Joining and aligning sleeve for a hazardous material container storage building and related method

A building for storing a plurality of hazardous material containers comprising:

• a plurality of modules each having a floor for supporting containers of hazardous material, a containment sump disposed underneath said floor for collecting leakage from said containers, and tube means underlying said containment sump;
• said plurality of modules including a first and second module, said first module having at least one tube means and said second module having at least one tube means;
• mechanical joining and aligning means extending at least partially through a first tube means of said first module and a first tube means of said second module for securing said first module to said second module;
• said mechanical joining and aligning means including at least one sleeve disposed between said first tube means of said first module and said first tube means of said second module, said sleeve comprising:
• a central tube having an outer surface, an inner surface, a first end and a second end;
• and
• at least one guiding plate secured to said central tube, said guiding plate extending from said first end and said second end of said central tube for engaging into both said first tube means of said first module and said first tube means of said second module, whereby said sleeve facilitates aligning and joining said first module and said second module to form said hazardous material container storage building.

A method of joining a first module to a second module to form a single, unitary hazardous material container storage building comprising:

• providing a first module having at least one tube means;
• providing a second module having at least one tube means;
• placing into a first said tube means of said first module a first sleeve including (i) a central tube having an outer surface, an inner surface, and a pair of open ends and (ii) a guiding plate secured to said central tube, said guiding plate extending from each of said ends of said central tube so that a portion of said guiding plate is disposed in said first tube means of said first module and a portion extends from said first tube means of said first module;
• effecting relative closing movement between said first and second modules such that a first said tube means of said second module engages into said portion of said guiding plate extending from said first tube means of said first module;
• and
• joining said first module to said second module by passing first mechanical joining means extending at least partially through said first tube means of said first module, said first sleeve and said first tube means of said second module and securing said mechanical joining means in position.