Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to T-beam saddle, to a building fabricated using such T-beam saddles and a method of fabricating a building using such T-beam saddles.

Background of the Invention

Modern house building frequently uses concrete T-beams in the construction of floors, both at ground level and at above-ground levels.

The concrete T-beams are laid parallel to one another across spaced apart walls with the horizontal part of the T lying on the wall. Concrete blocks are then dropped into the flanges presented by the horizontal part of the T.

A long standing problem with floor constructions using T-beams is that of thermal bridging between the upper surface of the wall on which the T-beam is mounted and the underside of the T-beam.

Another problem associated with buildings constructed using concrete T-beam floors that also have cavity walls is concerned with cavity wall insulation. Typically, the cavity wall insulation is lowered into the space between the inner and outer leaf of the cavity wall, past the ends of the T-beams. This often results in the base of the insulation material becoming damp. This surface can be uneven due to debris and mortar falling into cavity. When insulation is put on this surface, it can result in spaces between insulation board/ slab.

The effective insulation of buildings is becoming ever more important. It has also been acknowledged that it is desirable for a building to have a certain thermal mass. The thermal mass of a building can store energy, such as from the sun's rays, and radiate heat energy back into the building later. Concrete provides good thermal mass. Hence, it is desirable to use concrete as a flooring material, particularly if the problem of cold bridging can be overcome.

It is also desirable to provide a concrete T-beam and block floor that is protected agains cold bridging and off which a load bearing wall may be constructed. Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a saddle comprising first and second spaced apart pockets, the first pocket configured to engage a wall and the second configured to engage and support a planar component when the first pocket engages a wall.

The said saddle may be formed as a one piece plastics moulding or of wire.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided building system comprising two spaced apart walls and at least one T-beam spanning the spaced apart walls, wherein each end of the T-beam is supported on a load bearing thermally insulating component between the underside of the T-beam and the wall beneath the T-beam and a plurality of saddles according to the first aspect of the invention, the first pockets thereof situated between the underside of the T-beam and wall.

Preferably, the first pockets of the saddles are situated between the underside of the load bearing thermally insulating component and the wall or between an upper surface of the load bearing thermally insulating component and another component of the building system.

It is preferred that the first pockets are embedded in mortar.

Advantageously, one or more of the load bearing thermally insulating components is: an elongate component, a corner component, a multi-way component or a joining component.

Preferably, the load bearing insulating components include a main body and to one or both sides thereof mortar key members.

Advantageously, the mortar key members are: ribs, recesses, holes or protrusions.

Preferably, the planar building component is an insulation material.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a saddle adapted to support a beam, the saddle including a thermally insulating pad and the pad including at least one downwardly projecting element adapted to engage a structural element and at least one upwardly projecting element adapted to engage a supported beam.

The at least one downwardly projecting element may comprise a lip. The at least one upwardly projecting element may comprise a lip.

The saddle may comprise two upwardly projecting lips, each extending from an edge of the pad.

The saddle preferably further includes a pocket configured to receive an edge of an planar component. The pocket may be substantially U-shaped in cross-section. The planar component may be an insulation board.

The saddle may be formed as a single piece plastics moulding.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a building system comprising two spaced apart walls and at least one T-beam spanning the spaced apart walls, wherein each end of the T-beam is supported on a saddle of the third aspect of the invention.

The building system may further comprise at least one wall extending between the said spaced apart walls parallel to the T-beams and having mounted thereon at least one saddle according to the first aspect of the invention.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a load bearing thermally insulating component comprising a main body and to one or both sides thereof mortar key members.

Advantageously, the mortar key members are: ribs, recesses, holes or protrusions.

Preferably, the load bearing thermally insulating component is: an elongate component, a corner component, a multi-way component or a joining component.

In the building system the at least one wall extending between the spaced apart walls lies beneath a T- beam, and wherein a gap corresponding in size to the depth of the thermally insulating pad of the saddle beam support is formed between the upper edge of the wall and the lower edge of the T-beam, and the building system may further comprise an insulation material configured to fill and filling the said gap.

Brief Description of the Drawings

In the Drawings, which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of beam saddle according to a first aspect of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the beam saddle illustrated in Figure 1 from the underside;

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of a building system utilising the beam saddles illustrated in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4a is a schematic representation of an insulation saddle according to a second aspect of the invention;

Figure 4b is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment of an insulation saddle according to the second aspect of the invention;

Figure 5 is a schematic representation of a building system utilising the beam saddles illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 and the insulation saddle illustrated in Figures 4a or 4b;

Figure 6 is a schematic representation of a building system utilising the beam saddles illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 including the insulation component illustrated in Figure 9;

Figure 7 is a schematic representation of a building system utilising the insulation saddle illustrated in Figures 4a and 4b and the insulation components illustrated in Figures 9 and 10;

Figure 8 is a schematic representation of the building system illustrated in Figure 7 with insulation boards carried in the insulation saddles;

Figure 9 is a schematic representation of an insulation component according to an aspect of the invention;

Figure 10 is a schematic representation of an insulation corner component according to the invention;

Figure 11 is is a schematic representation of an insulation component according to the invention for use where two walls cross each other; and

Figure 12 is a component for joining together insulation components of the type illustrated in Figures 9 to 11. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a beam saddle 1, comprising an insulated pad 2 having beam guide walls 3 extending upwardly from opposing edges of the pad 2.

A wall locating lip 4 extends downwardly from an edge of the pad 2 and lies perpendicular to the beam guide walls 3.

An insulation support 5 extends downwardly from the edge of the pad 2 opposite the wall locating lip 4. The insulation support 5 comprises two parallel and spaced apart legs 6 which provide a U shaped insulation receiving pocket 7. The free ends of the receiving pocket 7a are joined together by a connector 8.

The insulation pad has an upper surface 2' on which, in use the flat surface of a concrete T-beam lies. The pad 2 is made of an insulating and substantially incompressible material. By substantially incompressible, it is meant that when subject to a load which the pad is designed to support, it will not compress by more than 20% in one hundred years, this being the requirement of building codes in the United Kingdom.

Whilst one hundred years may seem like an extreme time duration, buildings are likely to remain in place for that period of time. In fact, the vast majority of any compression that is likely to occur will occur in the first twenty four to seventy two hours of the load being placed on the pad.

It is desirable that one of the surfaces 2', 2" which is the underside of the pad, be rough. In the illustrated example, it is the underside 2' which is rough, in that it presents a matrix of depressions 2a.

In use, the beam saddle is placed on top of a wall with a layer of mortar between the underside of the pad 2 and the top of the wall, as explained in greater detail with reference to figure 3, the depressions 2a allowing the underside of the pad 2 to bed into the mortar, thereby preventing slippage between the wall and the beam saddle 1.

Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown a part of a building constructed according to a building system of the invention. The system comprises a stem wall 10 upon which are placed beam saddles 1. A plurality of spaced apart parallel lying beams 11 extend between two spaced apart stem walls 10 (only the nearest stem wall 10 is visible in Figure 3.

The beam saddles 1 are attached to the top of the stem wall 10 with a layer of mortar. The lip 4 and legs 6 engage with opposing sides of the stem wall 10.

The stem wall 10 forms part of an inner leaf off a cavity wall. Insulation material 14 is placed in the cavity 15 formed between the outer surface of stem wall 10 and the inner surface of outer leaf 12.

The lower edge 14' of the insulation material 14 is supported in the pocket 7 of the beam saddle 1.

In standard wall construction the insulation material 14 is lowered into the cavity 15 until it reaches ground level 16. Overtime the insulation material draws up moisture from the ground and becomes damp.

The beam saddle of the invention holds the insulation material 14 clear of the ground, thereby preventing the insulation from becoming damp.

One embodiment of the beam saddle was tested for density, compressive strength, and thermal diffusivity. Thermal conductivity was calculated using the formula: thermal conductivity = thermal diffusivity / (Density x Specific heat capacity). The beam saddle was formed of a thermoplastic manufactured from recycled expanded polystyrene. The results are shown in Table 1 below:

Figure 4a illustrates another saddle for use in the system of construction of the invention. The beam saddles 1 lift the T-beams 11 above the plane 10' of the upper surface of the stem wall 10. The endmost T- beam sits above the stem wall 10 that runs parallel with the T-beam as shown in Figure 5. This cavity also needs to be insulated.

The saddle 20 includes a pad 21 from which extend a lip 4 and an insulation support 5, which includes spaced apart legs 6 and a U-shaped insulation receiving pocket 7. The pad may include mortar keying elements, such as holes, recesses, protrusions, ribs, etc.

The difference between the saddle 20 and the saddle 1 is that the pad 21 is not insulating. The spaced apart legs 6 may be replaced by one leg 6' as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 4b illustrates an alternative form of the insulation saddle shown in Figure 4a. Instead of being formed of plastics, the saddle 20' shown in Figure 4b is formed of wire. The saddle 20' provides an insulation support 5', which includes spaced apart legs 6' and a U-shaped insulation receiving pocket 7'. The insulation saddle 20' includes an inverted U-shaped wall mounting pocket 23, which is configured to sit on a wall. Both the insulation receiving pocket 7' and the wall mounting pocket 23 include an outwardly projecting lip 24, 25. The lip allows the pockets 7', 23 to engage a piece of insulation board, or a wall respectively and cause the size of the pocket to expand to allow the insulation board 14 and wall 10 respectively to engage the bases of the U-shaped pockets 7', 23 of the saddle 20'. Where the pocket 23 of saddle 20' is to be placed in a bed of mortar, whilst it is preferred that a lip 25 extend downwardly, this is not strictly necessary, since the horizontal wires from which the lip 25 extends downwards will be held in a bed of mortar and where the load bearing thermally insulating component 30, 40, 60 is pressed into the bed of mortar, the horizontal wires will be pressed down thereby. For the same reasons, the lip 4 may be omitted. The pad 21 may include holes or other mortar keying elements.

Figure 5 illustrates an end view of the part of a building illustrated in Figure 3. A stem wall 10" extends between the stem walls 10. Each saddle 20 is held in place on the stem wall 10" by the lip 4, the legs 6 and a strip of insulating material 25 placed between the pad 21 and the underside of the T-beam 11.

The beam saddle 1 and insulation saddle 20 are both formed from a plastics material in a moulding process. The T-beam saddle of the invention provides a barrier against thermal bridging between the stem wall and the T-beam. When provided with an insulation support, the support holds the insulation in the correct position, away from sources of damp.

Figure 6 illustrates a building system similar to that shown in Figure 3. The difference lies in the placement of an insulating and load bearing component 30 along the plane 10' of the stem wall 10 between the pads 2 of the beam saddles 1.

The nature of the component 30 will be described in greater detail below with reference to Figures 9 to 10. However, at this point it should be noted that the function of the component 30 is to provide insulation, and thereby avoid a thermal bridge, between the stem wall 10 and building components situated above the plane 10' of the stem wall 10 and to provide a load bearing member that may be part of a load bearing wall. In this context the material from which the component 30 is formed must be substantially incompressible as described with reference to the pad 2 of the beam saddle 1.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate an alternative building system where insulation saddles of the type shown in Figure 4b are used (these saddles could be replaced with the saddles shown in Figure 4a of course).

The insulation saddles 20' are placed in a bed of mortar on the upper surface of the stem walls 10, 1". Components 30, and corner components 40 are joined together by joining components 50 and are pressed into the bed of mortar. A bed of mortar is applied to the upper surface of the components 30, 40 and the concrete T-beams 11 and the flat beam IT are put into position.

It will be appreciated that a void will be formed between the underside of the block 17, the upper surface of the component 30 and the vertical faces of the flats of the adjacent T-beams 11 and the flat beam 11". In order to best provide a load bearing structure so that a wall may be built off the blocks 17 in line with the stem walls 10, 10" it is preferred that the aforementioned space is filled with load bearing material. This may be bricks of blocks built off the bed of mortar placed on the upper surface of the components 30, 40. Alternatively, load bearing elements, corresponding in length to the distance between the vertical faces of the flats of adjacent T-beams may be fabricated, for example from. The building systems illustrated in Figures 6 to 8 remove cold bridging and nevertheless allow a load bearing wall to be built in line with the stem walls 10, 10" but off the beam and block floor.

Figures 9 to 12 show the components forming the thermal barrier in more detail. Figure 9 shows the component 30, which comprises a main body 31 and a plurality of spaced apart ribs 32 extending from the upper and lower surfaces of the main body 31. The ribs 32 provide for the component 30 to key into mortar.

Figure 10 shows a corner element 40, while Figure 11 shows a component 60 that is used where four walls meet or two walls cross. Again, these components comprise a main body 31 and ribs 32. Of course, other multi-way components may be envisaged, for example a T-shaped component that would be useful where a building has internal load bearing walls. The afore-mentioned components are formed of the same material as component 30. This is typically a plastics material and advantageously a recycled expanded polystyrene preferably having the properties shown in Table 1.

Figure 12 illustrates another component of the system, in this case a joining component 50. This component is configured so that an end of the components 30, 40, 60 may be joined together. The component 50 includes lower and upper elements 51, 52, each of which includes a plurality of spaced apart recesses 53 for receiving ribs 32. The lower and upper elements 51, 52 are joined together by a wall 54. In use the bed of mortar beneath or on top of the lower or upper elements is thinner than where the joining components 50 are not present.

It will be appreciated that the building systems of the invention provide for the efficient insulation of buildings, avoiding thermal bridging an supporting insulation materials in the correct position.