Mortar less brick wall construction

Abstract

A method for constructing a brick veneer wall without the use of mortar between the bricks is disclosed. The method is particularly adapted for use with bricks fabricated from andestic tuff material.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of construction. In particular, the method is directed to the construction of a veneer brick wall that is constructed without the use of mortar between the bricks.

Normally, veneer brick walls are constructed in front of structural walls. In the available prior veneer walls, the bricks forming the walls are fabricated into a wall by the use of mortar between the bricks. This type of construction suffers from several defects including the eventual deterioration of the mortar between the bricks which results in the deterioration of the structural integrity of the wall. In addition, there are certain geographic locations where the availability of raw material needed for the fabrication of conventional brick material is severely limited. At such locations, it is expensive to construct a brick wall which would require costs associated with transporting the bricks over a long distance.

The present invention is directed to use of a particular type of brick that is fabricated from a raw material prevalent in certain areas of the world. The bricks fabricated from this material are particularly appropriate for use in the method of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method for constructing a mortar less veneer brick wall comprising a plurality of rows of bricks comprising the steps of fabricating a plurality of bricks that are generally rectangular in shape with a top surface, a bottom surface and four side surfaces with each brick comprising an integral means on the top surface and bottom surface for connecting the plurality of bricks into the veneer brick wall; forming some of the plurality of bricks into a first row of the veneer brick wall by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces; forming a second row of the veneer brick wall on top of the first row by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces and connecting the second row to the first row by the integral means; and repeating the prior step for each of the remaining plurality of rows forming the veneer brick wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a wall constructed according to the present invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C illustrated one embodiment of bricks used in a method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to a method of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of another embodiment of bricks used in a method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-section of an alternate embodiment of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to the method of a present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-section of an alternate embodiment of a veneer brick wall fabricated according to the method of a present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of another embodiment of bricks used in the method of a present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings. However, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many obvious modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

The present invention is directed to a method of construction of a veneer brick wall without using mortar between the bricks. Although the scope of the present invention should not be limited thereby, a type of raw material can be used for the bricks that is particularly appropriate for use in connection with the method of the present invention. The raw material is a grayish white rock known as andesitic tuff. The material is available from Mount Ararat which is located near the borders of Turkey, Iran and Russia. The countries located near to Mount Ararat suffer from lack of the raw materials needed to fabricate the type of bricks normally used in veneer walls.

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a veneer wall 10 fabricated according to the method of the present invention. A plurality of bricks 12 are generally aligned in a staggered fashion into a plurality of rows 14. The plurality of bricks 12 utilized in the veneer wall 10 are illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the bricks 12 is generally rectangular in shape and comprises a top surface 16, a side surface 18 and a bottom surface 20. The top surface 16 comprises a projection of rectangular cross-section 21 protruding from the top surface 16 and extending the length of the brick 12. The top surface 16 further comprises bevels 22 located at the intersection of the top surface 16 and side surfaces 18. The bottom surface 20 comprises a slot of rectangular cross-section 24 extending along the length of the brick 12 that is adapted to receive the projection 21 on an adjoining brick. The bottom surface 20 further comprises bevels 26 located at the intersection of the bottom surface 20 and the side surfaces 18.

A cross section of the veneer wall is illustrated in FIG. 3. As can be seen from FIG. 3, the plurality of bricks 12 are stacked in rows one on top of the other to form the veneer wall. The rows of bricks 12 are aligned by fitting the projections 21 of one row into the slots 24 in the bricks 12 in the next adjoining row. In this manner, the veneer wall 10 is constructed without the use of mortar. FIG. 3 also illustrates the attachment of the veneer wall 12 to the structure of the building. This attachment is achieved through conventional construction techniques.

An alternative embodiment of the veneer wall is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this embodiment, shown in FIG. 4, the bricks 26 are generally rectangular in shape with bevels 28 at each of its four comers. The bricks 26 further comprise rectangular slots 30 on the top and bottom surface that both extend along the length of the brick 26. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of galvanized bars 32 are utilized. Each of the plurality of galvanized bars 32 are adapted to be received in the slots 30. The wall 25 in FIG. 4 is constructed by laying the bottom row of bricks 26 end to end with the slots 30 of each brick 26 of the row being longitudinally aligned to form a long slot in the row of bricks. One of the plurality of galvanized bars 32 is then placed into the slots 30 on the top surface of the bricks 26. The next row of bricks 26 is then placed on top of the first row. The slots 30 on the bottom of the second row of bricks 26 will fit over the top of the plurality of galvanized bars 32. The process will then be repeated for each succeeding row until the veneer wall 25 is constructed.

A second alternate embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 6. In this embodiment, the bricks 34 comprising the veneer wall 36 are similar to the bricks 26 in the FIG. 4 embodiment. However, the slots 38 on the top and bottom of the bricks 34 are semi-circular in cross-section. In addition, galvanized pipe 40 rather than a square bar is used between the bricks 34. The wall 36 is constructed by the same method as the wall in the FIG. 4 embodiment.

A third alternate embodiment of the veneer wall can be constructed by use of the bricks 42 illustrated in FIG. 6. The bricks 42 in FIG. 6 are generally rectangular with beveled corners similar to the bricks in the prior embodiments. The bricks 42 comprise a plurality of circular slots 44 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bricks and two semi-circular slots 46 at the ends of bricks. These bricks 48 would be constructed into a veneer wall without mortar between the bricks. However, the bricks 42 would be placed in such a manner that the slots 44 and 46 would align between the bricks and create a continuous round hole from top to bottom in the wall. In this type of wall, mortar could be poured into the continuous round hole to hold the bricks 42 together and thereby create the wall structure.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the foregoing description merely illustrates an embodiment of the present invention and many modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1) A method for constructing a mortar less veneer brick wall comprising a plurality of rows of bricks comprising the steps of:

a) Fabricating a plurality of bricks that are generally rectangular in shape with a top surface, a bottom surface and four side surfaces with each brick comprising an integral means on the top surface and bottom surface for connecting the plurality of bricks into the veneer brick wall;

b) Forming some of the plurality of bricks into a first row of the veneer brick wall by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces;

c) Forming a second row of the veneer brick wall on top of the first row by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces and connecting the second row to the first row by the integral means; and

d) Repeating step c for each of the remaining plurality of rows forming the veneer brick wall.

2) The method of claim 1 wherein the integral means comprises a rectangular projection on the top surface of each of the plurality of bricks and a rectangular slot on the bottom surface of each of the plurality of bricks wherein the rectangular slots of the bricks comprising a particular row are adapted to receive the rectangular projections from the row of bricks placed beneath the particular row.

3) The method of claim 1 wherein the bricks are fabricated from andestic tuff material.

4) The method of claim 1 wherein the integral means comprises a rectangular longitudinal slot in the top surface and bottom surface of each of the plurality of bricks and each of the plurality of rows of bricks is formed by aligning the rectangular longitudinal slots on each brick forming the row to form a long slot and each of the plurality of rows is connected to its adjoining row by providing a galvanized bar in the long slot.

5) The method of claim 1 wherein the integral means comprises a semi-circular longitudinal slot in the top surface and bottom surface of each of the plurality of bricks and each of the plurality of bricks is formed by aligning the semi-circular longitudinal slots on each brick forming the row to form a long slot and each of the plurality of rows is connected to its adjoining row by providing a galvanized pipe in the long slot.

6) A method for constructing a veneer brick wall comprising a plurality of rows of bricks comprising the steps of:

a) Fabricating a plurality of bricks that are generally rectangular in shape with a top surface, a bottom surface and four sides with each brick comprising a plurality of circular and semi-circular slots through the brick wherein the circular and semi-circular slots are aligned generally perpendicular to its top and bottom surfaces;

b) Forming some of the plurality of bricks into a first row of the veneer brick wall by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces;

c) Forming a second row of the veneer brick wall on top of the first row by placing the bricks together at adjoining side surfaces and aligning the plurality of circular and semi-circular slots in the second row of bricks with the corresponding plurality of circular and semi-circular slots in the first row of bricks;

d) Repeating Step c for each of remaining plurality of rows forming the veneer brick wall; and

e) Pouring mortar into the aligned plurality of circular and semi-circular slots in the rows of bricks forming the veneer brick wall.

7) The method of claim 6 wherein the bricks are fabricated from andestic tuff material.