Wall stud
A wall stud has two sidewalls interconnected by a spanning web that includes first and second portions connected to respective sidewalls and being connected themselves by a curved member, preferably of semicircular shape. The curved member also has at least one row of longitudinal slots formed along its length. Sound insulating material may be packed within the stud.
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The present invention relates to a wall stud having improved acoustic and mechanical properties.
A common building technique for the fabrication of building walls, and in particular internal walls, is to fasten sheets of walling material, such as plasterboard, to vertical channel section beams known as wall studs. Typically, each stud is secured to a horizontal beam or channel secured to either the floor or ceiling of the room in which the interior wall is being constructed. This wall construction technique is both relatively simple and inexpensive and further allows existing room spaces to be subdivided if required, for example when altering the use of an existing building.
Rather than fasten a sheet of plasterboard to either side of the same wall stud, it is common practice to use two rows of parallel wall studs and fasten a single sheet of plasterboard to the outside faces of each of the paired studs. This is done to create a relatively large air gap within the resulting wall that provides low frequency sound insulation.
However, this kind of ‘double stud’ construction usually requires some form of brace to be fastened between parallel studs spanning the air gap to give the structure adequate strength. As the brace provides a necessarily stiff connection between studs, it also provides a bridging sound transmission point, reducing the sound insulating performance of the wall. Although attempts have been made to overcome this problem by providing the braces with resilient portions intended to reduce their sound transmission properties, it remains less than totally satisfactory.
Furthermore, by using a double row of studs for a single wall, the cost of materials used, and time required to install two rows of tracks, is significantly increased over the costs that would be incurred if a single stud construction could be used.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a wall stud comprising two opposing sidewalls interconnected by a spanning web, the spanning web comprising first and second substantially planar members connected to the respective sidewalls and a curved member interconnecting the first and second planar members, the curved member having at least one row of elongate slots formed therein along a longitudinal axis thereof.
It is therefore possible to provide a channel section wall stud in which the single web interconnecting the two sidewalls to which respective sheets of walling material will be fastened has a cross section corresponding substantially to a letter C having elongate sidearms.
Additionally or alternatively, the curved member has a plurality of rows of elongate slots formed therein, adjacent rows being longitudinally offset from one another. The slots are preferably at least twice the length of the interconnecting portions of the curved member. Optionally, the width of the curved member (i.e. the diameter of the semicircular embodiment) is approximately equal to the width of each of the first and second planar members.
Preferably, the curved member is substantially semicircular.
At least one of the sidewalls, and more preferably both, has a longitudinal acute groove, for example, a V-shaped groove, extending over at least a portion of the length of the stud. Additionally, the acute groove is located substantially midway across the width of the sidewall.
Preferably, at least one of the surfaces of the sidewalls facing away from each other has a plurality of depressions formed therein. Additionally, the depressions may be pyramidal in shape. Additionally or alternatively, the depressions may be formed by a deep knurling process and/or a corrugating process. The depressions increases the stiffness of the sidewalls, thus making it easier to fasten wall boards to the stud.
Optionally, a first non-woven tissue may extend across opposing edges of the curved member, whereby an enclosed space is defined between the non-woven tissue and the curved member, and a second non-woven tissue may extend between the opposing sidewalls.
Alternatively, a sheet of material having sound insulating properties may extend between the opposing sidewalls. The sheet of material may comprise glass or rock mineral wool matting, spun bonded polyester wool foamed plastics, or any other suitable sound absorbing material.
Embodiments of the present invention are described below, as illustrative examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Also visible in
Preferred dimensions for the wall stud 2 are as follows:
The spanning web 12 may be between 40 mm and 150 mm in width.
The width of the curved member 18, or diameter, may be approximately ⅓ of the total width of the spanning web 12, with the curved member 18 located substantially centrally in the web.
The width of the sidewalls 4, 6 may be between 32 mm and 52 mm.
The width of the interned flanges 20,22 may be between 6 mm and 12 mm.
The length of the slots 24 may be approximately 70 mm.
The separation of the slots 24 may be between 10 mm and 25 mm (i.e. the length to separation ratio of the slots is approximately 3:1).
The width of the slots 24 is approximately between 1 mm to 4 mm.
By providing multiple rows of elongate slots the ability of the stud to transmit sound waves is further reduced. In the illustrated embodiments it is preferred to displace the rows of slots with respect to one another to maintain sufficient strength within the stud. However, other arrangements of the rows of slots may be utilised in conjunction with appropriate stud materials and the illustrated embodiments are not to be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention.
A further embodiment of a wall stud according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in
A stud wall construction according to prior art techniques is schematically illustrated in
This is contrasted by the stud wall construction illustrated in
Claims
1. A wall stud comprising two opposing sidewalls interconnected by a spanning web, the spanning web comprising first and second substantially planar members connected to the respective sidewalls and a curved member interconnecting the first and second planar members, the curved member having at least one row of elongate slots formed therein along a longitudinal axis thereof.
2. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of rows of elongate slots are formed along a longitudinal axis of a curved member, adjacent rows of elongate slots being longitudinally offset from one another.
3. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein the length of the elongate slots is at least twice the length of the interposed portions of the curved member.
4. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein the width of the curved member is approximately equal to the width of each of the first and second planar members.
5. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein the curved member is substantially semicircular.
6. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the sidewalls has a longitudinal acute groove.
7. A wall stud according to claim 6, wherein the acute grove is located substantially midway across the width of the sidewall.
8. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the surfaces of the sidewalls facing away from one another has a plurality of depressions formed therein.
9. A wall stud according to claim 8, wherein said depressions are pyramidal in shape.
10. A wall stud according to claim 8, wherein said depressions are formed by a deep knurling process.
11. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein a first non-woven tissue extends across opposing edges of the curved member, whereby an enclosed space is defined between said non-woven tissue and the curved member, and wherein a second non-woven tissue extends between said opposing sidewalls.
12. A wall stud according to claim 1, wherein a sheet of material having sound insulating properties extends between the opposing sidewalls.
13. A wall stud according to claim 12, wherein said sheet of material comprises glass or rock mineral wood, spun bonded polyester wool or foamed plastic.
Type: Application
Filed: May 30, 2003
Publication Date: Aug 24, 2006
Applicant: LAFARGE PLATRES (AVIGNON CEDEX 9)
Inventor: Christopher Walker (Bristol Avon)
Application Number: 10/516,273
International Classification: E04C 3/30 (20060101);