Brick veneer assembly

Abstract

A brick veneer assembly having improved accommodation of brick tolerances, simple assembly, and lower cost relative to the prior art. A plurality of bricks having a tapered locating surface are provided. A support panel includes horizontal rows of L-shaped retainers and corresponding rows of holes. Each L-shaped retainer further includes a leg portion extending away from the support panel, and a foot portion that depends downwardly away from the leg portion. The tapered locating surface of each brick is inserted into the L-shaped retainer thereby elastically deforming the foot portion away from the support panel such that the tapered locating surface is subjected to a restraining force creating a force component pushing the back of the brick against the support panel and a force component downwards pushing the bottom of the brick to seat on the adjacent row of L-shaped retainers defining a clearance gap between the top of the brick and the adjacent row of L-shaped retainers so that when mortar is applied between the bricks the mortar will flow into the clearance gap and holes to interlock the brick with the support panel.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] Not applicable. FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable. REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX [0003] Not applicable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0004] 1. Field of the Invention [0005] The present invention generally relates to an external wall for a building. More specifically, this invention is directed to an improved support panel to secure external wall forming members such as brick, tiles or stones to complete an external wall assembly for a building. [0006] 2. Description of the Related Art [0007] Brick walls have been used for centuries as a premium building material due to their strength, beauty, and durability. Unfortunately, brick walls are typically laid brick-by-brick, which tends to be time consuming, labor intensive, and therefore expensive. Thin brick veneer was developed as a means for achieving the beauty and durability of brick walls without the associated expense. [0008] Thin brick veneer is p...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0023] After the thin bricks are applied to the support panel, mortar is disposed between the thin bricks. The mortar flows into the holes and between the top surface of the thin bricks and the bottom surface of the leg portion of the L-shaped retainers creating an improved mortar lock between the bricks and the support panel.

[0025] It is another object to provide a brick veneer assembly capable of accommodating dimensional variation of bricks in a manner that does not interfere with other bricks.

[0029] It is still a further object to provide a more positive brick location means to prevent movement of the bricks while the mortar sets.

[0030] It is yet a further object to provide a less expensive and less labor intensive brick veneer assembly and related method.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, brick walls are typically laid brick-by-brick, which tends to be time consuming, labor intensive, and therefore expensive.

Unfortunately the clip of Taylor et al. is unnecessarily complex with many detailed bends.

Moreover, an overabundance of individual clips must be handled and secured to a building just to construct a single wall, which is inefficient, labor intensive, and costly.

Manufacturing all the components required for the Wallace et al. disclosure and the process of assembling the components to a wall unnecessarily incur additional labor and material cost.

Furthermore, Wallace et al. do not teach a means for accommodating oversized and undersized bricks.

This is detrimental because the size of the bricks varies significantly compared to the stamping tolerances attainable with the support panel.

In other words, either one of two undesirable conditions must occur.

This is extremely costly, if at all possible, on a mass production basis.

Oversize bricks will fit fine in the first row of engaging members, but will start to interfere when they are assembled to adjacent rows of engaging members because the engaging members will be filled with bricks and have no room to deflect.

Alternatively, if the bricks are undersize, they will fit loosely within the engaging members thereby leading to problems.

When the mortar gets applied, loose bricks will shift due to the slack and hairline cracks in the mortar may result.

From the above, it can be appreciated that thin brick panel assemblies of the prior art are not cost effectively optimized to accommodate typical brick tolerances, simplify assembly, and thus lower costs.

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