Interior shaft wall construction

A seismic and fire-resistant vertical shaft wall structure comprising a shaft-lining formed by a plurality of vertical levels including at each level a pair of vertically oriented shaft-lining wallboard panels including a concealed and an exposed panel having flat, mutually facing surfaces in contact with each other, a pair of vertically oriented, wall-lining, wallboard panels including an underlying and an overlying panel having flat, mutually facing surfaces in contact with each other, wherein said overlying panel extends upwardly beyond the upper extremity of said underlying panel to create an insulation gap, vertically extending metal studs disposed between and contacting said pairs of panels, and connectors formed of metal strips located between each of said vertical levels, each of said connectors including a downwardly facing channel formed with a horizontal web, a shaft-lining stabilizing leg depending from one transverse side of said web, an upper wall-lining, stabilizing leg depending downwardly at the opposite transverse side of said web, and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced, vertically elongated fastener slots defined therein, a horizontal shaft-lining seating platform, a shaft-lining base retainer projecting upwardly from said shaft-lining seating platform and folded back downwardly to form an upper shaft-lining retainer, a wall-lining base retainer formed by an upwardly projecting doubled back fold in said channel web, and a wall-lining seating platform projecting horizontally from said wall-lining base retainer in coplanar relationship with said channel web, wherein at each of said levels the upper extremities of said pair of shaft-lining wallboard panels are inserted up beneath said shaft-lining seating platform and between said upper shaft-lining retainer and said shaft-lining stabilizing leg of the connector located immediately thereabove, and the lower extremities of said pair of shaft-lining wallboard panels rest atop said shaft-lining seating platform and are secured to said shaft-lining base retainer of the connector located immediately therebeneath, and said pair of wall-lining panels are disposed between said wall-lining seating platforms of the connectors located immediately thereabove and therebeneath and are secured against said metal studs, and a layer of nonflammable, resiliently compressible fire insulation located above said upper extremities of said shaft-lining wallboard panels, and a layer of nonflammable, resiliently compressible fire insulation located above said upper extremities of said wall-lining wallboard panels, filling said insulation gaps and extending to said wall-lining seating platform of said connector located immediately thereabove, wall stud fasteners extending through some of said fastener slots in said upper wall-lining stabilizing legs and into said metal studs, and vertically disposed standoff washers interposed between said wall stud fasteners and said metal studs.

A method of lining a vertical interior building shaft with a fire-resistant lining comprising:

• delineating said building shaft into a plurality of vertically stacked levels,
• placing at each transition between said levels a level connector for holding wallboard panels in position that includes a metal strip bent transversely to form a horizontally disposed channel web with opposing shaft-side and wall-side extremities, a shaft-lining stabilizing leg formed by a downwardly depending doubled back fold in said metal strip at said shaft-side extremity of said web, a horizontally disposed shaft-lining seating platform extending inwardly from said shaft-lining stabilizing leg, a shaft-lining base retainer projecting upwardly from said shaft-lining seating platform and folded back downwardly to form an upper shaft-lining retainer that projects downwardly beyond said shaft-lining seating platform and which is spaced from and parallel to said shaft-lining stabilizing leg, a wall-lining base retainer formed by an upwardly projecting doubled back fold in said metal strip at said wall side of said web, a wall-lining seating platform formed by a horizontally projecting fold in said metal strip adjacent said wall-lining base retainer, and an upper wall-lining stabilizing leg depending downwardly directly beneath said wall-lining base retainer parallel to and transversely spaced from said shaft-lining stabilizing leg,
• providing at least one sheet of shaft-lining, fire-resistant wallboard at each of said levels,
• placing a layer of nonflammable fire insulation above said at least one sheet of shaft-lining, fire-resistant wallboard,
• inserting the top of said at least one sheet of shaft-lining, fire-resistant wallboard up between said shaft-lining stabilizing leg and said upper shaft-lining retainer of an upper level connector as aforesaid at the transition with the level immediately thereabove,
• securing said at least one sheet of shaft-lining, fire-resistant wallboard to said shaft-lining base retainer of a lower level connector as aforesaid at the transition with the level immediately therebelow,
• inserting a plurality of horizontally spaced, vertically oriented, upright metal studs, each having upper and lower ends, in between said channel webs of upper and lower level connectors,
• securing said lower ends of said upright metal studs to said shaft-lining base retainer of said lower level connector,
• securing said wall-lining stabilizing leg of said upper level connector to said upper ends of said metal studs,
• placing an underlying wall-lining wallboard panel atop said wall-lining seating platform and in contact with said wall-lining base retainer of said lower level connector and against said upright metal studs,
• placing an overlying wall-lining wallboard panel atop said wall-lining seating platform of said lower level connector and in contact with said underlying wall-lining wallboard panel so that said overlying panel extends upwardly beyond the upper extremity of said underlying panel to create a wall-lining insulation gap between said wall-lining wallboard panels and the underside of said wall-lining seating platform of said upper level connector that is greater above said underlying panel than above said overlying panel,
• securing said underlying and said overlying wall-lining panels to said upright metal studs, and
• filling said wall-lining insulation gap with a layer of nonflammable, resiliently compressible fire insulation.