Prefabricated buildings
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to prefabricated buildings. 
     According to the present invention there is provided a prefabricated building having two or more stories, at least two of which consist of prefabricated room units that each have one wall located at the front of the erected building, a kitchen being in one part of one of these units so as to be at the front of the erected building, and another of these units, comprising the main entrance of the building, being provided at one side of the unit having the kitchen. 
     In a simple form the erected building further comprises a living room at its rear formed by two adjacent prefabricated room units. 
     In a further form the story of the erected building containing the living room, when formed by at least two adjacent prefabricated room units, also has an open staircase in the living room to give access to a second floor above the living-room story. 
     Advantageously, when the erected building comprises just two stories, there is a total of four prefabricated room units. 
     An effective disposition of the rooms of the erected building can be obtained by arranging in the bedroom story an intermediate partition parallel to the longer side walls of a prefabricated room unit and at a distance from the longer side walls of this unit. 
     In another form a story consisting of prefabricated room units is arranged, in the erected building, on a cellar which extends beneath the whole building. 
     For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an erected row of prefabricated dwelling houses, 
     FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the row of houses shown in FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the row of houses taken on the line III--III of FIG. 2, 
     FIG. 4 is a floor plan of the top floor of one of the houses of FIG. 1, 
     FIG. 5 is a floor plan of the ground floor of the house of FIG. 4, and 
     FIG. 6 is a floor plan of the cellar of the house of FIG. 4, 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 shows a row of three buildings in the form of dwelling houses 1, 2 and 3, erected side by side in a single row. The houses are identical and the house 1 will be described in detail. The house 1 has a cellar 4, a ground floor story 5 and a second floor story 6 in which the bedrooms are disposed. On top of the second floor story 6 an attic or loft 7 is covered by inclined roof parts 8 and 9. 
     The cellar 4 is constructed at the building site and is preferably made of concrete. The stories 5 and 6 are each formed by two prefabricated room units each of an elongated parallelepiped box-shaped form, assembled together at the building site, while the roof is mounted on top of the assembled sections of the story 6 also at the building site. The units of the story 5 are designated 10 and 11 and those of the story 6 are designated 12 and 13. 
     Each of the units 10 to 13 is prefabricated as completely as practical and their external dimensions are the same. For example, each unit has a height 14 of about 2.80 ms, a width 15 of about 2.50 ms, measured along the facade, and a length 16 of about 11 ms. Each of the units has a supporting beam structure, to which the internal dividing walls and the outer walls are secured. In these walls windows and doors are provided as desired. FIG. 5 shows for the units 10 and 11 four vertical frame beams 17, 18, 19 and 20, disposed at vertical corner edges of the units and further vertical frame beams 21 and 22 disposed along the long walls of the units. 
     The vertical frame beams are preferably secured to horizontal frame beams mounted on horizontal faces (that is floor and ceiling faces) of the units. The positions of the vertical frame beams may be chosen to some extent freely with a view to division of the stories into living room, bedroom and other rooms located wholly or partly in a section, the positions of the dividing walls being determined by this choice. In the form illustrated the positions of the vertical frame beams 21 and 22 are chosen so that a wall 23 can be disposed between them, which forms a partition between the opening for a staircase 25 leading to the cellar 4 and a portion 24, disposed in the section 10, of a living room 26. 
     The ground floor story 5 has, in addition to the living room 26, a kitchen 27 and a hall 28. The living room 26 extends throughout the width of the house at the rear so that each of the units 10 and 11 contains half of the living room 26. The kitchen 27 is entirely within the unit 10, at the end thereof which is located on the front 30 of the house and extending over the entire width of the unit 10. The entrance 29 of the house is in the unit 11, also at the front of the house, and gives access to a hall 28 entirely within the unit 11 at the front of the house. The hall 28 is thus located at the side of the kitchen. A toilet room 31 adjoins the hall 28 at the side of the main entrance 29. The hall 28 and the kitchen 27 cover a length 32 approximately equal to one third of the overall length 33 of the elongated units 10 and 11 and hence the living room 26 covers a length 34 of the units 10 and 11 approximately equal to two-thirds of the length 33. The hall 28 has a door opening 36 giving access to the staircase 25 leading to the cellar 4 beneath the ground floor story 5. The staircase 25 joins at its top an opening in the floor of the unit 10 located between the walls 23 and 37 of the living room 24 and the kitchen 27 respectively. The kitchen 27 has a sink unit 38 along the shorter wall of the unit 10, that is at the front of the house. Above the sink 38 there is an elongated window 40 with three small panes. 
     The cellar 4 (FIG. 6) is made of concrete cast at the building site. The cellar has rooms 45, 46 and 47 communicating with each other through doors, and a closet 48 suitable for accommodating heating equipment for central heating of the house, which is not shown in the figures. From the closet 48 a flue 49 extends upwardly. The flue 49 passes through the hall 28 at a corner between an outer wall 50 and a partition wall 51 between the hall 28 and the living room 26. In the bedroom story 6 (FIG. 4) the flue 49 runs in a corner between a wall 52 of the unit 13 and a wall 53 between the bathroom 54 and a landing 55. The flue 49 then passes through the roof, it being entirely vertical from the cellar 4 upwards. 
     The bedroom story 6, to which access is gained by to open staircase 35 from the living room 24 to the landing 55, has two bedrooms 56 and 57, a bathroom 54 and a bedroom 58. Between the bedrooms 56 and 57 a partition wall 59 is provided, along which cupboards 60 and 61 are disposed. The bedrooms 56 and 57 (inclusive of the cupboards) have lengths 62 and 63 respectively, which are approximately the same and thus equal to half the overall length 33 of the unit 12. The bedrooms 56 and 57 each have a width 64 which exceeds the width 15 of the unit 12 so that they are partly contained in the unit 13. The unit 13 has a partition wall 65 located at a distance 66 from and parallel to a longer side 67 of this unit. The partition wall 65 forms a separating wall between the bedrooms 56 and 57 on one hand and the bathroom 54, landing 55, and bedroom 58 on the other. By disposing the partition wall 65 at a distance from the longer side 67 of the unit 13 an advantageous division of the top story into the various rooms is obtained. The bedrooms and the bathroom have doors to the landing 55 with which in turn communicates the open staircase 35, the staircase 35 joining an opening in the floor of the unit 13, and the bathroom 54 and the bedroom 58 thus being located on opposite sides of the staircase 35. The said opening in the floor of the unit 13 is situated in about the middle of the length of the unit 13. The staircase 35 is extending parallel to the longer side of the units as seen in plan view. The bathroom 54 has a window 68 similar to the window 40 of the kitchen 27 and the facade portion 39 of the front of the unit 10 is identical to the facade portion 69 of the front of the unit 13. The bathroom 54 is located above the toilet room 31 and these rooms are both located at the front of the house, which is advantageous with respect to water supply and drainage ducts located near the front of the house. At the rear the facade portions 70 and 71 of the units 12 and 13 are identical, each having a window 72. The facade portion 73 at the front of the unit 12 is identical to the rear facade portions 70 and 71, having a window 74. 
     The space beneath the roof parts 8 and 9 forms a loft accessible through an opening in the top of the unit 13 located above the landing 55. This opening may accommodate a movable ladder covering, in its raised position, the opening in the ceiling of the landing 55, the ladder then lying in the loft. The ladder can be lowered to extend to the floor of the landing 55 to give access to the loft. 
     The width of each of the houses is equal to twice the width of one unit, the width of the house being about 5 ms. The longer sides of the units extend in the direction of depth of the house. With a unit length of 11 ms, the total ground surface area of each story is about 55 square meters. This surface area is preferably not smaller than about 50 square meters. 
     Each of the houses 1, 2 and 3 has a garden 75, 76 and 77 respectively at the rear. In the rear parts of these gardens storing sheds 78, 79 and 80 are provided, which may be used as garages. In order to obtain a sufficient length 81 for the garages and a satisfactory access thereto with a garden width of not more than 5 ms (i.e. equal to the house width), the garages are disposed longitudinally inclined to the direction of depth of the houses, adjacent garages overlapping one another. The length 81 can therefore be chosen so that the dimension 82 occupied by each garage, measured in the direction of width of the garden, may exceed the width 75 of the garden. The length 81 may be larger than 5 ms. The garages are readily accessible (see the entrance side 91 of the garage 78) from the access road 93 laid parallel to the rear facade 94 of the houses. Since the direction of length of the garages is at an acute angle 92 to the rear facade of the houses and is inclined to the road 93, it is easy to drive into and out of the garages. In the layout shown in FIG. 2 narrow spaces are left between the garages 78, 79 and 80 for giving access to the gardens 75, 76. As an alternative, the garages may join each other so that the gardens are only accessible at the rear through the garages. 
     On the building site the cellar 4 of each house is first cast from concrete, the cellars of adjacent houses being made as a whole unit if so desired. On the cellars 4 the ground floor stories 5 of each of the houses 1, 2 and 3 are erected utilizing, for the story 5 of each house, two prefabricated room units 10 and 11 as described above. The units 10 and 11 have been situated so that the front 30 of the house preferably faces a road or street. By employing space-bounding, prefabricated, box-shaped room units as described, the stories 5 can be readily erected. The bedroom stories 6 are then erected on the stories 5, each of the units 12 and 13 of the higher story fitting to a unit of the lower story. The main part of each house, that is to say the living and bedroom stories 5 and 6, thus comprises only four prefabricated, box-shaped room units so that a rapid erection of these stories 5 and 6 on the building site is possible. On the bedroom stories 6 is erected the roof comprising the inclined parts 8 and 9. The loft space beneath the roof parts 8 and 9 is preferably separated by partitions located above the party walls between adjacent houses so that each house has an individual loft. Thus, the roof formed by the parts 8 and 9 is built at the building site on the top of the stories 6 but, as an alternative, the roof may be formed of prefabricated roof units. 
     Although in the illustrated embodiment inclined roof parts 8 and 9 are provided, a flat roof may be provided, in which case the roof can then be mounted on the units to form the stories 6 during the prefabrication process. In the illustrated embodiment the roof parts 8 and 9 are disposed so that the ridge 90 is parallel to the shorter sides of the units of the stories 5 and 6. It will be appreciated that the roof may be shaped in a different form. 
     Inasmuch as the longer sides of the adjacent houses join each other, there is no need for finishing them with an attractive appearance. Neither is it necessary for these sides to be water-tight, because they are covered by the adjacent house. This has a favorable effect on the costs of fabricating the units. Moreover, since each of the units where it joins an adjacent house has a closed wall, a double wall is formed between two neighboring houses so that desirable sound and heat insulation properties are obtained. 
     The units can be prefabricated in a workshop so that the manufacture of the units can be carried out rapidly and economically with greater accuracy. Since, for example, the facade portions 39 and 69 of the units 10 and 13 are identical and the rears 70 and 71 and the facade portion 73 of the units 12 and 13 are identical, a certain degree of uniformity is obtained, which simplifies further manufacture and improves economy. 
     As the two stories 5 and 6, which require a considerably better finish than the cellar 4, are formed of units fabricated away from the building site, work at the site can proceed rapidly with the desired finish being obtained, a satisfactory, constructional form of the units for the stories 5 and 6 being effectively carried out in a factory. The cellar 4 and the roof, if a less attractive finish is acceptable for them can be made practically completely on the building site. 
     By providing a large depth for the stories 5 and 6, for example a depth 33 of 11 ms, the width 15 of each house may be small. It is thus possible to construct each story 5 or 6 from not more than two units. If a further story is required on the story 6, for example for a hobby room and one or more further bedrooms, this further story may also be erected from two prefabricated units. 
     The small width 15 of each house gives a minimal length of frontage to a row of houses which maximizes the usage that can be made of supply and drainage ducts for gas, water and sewage. This has a favorable effect on the costprice of the buildings. 
     Although various features of the prefabricated buildings, have been described and illustrated in the drawings which will be set forth in the following claims as inventive features, it is to be noted that the invention is not necessarily limited to these features and that it encompasses all of the features that have been described and illustrated both individually and in various combinations.