FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a method for covering building walls with slabs or tiles, and to a structure for supporting wall covers. In particular, the present invention refers to a method for making walls and ventilated façades covered by stone materials.

STATE OF THE ART

In buildings it is known to cover building walls with covers in the form of slabs, tiles or the like, in order to make the building aesthetically pleasing. Commonly used materials are stone, for example marble and granite, reconstituted stones, glass, aggregates, wood, ceramic materials, etc.

Covers are applied both to inside walls of the building and to outside ones, for example on façades. Systems commonly used for fastening covers are different in the two cases.

In fact, inside the buildings small tiles or wall fittings are mainly used, having non-critical weight and, for this reason, able to be laid by a person without the aid of machinery. Generally, the fastening is obtained by chemical adhesives (continuous type fastening).

On the contrary, on outside walls of buildings and in particular on façades, large slabs, very heavy compared to the previous example, are preferred so that the application nearly always requires them to be lifted by mechanical means. The fastening is obtained mainly through mechanical systems, for example expansion bolts or clamps (point fastening), possibly supported by chemical adhesives (hybrid fastening).

Another important factor is represented by climatic conditions. Inside the buildings the covers are protected from atmospheric agents and rapid temperature changes, whereas outside the fastening system selected to support the covers is required to resist water, humidity and, in general, unfavorable climatic conditions, such as saltiness in the air or temperature changes. For example, mechanical fastening systems can undergo oxidation processes activated by humidity or rainfall, or else strong solar radiation can cause them to expand, thereby resulting in cracks in the cover, etc.

Sometimes, for aesthetic choice, building walls and façades are not flat but rounded, wavy or curved. In this case, the cover application is even more complex because flat slabs have to be fastened to a curved surface. In these cases, chemical adhesives are often used together with mechanical fastening systems.

As it can be understood, there are several technical difficulties, not limited to the examples just described.

As regards cover application, among the most difficult cases from the technical point of view, ventilated walls and façades, especially the curved ones, can be included. A ventilated wall/façade is characterized by the fact that the cover is not adherent to the wall/façade itself, but is spaced out in order to define an interstice which facilitates the natural circulation of the air due to the convective motion caused by openings at the base and top of the wall/façade.

The documents U.S. Pat. No. 8,336,273 and GB 2312223 describe corresponding structures for supporting covering slabs on ventilated walls. The structures comprise typical carpentry elements: section bars and rails having the function of uprights and crossbeams, as well as brackets and screws which together define a rigid and fixed framework.

The solutions adopted so far for applying the covers have some limitations or drawbacks, which are particularly evident in case of application on wavy or curved ventilated walls/façades.

First of all, the supporting structure must be raised and anchored to the wall, taking care that the pitch between the uprights of the structure is compatible with the width of the slabs used for the cover, so that each slab can actually be fixed at the corners or edges. In most cases, also the pitch between the crosspieces must be absolutely compatible with the height of the covering slabs, for the same reasons. Therefore, the number of elements making up the supporting structure is usually high. Application takes long time and mistakes are very likely to be made.

Another drawback is given by the fact that the supporting structure, in practice consisting of uprights and crossbeams, does not allow the use of chemical adhesives on the entire rear surface of the covering slabs but only at the edges, where uprights and crossbeams are.

Moreover, if the wall/façade is wavy or curved, the supporting structure is particularly complex to be raised because workers must also be careful that the uprights and crosspieces extend with the correct radius of curvature. Sometimes the section bars are required to be curved on the building site, during application, thus proceeding by trial and error.

DE 9002601U1 describes a system for making ventilated walls with extensible supporting elements, i.e. whose length can be adjusted, in order to increase or decrease the width of the interstice between the masonry wall of the building and the additional wall erected to support the cover.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Object of the present invention is therefore to provide a solution better than those currently available, in particular a method and a structure which allow covers to be more simply and quickly applied to walls and façades.

Therefore, in a first aspect, the present invention concerns the method according to claim1of covering a building wall which is either inside or outside, flat or curved, ventilated or not.

In particular, the method provides for:

a) making a bearing surface parallel to the wall by using flexible panels;

b) constraining the bearing surface to the wall by fastening elements whose orientation can be adjusted;

c) precisely adjusting the orientation of the bearing surface from the wall by acting selectively on the single fastening elements, and

d) fastening the cover, e.g. marble slabs, to the bearing surface.

The combined use of flexible panels and fastening elements, whose orientation can be adjusted, allows the application of the cover to be simplified and sped up, especially in cases where the desired aesthetic effect is provided by a curved or wavy cover. In fact, the flexible panels, which can be easily handled by the workers on the building site, together define the bearing surface which, in turn, extends in the space with a pattern that can be shaped to different three-dimensional shapes, by acting on the adjustable fastening elements.

In other words, the bearing surface, which is preferably continuous, behaves as a skin on which the cover is actually applied (instead of directly on the wall or on a fixed framework).

The bearing surface can be shaped so as to remain flat, or curved or wavy in one or more directions (vertical, horizontal, oblique). The three-dimensional pattern of the bearing surface can be modified by the workers during the application; when the desired shape is obtained, the workers lock the fasteners to make this shape permanent.

In practice, each fastening element acts as orientable and, preferably, translatable anchoring point. Being flexible, the panels can be curved to adapt themselves to the adjustments of each fastening element. Therefore, by suitably adjusting each fastening element during application, the desired bearing surface is quickly and easily obtained in terms of distance from the wall and curvature, or curvatures.

On the other hand, with the solutions of the known art, each anchoring point of the cover must be arranged in advance on the building site, and no adjustments such as those described above are provided.

Preferably steps a) and b) are carried out simultaneously, as the flexible panels are constrained to the wall and, if necessary, to one another.

The panel can be curved before step a) and/or during step c), either manually by workers or through appropriate machinery, even before being transported to the building site.

Preferably, also the extent of the fastening elements can be adjusted. This allows step c) to be carried out by precisely adjusting also the distance of the bearing surface from the wall, by selectively acting on the single fastening elements. In other words, the distance of the bearing surface from the wall can be changed by acting on the fastening elements. This can be useful for creating an interstice and making the wall, or façade, ventilated.

The cover, for example slabs of stone, glass, ceramic, aggregate materials, etc., can be fixed to the bearing surface by mechanical anchors and/or chemical adhesives.

It is not necessary for each covering element, for example each slab, to match a single elastic panel. In general, configurations in which covering elements are less, or more, extended than a single elastic panel are possible.

The method according to the present invention can also be carried out by providing a framework, for example a metal lattice made of steel beams, fastened to the wall. The frame can be used to modify the volumes at the wall. In this case the flexible panels are constrained to the framework by means of fastening elements, and not directly to the wall.

A second aspect of the present invention relates to the supporting structure of wall coverings of buildings, according to claim12.

The structure comprises a plurality of fastening elements that can be constrained to a wall or framework connected to a wall, and a plurality of flexible panels that can be constrained to the fastening elements. The assembly of flexible panels constrained to the fastening elements defines a bearing surface on which the cover, for example tiles or concrete slabs, can be applied. The fastening elements can be selectively oriented to locally adjust the orientation of the bearing surface with respect to the wall. In this way the bearing surface can be kept flat, or curved or wavy in at least one direction.

Preferably, the fastening elements can also be selectively extended to locally adjust the distance of the bearing surface with respect to the wall.

Preferably, the flexible panels are selected among sheet metals, metal meshes and multilayer panels.

Preferably, the surface of the flexible panels intended to support the cover is smooth, or corrugated, perforated, bossy or with rough surface finishing that aids the adhesion of chemical adhesives.

As mentioned above, preferably the flexible panels can be manually curved without any machinery aids, so that they can be easily and quickly curved by the operators during the application. However, there is always the possibility of using machinery in order to bend the panels with small radii of curvature that cannot be obtained manually.

Preferably, the flexible panels are resistant against atmospheric agents, for example they are made of a metal not subject to oxidation, or else they are painted or zinc-plated.

If necessary, the flexible panels are coupled to thermally insulating materials, for example at the face which is opposite the wall. If necessary, the flexible panels are covered by films that intercept ultraviolet rays, or by films that shield radio signals and mobile-telephone networks.

In the preferred embodiment, fastening elements comprise:

a spacer permanently fastenable to the wall, e.g. through plugs, or to a framework jutting from the wall and cantileverly protruding, and

an orientable element translatable along the spacer and rotatable with respect thereto during the adjustment, and fastenable to the spacer itself in a permanent position. The flexible panels can be fastened to the orientable element.

