Furring Strip With Interlocking Feature For Securing Cladding Material

The application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/638,160 filed Apr. 24, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus used to secure panels generally called cladding applied to the facade of building. Specifically, the disclosure related to a furring system and method for affixing cladding to building facades more efficiently.

The emergence of modern design on the facades of buildings has brought builders and installers new technological hurdles in the installation of such designs. Cladding or cladding panels is known as the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer. In construction, cladding may be used to provide a certain degree of thermal insulation and weather resistance, and to improve the appearance of buildings. Cladding can be made of any of a wide range of materials including wood, metal, brick, vinyl, and composite materials that can include aluminum, wood, blends of cement and even recycled polystyrene, or wheat/rice straw fibers.

Rainscreen cladding is a form of weather cladding designed to protect against the elements, but also offers thermal insulation. The cladding does not itself need to be waterproof, but merely a control element. In this case cladding may serve only to direct water or wind safely away in order to control run-off and prevent its infiltration into the building structure. Cladding may also be for interior walls or ceilings either as an aesthetic choice or to hide sound attenuation devices such as acoustic panels.

Affixing cladding on the facade of buildings can be challenging as the cladding itself may have no structural stability. In addition, depending on the material used for cladding, additional difficulties may be experienced by the installers. In the past or over the last ten years there has been an increase in the use of open joint rain screens for cladding both commercial and residential buildings. As an example, this style of cladding has made it possible to use square edged deck boards for cladding, which has become an emergent trend in new building design.

Installers putting up rainscreens most commonly use wood or metal furring strips where the metal furring strip is most commonly a hat channel or z-girt. Mounting these furring strips on the building facade typically requires multiple installers on scaffolding, where at least one installer holds the furring strip in place, while the other installer fastens the furring.

While galvanized hat channels and z-girts are commonly used as furring strips, they do not always provide the necessary protection for harsh environments such as the seashore. In addition, most installations with these metal furring strips do not consider thermal bridging, where the metal furring conducts heat from the outside environment and adds to the overall heat load on the building. In the case of open-joint rainscreen construction, these hat channels and z-girts are often painted black to hide the reflective surface of the furring strip which can be visible between the open joints of the siding or cladding material.

The current and relatively new practice of using deck boards in rainscreen applications has presented a unique problem. When boards are to be installed in the vertical position, a furring strip must be placed horizontally to provide an ample amount of connection points for each board, however the rainscreen construction must still allow for proper drainage and ventilation.

As such, the current construction practice is to install two sets of furring strips. The first set of furring strips are installed vertically against the building facade for the purpose of drainage and ventilation. The subsequent second set of furring strips are installed horizontally over the top of the initial vertical furring strips to create a grid pattern. This grid pattern allows for cladding boards to be installed vertically while still maintaining the proper drainage required for a rainscreen. This practice is both expensive and time-consuming but is the only effective method on the market so far.

The problem faced by the market is that there is a lack of information on how to adapt decking as cladding. In particular, there is market confusion about what hardware components are needed to do this installation.

Therefore, an alternative securing device has great importance. There is a need for an improved device that may mount decking material and other material on the facade of a building and avoid the above disadvantages.

Compared to the above prior attempts, the present disclosure fulfills the above criteria and provides additional benefits that state of the art systems cannot provide. Disclosed and described is a fixture device that secures cladding even if it is decking material.

One objective is to provide an interlocking furring strip which serve as the spacer between the building envelope and the composite cladding. In normal practice, installers typically use long runs of furring strips, the interlocking feature allows for a temporary connection of the next furring strip prior to being fastened to the building, thereby eliminating a second worker to hold the next furring strip in place, as is common practice today. The furring strip may be made adjustable by providing various lengths other than the standard longer length. In one embodiment, the furring strip may have tabs that interlock perpendicular to the furring strip, whereas in another embodiment the tabs that interlock may be parallel to the furring strip.

Another objective is to have a predrilled hole in the lip of the furring strip to assist placing screws or other fasteners therethrough. A broad selection of fasteners may be used to accommodate almost all decks to cladding situations.

Another objective is to have a black coating on the hat channel which will be equally functional and aesthetic, where the coating can provide additional corrosion protection, can prevent thermal bridging, and conceals the furring strip from view.

Still another objective is to place insulation material either on the back of the hat channel where the lip is located completely covering the channel made by the furring strip or just on the lip. Such insulation material includes but is not limited to thermoplastic elastomers, rubber, and the like.

Yet another objective is to have instead of one continuous lip on either side of the furring strip but one continuous lip just on one side of the furring strip and/or a non-continuous lip where the lip is segmented on both, and/or either side of the furring strip.

Furthermore the furring strip may be made of any material including but not limited to metal, plastic, wood, concrete, composite materials, carbon fibers, fiberglass, and any combination thereof.

These objectives and many more objectives are further described, shown, and discussed in the attached drawings and following detailed descriptions.

The invention includes, according to certain embodiments, systems and processes relates to a fixation device used in applying decking material and/or other material to the face of a building.

As is known in the art, rainscreens are an existing form of siding construction where the siding, also referred to as cladding, is spaced off of the building envelope using furring for increased ventilation and drainage. The additional ventilation and drainage come with a host of benefits, such as allowing the building to breathe, reducing moisture build-up, and minimizing the formation of mold.

Rainscreens can be either open-joint or closed-joint. While both of these methods are open at the top and bottom of the wall for increased ventilation and drainage, open-joint rainscreens have gaps between the cladding which allows for further ventilation. Closed joint rainscreens have no gaps between boards and in some cases the boards may overlap.

The typical method for spacing the cladding off of the building envelope is with “furring strips.” These are usually wooden strips, metal z-girts, or metal hat channels, however other, less-common types exist made from plastics or fiberglass. These furring strips are fastened back to the building stud and, in some cases, are responsible for holding the weight of whatever cladding is going on the building. Given the variety of options available for rainscreen construction, it is paramount that the correct fastening methods are used when both designing and installing a rainscreen.

Deck board manufacturers have already taken notice of this growing trend, with some companies even offering new boards specifically for cladding applications. However, the market is still lacking proper education to the consumer on the best installation practices for using these PVC and composite boards as a form of siding. Based on factors such as the predesigned building construction, the desired cladding board, the desired of type furring strip, and the amount of exterior insulation required, there can be a plethora of combinations and configurations for the rainscreen assembly. However not all rainscreen configurations are practical or structurally sound. While the market for using PVC and composite boards as cladding is still in its early stages, it is imperative that architects and contractors are informed of the best installation practices with these materials.

In addition, grooved deck boards are generally used with clips. The current inventors do not believe current clips are strong enough for exterior use. However, they can be incorporated into our cladding system for using deck boards to clad both interior walls and ceilings. Furthermore, the present furring strip design may be modified to incorporate sound attenuation features so that interior deck cladding can be not only for aesthetics. The furring strip depending on the implementation may be made of various materials including but not limited to metal, plastic, fiberglass, fiber, composite, wood, concrete, and the like. The various materials and flexibility of design of the current invention is useful where metal furring strips are not usable due to exposure to salt water, for example.

Advert to the Figures,illustrates one embodiment of an interlocking furring stripStriphas a base sectionand at least one lipextending from a side of the baseBasehas two ends. On one end there is a plurality of legshaving tabsattached thereto. As shown inandthe other end of the baseis a plurality of membersforming an opening. The furring striphas channeltherein defined by the furring strips both sidesand topThis channel may also be referred to herein as the “hat channel” design based on the cross section of the furring strip having the lips on both sides of the furring strip.

illustrates a view of two furring strips before assembly. The sidesdefines a vertical slothere resilient legsare compressed through openingand tabsare inserted through. Membersalso provide further security by mating with openingdefined by legsand sideof the furring strip.

illustrates two furring strips assembled. Tabsare inserted through slot. Depending on the implementation, membersare also inserted into opening

illustrates one embodiment of an interlocking furring strip. Striphas a base sectionand at least one lipextending from a side of base. Basehas two ends. At one end there is a plurality of legs. The other end of the baseis an openingand another plurality of legs. This channel may also be referred to herein as the “hat channel” design based on the cross section of the furring strip having the lips on both sides of the furring strip.

illustrates a view of two furring strips before assembly. The resilient legsare compressed through opening. The resilient legsare expanded around base sectionand over lip

illustrates two furring strips assembled. Resilient legsare inserted through opening. Resilient legssit around base sectionand over lip

illustrates another embodiment of the furring strip, as shown is alternate furring striphaving an alternate baseand alternate legswith alternate tabs. Similar names have similar functions as described herein. Alternate liphowever has defined pre-drilled holestherein. The lipsas other lips may be on one side of the furring strip or both sides of the furring strip. In addition the lip may be continuous alongside the furring strip or intermittent along the furring strip side.as shown herein in. Any design of the furring strip may also include pre-drilled holesThe predrilled holes are for fasters to attach the furring strip to a building wall.

illustrates furring striphaving a baseand lips. Lipsmay be on or along one side or both sides of furring strip. As shown the lipsare intermittent along the furring strip and the side of the furring stripmay further define an indentdefined by a side wall. The purpose of indentis to permit airflow in and through channelof the furring strip.

illustrates insulation materialon the bottom of lipof furring striphaving a base. The insulative material may be on both or only one lip. Depending on the embodiment the insulative material may include but is not limited to rubber, plastic, Styrofoam, neoprene, fiberglass, paper, thermoplastic elastomer, and any combination thereof. In this embodiment channelis open and exposed to the building facade or other side wall construct.

insulation materialacross the bottom of furring striphaving a base. In this embodiment the insulative material covers channeland the lips. Channelis not exposed to the face of the building or other side wall construct as done in

Any headings and sub-headings utilized in this description are not meant to limit the embodiments described thereunder. Features of various embodiments described herein may be utilized with other embodiments even if not described under a specific heading for that embodiment.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims appended.

While exemplary embodiments have been described herein, it is expressly noted that these embodiments should not be construed as limiting, but rather that additions and modifications to what is expressly described herein also are included within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it is to be understood that the features of the various embodiments described herein are not mutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations and permutations, even if such combinations or permutations are not made express herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.