone-prone areas.

The present invention thus provides a relatively inexpensive, strong, aesthetically acceptable construction method for external and internal walls which are load bearing and which can satisfy certain government required fatigue loading tests necessary to obtain a cyclone rating.

It will be appreciated that the above has been given by way of illustrative example of this invention, and that all such modifications and variations thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of this invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims (8)

1. A wall assembly comprising a plurality of elongate, solid section load-bearing wall panels each adapted for tongue and groove engagement with adjacent said panels along their respective vertical edges, a unitary pressed metal lower support member for said wall panels comprising a base portion which engages a foundation of said building, a first side portion depending from said base portion whereby one face of said wall panel is supported against said first side portion, and at least one pin, rib, tongue or the like depending from said base portion spaced from, and extending substantially in a same direction as, said first side portion, to be received in a complementary recess formed in a lower edge of said wall panel to prevent lateral movement thereof; and Goo a unitary pressed metal upper capping member for said wall panel comprising an inverted substantially U-shaped channel adapted to receive and locate the upper ends of said wall panels and adapted to transfer roof loads to said plurality 0 015 of wall panels.

2. A wall assembly as defined in Claim 1, wherein said base portion has an upper surface which is laterally inclined so that, in use, any water impinging on said upper surface will drain away therefrom.

3. A wall assembly as defined in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein said base portion further includes a second side portion depending from said base portion spaced from, and extending in a direction substantially opposite to, said first side portion to S engage a front face of said foundation.

4. A wall assembly as defined in Claim 3, wherein when said base portion engages a foundation such as a floor or a floor joist and said first side portion and said pin, rib or tongue extend substantially perpendicularly from said foundation.

5. A wall assembly in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein said upper support member is substantially of U-shape of square or rectangular cross section. LI> U, 13

6. A wall assembly elements as defined in Claim 5, wherein one arm of said U- shaped wall panel support member is longer than its other arm.

7. A wall assembly method comprising the steps of: engaging a foundation with a unitary pressed metal lower support member comprising a base portion which engages a foundation of said building, a first side portion depending from said base portion and at least one pin, rib, tongue or the like depending from said base portion spaced from, and extending substantially in a same direction as, said first side portion; installing on said lower support member a plurality of elongate, solid section load-bearing wall panels each adapted for tongue and groove engagement with S adjacent said panels along their respective vertical edges, whereby one face of each said wall panel is supported against said first side portion, and whereby said at least one pin, rib, tongue or the like is received in a complementary recess formed in a 5 lower edge of said wall panel to prevent lateral movement thereof; and installing a unitary pressed metal upper capping member on said wall panels comprising an inverted substantially U-shaped channel adapted to receive and locate the upper ends of said wall panels and adapted to transfer roof loads to said plurality of wall panels.

8. A method as defined in Claim 7, wherein each said wall panel is further adapted for weatherproof engagement with an adjacent wall panel. 0 ~DATED THIS TWELFTH DAY OF OCTOBER 2000. NEW HORIZON PROPERTIES PTY LTD S BY PIZZEYS PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS