US2024524A - Waterproof wall construction - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 17, 1935. B. JONES WATERPROOF WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 50, 1953 IN V EN TOR.

85mm JONES ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFIQE The present invention relates to improvements in exterior wall constructions for buildings and has for an object to provide a wall composed of brick and/or hollow blocks which will interrupt 5. moisture that tends to seep through the wall by way of the joints between the bricks or the blocks and which will lead the moisture back to the exterior of the wall.

Mortar acts like a wick to conduct moisture v by capillary action, and hitherto little success has attended efforts toprevent moisture from penetrating to the interior face of a wall. In some cases webbing or flexible fabric islaid in the wall above each spandrel course and is then treated with pitch or other waterproofing material. This interrupts the seepage at the points of application, but the laying and Waterproofing of the webbing is an expensive procedure since this work may not be done by union bricklayers and the brick laying has to be halted while the webbing and waterproofing is being applied. 7

It is an object of the present invention to provide a preformed waterproof flashing which may be laid in. continuous lengths between courses of bricks or blocks. Such preformed flashing may be laid at much less expense than the webbing referred to above and it also provides a more effective bar to the passage of moisture.

0G Another object of the invention is to provide building blocks adapted to trap moisture which seeps in through the joints and to lead this moisture to the flashing which, in turn, directs the moisture outward.

Other objects of my invention will appear in the following description of several forms of wall structure embodying the invention and also of a preferred form of preformed flashing, and thereafter the novelty and scope of the invention will be pointed out in the claims,

In the accompanying drawing;

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a section of an exterior wall structure embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental View in vertical section of a wall structure provided with preformed flashing and including hollow blocks of different form from that shown in Fig. 1; r

Fig. 3 is aperspective view of a section of exterior wall structure composed entirely of hollow blocks with my preformed .flashing disposed between the blocks; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmental view in perspective of a preferred form of flashing. v V

The structure shown in Fig. 1 comprises an outer brick wall bonded to an inner wall of hollow tile blocks ID, the outer wall comprising courses of stretcher bricks H with header bricks i2 bonding the two walls together. Header backer blocks l3 preferably of hollow .tile are 5 v disposed between the courses of hollow blocks l0 and above each spandrel beam [4 there is a course of stretcher bricks IS.

The blocks ID are preferably formed of hollow tile or concrete, and they are laid with the voids 10 running horizontally. These blocks are composed of side walls It and top and bottom walls i9 with vertically disposed central webs Ztwhich are flared at the top and bottom to allow for channels 2! formed in the top and bottom walls l5 l9 and running lengthwise of the blocks. The webs 20 are not as long as the side walls It and the top and bottom walls [9 are formed at each end with notches or recesses 22 so as to interrupt the mortar joints between abutting ends of 20 the blocks as indicated at H.

Between each course of hollow blocks I provide a flashing 23 which is! of stepped form,

with the main body of the flashing lying horizontally on the top of one course of blocks, 25 while a riser portion 24 at the inner side of the body projects into the channel 2| of the course above, and a drop portion 25 at the outer side of the body overlaps the upper part of the blocks in the course on which the flashin 30 rests.

In constructing a wall the usual procedure is followed of laying the bricks and the blocks with a course of header bricks between each course of hollow blocks to bond the blocks to 35 the bricks. The mortar 26 in the joints between the bricks is preferably fllled in against the adjacent side walls l8 of the blocks and also extends between the courses of blocks, but is interrupted at the channels 2|. As each course of blocks is laid a preformed flashing 23 is laid thereon and then a course of header bricks is laid, together with a course of backer blocks l3. Where a spandrel course l5 of bricks is laid the flashing is set upon the spandrel course with the drop portion 25 overlapping the spandrel course and also'partly overlapping the concrete iii in which the spandrel beam I4 is embedded.

Any moisture which runs through the mortar 59 joints 26 will be checked either by coming against the face l8-of the hollow brick or by contacting with the flashing 23. The moisture running down the face is and entering the space below the block will be guided by the flashing 5 outward over the next course of blocks and into the space between the latter course and the out-' er brick wall. Thus, the moisture will pursue a zig-zag path between the blocks and the bricks. Since the mortar between the ends of the blocks is applied only to the ends of walls l8 and such parts of walls l9 as are not recessed, moisture cannot pass through to the interior face of the block wall. Any moisture that seeps in through such end joints will enter the void in the block to the right of the web, as viewed in Fig. 1, and running down to the bottom of the block will pass out through the notch 2! and be trapped by the flashing. It is to be noted that the riser 24 of the flashing is disposed in a plane to the left (i. e. toward the interior face of the wall structure) of the extreme point 'of moisturepenetration.

It will be observed that the hollow block shown in Fig. 1 is of a type which may be turned end for end or may be inverted because of its symmetrical disposition, so that in laying these blocks no time will be lost in trying to set the blocks with any particular face out or any particular side up.

The flashing 23 referred to above is preferably of stepped form, as shown, but it may be shaped variously to suit different constructions. An advantage of this flashing is the fact that it is preformed and comes in continuous lengths so that it may be laid at little expense for time or labor. This flashing may be made of copper or other material which will be proof against corrosion, but preferably it is built up of laminae as shown in Fig. 4. It consists primarily of a metallic body 21 which may be'of sheet metal, but I prefer to form the body of wire mesh, as shown in the drawing. This metal body is dipped in pitch or other suitable waterproofing material and upon it is laid a fabric 28 impregnated with pitch or other Waterproofing material and finally an outer coating of pitch or other waterproofing material 29 is applied to.

form the entire exterior surface of the flashing.

In Fig. 2, I show another form of wall structure composed of brick and hollow block in which a difi'erent form of block is used, and L-shaped backer blocks are provided between the main hollow blocks. It will be observed that the main blocks 30 have an inner side wall 3| and a web 32 butno outer side wall. Instead the web constitutes' the outer face of the block with the top and bottom walls projecting beyond the web. The blocks are laid with this recessed face disposed toward the exterior of the wall, leaving a chamber33 between the web 32 and the stretcher courses 34 of the brick wall. The web 32 is preferably cored and also is flared at the top and bottom to permit of the formation of a channel 35 in the top and the bottom walls of each block. The brick wall is provided with the usual header course 36 bonding the blocks to the bricks. An L-shaped backer block 31 has a horizontal part which passes under the header course 36 and a vertical part which rises to a level with the header course at the interior side of the wall structure. A preformed stepped-flashing 38 is supported on the horizontal part of the L-shaped backer'block 31 and has an upturned portion which projects into the channel 35 of the course immediately above and a depending portion overlapping the exterior end of the L-shaped block and projecting downward to interrupt the next mortar joint 39 below. With this arrangement, as with that shown in Fig. 1, moisture passing through the mortar joints of the brick wall will either strike the flashing 38 or will enter the chamber 33 and will drop down to the bottom of the hollow block 30, and then, on passing under the block 30, will encounter the flashing 38. The latter will lead the moisture outward again into the chamber 33 formed by the next course of blocks below.

The construction shown in Fig. 3 differs from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in the fact that no brick is employed, but the wall is composed solely of hollow blocks. These blocks consist of a main body portion 40 with an outer part 4| forming the exterior face of the wall. The outer part 4| is stepped downwardly with respect to the part 49. These blocks are formed with vertical webs 42 and 43, the web 42 which is within the main body 40 is flared at the bottom to provide for a channel 44 formed in the bottom of the main body 40. These blocks are laid with mortar joints 45 and with the voids of the blocks running horizontally. A flashing 46 is disposed between each course of blocks. This flashing comprises a main body which lies upon the top of one course of blocks and is provided at one side with a riser which enters the channel 44 and toward the exterior side with a drop portion which fits over the step in the course of blocks below.

It will beobserved that the mortar 45 laid between the courses of blocks is interrupted at eachstep, as indicated at 41 and 48, and the 'mortar in the vertical joints is not spread across the entire end face of the blocks but is omitted from the web 42 and from the ends of the top nel 44. Here the flashing will direct the moisture back to the exterior face of the wall. Thus in each case the riser of the flashing is disposed beyond the point of extreme moisture penetration and the drop portion of the flashing conducts the moisture outward well beyond the 60 plane of the riser.

While I have described several embodiments of my'invention it will be understood that these are to be taken as illustrative and not limitative and that I reserve the right to make such modifications, variations and alterations in structure and arrangement of parts as fall within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A waterproof wall structure exposed to moisture on one face thereof comprising a plurality of courses of hollow blocks each having a channel formed in the bottom thereof, and a flashing of waterproof material betweeneach course of blocks, the flashing being of stepped form with a'riser portion thereof projecting into the channel of one course, an intermediate portion extending between said course and the next adjacent course toward said exposed face, and a depending portion overlapping a part of the next lower course on the side toward said exposed face. 7

2. A waterproof wall structure exposed tomoisture on one face thereof, comprising a plurality of courses of hollow blocks, the latter being formed to provide joints between the courses, stepped downwardly toward said exposed. face of the wall, each course of blocks being formed with a channel in the bottom thereof, and a waterproof flashing in each of said joints, the flashing being of stepped form with one portion thereof projecting into the channel of one course and another portion thereof overlying part of the next lower course on the side toward said exposed face.

3. A wall structure comprising an inner wall of blocks, an outer wall of bricks bonded to the inner wall, the blocksbeing recessed at the bottom to form channels extending lengthwise of the wall, and continuous preformed waterproof flashings between courses of the blocks, each flashing being of stepped form in cross-section with a riser portion projecting into the channel of the course immediately above and with a drop portion depending between the course immediately below and the brick wall.

4. A wall structure comprising an inner wall of hollow blocks with the voids thereof extending lengthwise of the wall, an outer wall of bricks bonded to the inner wall, the blocks being formed with channels at the top and bottom thereof respectively, and continuous preformed waterproof flashings between courses of the blocks, each flashing being of stepped form in cross-section with a riser portion projecting into the channels of the course immediately above and with a drop portion'depending between the course immediately below and the brick wall.

5. A wall structure comprising an inner wall of-hollow blocks with the voids thereof extending lengthwise of the wall, an outer wall of bricks bonded to the inner wall, each block being formed with a channel at the. top and at the bottom thereof and also with a recess at opposite ends thereof communicating with the channels, and continuous preformed waterproof flashings between the courses of' the blocks, each flashing being of stepped form in cross-section with a. riser portion projecting into the channels of the blocks in the course immediately above and with a drop portion depending between the course immediately below and the brick wall.

6. A wall structure comprising an inner wall of blocks, an outer wall of bricks bonded to the inner wall, each block being recessed at the bottom thereof so as to form channels extending lengthwise of each course of blocks, each block being also recessed on the side toward the exterior wall, and continuous preformed waterproof flashings between courses of the blocks, each flashing being of stepped form in crosssection with a riser portion projecting into the channels of the blocks in the course immediately above and with a drop portion depending between the course immediately below and the brick wall.

7. A wall structure comprising an inner wall of hollow blocks with the .voids thereof extending lengthwise of the wall, an outer wall of 5 bricks bonded to the inner wall, each block being formed with a channel at the top and at the bottom thereof and with a recess at opposite ends thereof communicating with the channels, each block being also formed with a concave face on the side toward the brick wall, and continuous preformed waterproof flashings between courses of the blocks, each flashing being of stepped form'in cross-section with a riser portion projecting into the bottom channels of the blocks in the course immediately above, and with a drop portion depending between the course immediately below and the brick wall.

8. As an article of manufacture, a preformed flashing for a wall structure consisting of a body of reticulated metal with waterproof material applied to opposite faces thereof, said flashing being relatively stiff and in the form of a continuous sheet bent to stepped form in transverse section.

9. As an article of manufacture, a preformed flashing for a wall structure consisting of a body of wire mesh with waterproof material applied to the body and sheets of fabric impregnated in waterproof material and applied to the body on opposite faces thereof, said flashing being relatively stiff and in the form of continuous lengths bent to stepped form in transverse section.

10. As an article of manufacture, a hollow building block formed with top and bottom walls,

. each having a channel therein extending lengthwise of the block, and with a central web connecting said top and bottom walls, each block also having recesses at opposite ends thereof communicating with the channels.

11. As an article of manufacture, a building block comprising top, bottom and side walls, the top and bottom walls extending beyond one of the side walls to form a recessed side face, the top and bottom walls being each formed with a channel extending lengthwise of the block and the block being formed at each end with a recess communicating with the channels.

12. A wall structure exposed on its outer face to moisture, said structure comprising a plurality of elements laid in courses, mortar joints connecting said courses, and flashings laid between the courses, the mortar in said joints being interrupted within the wall, said flashings having riser portions projecting through such joint interruptions to trap any moisture seeping inwardly through the mortar, each flashing also having a portion extending outwardly and downwardly to turn back the moisture caught by the riser portion.

BEVAN JONES.

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