GB1559579A - Prefabricated blocks for the construction of walls and a methodof constructing walls from such blocks - Google Patents

Description

(54) PREFABRICATED BLOCKS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS, AND A METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WALLS FROM SUCH BLOCKS (71) We, ANCIENS ESTABLISSEMENTS DAMIANI FRERES, a French Societe Anonyme, of 10 rue de I'Est, 93320 Pavillons-Sous Bois, France, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement :- The present invention relates to a prefabricated block for the construction of walls, a method of constructing walls more particularly load-bearing walls for buildings of any kind from such blocks, and walls constructed by this method.

The building industries are constantly being required more and more to redut ? building costs and to improve the quality of buildings.

These industries would like to be able to produce wall elements at a low cost ana which can be laid down easily and quickly. with a high degree of technical quality and retaining iil tllc structures which are produced, the traditional appearance which the consumer likes. Furthermore, these elements must meet the latest government standards as regards safety.

Therefore, the prefabrication in factories of wall elements or blocks has advanced rapidly, and blocks have already been designed which facilitate assembly on the site.

Thus, from French Patent Specification No. 74,40704 a prefabricated block is known for building work which comprises suitable arrangements on the sides for interlocking with adjacent blocks, vertical ducts extending through the block and a horizontal groove on the upper face of the block receiving a liquid concrete which is to act as a load-bearing structure.

Furthermore, these known blocks in the aforesaid patent comprise an intermediate heat-insulating panel.

The horizontal grooves on the upper faces of these blocks make it possible to obtain sealing-tightness relatively to rain more particularly between two different levels. To provide sealing-tightness between two adjacent blocks at the same level, it will be apparent that the arrangements provided on the vertical sides for this purpose, which are in fact tongues and grooves, are quite inadequate. These blocks provide a simple "baffle"which cannot stop water from penetrating, and even less heat. The problem of what we call"vertical"sealingtightness as opposed to horizontal sealingtightness between two levels, is a considerable problem. No wall production method could be put on the market without solving this problem, to the satisfaction of the building experts and the committee of the insurance companies.

In known manner, morter can be laid down between the neighbouring blocks of one and the same level. Thus the French Patent Specification No. 71, 33556 suggests providing on the contiguous faces of two adjacent blocks opposite cavities into which the building worker can place mortar after each placing of a block. This operation considerably increases the time taken to build a wall. Thus, the main aim of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated block whose features makes it possible to build a wall with a very high standard of sealing-tightness both in the horizontal and in the verticle senses, while avoiding the need to place mortar between adjacent blocks.

According to the present invention there is provided a prefabricated building block for the construction of a wall, made from structural concrete, the block being parallelepiped in form and comprising tenon and mortise assembly means which form an interlock between juxtaposed blocks, a panel of heat-insulating material incorporated in the blocks, a horizontal recess in the form of a groove on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces of the block, two vertical recesses passing through the block and communicating with the horizontal recess, in which one of the vertical recesses is open on a vertical lateral edge of the block so as to receive the cut-away lateral edge of an adjacent block on the same level, the walls of the two vertical recesses which are located opposite the open edge being spaced from one another by a distance equal to half the length of a block and are arranged symmetrically relative to a central vertical plan extending longitudinally of the block.

The invention also provides a method of constructing a wall from prefabricated blocks as set forth in the preceding paragraph, comprising the steps of building the blocks into a plurality of wall levels in the dry state without any binding agent, by simple assembly, pouring structural concrete into the cavities of the upper level, until the concrete fills all the communicating cavities of the various assembled levels, so that after setting, the concrete provides a load-bearing structure and a water tight seal between the blocks at the various levels of the wall.

The invention further provides a wall built by the method as set forth in the preceding paragraph.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a standard block according to the invention ; Figure 2 is a plan view of the standard block of Figure 1 ; Figure 3 is a plan view of a salient angle block ; Figure 4 is a plan view of a second constructional form of a salient angle block; Figure 5 is a plan view of a re-entrant angle block ; Figure 6 is a plan view of a second em bodiment of a re-entrant angle block; Figure 7 shows a plan view of a standard half-block ; Figure 8 is a plan view of a floor block ; Figure 9 is a plan view of a floor halfblock; Figure 10 shows a diagram illustrating an example of assembling a building level.

All the blocks in the embodiments described are made from no-fines concrete using expanded clay. This light concrete which has a cellular structure is an incomprcsible heat-insulating material composed of cement and expanded clay granulates because of the considerable voids which exist between the granulates and the nature of the granulates themselves. This is a material which is very fire-resistant, has great mechanical strength and also the roughness which this material gives to the blocks means that coatings and renderings adhere to an excellent degree so that there is improved sealing-tightness.

The standard block shown in Figure 1 is parallelepiped in general shape. The reference numerals 10, II, 12, 13,14,15 represent in the position of use of the block, the supporting face or lower face, the upper face, the external and therefore exposed face, the face which is internal relatively to the building, and the two lateral faces respectively.

For positioning neighbouring blocks at one and the same building level, the lateral faces 14 and 15 comprise assembly surfaces, respectively a tongue 16 on one lateral face and a groove 17 having a vertical axis formed in the other lateral face. By these means, the blocks at the same level are assembled to one another, the tongue of one block engaging in the longitudinal groove of the neighbouring block. It is to be noted that the blocks have dimensions which are precise to a millimetre and have no waste.

The calibration at the production works makes it possible to assemble the blocks without any correcting having to be carried out.

In the example described here, the groove is the end portion at which a cavity 19 which extends vertically through the block opens out. The block comprises two vertical cavities, a cavity 19 opening on to the lateral face 15, and the other cavity 18 extending through the block without opening on to one of the faces 12, 13,14 or 15.

The positioning of these vertical cavities is not made at random if it is considered that the blocks should be put together in a staggered relationship and the cavities con stitute vertical passages after the wall has been assembled.

In a preferred arrangement of these cavities they are spaced from one another by half the length of the block so as to make the cavities of superjacent blocks communicate with one another when the blocks are arranged in a staggered relationship.

The block also comprises at its upper face ll a longitudinal horizontal cavity or groove 20. At each level, once the blocks are assembled, these grooves form a horizontal passage communicating with the vertical passages which are constituted section by section by the cavities 18 and 19 in the block situated at different levels.

The dimensions of the standard block of this kind may be for example, without implying any limitation, as follows: Length-500 mm Height-300 mm Thickness-250 mm (it should be noted that the mail when finished has a thickness of 280 mm with 15 mm of plaster and 13 mm of outside rendering).

The centres of the vertical cavities are situated respectively at a quarter and three quarters of the length of the block so that the cavity 18 of a first block coincides with the outlet of cavity 19 of a second block on which it bears over half its length, and in such a manner that the cavity 19 of the first block coincides with the cavity 18 of another block on which it bears over the other half of its length, the blocks being arranged in a staggered relationship.

The weight of a standard block is approximately 18 kg. The thermal coefficent for the finsihed wall may reach: 0.5 W/m2 C.

Furthermore the block comprises a supplementary chamber 21 extending through the block and situated adjacent the external face 12 which forms the outside of the wall being built. These chambers are intended to receive heat-insulating elements in the form of for example, slabs or panels of polystyrene moulded to the desired size. These elements are fitted-in at the works. The insulation is therefore situated at the outer side of the wall. In this way all the problems of heat bridges in the regions of the internal partition walls and the floors of the building are obviated.

As previously stated the blocks are completely prefabricated at the factory, from which they issue perfectly calibrated and without any waste. The blocks in each level are assembled together by fitting them into one another, the tongue 16 of the vertical side of a block 14 engaging in the groove 17 of a vertical side 15 of the neighbourina block.

After one level has been assembled, for example the level shown in Figure 10 which uses corner blocks which will be described hereinafter, the upper level is assembled, tne blocks being placed in a simple manner by simply supporting them on the blocks of the first level. In a known and traditional manner, the blocks are in a staggered relationship.

In this way eight levels can be assembled before proceeding to carry out the operation of pouring-in the concrete which is to be used for consolidation and for sealing purposes.

The horizontal and vertical cavities 20, 18, 19 of the blocks constitute a network of ducts in two directions at right angles to one another ; vertical passages over the entire height of the wall which are formed by the vertical cavities 18 and 19 and a horizontal passage at each row of blocks which is formed by the horizontal cavities 20.

Pouring is brought about by means of any suitable apparatus at the u : pper level.

What is used is a very fluid concrete of ex panded clay or a heavy concrete depending on the value of the desired co-efficient of thermal conduction K. This concrete is injected within the network of passages formed by the cavities 18,19 and 20. The poured concrete is preferably very liquid and for this purpose a concrete is chosen whose "slump"factor is between 14 and 18. This concrete is poured in at the horizontal passage of the upper level and enters the various vertical passages and then moves into the horizontal passage immediately below.

In this way the concrete fills by gravitational force the entire rectangular network of vertical and horizontal passages.

Between two neighbouring blocks at the same level, it binds together the lateral faces of these two blocks which are situated opposite one another. Because of the outlet of the cavity 19, the opposite surfaces are of considerable size, and the concrete provides an excellent binding effect and also fills the smallest spaces in the baffle constituted by the tongue and groove connection arrangement.

The concrete carries out two functions : 1. Binding the blocks together at four sides so as to ensure sealing-tightness.

2. The load-bearing function because of the formation of posts and lintels holding the wall structure together. If necessary the passages may be reinforced, more particularly in the corner, and, where appropriate, before the concrete is poured they may be used for the passage of tubes and ducts for various fluids.

This pouring or casting operation is of course not necessary after each level is completed. It is possible for example to carry out the operation only after eight successive levels have been built up.

The blocks according to the present invention, as already stated, have many advantages more particularly as regards carrying out the building method. After the de scription of the method, it will be seen that they allow savings to be made in the labour force required by simplifying building operations and because of the very high degree of prefabrication. Storage in a building site is also facilitated since only one product is present at the site.

Figure 3 shows another embodiment of a building block according to the invention in the form of a corner block.

In this form, to allow for the corner of a wall, a supplementary chamber 21'is provided for a heat-insulating panel at the second outer side of the block, and the horizontal cavity is elbowed in order to join the neighbouring horizontal cavities of neighbouring blocks which form an angle of 90 with one another. It is possible, without departing from the framework of the invention, to construct corner blocks for a corner angle other than 90 .

Figure 4 also shows a salient angle corner block for a wall corner adjacent the wall corner constructed with the blocks shown in Figure 3. The outlet cavity in this case is arranged at the small side of the corner and not at the large side.

The blocks shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6 are blocks for re-entrant angle corners of a wall. The chamber comprising the heat insulation 31 (Figure 5) or 31' (Figure 6) is always situated at the outer side of the wall and therefore opposite the corner of the block.

As in the case of the blocks shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, two constructions (Figure 5 and Figure 6) correspond to two neighbouring wall corners. Figure 5 shows the outlet cavity on the"large side"of the corner while Figure 6 shows the cavity open ing on to the"small side"of the corner.

Another embodiment of the block accord ing to the invention is shown in Figure 7 in the form of a standard half-block. Be cause the blocks are arranged in a staggered relationship, the building of a wall requires half-blocks of this kind. They are con structed with a single vertical cavity which is sufficient to connect one of the vertical passages of the wall.

Figure 8 and Figure 9 shows respectively a block intended as a noor block and a floor half-block. These blocks co-operate with the other embodiments of the blocks, accord ing to the invention, in the construction of a building. They are put in at the level of the floors and comprise a single chamber, 41 in Figure 8 and 41'in Figure 9 permit ting the insertion of the heat insulation so as not to interrupt the continuity of the heat insulation provided by the various blocks shown in Figures I to 7.

Figure 10 shows a construction level wherein the various embodiments of blocks are shown in which the reference AS shows a salient angle corner block, AR a reentrant angle corner block, DB a standard half-block and STA a standard block.

For a given wall surface, with the blocks provided by the present invention the number of blocks necessary can be reduced by more than 30% as compared with the known blocks in the state of the art, without increasing the unit weight. This the time taken to lay the blocks is considerably re duced, and transport is made easier. There is also a saving of more than 50% in the weight of the wall and therefore a saving in foundations, which is particularly advan tageous in the case of buildings of great height and buildings built on poor ground.

The blocks according to the invention are : perfectly calibrated to the nearest millimetre.

This important feature affords the possibility of assembling them in the dry state without any correcting work being necessary. This means complete and high-intensity prefabrication.

The sealing-tightness achieved by this method of construction is of a very high quality which makes it possible to put the building blocks on the market with all the requisite quality and safety standards.

The invention also makes it possible to reduce considerably the time taken for laying the blocks by providing completely prefabricated blocks calibrated to within a millimetre. The interlocking of these blocks is perfect, and the stability of the wall before pouring-in the concrete is very notable.

The building block according to the invention is of relatively low weight in spite of the relatively large dimensions of these blocks, compared to those of existing blocks.

By using the block of the present inven tion the need for building external cavity walls to meet the necessary fire standards is avoided. They provide a complete sealing-tightness, built-in heat insulation with a thermal flow co-efficient K which is up to the latest standards as well as providing good sound insulation.

The insulation is placed at the external side of the wall. In this way, the invention makes it possible to eliminate all the pro blems of heat bridges at the internal parti tion walls and the floors of the structure.

Finally, the invention is not limited to a block used for the production of straight lines of wall only, but it makes it possible to provide wall corner blocks, window corner blocks and floor blocks.

To sum up, this block is therefore one with which the cast concrete provides a structure holding the walls together and also provides complete three-dimensional sealing-tightness at which the invention was aiming, without prejudicing and on the contrary whilst improving, all the qualities of traditional walls and more particularly the time necessary to construct them.

Claims (15)

WHAT WE CLAIM YS-

1. A prefabricated building block for the construction of a wall, made from structural concrete, the block being parallelepiped in form, and comprising tenon and mortise assembly means which form an interlock between juxtaposed blocks, a panel of heatinsulating material incorporated in the block, a horizontal recess in the form of a groove on at least one of the upper and lower surfaces of the block, two vertical recesses passing through the block and com municating with the horizontal recess, in which one of the vertical recesses is open on a vertical lateral edge of the block as as to receive the cut-away lateral edge of an adjacent block on the same level, the walls of the two vertical recesses which are located opposite the open edge being spaced from one another by a distance equal to half the length of a block and are arranged sym metrically relative to a central vertical plane extending longitudinally of the block.

2. A prefabricated block according to claim 1 in which the panel of heat-insulating material incorporated in the block is a sheet housed in a cavity located near the outer surface of the block so as to eliminate any thermal bridges at right angles to the floors or partition walls in which the block is used.

3. A prefabricated block according to claim 1 in which it is constituted by expanded clay. no-fines concrete of low density of about 800 kg/m'5%.

4. A prefabricated block according to claim 1 in which its dimensions are calibrated with a precision of the order of a millimetre.

5. A prefabricated block according to any of the preceding claims for use as a corner block, in which the first cavity is formed as a right-angle and the block comprises a chamber receiving the heat-insulation material for each external lateral face of the corner block.

6. A prefabricated block according to any of Claims 1 to 4, in which the dimensions of the block are as follows :- Width-500 mm Height-300 mm Thickness-250 mm.

7. A method of constructing a wall from prefabricated blocks as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 6, comprising the steps of building the blocks into a plurality of wall levels in the dry state without any binding agent, by simple assembly, pouring structural concrete into the cavities of the upper level until the concrete fills all the communicating cavities of the various assembled levels, so that after setting, the concrete provides a load-bearing structure and a water tight seal between the blocks at the various levels of the wall.

8. A method according to Claim 7, in which eight levels of blocks are built in the dry state before the structural concrete is poured.

9. A method according to Claim 7 or 8 in which the blocks are built so that the joint surfaces are in a staggered relationship.

10. A method according to any of Claims 7 to 9 in which the structural concrete is a liquid concrete made of expanded clay as aggregate.

I I. A method according to any of Claims 7 to 10 in which the structural concrete is a heavy concrete.

12. A method according to Claim 10 in which the liquid concrete made of expanded clay has a slump value of between 14 and 18.

13. A wall built by the method claimed in any of Claims 7 to 12.

14. A prefabricated building block, substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.

15. A method according to Claim 7, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.