[0001] This invention relates to the construction of walls, and it is particularly concerned
with an improved design of wall anchorage device for use in building an extension
wall of bricks or building blocks onto an existing wall structure and tying it in
place in an angular relationship thereto.
[0002] For building an extension brick wall onto an existing brick wall and for tying or
anchoring it in place, it is already known to provide a so-called wall plate of a
kind comprising a longitudinally flanged elongate metal plate which is fixed vertically
to the face of the existing wall and used as a guide to align and position the end
bricks of the extension wall as these are laid in position in abutting relationship
with the wall plate, with the extension wall being tied in position and bonded to
the existing wall by associated wall tie elements which are anchored to the wall plate
and which extend into and are embedded and keyed into mortar joints between adjacent
courses of the extension wall. The use of such a wall plate and wall tie elements
is for example disclosed in British patent specification No. 1604941.
[0003] Hitherto, wall ties used with such wall plates have been separate elements, for example
standard butterfly type wire ties or profiled metal strip ties, which are clipped
or interlockingly engaged with the wall plate. However, although these known arrangements
can be functionally satisfactory, the need to provide separate wall tie elements which
have to be positioned and anchored to the wall plate during the construction of the
extension wall can be a disadvantage.
[0004] The present invention provides an improved form of wall anchorage device in the form
of a wall plate of the kind referred to above having integral portions thereof adapted
to form the requisite associated wall tie elements.
[0005] More particularly, the invention provides a wall anchorage device for use in building
an extension wall of bricks or building blocks to extend outwardly in angular relationship
from a face of an existing wall structure, said anchorage device comprising an elongate
plate having a generally flat body portion formed with upstanding integral longitudinal
flange means along at least one edge thereof, said plate being adapted to be fixed
in use in a vertical orientation to the face of the existing wall whereby the longitudinal
flange means then provides a guide for locating and aligning the end bricks or blocks
of the extension wall as these are laid in position in abutting relationship with
said body portion, there being wall tie elements also provided which connect to said
body portion and which can be arranged to extend into and to be embedded and keyed
into jointing material between adjacent courses of the extension wall as it is being
built thereby to tie said extension wall in position and bond it to the existing wall,
characterised in that said plate is formed in said body portion with a series of longitudinally
directed integral elongate tongues spaced apart at intervals and raised at a shallow
angle to the plane of said body portion, which tongues can be bent outwards after
the plate is fixed in position during use so as to project substantially at right
angles in a horizontal plane thereby enabling them to extend into and to be embedded
and keyed into the joints between adjacent courses of the extension wall during construction
and to serve as said wall tie elements.
[0006] Preferably, the tongues of the device or so-called wall plate are suitably profiled
and/or apertured to key most effectively in an interlocking manner into the jointing
material or mortar of the extension wall and are spaced along the length of the plate
at predetermined regular intervals corresponding to the distance between the adjacent
courses of the extension wall or to a multiple thereof.
[0007] Generally, the tongues will have a length which is at least five times greater than
the width at their root end. It is preferred to arrange the aforesaid series of integral
wall tie tongues either in a single row or in two side-by-side rows in which all the
tongues extend initially in the same general longitudinal direction. Also, preferably,
the design and material is such that the tongues can readily be bent out by hand to
extend away from the plane of the body portion of the wall plate about a transverse
axis lying at any position in the region adjacent their root ends, not necessarily
actually at their root ends, up to a point at least one third of the way along their
length. The shallow angle with respect to the plane of the body portion at which the
tongues are initially raised is preferably less than 10° and is conveniently in the
range of 1° to 5°.
[0008] The body portion of the wall plate will also generally be formed with a number of
apertures, transverse slots for example, along its length for accommodating fixing
elements such as bolts for securing it to the face of the existing wall and/or for
also keying in mortar or sealing material applied in this region. Furthermore, shallow
stand-off projections are preferably provided to space the main part of the body portion
slightly away from the surface of the existing wall, thereby to assist in accommodating
irregularities in the latter and leaving a space for filling with mortar. Where the
body portion of the wall plate is provided with an upstanding longitidunal brick locating
flange along one edge only, the opposite longitudinal edge may also be bent over rearwardly
to provide a shallow lip which acts as an additional stand-off or spacing projection
and as a reinforcing beading. Moreover, when apertures are provided in the integral
wall tie tongues for keying with the mortar jointing in the extension wall these may
be formed with a shallow raised rim to facilitate even more effective keying and bonding
with the mortar.
[0009] The invention also provides a method of building a wall of bricks or building blocks
as an extension outwardly in angular relationship to a face of an existing wall structure,
said method comprising applying a wall anchorage device as hereinabove defined to
said face and fixing thereto said anchorage device plate in a vertical orientation,
laying at least partially the lower courses of the bricks or building blocks of the
extension wall until the upper surface of the endmost brick or block of the course
being laid, which brick or block is butted up to the body portion of said plate, lies
adjacent the level of the root end of the lowermost tongue in said body portion, bending
said lowermost tongue outwards until it extends in a substantially horizontal plane
lying immediately above said upper surface of the endmost brick or block of the last
laid course, applying jointing material and laying the next course of bricks or blocks
whereby said lowermost tongue is embedded in said jointing compound and is sandwiched
between the two last laid courses of bricks or blocks, and continuing in the same
manner laying successive courses and bending outwards each successive tongue as the
level of the upper surface of the endmost brick or block of the last laid course reaches
a level adjacent the level of said each successive tongue so that said tongues are
each arranged to serve as integral wall tie elements bonding the extension wall in
place.
[0010] The wall plates may be used with the tongues all initially directed either upwardly
or downwardly as hereinafter described so that where there is a single longitudinal
locating flange along one edge only this may be placed either to the left or to the
right hand side.
[0011] In the accompanying drawings various exemplary embodiments are illustrated of wall
plates in accordance with the invention.
FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a length of the wall plate of a first embodiment
shown partially broken away;
FIGURE 2 is a side edge view of the wall plate of FIGURE 1;
FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view on line III-III of FIGURE 1;
FIGURE 4 is a perspective fragmentary view showing the wall plate of said first embodiment
being used in a first manner in constructing an extension brick wall;
FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the wall plate being used in an alternaive
second manner in constructing an extension brick wall;
FIGURE 6 is a vertical section on line VI - VI of FIG. 4 showing schematically an
ideal structure in which the courses of bricks in the extension wall are regularly
spaced;
FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 but showing in a somewhat exaggerated form an
arrangement when the courses of bricks in the extension wall have irregular spaoings;
FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a length of the wall plate of
a second embodiment;
FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view on line IX - IX of FIGURE 8;
FIGURE 10 is a front elevational view of a slightly modified wall plate of a further
embodiment;
FIGURE 11 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of the lower end portion of the wall
plate of FIGURE 10;
FIGURE 12 is a cross-sectional view on line XII - XII of FIGURE 11, showing also in
broken lines the head of a fixing bolt in place and the surface of an existing wall
as when in use;
FIGURE 13 is a cross-sectional view on line XIII - XIII of FIGURE 11; and
FIGURE 14 is a side elevational view of the portion of the wall plate shown in FIGURE
11.
[0012] Referring first to FIGURES 1 to 4 of the drawings, the wall plate 8 is a sheet metal
structure, formed for example of stainless steel about 0.7 mm thick, comprising a
main elongate flat plate-like body portion 10 provided along one longitudinal edge
with an integral flange 12 upstanding at right angles to the plane of the body portion.
The opposite longitudinal edge portion is turned over to provide a shallow rearwardly
directed lip 14. The flange 12 has a series of plain holes 15.
[0013] At regular predetermined intervals along its length which are multiples of the normal
vertical spacing between courses of standard size building bricks or blocks, the body
portion 10 is provided with a series of integral elongate tongues 16 which all extend
in alignment in the same longitudinal direction forming, in this embodiment, a single
row or column. Each tongue 16 has a slightly outwardly divergent tapering profile
and is formed by punching or stamping the material of the wall plate so that the tongue
is left integrally joined at its root end to the body portion 10 of the wall plate.
Small holes 17 are formed at the root ends, as shown, to safeguard against cracks
developing and initially each tongue lies slightly raised at a shallow angle, conveniently
within a range of 1° to 5", to the plane of the body portion as shown in full lines
in FIGURE 2. The material forming these tongues 16 is sufficiently ductile that when
required for use these tongues 16 can readily be bent up, simply by hand pressure,
so as to project outwardly substantially at right angles as indicated in FIGURE 2,
or they may be bent through an even greater angle, up to substantially 180°, as required
in some cases - according to the manner of use as hereinafter described.
[0014] The wall tie tongue portions 16 are also formed, in the region extending over the
outer two-thirds of their length, with a number of holes or apertures 18 punched out
to leave a surrounding shallow raised rim 20 giving each hole or aperture a bell-shaped
mouth.
[0015] A further series of apertures in the form of short transverse slots 22 is provided
in the body portion 10 throughout its length, one such slot being located between
each adjacent pair of tongues 16, for receiving bolts, screws or similar fixing elements
in order to secure the wall plate 8 to the face of an existing wall structure as hereinafter
described. Each of these slots 22 is also punched out to provide a bell-shaped mouth
and a surrounding raised rim 24 which projects rearwardly of the body portion 10 so
as to act, in use, as a stand-off projection to space the body portion from the face
of the existing wall structure.
[0016] Referring now to FIGURE 4, this shows a stage in the construction of an extension
wall 30 at right angles to the face of an existing wall structure 32 using in one
manner the wall plate 8 hereinabove described. In this operation, the wall plate 8
is first securely fixed in a vertical position at the required location to the face
of the existing wall structure 32 which is drilled and plugged to receive fixing elements,
such as the bolt 34 indicated in the drawing, engaging in the slots 22. In setting
up the wall plate 8, ideally it is positioned so that the transverse axes "T" defining
the root ends of the wall tie tongue portions 16 each lie at the level of a mortar
joint between adjacent proposed courses of the extension wall and, as indicated in
FIGURE 4, these tongue portions initially extend upwards from their root ends. Also,
as already indicated, the main body portion 10 of the wall plate 8 is set forwards
slightly from the face of the wall 32 by the stand-off projections or spacers provided
by the raised rim portions 24 around the fixing slots 22, and also by the shallow
lip 14.
[0017] The bricks 29 of the extension wall 30 are then laid course-by- course in the usual
way with each end brick being butted up to the body portion 10 of the wall plate and
aligned by abutting engagement with the retaining guide flange 12 at the one side.
Upon reaching each wall tie tongue portion 16, however, the latter is bent outwards
so as to extend in a substantially horizontal plane which will lie immediately above
an end brick in a course of the extension wall. An example of this is clearly shown
in FIGURE 4 in relation to the uppermost brick laid in the extension wall. Each integral
wall tie tongue 16 is thus sandwiched between different courses of bricks in the extension
wall, and it will be appreciated that as the jointing compound or mortar is applied
it will surround these tongues and key into the holes or apertures 18. The raised
rims 20 of these holes or apertures 18 in each tongue 16 enhances the keying effect
and ensures that space is left to accommodate a sufficient thickness of mortar. The
mortar will also generally penetrate into and key with adjacent holes 15 in the retaining
guide flange 12 and into any open adjacent holes or apertures in the body portion
10.
[0018] By this means, the extension wall 30 is readily built-up in the correct position
and orientation with respect to the existing wall structure 32, and is soundly tied
in and bonded to the latter without need for any separate wall tie elements, thereby
effecting a simplification in the number of parts required and in the construction
operation itself.
[0019] It will of. course be appreciated that the initial shallow inclination of the wall
tie tongues 16 with respect to the plane of the body portion 10 enables their free
ends readily to be grasped and the tongues can be bent outwards into their "in-use"
positions during the operation of building up of the extension wall, after the wall
plate has been fixed to the existing wall. Generally it will be most convenient for
storage and transport and for ease of use to defer the outwards bending operation
until the wall plate is in place and the extension wall is being constructed.
[0020] As so far described it has been assumed that the courses of the extension wall 30
have a perfectly regular spacing and that the wall plate 8 is positioned such that
the transverse axes defining the root ends of the tongues 16 lie at a level of the
joint between two adjacent courses. This is the ideal situation in which the tongues
16 are each bent outwardly about their root ends in order to extend at right angles
in the correct position to lie between two adjacent courses of the extension wall
and is illustrated in the fragmentary sectional view of FIGURE 6. On the other hand,
in practice, the courses of the extension wall may possibly not be spaced with perfect
regularity, perhaps using bricks of different dimensions and/or the wall plate may
not be fixed in quite the correct position. Or, the spacing of the tongues 16 may
not match the spacing of the bricks. However, the sheet metal of which the wall plate
is composed and the form of the tongue portions 16 is such that they can be readily
bent not only at their root ends but also at any point in the region adjacent their
root ends extending up to at least a third of the way along their length. This is
in fact indicated in FIGURE 2. Tests have shown, somewhat surprisingly, that a strong
bond and good stability can be obtained in many cases even if the point at which the
tongues are bent lies at least as far as one third along their length. If necessary,
the tongues may sometimes even be folded with a double bend. Thereby, irregularities
in the vertical spacing of the courses in the extension wall and/or a certain degree
of misalignment of the wall plate can be readily accommodated, as schematically indicated
for example in FIGURE 7.
[0021] In the manner of using the wall plate 8 illustrated in FIGURE 4 it will be noted
that the flange 12 lies on the righthand side of the extension wall. Usually, in the
finished structure, the flange 12 will be concealed by cladding but this may not be
possible if the right-hand side of the extension wall is to be an exposed exterior
face, and it may be desired to have the flange 12 on the opposite left-hand side.
This can readily be arranged simply by turning the wall plate into a reversed position
before securing it to the existing wall 32. In this case, however, the tongue portions
16 will initially be directed downwards so that each of them needs first to be bent
upwards through an angle of more than 90°, possibly even an angle approaching 180°,
before laying the bricks of the adjacent course or courses of the extension wall.
These tongues are then bent back downwards into a substantially horizontal position,
at right angles to the body portion 10, after laying the brick course immediately
below. This alternative second manner of using the wall plate is illustrated in FIGURE
5, and the bending of a tongue portion 16 from its initial position "A", beyond 90°
to an upwardly directed second position "B", and then back to a 90° horizontal position
"C" is indicated in phantom lines in FIGURE 2.
[0022] The wall plate 8 is preferably composed of a material such as stainless steel to
avoid any corrosion problems and may of course be manufactured in a series of standard
lengths which can if necessary be cut, or joined in overlapping aligned relationship,
to suit the required height of the extension wall which is to be built. Sheet metal
thicknesses in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.00 mm are generally suitable and enable easy
bending of the wall tie tongues.
[0023] Two such wall plates arranged in side-by-side mirror image relationship can be used
to construct a thick extension wall. Preferably, however, in such cases a wider form
of wall plate with a plurality of rows or columns of integral tongue portions will
be used. By way of example one design of such wider form of wall plate 8a is shown
in FIGURES 8 and 9. This is basically the same as the wall plate 8 already described
but there are two spaced columns or rows of integral wall tie tongue portions 16a
and 16b arranged in horizontal pairs as shown, and also horizontal pairs of fixing
slots 22a, 22b, are provided between each pair of tongues 16a, 16b. Otherwise the
structure corresponds with that already described, corresponding parts being indicated
by the same reference numerals, and is used in substantially the same way. It will
be noted that in this embodiment the tongues 16a and 16b of each adjacent pair again
each extend in the same longititudinal direction and each have their root ends aligned
in a common transverse plane so that when they are bent up at right angles to the
body portion 10 they can both lie in side-by-side relationship in a common transverse
plane.
[0024] Instead of the body portion of the plates having fixing element apertures formed
with a bell-shaped mouth providing a surrounding raised rim projecting rearwardly,
in an obvious alternative modified form the body portion of the plate can be formed
with a series of dish-like depressions and the apertures for the fixing elements are
formed in a substantially flat base portion of such dish-like depressions. An example
of such modified construction is illustrated in FIGURES 10 to 14.
[0025] The wall plate shown in FIGURES 10 to 14 is basically the same as that described
in connection with FIGURES 1 to 3 and the same reference numerals are again used to
indieate similar parts. For fixing the wall plate to the face of an existing wall,
however, the body portion 10 is provided with short transverse slots 22' formed in
a substantially flat base 70 of each of a series of dish-like depressions 72 located
along the length of the wall plate. Each dish-like depression 72 has a shallow peripheral
sloping wall 74 and the flat base part 70 is set rearwards from the main plane of
the body part of the wall plate by a distance approximately equal to the depth of
the edge lip 14 and together with the latter again act as stand-off projections to
space the main body portion 10 from the face of the existing wall structure 32 when
fixed to the latter.
[0026] The fixing elements used for securing the wall plate to the existing wall will generally
be headed screw-threaded fasteners such as the bolt 34 indicated in broken lines in
FIGURE 12 and a flat washer 35 will be fitted under the head of this bolt, the dish-like
depressions 72 being sufficiently large for such washer (e.g. 30mm diameter washer)
to be accommodated wholly therein and to lie against the flat base 70.
[0027] Although by way of example in the illustrated embodiments the spacing between the
tongues 16 has been shown as corrresponding generally to the depth of two courses
cf bricks, in fact for use at least in the United Kingdom the spacing will generally
be set to correspond to the depth of three courses of standard size bricks or one
course of standard size building blocks.
[0028] If desired, the wall plates could have a retaining guide flange along each longitudinal
edge, and many other detail modifications can be made within the scope of the invention,
especially in relation to the arrangement and form of the apertures and of the integral
wall tie tongues.
1. A wall anchorage device for use in building an extension wall of bricks or building
blocks to extend outwardly in angular relationship from a face of an existing wall
structure, said anchorage device comprising an elongate plate (8; 8a) having a generally
flat body portion (10) formed with upstanding integral longitudinal flange means (14)
along at least one edge thereof, said plate being adapted to be fixed in use in a
vertical orientation to the face of the existing wall (32) whereby the longitudinal
flange means (14) then provides a guide for locating and aligning the end bricks or
blocks (29) of the extension wall (30) as these are laid in position in abutting relationship
with said body portion (10), there being wall tie elements also provided which connect
to said body portion and which can be arranged to extend into and to be embedded and
keyed into jointing material between adjacent courses of the extension wall (30) as
it is being built thereby to tie said extension wall in position and bond it to the
existing wall, characterised in that said plate (8; 8a) is formed in said body portion
(10) with a series of longitudinally directed integral elongate tongues (16;16a,16b)
spaced apart at intervals and raised at a shallow angle to the plane of said body
portion, which tongues (16;16a,16b) can be bent outwards after the plate is fixed
in position during use so as to project substantially at right angles in a horizontal
plane thereby enabling them to extend into and to be embedded and keyed into the joints
between adjacent courses of the extension wall (30) during construction and to serve
as said wall tie elements.
2. A wall anchorage device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the root ends of the tongues
(16;16a,16b) are spaced along the length of the plate (8;8a) at predetermined regular
intervals corresponding to the distance expected between adjacent courses of the extension
wall (30) or to a multiple thereof.
3. A wall anchorage device as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the tongues (16;16a,16b)
are apertured (18) and/or have a divergent tapering profile so as to key into the
jointing material of the extension wall (30) in an interlocking manner.
4. A wall anchorage device as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein said
tongues (16) are all arranged along the body portion of the plate (8) in a single
row in which they all extend initially in the same general longitudinal direction.
5. A wall anchorage device as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3 wherein said tongues
(16a,16b) are all arranged in transversely aligned pairs along the body portion of
the plate (8a) providing two side-by-side rows in which they all extend initially
in the same general longitudinal direction.
6. A wall anchorage device as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the plate
(8;8a) is composed of sheet-metal having a thickness within the range of 0.5 - 1.0
mm and the tongues (16;16a,16b) are sufficiently ductile as to be manually bendable
about a transverse axis at any position between their root ends and a point at least
one third of the way along their length.
7. A wall anchorage device as claimed in Claim 6 wherein the thickness of the sheet-metal
of which the plate (8;8a) is composed is approximately 0.7 mm.
8. A wall anchorage device as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the tongues
(16;16a,16b) each have a length which is at least five times the width at their root
end.
9. A wall anchorage device as claimed in any of the preceding claims wherein the angle
to the plane of the body portion (10) of the plate at which the tongues (16i16a,16b)
are raised in their initial condition before use lies in the range of 1° - 5°.
10. A method of building a wall of bricks or building blocks as an extension outwardly
in angular relationship to a face of an existing wall structure, said method comprising
applying a wall anchorage device as claimed in any of the preceding claims to said
face and fixing thereto said anchorage device plate (8,8a) in a vertical orientation,
laying at least partially the lower courses of the bricks or building blocks (29)
of the extension wall (30) until the upper surface of the endmost brick or block of
the course being laid, which brick or block is butted up to the body portion 10) of
said plate, lies adjacent the level of the root end of the lowermost tongue (16;16a,16b)
in said body portion, bending said lowermost tongue outwards until it extends in a
substantially horizontal plane lying immediately above said upper surface of the endmost
brick or block (29) of the last laid course, applying jointing material and laying
the next course of bricks or blocks whereby said lowermost tongue (16;16a,16b) is
embedded in said jointing compound and is sandwiched between the two last laid courses
of bricks or blocks, and continuing in the same manner laying successive courses and
bending outwards each successive tongue as the level of the upper surface of the endmost
brick or block of the last laid course reaches a level adjacent the level of said
each successive tongue so that said tongues are each arranged to serve as integral
wall tie elements bonding the extension wall (30) in place.
11. A method of building an extension wall as claimed in Claim 10 wherein the anchorage
device plate (8;8a) is fixed to the face of the existing wall (32) with the tongues
(16;16a,16b) in the body portion thereof initially directed upwardly before being
bent.
12. A method of building an extension wall as claimed in Claim 10 wherein the anchorage
device plate (8;8a) is fixed to the face of the existing wall (32) with the tongues
(16;16a,16b) in the body portion (10) thereof initially directed downwardly, and wherein
said tongues are then bent upwards about their root ends each through an angle substantially
greater than 90° so as to be directed upwardly before laying at least each lower adjacent
course of bricks or blocks (29) of the extension wall (30) and before finally bending
each said tongue back downwards and outwards so as to extend in a substantially horizontal
plane in order to serve as a said wall tie element.
13. A method of building an extension wall as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12
wherein at least some of said tongues (16;16a,16b), in being bent outwards so as to
extend in substantially horizontal planes in order to serve as said wall tie elements
are bent about a transverse axis spaced from their respective root end.
14. A method of building an extension wall as claimed in Claim 13 wherein said transverse
axis about which said at least some tongues (16;16a,16b) are bent each lie in a region
of respective tongue that is intermediate the root end thereof and a point one third
of the way along the length of said respective tongue and closer to said point than
to said root end.