Framing bracket and method of cladding building walls

Abstract

A system, device and method of framing an opening, such as a window, in a clad faade 12 structure to align the window units 22 to be positioned adjustably so that the exterior sight lines align the windows without custom fabrication of the clad faade. This allows irregular variations in the original building structure to be eliminated by a perfectly aligned faade. A frame 20 has wide flanges 40 to allow the defined inner box frame area 34 to be positioned and then the frame can be shimmed to that position. Sections of frame 20 are joined by an angled member 54 with flat portion which are received in slots 56 in frame sections at their edges.

Claims

1. A boundary frame for using in a building having a wall with a fixed sized opening for receiving a window frame and wherein said wall is overclad with a cladding wall which has an opening for said window frame, wherein said boundary frame is configured to align said openings of the building wall and the cladding wall with each other, said boundary frame, comprising: a. right, left, upper and lower boundary frame elements together defining said boundary frame having an interior space and having interior and exterior facing surfaces, oriented generally orthogonally to the cladding wall, each boundary frame element comprising: a first planar flange configured to extend orthogonally into said opening defining a first plane, said first planar flange having a top and bottom surfaces and inner and outer side edges, inner and outer side edges being joinable to inner and outer side edges of an adjacent boundary frame element to form an inner box wall of said interior facing surfaces; b. a flange member extending generally orthogonally a predetermined distance from said top surface at said outer side edge of said first planar flange; a second planar flange extending from said flange member in a direction opposite from said first planar flange in a second plane offset from said first plane and parallel thereto thereby defining a second plane parallel to said first plane; said top surface further including a channel extending adjacent said outer edge; an L-shaped joiner element having a pair of planar elements, said planar elements sized to be received within said channel, so that when joined, said box frame is formed and maintained by the connection of said boundary frame elements together by the joiner element in the channels.

2. A boundary frame for using in a building having a wall with a fixed sized opening for receiving a window frame and wherein said wall is overclad with a cladding wall which has an opening for said window frame, wherein said boundary frame is configured to align said openings of the building wall and the cladding wall with each other, said boundary frame, comprising: a. right, left, upper and lower boundary frame elements together defining said boundary frame having an interior space and having interior and exterior facing surfaces, oriented generally orthogonally to the cladding wall, each boundary frame element comprising: a first planar flange configured to extend orthogonally into said opening defining a first plane, said first planar flange having a top and bottom surfaces and inner and outer side edges, inner and outer side edges being joinable to inner and outer side edges of an adjacent boundary frame element to form an inner box wall of said interior facing surfaces; b. a flange member extending generally orthogonally a predetermined distance from said top surface at said outer side edge of said first planar flange; a second planar flange extending from said flange member in a direction opposite from said first planar flange in a second plane offset from said first plane and parallel thereto thereby defining a second plane parallel to said first plane; said top surface further including a channel extending adjacent said outer edge; said channel includes a pair of flange members extending orthogonally from said first planar part; an L-shaped joiner element having a pair of planar elements, said planar elements sized to be received within said channel, so that when joined, said box frame is formed and maintained by the connection of said boundary frame elements together by the joiner element in the channels.

3. The frame of claim 2 wherein said boundary frame elements are joined by four joiner elements.

4. The frame of claim 2 wherein the building wall is formed with vertical lines and wherein the boundary frame element is aligned in parallel with the vertical lines.

5. The frame of claim 2 wherein a window is affixed to the spaced defined by the boundary frame elements.

6. The frame of claim 2, wherein said building opening includes an internal frame having front edge receiving flanges and wherein said boundary frame elements are at least partly received within said flanges.

7. A method of adjustably framing openings in a wall having a boundary frame for using in a building having a wall with a fixed sized opening for receiving a window frame and wherein said wall is overclad with a cladding wall which has an opening for said window frame, wherein said boundary frame is configured to align said openings of the building wall and the cladding wall with each other, the method comprising the steps of: a. on the cladding wall, constructing the cladding wall opening having an opening equal to or larger than the size of the building wall opening; b. constructing said boundary frame having right, left, upper and lower boundary frame elements, said boundary frame having an interior space and having interior and exterior facing surfaces, oriented generally orthogonally to the cladding wall, each boundary frame element comprising: a first planar flange configured to extend orthogonally into said opening defining a first plane, said first planar flange having a top and bottom surfaces and inner and outer side edges, inner and outer side edges being joinable to inner and outer side edges of an adjacent boundary frame element to form an inner box wall of said interior facing surfaces; a flange member extending generally orthogonally a predetermined distance from said top surface at said outer side edge of said first planar flange; a second planar flange extending from said flange member in a direction opposite from said first planar flange in a second plane offset from said first plane and parallel thereto thereby defining a second plane parallel to said first plane; said top surface further including a channel extending adjacent said outer edge; an L-shaped joiner element having a pair of planar elements, said planar elements sized to be received within said channel, so that when joined, said box frame is formed and maintained by the connection of said boundary frame elements together by the joiner element in the channels; c. loosely installing the boundary frame over the building wall opening; d. installing the cladding wall over the building wall with the cladding wall openings receiving a portion of the boundary frame; e. adjusting the position of the boundary frame center on the building wall opening; f. permanently affixing the boundary frame to the cladding wall; thereby creating an opening for a window or door which is aligned according to the cladding wall by virtue of the first planar flange, the second planar flange and the flange member.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective schematic view of a box frame in a cladding wall with a window opening.

(2) FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views of half of a frame (the other half not shown but symmetrical thereto) in exploded and connected orientations.

(3) FIGS. 3A and 3B are portions of the frame in FIG. 2A, installed with the opening of a cladding wall.

(4) FIG. 4 is a top plan of a portion of the frame in FIG. 2A.

(5) FIGS. 5A and 5B are top sectional views of a portion of the frame installed.

(6) FIG. 6 is a top sectional view of a portion of the frame installed.

(7) FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C are top sectional views of a portion of the frame installed.

(8) FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C and 8D are top sectional views of a portion of the frame and window unit installed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) This disclosure relates primarily to devices and method for framing in window/door openings in a clad faade to be applied over an original building faade, however, the devices and techniques can be used for other purposes related to the building trades beyond clad faade. To understand clad faade, reference should be had to my U.S. Pat. No. 7,752,818 which relates to devices and methods for attachment of such facades.

(10) The problem of putting a faade over an original building face is that to reduce costs, the faade should be prefabricated with the least amount of custom fitting on site. That is, the best outcome is that measurements can be taken, but final adjustments can be made without customization. Window and doors (and other openings) in buildings are rarely square and even good measurement can be off enough that final adjustment of the openings in the clad cover would need to be customized. Furthermore, window placement in the clad cover need to be accurately aligned with each other, no matter the errors in the original faade or the clad faade will not look neat and clean. Imagine an old building with windows which are several centimeters out of alignment. Normally that is hardly noticeable in a standard faade, but in a clad faade where lines are very straight vertically and horizontally such errors are very noticeable. The eye tends to follow straight lines.

(11) To solve these problems, the present disclosure describes a framing system and method which allows the opening in the clad over faade to have fixed openings relatively close to where the original faade's openings are, but then the frame which has wide flanges allows for the exact alignment of the openings to be made on site and without customization of the new faade wall. This greatly speeds installation and lowers costs.

(12) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a window system 10, with a portion of the faade wall 12, shown as a clad section, which has a precut opening 14. The opening receives the frame 20 which will be explained in greater detail, and a window unit 22 which is inserted into the frame at final installation.

(13) FIGS. 2A and 2B show half a frame section connected (2B) and exploded (2A). In this embodiment, the building wall has its own framing 31, or a new frame has been installed. The framing 31 is configured to mate with the flanges 30 of the outer frame virtue of recesses or flanges 33 in the inner or outer frame.

(14) The other half is symmetric/mirror image of the shown half. See FIG. 1.

(15) The frame is constructed of a building material such as aluminum. Here there are 4 sections (more are possible for complex openings). Each section 30 has a planar portion 32 which will end up being oriented generally orthogonally to the faade. The four sections 30 will be joined together to form an inner box area 34. Between top and bottom edges of the section, a wide flange 40 extends orthogonally from section 30 away from the inner box. It is this flange which allows for adjustment of the position of the frame in the larger opening provided in the clad faade. The term wide is intended to mean wide enough to allow adjustment side to side or top to bottom and still provide a flange to faade overlap, for weatherproofing purposes. In practice 100 mm (50-250 mm) would work for many window openings. A second flange 44 extends orthogonally to wide flange 40 in a direction away from the building and provides an abutment surface for a window unit 22.

(16) Flanges 44 may be coplanar with planar portion 32 or it may be offset 60 in parallel planes as shown.

(17) The edges of frame portions 20 may have mitered edges to allow a close fit when joined. They may be joined by spot welding, adhesive or other means. The structure shown is a right angle joint element 54 which planar and has a thickness sized to be received in channel 56 of flange 50 and is formed of spaced apart guides 58. This allows for easy on site assembly of smaller parts and some degree of slideably adjustability if the inner box size 34 is an issue during installation.

(18) FIGS. 3A and 3B show a frame 20 installed. Notice that the window unit 22 can be positioned anywhere in the inner box space 34 and wooden/plastic/metal blocks/spacers are used to shim the window unit into exact position. The frame 20 can be shimmed into place with blocks 66 to be perfectly aligned with the sight lines of the clad faade, i.e. so that the windows are aligned from the exterior, making the exterior look perfectly aligned, without customizing the cladding fabrication. Wide flanges 40 fill in the gap allowing substantial centering flexibility and still maintain a seal between the cladding and the internal frame which defines the building opening. Previously, the cladding had to be made to specific requirements, typically onsite to accommodate variances. Prefabricated construction is far simpler and cheaper but could not account for variances.

(19) FIG. 4 shows a top view of a frame portion in FIG. 2A.

(20) FIGS. 5A and 5B are top section views which include the abutting edge of the clad faade 70 and various screens which are used to attach the frame to the faade.

(21) FIG. 6 shows a further faade element 72.

(22) FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C show a top view of the full window unit 22 installed in various configurations. FIG. 7A is without the adjustable frame. FIG. 7B is with the adjustable frame 20 in place and FIG. 7C is an exploded view of FIG. 7B.

(23) FIG. 8A shows the subject matter of FIG. 5A bit with a faade element 72 in place over the frame 20 to show how the gap between the frame and the faade is fully covered. FIG. 8B is similar to FIG. 5A. FIGS. 8C and 8D show alternative covering materials 70 such as a corrugated metal surface.

(24) The description of the invention and its applications as set forth herein is illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Variations and modifications of the embodiments disclosed herein are possible and practical alternatives to and equivalents of the various elements of the embodiments would be understood to those of ordinary skill in the art upon study of this patent document. These and other variations and modifications of the embodiments disclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.