Modular Composite Floor Units
The invention provides a modular composite floor unit and a method for its manufacture. The floor unit is factory-made. An edge frame (10) is provided from cold-rolled sheet metal members (24 and 32) welded or brazed together to create edge shuttering. A cast concrete ceiling slab (12) is cast within the edge frame (10) over a smooth casting surface. The cast ceiling slab (12) encases a first inturned lip of the edge frame (10), a first lattice (26) of reinforcing rods or wires anchored at their ends to opposite sides and ends of the edge frame (10), and the bottom edges, or hangers (70) suspended below the bottom edges, of an array of mutually parallel spaced metal joists (18) which are welded or brazed to the edge frame (10) at their opposite ends. An infill layer is then created from blocks (16) or particulate material filling most of the height of the exposed portions of the array of mutually parallel spaced joists (18). A concrete floor slab (14) is cast within the edge frame (10) over the top of the infill layer, encasing an upper inturned lip of the edge frame (10), a second lattice (28) of reinforcing rods or wires anchored at their ends to opposite sides and ends of the edge frame (10), and the top edges, or anchorage members (60) secured to the top edges, of the mutually parallel spaced joists (18). The top surface of the cast floor slab (14) is float-finished to create a final floor unit that requires no screeding. The bottom surface of the cast ceiling slab (12) has a finish defined by the surface on which it was cast, and is visible without further treatment as the ceiling of the room below the floor unit when the unit is used in the construction of a multi-storey building.
The invention relates to modular composite floor units, being components of modular building systems or of steel frame building systems for the rapid construction of buildings for use either as industrial or commercial premises or as dwellings. The invention also relates to a method for the manufacture of such modular composite floor units.
BACKGROUND ARTModular buildings can be constructed from prefabricated wall panels which are bolted or welded together on site to create the framework of the building. The prefabricated wall panels can include pre-installed window frames, door frames, electrical connections and/or plumbing connections to reduce the building and finishing time on-site, and in a typical modular construction process are assembled on-site by being moved into position by a crane or other lifting equipment before being connected together to create a rigid structure. If the building is a steel-framed building then similarly the girders are lifted into position on-site and connected together to create the rigid framework of the building onto and into which are secured the desired external and internal wall panels.
The floors of such buildings can be hollow or solid. By “hollow” floors there is conventionally meant floors created from planks or panels, generally of timber or timber-based composite materials such as plywood, chipboard and oriented particle board, laid over a supporting structure such as timber joists or metal beams. By “solid floors” there is conventionally meant concrete floors.
Solid floors are often preferred for their better sound insulation properties, and are often specified for multi-occupancy buildings such as apartments, hotels and student accommodation and for industrial and commercial premises. Generally solid floors are made principally from concrete or reinforced concrete, which may be poured on-site. The edges of the solid floor created by pouring wet concrete are defined by the brick work or block work defining the periphery of the building or the room within the building into which the floor is being laid, or by edge shuttering positioned on-site. That edge shuttering may then be removed once the concrete has set, or may remain in position.
Solid floors may alternatively be created by laying pre-cast concrete flooring panels. Those panels are pre-cast off-site in open moulds and generally incorporate metal reinforcement bars. They are often cast with longitudinal holes or channels to reduce the overall weight, and also are often cast with a slight convex shape which assists stress distribution in the final building. Ultimately however each array of pre-cast solid flooring panels is covered with a cement screed to smooth out the surface imperfections and irregularities. The screeded area must be kept clear of construction personnel while the cement screed dries and sets, and this of necessity slows down the construction process requiring work on-site to be stopped or diverted to other areas until the screed is sufficiently hard and durable to accept foot traffic without damage.
EP-A-881067 discloses a modular composite wall or floor; unit and a method for its manufacture. In fact the strength requirements and in particular the fire resistance performance specifications for wall and floor units are vastly different, so the teaching of EP-A-881067 should not be misunderstood as being that a single product can be laid vertically as a wall or horizontally as a floor. The wall and floor units are substantially different products but according to EP-A-881067 can share common design concepts. The following summary of the relevant teachings of EP-A-881067 is therefore restricted to its teachings of floor units only.
The floor unit of EP-A-881067 is a modular floor unit in the sense that t is cast off-site and then transported to the site of the building under construction. It is a composite floor unit in the sense that it is not a single cast slab of concrete that would typify a solid floor unit. It is cast as two concrete slabs separated by an air space or by a layer of insulation (thermal and/or acoustic insulation). The two concrete slabs are cast one at a time in a metal form which has a base and sides. The base gives a smooth finish to the underside of the first slab to be cast, while the sides of the form create the side shuttering for the wet concrete of that first slab. A corrugated plate or array of metal l-beams is placed over the top of the first slab to be cast, and creates a support surface for the base of the second slab to be cast. The sides of the second cast slab are defined by the same shuttering as that used to define the sides of the first cast slab, namely the sides of the metal form. If desired, an edge detail such as a peripheral recess can be added to the second cast slab by positioning a form liner around the periphery of the form before casting the second concrete slab. After casting, and after the concrete has set, the cast composite floor unit is lifted out of the form and any form liner removed, to obtain the final composite floor unit in which the valleys of the corrugated sheet or the bottom flanges of the I-beam are partially immersed in the set concrete of the first (bottom) cast slab and the peaks of the corrugated sheet or the top flanges of the I-beams are partially immersed in the set concrete of the underside of the second (top) cast slab. The composite structure includes a void between the two cast slabs, although that void may if desired be filled with a thermal or acoustic insulation such as a foamed resin composition.
Both the thermal and the acoustic performance of the composite floor unit of EP-A-881067 leaves much to be desired. Acoustically, the I-beams or spans of the corrugated metal sheet connecting the top and bottom cast slabs provide a direct sound path from one cast slab to the other, so the filling of the void with an acoustic insulating material does very little to prevent the transmission of sound from the floor defined by the top face or the top slab to the ceiling defined by the bottom face of the bottom slab. Fire resistance is also very poor. In a first test, the bottom slab would rapidly detach from the corrugated metal sheet or I-beams, and the structural integrity of the composite floor unit would soon be lost. The composite floor unit of EP-A-881067 would therefore fall very far short of compliance with British Standard 476, Part 21: 1987, clause 7. That fire resistance standard requires that the structural integrity of the floor unit should be maintained within specified limits even after exposure of one face of the floor unit to a furnace temperature rising to over 1150° C. over a period of 4 hours, and that the mean temperature rise of the face remote from the furnace should be no more than 140° C., with a peak temperature rise of no more than 180° C. Test results are normally reported in terms of the time duration that elapses before one of the monitored parameters indicates failure of the test specimen, either by some loss of structural integrity or by an unacceptable temperature rise at the face remote from the furnace.
It is an object of the invention to create a modular composite floor unit which exhibits both good thermal and good acoustic insulation and is capable of markedly better performance characteristics than that of EP-A-881067.
It is desirable that both the upper and lower surfaces of the composite floor unit are smooth. Therefore without on-site screeding the floor unit will present an acceptably smooth finish suitable for tiling or carpeting; whereas the underside is preferably smooth enough or has a sufficiently accurate surface finish to be visible as a decorative smooth or patterned ceiling finish to the room below.
Most importantly, however, it is a further object of the invention to create a modular composite floor unit which can meet the fire resistance performance demands of British Standard 476, Part 21: 1987, clause 7.
THE INVENTIONThe invention provides a modular composite floor unit as defined in claim 1. The invention also provides a method for the manufacture of such a floor unit, as defined in claim 26.
One feature of the floor unit of the invention that is not found in the floor unit described in EP-A-881067 is that according to the invention the edge frame forms a permanent part of the floor unit, whereas according to EP-A-881067 it is a temporary form from which the floor unit is removed prior to use. The edge frame of the floor unit of the invention is welded or brazed to the ends of the lattice of reinforcing rods which ultimately will reinforce the material of the ceiling slab. Also the spaced metal joists which take the weight of the two cast slabs are, according to the invention, welded or brazed at their ends to the metal of the edge frame. The result is a composite floor unit which considerably outperforms that of EP-A-881067 in fire resistance tests, and which can survive the test of BS 476, Part 21: 1987, clause 7 for the full 4 hours of the test duration without failure. At first it appeared desirable to weld or braze to the edge frame the lattice of reinforcing rods which ultimately will reinforce the material of the flooring slab. Surprisingly however it has been found that the above excellent fire resistance is obtained when only the reinforcing rods of the cast ceiling slab are welded or brazed to the edge frame, and the reinforcing rods of the cast flooring slab are free from the edge frame. Freeing the ends of the reinforcing rods of the flooring slab in this way makes it possible for the flooring slab to be constructed as a floating floor, which gives the composite floor unit of the invention really outstanding acoustic insulation properties. Although fire resistance could in theory be improved further by connecting the ends of the flooring slab reinforcing rods to the edge frame, this would be at the expense of increased sound transmission through the composite floor unit, and it has been established that the preferred composite floor unit according to the invention is one with only the reinforcing mesh of the ceiling slab welded or brazed to the edge frame.
The supporting joists fulfill two different functions. Support for the second (top) slab must be to building regulation standards for the strength and fire resistance of a load-bearing floor. That may be provided by having the top slab simply rest on the joists, but preferably the top slab is physically anchored to the joists by having the longitudinal top edges of the supporting joists embedded in the material of the top slab or by having anchorage members secured to the longitudinal top edges of the supporting joists and embedded in the material of the top slab. Support for the first (bottom) slab may be to the lower building regulation standard for the strength and fire resistance of a suspended ceiling, although according to the invention it is possible to surpass that standard by a very considerable margin. The required support may be provided by having the longitudinal bottom edges of the supporting joists embedded in the material of the bottom slab or by having suspension members supported by the relevant supporting joists and embedded in the material of the bottom slab.
The sound insulating material may wholly or partially fill the space between the two cast slabs, which may be of the same or different materials, and the same thickness as each other or of different thicknesses. The top slab must be of a cement based material, such as concrete. The bottom slab may be of a cement based material such as concrete or a gypsum based material. Typical dimensions are that the individual slabs may be from 50 to 100 mm thick with a separation of from 150 to 300 mm. Preferably each slab has a thickness of about 65 mm and preferably the separation is about 225 mm. Other preferred or optional features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the drawings.
The modular composite floor unit of
The overall structure of the layered infill for the edge frame 10 is illustrated in
The bottom slab of poured concrete 12 is poured around a reinforcing lattice of rods or wires 26 which are welded or brazed to the edge frame 10 all around its periphery. A similar lattice of rods or wires 28 provides reinforcement for the top layer of poured concrete 14. The fact that the rods or wires 28 are secured at their ends to the edge frame 10 by welding or brazing has proved to be of enormous importance in providing the fire resistance of the composite floor unit according to the invention. The ceiling and floor slabs with those rods or wires as internal reinforcement are joined integrally to the edge frame 10 in a row of such welded or brazed connections which preferably extend completely around the periphery of the composite floor unit. Furthermore the anchorage of the cast slabs (ceiling and floor) to the edge frame 10 can be considerably enhanced by allowing the unset material of the cast slabs to flow into an around channel ends of C-shaped cold rolled sections of the edge frame 10, and preferably through apertures formed in the material of the C-shaped sections. For example the poured concrete of both the bottom and top concrete slabs extends through apertures 25, 31 formed in the edge frame members 24 and 30 into the internal cavities of the edge frame members 24 (
The edge frame members 24 and 30 (
The method of construction of the modular composite floor unit of
When the welding of the edge frame 10, the lattice 26 and the optional cross-braces 32 is complete, the edge frame 10 is turned over onto a smooth flat casting surface, ready for the casting of the bottom layer 12 of poured concrete. The casting surface (not illustrated in the drawings) may be any smooth flat surface coated with a concrete mould release agent. It may, for example, be a flat metal surface such as the smooth flat surface of a steel plate decking in the factory. Mirror steel may be used to provide an even smoother cast finish to the concrete that is poured. Alternatively, the casting surface may be textured, to give an attractive textured appearance to the underside of the cast floor unit, which will become the ceiling of the room below in the finished building. Clearly any texturing must be carefully regulated so that it does not interfere with the mould release.
Alternatively, the casting surface may be covered with paper or fabric that is preferably wetted, for example by spraying, with a bonding adhesive that causes it to adhere to the concrete that is poured into the edge frame 10. That provides a paper or textured fabric finish to the underside of the resulting floor unit, which provides the best possible paintable surface for ultimate ceiling decoration.
The concrete layer 12 may be poured as a single layer of liquid concrete, or it may be built up in layers. For example a first layer, about 5 mm deep, of a grano gel coat may be poured first, followed by 25 mm of C30 grade concrete. Concrete with a lightweight or porous aggregate is preferred, and the depth of the concrete is preferably marginally above the level of the runners 20 and 22, as shown by a broken lead line 36 in
While the poured concrete is still unset, rows of walling blocks 16 are placed on the runners 20 and 22 and between adjacent parallel spaced joists 18, completely to fill the floor space as defined by the edge frame 10. The walling blocks 16 are preferably wetted before installation using a water-based bonding agent to ensure good adhesion to the concrete, and are preferably pressed into the unset concrete until they rest on the runners 20 and 22, so that the displaced concrete is pushed up between adjacent walling blocks, to provide better bonding with the walling blocks 16. The top edges of the walling blocks 16 create a generally planar surface, indicated in
Before the top layer of concrete 14 is poured, however, the second lattice 28 of rods or wires is placed over the protruding tops of the parallel spaced joists 18, and welded to an inturned flange 44 of the edge frame members 24 and to an inturned flange 46 of the edge frame members 30. Over the top of the lattice 28 there are then preferably welded diagonal cross-braces 32 as illustrated in
The top layer of poured concrete 14 is then poured over the tops of the walling blocks 16. The concrete will settle down into any gaps between the walling blocks, and will flow through apertures in the edge frame members 24 as indicated by the shaded portions 48 of the joist members 18 in
To lift the finished floor unit from the casting surface, lifting apertures or hooks or other handling formations (not shown) are formed around the edge frame 10, and the finished floor unit can be lifted, after the concrete has set, by suitable handling equipment directly onto a lorry or other transport vehicle, to the final site of the building under erection. The accuracy of the dimensions of the floor unit, made under factory conditions, is such that it can be presented up to pre-established mounting bolts or spigots on or in the building under construction, with a virtual guarantee of accurate alignment
Many modifications are possible to the method of construction described above. The function of the walling blocks 16, being less dense than concrete, is to reduce the overall weight of the floor unit. For this reason, the above description refers by way of example to the use of lightweight walling blocks. Walling blocks made from a cinder or porous aggregate are highly suitable, such as those sold under the Trade Mark THERMALITE™. The blocks 16 are provided for their sound insulation properties and to create additional thickness to the floor unit without adding unduly to the overall weight, and a number of alternative materials may therefore be used. For example, in place of walling blocks there may be used blocks of expanded polystyrene, blocks of balsa wood, sheets of rockwool, sheets of fibreglass matting, or hollow moulded plastic boxes. The blocks 16 could even be replaced by hollow boxes made from waxed cardboard. Plastic or cardboard boxes, when used, are preferably filled with a sound absorbing material such as rockwool, fibreglass matting, shredded newspaper, paper mache, compressed straw, reclaimed particulate rubber or other lightweight products of the rubbish recycling industry. Alternatively the longitudinal spaces between the bottom and top layers 12 and 14 of poured concrete can be filled by a lightweight particulate material such as chopped straw, pelleted newspaper waste, hollow balls or polystyrene beads. Boards of wood or of a wood-based product such as plywood or oriented particle board may then be placed over the fill material to create the generally planar surface 42 onto which the top layer of concrete 14 is to be poured, and the remainder of the method of assembly is exactly as described above. If the loose or particulate fill material is compressible, or if it does not completely fill the space separating the two cast concrete slabs 12 and 14 of the finished floor unit, then it will be preferred to incorporate runners (not illustrated) similar to the runners 20 and 22 of
The complete floor units may be transported quite easily and safely and with very little added protection required during transport, because they are protected from accidental edge damage by the edge frame 10 which becomes an integral part of the construction.
It will be seen from
The top surface of the floor unit is as flat and smooth as the power float operator can produce, which is a smoothness equal to that of conventional floors screeded on-site. The under-surface is as smooth as the casting surface on which the floor unit is made which, being in factory conditions, is a very high standard of smoothness. Alternatively it may be paper-covered by casing onto paper as described above. Alternatively it may be textured, by casting onto a textured fabric which adheres to the underside of the floor unit after casting and which thus establishes the texture of the resulting visible ceiling; or by casting onto a textured casting surface.
The embodiment of
The sound insulating material illustrated in
After the bottom concrete slab has been cast to the required depth, the insulation mats 50 are laid between the joists, and boards 52 are placed on longitudinal supporting runners 54 which have been welded or brazed to the supporting joists. A similar runner 56 is spot welded or brazed to the inside of the edge frame member 24. The boards 52 provide a base for the pouring of the second concrete slab 14 which is poured and float-finished as described earlier.
The air gap above the mats 50 in
It will be seen in each of
In
Each cradle 60 of
It will be understood that instead of the metal of the strap hangers 70 as shown in
Although not illustrated, the hollow box section joists 18D and 18E of
Another modification (not illustrated) is to place a layer of acoustic rubber over the tops of the box sections 18D or the single or back-to-back J-sections, together possibly with an edge trim of acoustic rubber between the cast concrete of the top slab 14 and the edge frame 10. This gives a floating floor without detracting from the excellent rigidity and acoustic superiority of the modular floor units as described and illustrated.
It will be appreciated that the construction detail shown in
The most remarkable advantage of all of the embodiments of composite floor unit according to the invention as illustrated in
Referring to
Insulation 50 such as high density rockwool insulation matting (for example that sold under the Trade Mark BEAMCLAD) is then packed into the voids above the cast slab and between the joists 18F, and one or more solid boards 95 placed over the tops of the joists 18F. A very suitable material for those boards 95 is a fibre board impregnated with bitumen, as sold under the Trade Mark BITROC. If desired, additional support for the boards 95 can be provided by first placing transverse beams 96 between pairs of adjacent joists 18F at intervals along the length of the joists 18F. Each transverse beam 96, of which one is shown in perspective view in
The solid boards 95 provide a base support for the upper slab of concrete 14 that is to be cast over the top of the composite floor unit. Before that concrete is poured, however, the lattice 28 of reinforcing rods is secured in position. Mesh anchorage members 60 or 60a, as already illustrated in
Although not illustrated in
The floor unit as illustrated in
Even though the furnace temperature was raised to 1152° C. during the test, the maximum temperature of the top surface of the floor unit even after 4 hours was only 68° C., indicating excellent thermal insulation between the top and bottom slabs of the floor unit. Structural integrity and load-bearing capability were maintained for the full 4 hours of the test although there was a slight (but acceptable) bowing or sagging of a part of the bottom slab towards the end of the test. The specimen under test still satisfied the test criteria for upper surface temperature, load-bearing capacity and structural integrity at the end of the 4-hour test, which represents really astonishing performance characteristics, way beyond expectations which were for at most a 90-minute satisfaction of all of the test criteria.
In addition to the quite unpredictably high fire resistance of the specimen floor being tested, that same floor unit had previously been subjected to a test for acoustic insulation. It was found to be far superior to conventional solid floors and to conventional hollow floors. The excellent acoustic properties are thought to be a combination of the dense nature of the top and bottom slabs, the fact that those slabs are anchored all round their periphery to the edge frame by virtue of the welded or brazed connections between the reinforcing lattice of rods or wires and the edge frame and between the joists and the edge frame, and the less dense interior of the composite floor unit. The less dense interior, provided by the rockwool 50 and the air gap over the rockwool, provides good acoustic insulation. The direct acoustic paths through the composite floor unit from the top surface to the bottom surface are largely confined to the self-tapping screws 62 linking the top slab 14 to the joists 18F, and the mesh hangers 70. By judicious spacing of those hangers 70 the composite floor unit of the invention achieves, in a total thickness or depth of less than 300 mm for the floor unit, a level of acoustic insulation that might be expected of a conventional floor unit at least twice as thick.
Claims
1. A modular composite floor unit for an above-ground-level floor of a building, comprising:
- an edge frame made from cold-rolled sheet metal edge members welded or brazed together to form an accurately sized and proportioned edge shuttering for the floor unit:
- a cast cement-based or gypsum-based ceiling slab cast within the edge frame and encasing a first lattice of reinforcing rods or wires; and
- a cast cement-based flooring slab spaced from the ceiling slab and cast within the edge frame, encasing a second lattice of reinforcing rods or wires which are welded or brazed at their ends to opposite edge members of the edge frame;
- each of the ceiling and flooring slabs being supported across its width by an array of mutually parallel spaced metal joists which extend across the floor unit between the cast slabs and are welded or brazed at their opposite ends to opposite edge members of the edge frame; and
- the space between the ceiling and flooring slabs containing a sound insulating material of lower density than that of the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
2. A floor unit according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating material completely or substantially completely fills the inter-joist space between the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
3. A floor unit according to claim 2, wherein the sound insulating material comprises an array of blocks of lower density than that of the material of the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
4. A floor unit according to claim 3, wherein the blocks are blocks of a cinder-based or porous aggregate-based cement walling block material, expanded polystyrene, rockwool, compressed straw or balsa wood; or are plastic or cardboard boxes filled with loose particulate material such as rockwool, shredded newspaper, paper mache, chopped straw, glass fibre matting or reclaimed particulate rubber.
5. A floor unit according to claim 3, wherein the cast floor slab has been cast directly over the tops of the array of blocks and has been allowed to flow around and between the blocks of the array.
6. A floor unit according to claim 2, wherein the sound-insulating material comprises a layer of a lightweight sound absorbing material laid over the top of the cast ceiling slab and between the joists, and a solid board or an array of solid boards placed over the sound absorbing material, the board or boards being supported by the sound absorbing material or by the joists.
7. A floor unit according to claim 6, wherein the cast floor slab has been cast over the top of the solid board or boards.
8. A floor unit according to claim 1, wherein the sound insulating material only partially fills the space between the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
9. A floor unit according to claim 8, wherein the sound insulating material comprises a layer of lightweight sound absorbing material laid over the top of the cast ceiling slab and between the joists, and a solid board or an array of solid boards supported by the joists at a level spaced from the top of the layer of sound-absorbing material.
10. A floor unit according to claim 9, wherein the cast floor slab has been cast over the top of the solid board or boards.
11. A floor unit according to claim 1, wherein each joist has one longitudinal edge embedded in the material of the cast ceiling slab and an opposite longitudinal edge embedded in the material of the cast floor slab.
12. A floor unit according to claim 11, wherein the joists are made from cold-rolled C-section steel.
13. A floor unit according to claim 1, wherein each joist has one longitudinal edge embedded in the material of one of the cast slabs and an opposite longitudinal edge in the space between the cast slabs, in an alternating sequence of joists or pairs of joists across the floor unit.
14. A floor unit according to claim 13, wherein the joists are made from cold-rolled J-section steel, the inturned longitudinal edge of each section being that which is located in the space between the cast slabs.
15. A floor unit according to claim 13, wherein the joists having a longitudinal edge embedded in the material of the cast ceiling slab are offset laterally from those having a longitudinal edge embedded in the material of the cast floor slab, the wall portions of the respective joists extending more than half way across the space between the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
16. A floor unit according to claim 15, wherein pairs of adjacent joists, one having an edge embedded in the material of the cast ceiling slab and the other having an edge embedded in the material of the cast floor slab, are closely adjacent one another and separated by a greater distance from adjacent similar pairs of joists.
17. A floor unit according to claim 16, wherein free edges of adjacent joists having edges embedded in the material of the same cast slab, those free edges being the edges located in the space between the slabs, are joined together at intervals along the length of the joists by straps which transfer buckling loads between the joists.
18. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein the joists are hollow box section joists or hot rolled parallel flanged channel joists.
19. A floor unit according to claim 18, wherein the cast ceiling slab is supported by the joists across its width by hangers suspended from the joists or from some of the joists and supporting the first lattice of reinforcing rods or wires across the width of the cast ceiling slab.
20. A floor unit according to claim 19, wherein the hangers are wire hangers.
21. A floor unit according to claim 19, wherein the hangers are metal straps which pass over the joists from which they are suspended and hang down on opposite sides of those joists, having transverse slots in lower ends of the hangers which hook around and support the reinforcing rods or wires of the first lattice.
22. A floor unit according to claim 18, wherein the cast floor slab is supported by the joists across its width by being cast on a solid board resting directly on the top of those joists.
23. A floor unit according to claim 22, wherein the cast floor slab is anchored to the joists which support it across its width by an array of anchorage members which are connected to the second lattice of supporting rods or wires and are screwed to the joists which support the cast floor slab through the solid board.
24. A floor unit according to claim 23, wherein each of the box section joists supports both the cast ceiling and floor slabs.
25. A floor unit according to claim 23, wherein alternate ones of the box section joists across the width of the floor unit support the cast ceiling slab and intermediate ones of the box section joists support the cast floor slab.
26. A floor unit according to claim 18, wherein the box section joists contain a sound-absorbing material.
27. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein embedded in the cast ceiling slab and/or the cast floor slab are reinforcing diagonal cross-struts welded at their ends to the edge frame.
28. A floor unit according to claim 27, wherein the reinforcing diagonal cross-struts are made from ribbons of sheet metal that have been unrolled from a roll and prevented from curling by imparting a longitudinal crease thereto.
29. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein each of the cast ceiling and floor slabs has a thickness of from 50 to 100 mm, and the space between the cast ceiling and floor slabs is from 150 to 300 mm.
30. A floor unit according to claim 29, wherein each of the cast ceiling and floor slabs has a thickness of about 65 mm.
31. A floor unit according to claim 29, wherein the space between the cast ceiling and floor slabs is about 225 mm.
32. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein the surface finish of the underside of the cast ceiling slab is a paper or fabric material that has been laid over the casting surface on which the ceiling slab has been cast.
33. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein the surface finish of the underside of the cast ceiling slab is the surface finish of a board or plate that has been covered with a mould release agent before casting the ceiling slab.
34. A floor unit according to claim 10, wherein the surface finish of the top surface of the cast ceiling slab is a power float finish.
35. A method for the manufacture of a floor unit, which comprises:
- forming an edge frame by welding or brazing together cold-rolled sheet metal edge members;
- welding or brazing to the edge frame an array of mutually parallel spaced metal joists;
- welding or brazing to the edge frame the ends of the reinforcing rods or wires of the first lattice;
- casting the ceiling slab by pouring wet concrete or gypsum-based plaster into the shuttering created by the edge frame, to a depth sufficient to encase a first inturned lip of the edge frame, to encase the first lattice of reinforcing rods or wires, and to embed lower longitudinal edges of some or all of the parallel spaced joists of cold-rolled sheet metal or of hangers suspended from those joists;
- placing between the parallel spaced joists of cold-rolled sheet metal the sound insulating material of lower density than the concrete of the cast slabs and optionally the array of solid boards to form a base for the cast ceiling slab;
- welding or brazing to the edge frame the ends of the reinforcing rods or wires of the second lattice;
- pouring wet concrete over the top layer of sound insulating material or over the tops of the solid boards to a depth sufficient to encase a second inturned lip of the edge frame, to encase the second lattice of reinforcing rods or wires and optionally to embed upper longitudinal edges of some or all of the parallel spaced joists of cold-rolled sheet metal; and
- providing a smooth surface finish to the top of the cast floor slab using a power float.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 20, 2006
Publication Date: Sep 3, 2009
Inventor: John Window (Douglas)
Application Number: 12/089,558
International Classification: E04B 5/40 (20060101);