PREFABRICATED STRUCTURAL BUILDING FRAME AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME

• US 20120096785A1
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Weeks Holdings Pty Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Weeks Holdings Pty Ltd.
• Inventors: Weeks, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 9,222,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 52/220.1
• CPC Class Codes: E04B 1/08 the elements consisting of metal
• CPC Class Codes: E04C 2/22 reinforced E04C2/205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E04C 2/384 with a metal frame
• CPC Class Codes: E04C 2/386 with a frame of unreconstituted or laminated wood

Abstract

The present invention relates to prefabricated structural building frames and, in particular, to foam-filled exterior wall frames for a building structure such as a house. In a preferred embodiment, each wall frame includes a foam facade on one side of the frame for receiving a finishing material and service cut-outs on the opposed internal side of the frame. The present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing the frames in accordance with building design data.

Claims

1. A prefabricated building frame characterised by:

structural frame elements;

expanded polystyrene foam moulded between said structural elements, said foam extending to a depth greater than said structural elements on at least one side of the frame to thereby form a foam facade; and

a coating applied to said foam facade.

2. A prefabricated building frame as characterised in claim 1 wherein said building frame is a wall frame and said coating is in the form of a waterproof render adapted to form the external surface of the wall frame.

3. A prefabricated building frame as characterised in claim 2 wherein said waterproof render includes a first layer of base render, a fibreglass mesh, a second layer of base render, and an external texture coating.

4. A prefabricated building frame as characterised in any one of claims 1-3 wherein said structural elements include a plurality of horizontal beams and vertical studs each having web and flange portions.

5. A prefabricated building frame as characterised in claim 4 wherein at least one of said frame elements includes one or more apertures extending through web portions thereof at predefined locations to accommodate services such as electrical wiring.

6. A prefabricated building frame as characterised in claim 5 wherein on the opposed side of the foam facade, said frame includes cut-outs in the foam adapted to define a path for said services.

12. A building structure including a plurality of prefabricated frames as characterised in any one of claims 1-11.

7. A prefabricated frame for a building structure such as a house, said frame characterised by:

structural frame elements including a plurality of horizontal beams and vertical studs each having web and flange portions, said frame elements including apertures extending through said web portions at predefined locations to accommodate services, such as electrical wiring;

a high density, insulating filler material moulded between said frame elements, said filler material including service cut-outs on one side of the frame which define a path for said services.

8. A prefabricated frame as characterised in claim 7 wherein said filler material is expanded polystyrene foam.

9. A prefabricated frame as characterised in claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said prefabricated frame is an external wall frame of the building structure.

10. A prefabricated frame as characterised in claim 8 wherein said wall frame includes an additional layer of filler material extending out from one side of said frame to a depth greater than that of said structural elements, said additional layer providing a smooth facade for receiving a coating material.

11. A prefabricated frame as characterised in claim 10 wherein said coating material includes a first layer of base render, a fibreglass mesh, a second layer of base render, and an external texture coating.

13. A method of producing a finished wall frame for a building structure characterised by the steps of:

assembling a plurality of structural elements to form a wall frame;

filling said frame with expanded polystyrene foam to a depth greater than that of the structural elements on one side of the wall frame, to thereby form a foam facade having no exposed metallic surface;

applying a weatherproof finishing material to said foam facade such that said facade is suitable as an external surface of said building structure.

14. A method of producing a finished wall frame as characterised in claim 13 including the further step of cutting service cut-outs into the foam on the opposite side of the frame for accommodating services such as electrical wiring.

27. A prefabricated frame manufactured in accordance with the method characterised in any one of claims 13-26.

28. A building structure including a plurality of wall frames manufactured in accordance with the method characterised in any one of claims 13-26.

15. A method of producing prefabricated frames for a building structure such as a house, including the steps of:

inputting data relating to a design of the structure into a computer program which translates the design data into designs of a plurality of separate frames that have the correct size and shape to be assembled together to complete the structure, and produce operational instructions for roll-forming strip and cutting the roll-formed strip into structural elements;

roll-forming and cutting the strip in accordance with said operational instructions;

assembling the frames;

filling the frames with a high density insulating material, such as expanded polystyrene foam to a depth greater than the structural elements on at least one side of each frame to thereby form a metal-free foam facade; and

applying a weatherproof coating to said foam facade.

16. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 15 wherein said operational instructions further include instructions for cutting service apertures in the structural elements.

17. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 16 further including the step of providing service apertures in the strip in accordance with said operational instructions.

18. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in any one of claims 15-17 wherein said operational instructions further include instructions for forming service cutouts in said foam on the opposite side to said foam facade.

19. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 18 wherein said method includes a further step of forming said service cutouts in said foam in accordance with the operational instructions.

20. A method of producing prefabricated frames for a building structure such as a house, including the steps of:

inputting data relating to a design of the structure into a computer program which translates the design data into designs of a plurality of separate frames that have the correct size and shape to be assembled together to complete the structure, and produce operational instructions for roll-forming strip, cutting the roll-formed strip into structural elements, and cutting service apertures in the structural elements;

roll-forming, cutting and providing service apertures in the strip in accordance with said operational instructions;

assembling the frames; and

filling the frames with a high density insulating material, such as expanded polystyrene foam.

21. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 20 wherein said computer program further produces operational instructions for forming service cutouts in said foam on one side of said frame.

22. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 21 wherein said method includes a further step of forming said service cutouts in accordance with the operational instructions.

23. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 21 or claim 22 wherein said step of filling the frames with high density insulating material involves filling the frames to a depth greater than the structural elements on the opposite side of the frame to that of the service cut-outs to thereby provide a smooth facade.

24. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 23 wherein said method includes the further step of applying a coating material to said smooth facade.

25. A method of producing prefabricated frames as characterised in claim 24 wherein said coating material includes a first layer of base render, a fibreglass mesh, a second layer of base render, and an external texture coating.

26. A method of manufacturing a prefabricated wall frame for a house including the steps of:

inputting data relating to a design of the house into a computer program which translates the design data into designs of a plurality of separate wall frames that have the correct size and shape to be assembled together to complete the building of the house, and produce operational instructions for roll-forming strip and cutting the roll-formed strip into structural elements, cutting service apertures in the structural elements, cutting service channels into the frame, filling the frame with expanded polystyrene foam, applying an additional layer of foam and a coating material;

roll-forming, cutting and providing service apertures in the strip in accordance with said operational instructions to form the structural elements forming part of each frame;

assembling the frames;

filling the frames with expanded polystyrene foam in accordance with said operational instructions;

cutting service channels into the foam in accordance with said operational instructions;

applying an additional layer of foam to one side of frames which are identified as being external wall frames of the house in accordance with the operational instructions to thereby form a smooth external facade; and

applying said coating material to the external facade in accordance with the operational instructions.