AU2006207846B2 - Wall cladding - Google Patents

Abstract

A clad wall including a plurality of cladding tiles 11 and a plurality of spaced apart support members 10 which support the cladding tiles 11 adjacent to the 5 wall in a generally vertical array. Each support member 10 extends vertically to support a plurality of vertically adjacent tiles 11 and each support member 10 includes a body 21 and at least two vertically spaced groups of supports 22 extending from the body 21. Each group of supports 22 includes at least two supports 23, 24 which are vertically spaced. Whereby the upper support 23 of a 10 group of supports 23, 24 supports a lower end of a first cladding tile 35 of the array and the lower support of that group supports an upper end of a second cladding tile 36 which is adjacent and below the first cladding tile 35. W:Uu"e\AndrewACompietesW2l Cadding (Version 2 - AU).doC

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: WALL CLADDING Applicant: THE AUSTRAL BRICK COMPANY PTY LTD The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 1 Documlent2 2 WALL CLADDING The present invention relates to cladding tiles or panels, for cladding building walls, and to arrangements for securing such cladding tiles or panels 5 (hereinafter "tiles") to walls. Cladding building walls with tiles can be undertaken for several reasons, including for improving the aesthetic appearance of the wall, reducing the maintenance requirements and improving the insulation characteristics. 10 Cladding tiles can be made of many different materials, such as timber, metal and ceramic and the material selected can influence the type of arrangement which is employed to fix the cladding tile in place relative to a wall it is to clad. The present invention is directed to a new and unique cladding tile and to a new 15 and unique arrangement for securing or attaching a tile to a wall. According to the present invention there is provided a clad wall, including a plurality of cladding tiles and a plurality of spaced apart support members which support the cladding tiles adjacent to the wall in a generally vertical array, each 20 support member extending vertically to support a plurality of vertically adjacent tiles, each support member includes a body formed as a channel which includes a generally planar front face which is spaced outwardly from the wall, a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face, and a pair of flanges, one each of which extends from an end of the side walls remote from the front face, 25 the elongate body further including at least two vertically spaced groups of supports, each group of supports includes at least two horizontally spaced upper supports and at least two horizontally spaced lower supports, wherein the upper and lower supports extend from the planar front face and are vertically spaced, whereby the upper support of a group of supports supports the weight 30 of a lower end of a first cladding tile of the array and the lower support of that group supports the weight of an upper end of a second cladding tile which is adjacent and below the first cladding tile, whereby the spacing between each group of supports is substantially greater than the spacing between the at least two supports of each group of supports.

3 Further, the present invention provides a support member for supporting at least a pair of vertically adjacent wall cladding tiles, including an elongate body which can be fixed to a wall being clad, wherein the body is formed as a channel which 5 includes a generally planar front face which is spaced outwardly from the wall, a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face, and a pair of flanges, one each of which extends from an end of the side walls remote from the front face, the elongate body further including at least two, vertically spaced groups of supports, each group of supports including at least two horizontally 10 spaced upper supports and at least two horizontally spaced lower supports, wherein the upper and lower supports extend from the planar front face and are vertically spaced in an installed condition of the support member, whereby the upper support is arranged to support the weight of a lower end of a first cladding tile and the lower support is arranged to support the weight of the upper end of a 15 second cladding tile which is vertically adjacent and below the first cladding tile, whereby the spacing between each group of supports is substantially greater than the spacing between the at least two supports of each group of supports. In a preferred embodiment, each support member extends vertically for 20 substantially the height of the wall being clad. Alternatively however, the support member could be a composite member, formed of shorter support member lengths that are each fixed to the wall being clad. In this latter embodiment, standard lengths could be manufactured and joined together or cut to size on site. 25 In the preferred embodiment, the support members are formed of sheet metal, preferably galvanised or stainless steel. In that arrangement, the supports can be punched out of the sheet metal during fabrication of the support members. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the support member is rolled or pressed 30 from sheet metal and is formed into a channel which includes a generally planar front face from which the supports extend and which is spaced outwardly from the wall being clad. The channel further includes a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face and a pair of flanges one each of which extends from an end of the side wall remote from the front face. In this arrangement, the 3a support member can be secured to the wall being clad, by fasteners that extend through the flanges. The supports of the support members can take any suitable form, although it is 5 preferred that each support includes a first portion which extends from the body of the support member, preferably the front face as discussed above, in a direction away from the wall and it is the first portion which extends into engagement with the rear side of a cladding tile. In this embodiment, it is further preferred that each support includes a second portion which extends from an 10 end of the first portion remote from the body and which extends upwardly at an angle to the first portion. Preferably the second portion extends at an angle of about between 750 and 90* (perpendicular) to the first portion.

4 In a clad wall, it is preferable that the support members be spaced so that one corner of each of four cladding tiles is supported at a group of supports. Accordingly, each group of supports is spaced vertically from an adjacent group of supports, about the height of a cladding tile. Moreover, each support 5 member is spaced apart horizontally about a distance equal to slightly less than the width of the cladding tiles. In a preferred arrangement, each group of supports includes four supports, which are arranged in upper and lower horizontally spaced pairs. Each of the 10 four supports can support one corner of four different, but adjacent cladding tiles. Thus, the group of supports includes two horizontally spaced upper supports and two horizontally spaced lower supports. The horizontal spacing between the upper and lower supports creates a gap and the gap between the supports is preferably vertically aligned. In this arrangement, a jointing strip can 15 be employed between horizontally adjacent cladding tiles and can be received in the gap between the horizontally spaced supports. A cladding tile for use in the invention preferably has front and rear faces and upper and lower edges. A pair of slots is provided in or adjacent the rear face 20 and the slots preferably are spaced apart respectively towards the upper and lower edges of the tile for receiving respective upper and lower supports of the support member. Preferably each of the slots of the cladding tile has a section which extends in the direction between the upper and lower edges thereof. 25 For a better understanding of the invention and to show how it may be performed, embodiments thereof will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a perspective view of a partially clad wall. 30 Figure 2 is a detailed view of a section of a support member according to a first aspect of the invention. W uke\AndrewiComplees\Wa1 Caddng (Vesion 2. AU) 0Cc 5 Figure 3 is a detailed view of a support member according to a second aspect of the invention. Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken through IV - IV of Figure 2. 5 Referring to Figure 1, a pair of elongate vertically extending support members 10 are illustrated supporting a single cladding tile 11. In practice, a plurality of support members 10 would be spaced apart across a wall to be clad and a plurality of cladding tiles 11 would be supported both vertically and horizontally 10 by the support members. Referring now to Figure 2, that shows a support member 20 which is constructed slightly differently to the support members 10 of Figure 1, and which has a body 21 and a group of supports 22, which comprise an upper 15 support 23 and a lower support 24. The body 21 includes a front face 25 which in use extends generally parallel to the plane of the wall being clad. Extending rearwardly from the front face 25 is a pair of spaced apart side wall 26 and extending from the end of the side walls 20 26 remote from the front face 25 is a pair of flanges 27. The side walls 26 can extend generally perpendicular to the front face 25, or at an angle thereto. The flanges 27 extend generally parallel to the front face 25. The flanges 27 are provided for securing the support member 20 to the wall 25 being clad and while Figure 1 shows flanges 27 as having openings 28, the flanges 27 of the support member 20 do not have openings, so that nails, or self-drilling screws can be driven through the flanges 27. The support member 20 is formed from sheet metal and the upper and lower 30 supports 23 and 24 are punched out of the front face 25 and include a first portion 30 which extends outwardly from the front face 25, and a second portion 31 that extends upwardly from the end of the first portion 30 remote from the front face 25. The side edges 32 of the second portion 31 of the upper support W:uL ie\AndrewiCompletes\ Cladding (Version 2 - AU).oc 6 23 are shown to be inclined, whereas the side edges 33 are vertical. These are simply alternatives that can be adopted in relation to the second portion 31. The upper and lower supports 23 and 24 are intended to extend into an opening 5 or recess which is formed on the rear surface of a cladding tile. The upper support 23 is intended to support the lower end of a cladding tile, while the lower support 24 is intended to support an upper end of an immediately vertically adjacent tile. Figure 4 is a side view of this arrangement. In that figure, a pair of vertically adjacent tiles 35 and 36 include recesses 37 and 38 10 formed in the rear surfaces 39 and 40 of the tiles 35 and 36 respectively and the upper support 23 is shown within the recess 37, while the lower support 24 is shown within the recess 38. Referring to Figure 3, this shows the support member construction illustrated in 15 Figure 1 which differs in respect of the construction of the supports 23 and 24 of Figure 2. In Figure 3, a support member 50 is illustrated having a body 51 which is of the same channel construction as the body 21 of Figure 2. In Figure 3 however, openings 52 have been punched into the flanges 53 for receipt of suitable nails or screw threaded fasteners to fix the support member 50 to a wall 20 being clad. The support member 50 further includes a group of supports 54 that includes four supports 55 to 58. The four supports 55 to 58 are punched out of the front face 59 of the body 51 and the pair of upper supports 55 and 56 are spaced 25 vertically above the lower supports 57 and 58. The upper and lower pairs of supports are spaced apart to define a gap G horizontally between them and that gap is provided to accommodate an elongate jointing strip which might be applied to a clad wall. Such a jointing strip can be provided for purely aesthetic purposes, or it can also function to properly space horizontally adjacent tiles. A 30 jointing strip usually would extend vertically for the height of the cladding in between horizontally adjacent cladding tiles. The strip usually would be a plastic or rubber material, usually formed as a U channel and assists to align tiles vertically. W AjubewndrewCompletes\Wa9 Cadding (Version 2 - AU).dOC 7 Returning to Figure 1, while only a single cladding tile 11 is illustrated in solid outline, further cladding tiles are shown in broken outline to illustrate how an array of cladding tiles can be fixed to a wall according to the invention. As shown in Figure 1, the cladding tile 11 is supported at each of its corners, by 5 only one of the four supports provided at each of four groups of supports 54. It will be appreciated that the Figure 1 embodiment could equally employ the support member 20 shown in Figure 2, although it would be necessary to employ a different form of jointing strip to that which could be used with the 10 support member 50, if a jointing strip was required. Moreover, it will be appreciated that while support of a cladding tile 11 at each of its corners, is the preferred arrangement, the support members could support the cladding tiles at locations other than the corners, and for example, Figure 1 could include a further support member which is disposed intermediate the two support 15 members 10 illustrated, to support the cladding tile 11 substantially through a central region thereof. Referring to Figure 4, with correct placement of the supports 22 and 23, and with a suitable tile construction, the upper and lower facing ends of two 20 vertically adjacent tiles can be made to overlap as shown, so that the support member on which the tiles are supported, is hidden from view. By overlapping the tiles in this manner, the tiles also cannot easily be removed once installed, because removal will be resisted by engagement of the facing ends of the respective tiles. Installation of the tiles for the Figure 4 embodiment is by first 25 engaging the upper end of a tile onto a lower support of a group of supports, then lifting the same tile slightly vertically to allow the bottom end of the tile to swing into position and drop on to an upper support of a lower group of supports. By this method, the clad wall can be constructed from the ground up. 30 A further feature of the invention resides in the ease with which support members can be customised to suit different cladding wall heights. To ensure that the length of the support member does not exceed the height of the cladding tiles, an indicator mark 60 (Figure 3) can be applied to the support W:\Juhe\AndrewkCompletes\Wall Cladding (Vesion 2 - AU).dot 8 member 50 so that installation personnel can cut along that line and by doing so, the height of the highest cladding tile will exceed the height of the support member 50. It will be appreciated that the highest cladding tile does not require the upper supports 55 and 56 of Figure 3, and therefore removing these 5 supports is acceptable. The invention described herein is susceptible to variations, modifications and/or additions other than those specifically described and it is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations, modifications and/or additions which 10 fall within the spirit and scope of the above description. W:\uhe\AndrewCompleeWall Cladding (Version 2 - AU)doc

Claims (20)

1. A clad wall, including a plurality of cladding tiles and a plurality of spaced apart support members which support the cladding tiles adjacent to the wall in a 5 generally vertical array, each support member extending vertically to support a plurality of vertically adjacent tiles, each support member includes a body formed as a channel which includes a generally planar front face which is spaced outwardly from the wall, a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face, and a pair of flanges, one each of which extends from an end of 10 the side walls remote from the front face, the elongate body further including at least two vertically spaced groups of supports, each group of supports includes at least two horizontally spaced upper supports and at least two horizontally spaced lower supports, wherein the upper and lower supports extend from the planar front face and are vertically spaced, whereby the upper support of a 15 group of supports supports the weight of a lower end of a first cladding tile of the array and the lower support of that group supports the weight of an upper end of a second cladding tile which is adjacent and below the first cladding tile, whereby the spacing between each group of supports is substantially greater than the spacing between the at least two supports of each group of supports. 20

2. A clad wall according to claim 1, wherein said cladding tiles have front and rear faces and upper and lower edges, a pair of slots provided in or adjacent the rear face and being spaced apart respectively towards said upper and lower edges for receiving respective upper and lower supports, the slots 25 each having a section which extends in a direction between the upper and lower edges, wherein the section of the slot towards the upper end has a larger dimension in the direction between the upper and lower edges than the section of the slot towards the lower end. 30

3. A clad wall according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each support member extends vertically for substantially the height of the wall. 10

4. A clad wall according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the support members are formed of sheet metal, and the supports are punched out of the body of the sheet metal.

5 5. A clad wall according to claim 4, the support member being secured to the wall by fasteners that extend through the flanges.

6. A clad wall according to claim 5, wherein the front face and the flanges are generally parallel to the wall. 10

7. A clad wall according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein each support includes a first portion which extends from the body of the support member in a direction away from the wall and which extends into engagement with the rear side of a tile. 15

8. A clad wall according to claim 7, wherein each support includes a second portion, which extends from an end of the first portion remote from the body and which extends upwardly at an angle to the first portion. 20

9. A clad wall according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein each group of supports supports one corner of each of four tiles.

10. A clad wall according to any one of claims I to 9, wherein the horizontally spaced pairs of supports are spaced apart with the spacing between the upper 25 pair being aligned vertically with the spacing between the lower pair, and an elongate jointing strip is accommodated in the spacing.

11. A support member for supporting at least a pair of vertically adjacent wall cladding tiles, including an elongate body which can be fixed to a wall being 30 clad, wherein the body is formed as a channel which includes a generally planar front face which is spaced outwardly from the wall, a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face, and a pair of flanges, one each of which extends from an end of the side walls remote from the front face, the elongate body further including at least two, vertically spaced groups of supports, each 11 group of supports including at least two horizontally spaced upper supports and at least two horizontally spaced lower supports, wherein the upper and lower supports extend from the planar front face and are vertically spaced in an installed condition of the support member, whereby the upper support is 5 arranged to support the weight of a lower end of a first cladding tile and the lower support is arranged to support the weight of the upper end of a second cladding tile which is vertically adjacent and below the first cladding tile, whereby the spacing between each group of supports is substantially greater than the spacing between the at least two supports of each group of supports. 10

12. A support member according to claim 11, and being formed of sheet metal with the supports being punched out of the body of the support member.

13. A support member according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the body is 15 formed as a channel which includes a generally planar front face from which the supports extend and which is spaced outwardly from the wall, a pair of side walls that extend rearwardly from the front face, and a pair of flanges, one each of which extends from an end of the side walls remote from the front face, the support member being securable to the wall by fasteners that extend through 20 the flanges.

14. A support member according to claim 13 wherein the front face and the flanges are generally parallel. 25

15. A support member according to any one of claims 11 to 14 wherein each support includes a first portion which extends from the body of the support member in a direction away from the wall for extending into engagement with the rear side of a tile. 30

16. A support member according to claim 15, wherein each support includes a second portion, which extends from an end of the first portion remote from the body and which extends upwardly at an angle to the first portion. 12

17. A support member according to claim 16, wherein each first portion extends generally perpendicular to the lengthwise extent of said body and wherein each second portion extends generally perpendicular to the respective first portion from which it extends. 5

18. A support member according to claim 17, wherein the second portion of each support extends generally perpendicular from its associated first portion.

19. A clad wall substantially as herein described with reference to the 10 accompanying drawings.

20. A support member substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 15 C-letMOMM