Deck with drainage

Abstract

A deck with a drainage system. The drainage system is comprised of drainage channels formed by a flexible membrane disposed beneath a floor of the deck.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to structural building decks having drainage systems associated therewith.

2. Description of Related Art

Rooftop decks or sun decks are commonly found on buildings, such as residential structures, and generally provide an attractive gathering place with elevated views and sun exposure. However, often such decks can be difficult to maintain due to potential leaking through the deck into a space beneath the deck, such as, for example, when there are indoor living quarters situated beneath the deck. Some conventional methods of addressing deck leaks include coating the decks with waterproofing substances, including coating seams between deck floor planks. Such coatings can detract from the natural or attractive appearance of a deck having visible floor planks. Also, such coatings can require reapplication due to wear.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the present invention include deck drainage assemblies, systems, structures and methods of constructing the same. A rooftop deck having a drainage system can comprise a deck frame having floor joists. A plurality of planks can be coupled to the floor joists of the deck to form a floor of the deck and the planks may be visible, such as for aesthetic purposes. Flexible membrane sheets are coupled to the floor joists beneath the floor planks to form drainage channels having curved surfaces between the floor joists and beneath the floor planks. The flexible membranes sheets can comprise substantially water impermeable membranes such as, for example, modified bitumen. The drainage channels can have end portions adjacent a trough (gutter) and the trough can be enclosed within a frame of the roof deck. Also, apertures can be provided on one or more planks of the roof deck with the apertures being sealable using removable plugs. The plugs can be removable to allow insertion of a nozzle to flush or pressure wash the drainage channels beneath the floor of the deck. Also, straps of flexible material, such as nylon straps, can be coupled to the floor joists and extended between the floor joists beneath the drainage channels to provide support for the drainage channels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a deck comprising an embodiment of the present invention, with the deck disposed atop a building structure.

FIG. 2 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 1, showing drainage channels below floor planks of the roof deck and flexible straps for supporting the drainage channels.

FIG. 3 is a detail front elevation view of drainage channels and cross members of the deck as viewed from line 3-3 in FIG. 4 (but not showing the trough), with the drainage channels illustrated in partially assembled form comprising roofing felt sheets disposed below modified bitumen sheets that form the drainage channels.

FIG. 4 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the drainage channels of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective cutaway view of the deck of FIG. 1, illustrating the trough within an enclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the invention. However, upon reviewing this disclosure one skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. In other instances, well-known structures associated with decks and building construction have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the descriptions of the embodiments of the invention.

Although various embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated in the context of application to rooftop or sun decks, one skilled in the art will understand after reviewing the present disclosure that the present invention has applicability in a wide variety of structures to reduce or eliminate water leakage, such as, without limitation, building roof structures and other decks, whether disposed on a rooftop or not.

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate some embodiments of the present invention as applied to rooftop decks. Referring to FIG. 1, in those embodiments, a deck 1 can be constructed atop a building structure 22 with the deck having visible floor planks 2. The floor planks 2 can comprise conventional deck building materials, such as wood, or commonly available composite deck building materials.

As shown in FIG. 2, a frame for the deck can comprise floor joists 10, and cross-members 12, which can have ventilation apertures 14. The cross members can be “bird blocks,” as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after reviewing this disclosure. In addition, flexible straps 9 of material, such as nylon straps, can be coupled to the floor joists 10 and extend between the floor joists.

The cross members 12 can have recessed or downwardly curved surfaces on top portions thereof. The flexible straps 9 can hang or droop downward between the floor joists 10. As can be seen in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, flexible membrane sheets 18 can be disposed over the flexible straps 9 and the cross members 12, with portions of the flexible membrane sheets 18 hanging downward between the floor joists 10 to form curved conduit walls or drainage channels 17. The sheets of flexible membrane 18 can comprise water impermeable membrane, such as, for example, modified bitumen. The floor joists 10 can be constructed to provide a slight slope that is not noticeable to a user of the deck, but is enough to gravity drain water in the direction of arrows “A” within the channels 17. Thus, water can leak through seams between the floor planks 2, into the drainage channels 17 below to be directed away from the building structure 22.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, each channel 17 in which water can be drained, can be provided using a separate sheet of flexible membrane 18, with side portions 18b of each sheet of flexible membrane overlapping. In addition, a secondary sheet 16, such as roofing felt, can be placed beneath each sheet of flexible membrane 18, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after reviewing this disclosure. The roofing felt 16 can be used where a torch down method is employed for applying the flexible membrane 18 to seal the overlapping side portions 18b of the flexible member sheets 18. Furthermore, in some embodiments, various available sealant materials, such as tar sealants, can be applied between the layers of the sheets of flexible membrane 18 at the overlapping side portions 18b to bind the sheets together and help seal against water leakage. However, again, in some embodiments where the flexible membrane sheets 18 comprise modified bitumen, the flexible membrane sheets 18 can be heated with a torch to seal the side portions 18b, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Referring now to FIG. 2, the planks 2 can be attached to the floor joists 10 by, for example, providing nails that extend through the planks and the flexible membrane sheets 18 into the floor joists 10.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a gutter or trough 20 is disposed near end potions 18c of the channels 17, as best seen in FIG. 4. The end portions 18c of the channels 17 can extend over the trough 20. The trough 20 can channel water away from the end portions of the channels 17, such as to a downspout 3. Also, the trough 20 can be in an enclosure within a planks and sidewalls of the deck, as best seen in FIG. 5. In some embodiments, the trough 20 can be removed by being slide outward away from the enclosure, through a side opening adjacent an end cap 7 of the trough 20.

Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 5, in some embodiments of the present invention, one or more of the planks 2 is provided with apertures 6 that extend through the floor planks, with the apertures 6 being capable of being sealed using threaded removable plugs (not shown). In some embodiments, the apertures 6 have diameters between about ½ inch and 3 inches. The removable plugs can be unscrewed to expose the apertures 6 so that a user can insert a nozzle of any of various commercially available flushing or pressure washing device (as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art after reviewing this disclosure) to pressure wash or flush the drainage channels 17 below the deck planks 2.

Although specific embodiments and examples of the invention have been described supra for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art after reviewing the present disclosure. The various embodiments described can be combined to provide further embodiments. The described devices and methods can omit some elements or acts, can add other elements or acts, or can combine the elements or execute the acts in a different order than that illustrated, to achieve various advantages of the invention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above detailed description.

Claims

1. A deck structure having a drainage system comprising:

a deck floor having a plurality of planks;

a plurality of drainage channels disposed adjacent and below the deck floor for collecting and draining fluid away from below the planks, the plurality of drainage channels being formed using flexible membrane; and

a conduit disposed near an end portion of the drainage channels.

2. The deck structure of claim 1 wherein the plurality of drainage channels are supported by a flexible straps coupled to frame portions of the deck.

3. The deck structure of claim 1 wherein there are cross members disposed below end portions of the planks.

4. The deck structure of claim 1 wherein the flexible membrane comprises modified bitumen.

5. The deck structure of claim 1 wherein each of the drainage channels is formed using a separate sheet of flexible membrane.

6. The deck structure of claim 5 wherein each sheet of flexible membrane has at least two side portions coupled to joists of the deck structure and wherein a center portion of each sheet of flexible membrane hangs down below a top portion of the floor joists to form a drainage channel having curved walls.

7. The deck structure of claim 1 wherein at least one of the planks has apertures formed thereon extending through the plank.

8. A roof deck having a drainage system comprising:

a deck frame having floor joists;

a plurality of planks coupled to the floor joists to form a floor of the roof deck; and

a plurality of drainage channels having curved sidewalls formed by at lease one sheet of flexible membrane, the plurality of drainage channels being disposed below the plurality of planks.

9. The roof deck of claim 8 wherein a plurality of the drainage channels have end portions disposed above a trough.

10. The roof deck of claim 9 wherein the trough is at least partially enclosed within sidewalls of the roof deck.

11. The roof deck of claim 8 wherein at least one of the planks comprises a plurality of apertures extending through the plank with removable sealing members being disposed within the apertures.

12. The roof deck of claim 11 wherein the plurality of apertures have diameters between about ½ inch and about 3 inches.

13. The roof deck of claim 11 wherein the removable sealing members are threaded plugs.

14. The roof deck of claim 8 wherein the at least one sheet of flexible membrane comprises modified bitumen.

15. A method of building a deck with a drainage system, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of flexible membrane sheets, each flexible membrane sheet being substantially water impermeable;

attaching the flexible membrane sheets to floor joists of the deck, with a portion of each flexible membrane sheet forming a curved drainage surface between floor joists; and

attaching floor planks to the floor joists above the flexible membrane sheets.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein support straps are provided below the flexible membrane sheets.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein at least one of the floor planks has a plurality of apertures extending through the floor plank.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising disposing a trough below end portions of the flexible membrane sheets.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the trough is partially enclosed within sidewall portions of the deck.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the trough can be slid along an axis thereof to remove the trough from the sidewall portions of the deck.