A dirt extraction apparatus for use by a user in a crawlspace of a building to extract dirt and debris is provided. The dirt extraction apparatus includes a housing having an internal conduit with an inlet and an outlet, a plurality of blades rotatably mounted to the housing proximate the inlet, a motor disposed within the housing and operably connected to the plurality of blades, a support handle coupled to the top face of the housing and having a plurality of bars coupled together, and a collection assembly coupled to the outlet of the housing. Any bar of the support handle is grabbed by the user to maneuver the apparatus within the building crawlspace, thereby enabling the rotating blades to evacuate the dirt and debris from the ground surface through the internal conduit of the housing to the collection assembly.

Insulated buildings are described. The building include: (a) a sloped roof that is a prefabricated insulated roof assembly; (b) a generally horizontally arranged flooring assembly having an end that is arranged over a wall structure and under the sloped roof assembly; (c) a sloped member that is arranged over the end of the flooring assembly that is over the wall structure, and (d) a rigid foam insulation member arranged in the cavity of the roof assembly so as to bridge a lower surface of a rigid foam insulation board in the roof assembly to the sloped member.

Insulated buildings are described. The building include: (a) a sloped roof that is a prefabricated insulated roof assembly; (b) a generally horizontally arranged flooring assembly having an end that is arranged over a wall structure and under the sloped roof assembly; (c) a sloped member that is arranged over the end of the flooring assembly that is over the wall structure, and (d) a rigid foam insulation member arranged in the cavity of the roof assembly so as to bridge a lower surface of a rigid foam insulation board in the roof assembly to the sloped member.

An approved dynamic construction is used for effectively thermally insulating and sealing of a safing slot between a floor of a building and an exterior wall construction, wherein the exterior wall construction includes a curtain wall configuration defined by an interior wall glass surface, including one or more aluminum framing members. In particular, a process for assembling a unitized panel for use within an exterior dynamic curtain wall assembly, which includes glass, especially vision glass extending to the finished floor level below, is described as well as a unitized panel assembled according to said process and its installation to improve fire stopping at the safing slot.

An approved dynamic construction is used for effectively thermally insulating and sealing of a safing slot between a floor of a building and an exterior wall construction, wherein the exterior wall construction includes a curtain wall configuration defined by an interior wall glass surface including one or more aluminum framing members, wherein the vision glass extends to the finished floor level below. The dynamic, thermally insulating and sealing system includes a first element for receiving the insulating elements and positioned in the zero spandrel area of a glass curtain wall construction including only vision glass to maintain thermally insulating and sealing of the safing slot during exposure to fire and heat as well as movement in order to maintain a complete seal extending across the safing slot.

A method of stiffening a frame supported panel by inducing a new condition on the panel is disclosed. When a fixed/continuous/dropped condition is induced on a continuous panel by bonding polyurethane to the panel's backside and to the sides of supporting frame members, the panel's load capacity can be greatly increased, with the lower the panel's flexural stiffness, the greater the increase in load capacity. This enables weaker, lighter, thinner and less costly panels to to become stiffer, stronger and more versatile.

A vacuum heat-insulating material includes: an outer cover material; and a core material which is sealed in a tightly closed and decompressed state on the inside of the outer cover material. Outer cover material has gas barrier properties and satisfies at least one of a condition that a linear expansion coefficient is 8010.sup.5/ C. or lower when a static load is 0.05 N within a temperature range of 130 C. to 80 C., inclusive, a condition that an average value of a linear expansion coefficient is 6510.sup.5/ C. or higher when a static load is 0.4 N within a temperature range of 140 C. to 130 C., inclusive, a condition that an average value of a linear expansion coefficient is 2010.sup.5/ C. or higher when a static load is 0.4 N within a temperature range of 140 C. to 110 C., inclusive, and a condition that an average value of a linear expansion coefficient is 1310.sup.5/ C. or higher when a static load is 0.4 N within a temperature range of +50 C. to +65 C., inclusive.

A facade assembly for a building can have at least one facade element, which may be fastened to a wall or an inter-story ceiling of the building. The assembly can also have at least one fire-protection element, which may be mounted between the facade element and the wall or the inter-story ceiling. The fire-protection element contains an insulating layer and at least one angle profile with two flanges disposed at an angle relative to one another, wherein one of the flanges of the angle profile is fastened to the facade element and the other flange of the angle profile bears on the insulating layer.

A thermal isolator system may comprise a thermal isolator configured to be coupled to an inner wall of a wall system, and a first retainer comprising a first coupling protrusion having a first protrusion shape. The thermal isolator may comprise an isolator body spanning between an isolator outer surface and an isolator inner surface and between an isolator first side and an isolator second side, and a first coupling recess disposed through the isolator outer surface and into the isolator body. The first coupling recess may comprise a recess shape, and the first protrusion shape of the first coupling protrusion may be complementary to the recess shape of the first coupling recess. The first retainer may be configured to be coupled to the thermal isolator by the first coupling protrusion being disposed in the first coupling recess of the thermal isolator.

Insulation devices, methods and related construction techniques are provided. An exemplary device may include a body having a plurality of openings defining an openwork, to allow the passage of air therethrough when placed in contact with insulation material. The device may further include a plurality of spacer struts and/or spacing depressions fixedly attached to the body. The struts may be configured to maintain a predetermined distance between a first side of the insulation material and a building surface. The body and struts act together to define and maintain a space between the first side of the insulation material and the building surface, for example, for ventilation. The building surface can be the bottom face of a roof, an insulated attic floor, wall sheathing or a soundproofed demising wall, for example. The spacer device can be capable of being transported and stored together with, or as a separate item from, the insulation material, and can also be stored in nested layers. The device can also be stored in rolled form. The openwork of the device can additionally or alternatively include a sheet of entangled net filaments or other similar material.