Veneers for walls, retaining walls and the like

Abstract

A veneer panel system is used with a wall or a retaining wall to provide a natural stone appearance and / or to improve the appearance of an existing wall. Panels can be interlocked to form a stable veneer structure. The structure is attached to a wall by various attachment means.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 566,616, filed Apr. 29, 2004, the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to walls and retaining walls and in particular relates to a veneer panel system to form a decorative and protective face for such walls either during construction of the wall or after the wall has already been installed. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Retaining walls are used in various landscaping projects and are available in a wide variety of styles. Numerous methods and materials exist for the construction of retaining walls. Such methods include the use of natural stone, poured concrete, precast panels, masonry, and landscape timbers or railroad ties. [0004] A widely accepted method of construction of such walls is to dry stack concrete wall units, or blocks. These blocks are popular because they are mass produced and, consequently, relatively ine...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015] We have invented a veneer panel system that can be used with a wall or a retaining wall to provide a variety of desired appearances, including an appearance that closely resembles a variety of natural stone types and to improve the appearance of the front face of an existing wall. Individual panels form a veneer for the wall; the panels preferably are interlocked to form a stable veneer structure. This structure is attached to a wall by various attachment means. This system also permits a cost effective maximum positive connection of geogrid with blocks or units comprising the retaining wall while providing the desired appearance.

Problems solved by technology

Depending upon their location, the soil type, the amount of water that can flow through the wall, and the mineral content of the water, an undesirable appearance can develop on the surface of a retaining wall.

In addition, due to exposure to the elements and freeze / thaw cycles, concrete retaining walls may exhibit spalling, that is, chipping and cracking of concrete, which affects their appearance and can ultimately affect their utility.

Freeze-thaw effects are worsened when the wall face is exposed to salt spray, which commonly occurs on roadways where de-icing salts are used to clear the road of ice and snow.

The resultant deposit on a surface creates an unattractive white stained appearance on a wall.

While such veneering produces aesthetically pleasing walls, it is a laborious and highly expensive process, as it requires skilled masonry work to tie in the stone or concrete veneer to the wall using traditional mortared masonry construction methods.

In addition, segmental retaining walls are not rigid structures and applying a rigid mortared veneer may cause cracking unless appropriate steps are taken to provide slip joints.

There are limits to their performance however, particularly at the upper portions of the wall, where the load of the blocks above the geogrids layer do not provide as much load on the connection, so that frictional forces are reduced.

The use of frictional connections forces the wall designer and builder to use more and higher strength geogrids because connection strength limits the strength of the system, and this adds expense to the wall.

The difficulty with this approach is that in order for such connectors to provide high levels of efficient connection they must add considerable expense to cost of using the geogrids reinforcement, and add complexity and expense to the installation process.

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