Thin Brick Panel Assembly System

Abstract

A brick veneer assembly having improved installation capabilities, improved accommodation of brick tolerances, improved moisture control, simple assembly, and lower cost relative to the prior art. A plurality of bricks having a mortised groove providing both a locating advantage and a locking mechanism are provided. An easy to handle support panel provides horizontal rows of shaped receptors, each of which are alternately aligned vertically, and each of which have resilient retainers integrated within the walls of said receptors to engage the brick.

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.[0004]Not applicable.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]1. Field of the Invention[0006]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 the exterior wall.[0007]2. Description of the Related Art[0008]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.[0009]Thin brick veneer is produced using a varie...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a brick veneer assembly and related method that can accommodate dimensional variation of bricks without interfering with other bricks. The assembly includes a support panel with flexible tabs and a grooved thin brick that can be easily mounted on the support panel using the flexible tabs. The support panel is attached to the building structure using fasteners, and the thin bricks are pushed flat against the support panel to engage the tabs. The thin bricks are applied to the support panel, and mortar is disposed between the thin bricks, creating an improved mortar lock between the bricks and the support panel. The invention also provides a more positive brick location means to prevent movement of the bricks while the mortar sets, and 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, nor do they teach a means to control retention of water behind the brick.

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.

As is easily understood, metal is becoming more and more expensive, relatively heavy, and does not lend itself to easy handling from a construction perspective, with lacerations prevalent among craftsmen who work in metal.

From the above, it can be appreciated that thin brick panel assemblies of the prior art are either cumbersome and complicated, don't cost effectively accommodate typical brick tolerances, require the use of a material not user friendly in the construction, and do not address the issue of moisture control, all of which increase costs to the consumer.

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