US 6,058,668 A · Seismic and fire-resistant head-of-wall structure

Abstract

An improved head-of-wall structure for an interior, nonload-bearing building wall is provided in which a pair of elongated angle strips are employed to connect the upper ends of to the upright metal studs fluted metal decking above in a seismic and fire-resistant manner. A plurality of uniformly spaced pop-up tabs are defined in the horizontal legs of the angle strips directly beneath the open flutes or channels of the metal decking above. Insulation supports are located beneath the ceiling flutes to span the distance between the angle strips. The insulation supports are connected to the vertical legs of the angle strips to form flat, horizontal platforms directly beneath the portions of the flutes that cross the line of studs. Batts of fire-proofing insulation are located atop the insulation supports and are held in position by bending up the pop-up tabs from their original horizontal disposition into a generally vertical orientation.

Claims19

Dependent claims

In a building interior head-of-wall structure for a nonload-bearing wall in which a plurality of vertical metal wall studs are arranged in a straight horizontal line and project upwardly and terminate beneath a ceiling formed of a metal deck having an exposed undersurface that defines a plurality of mutually parallel, concave downwardly facing flutes, the improvement comprising a pair of sheet metal angle strips that join said wall studs to said ceiling deck,

wherein said angle strips each include a vertical leg secured to said metal wall studs and a horizontal leg having an outer edge remote from said vertical leg, and said horizontal leg is scored toward said vertical leg at longitudinally spaced intervals along said outer edge to define a plurality of pop-up tabs that are bent to project upwardly into and block said flutes on both sides of said line of metal wall studs.

In combination, a building ceiling formed of a metal deck having an undersurface that defines a plurality of mutually parallel, concave downwardly facing flutes;

a plurality of upright, channel-shaped sheet metal wall studs arranged in a straight horizontal line, each stud having a vertically disposed web between a pair of opposing sides, wherein said studs are located beneath and extend proximate to said undersurface of said metal deck;
a pair of elongated angle strips each having a vertical leg and a horizontal leg, wherein said vertical legs of said angle strips are formed with vertically elongated stud fastener openings therein and said horizontal legs are formed with horizontally elongated ceiling fastener openings therein, and said angle strips are respectively arranged against said opposing sides of said wall studs with their vertical legs in contact therewith and with their horizontal legs projecting outwardly therefrom away from each other, and said horizontal legs have outer edges and are slit from said outer edges in toward said vertical legs to define pop-up tabs that have lines of bending parallel to said vertical legs and which are bent up to extend into said downwardly facing flutes;
stud fasteners extending into said metal studs through at least some of said stud fastener openings to secure said vertical legs of said angle strips to said sides of said studs while permitting limited relative vertical movement therebetween;
and ceiling fasteners extending into said ceiling through at least some of said ceiling fastener openings to secure said horizontal legs of said angle strips to said ceiling while permitting limited relative horizontal movement therebetween.

1 more element

A seismic and fire-resistant interior head-of-wall structure installed between a ceiling formed of a metal deck having an exposed undersurface that defines a plurality of mutually parallel, concave downwardly facing flutes, a plurality of vertical metal studs extending upwardly and arranged in linear alignment with each other and terminating near said ceiling beneath said undersurface thereof, a pair of elongated, sheet metal angle strips each having a vertical leg and a horizontal leg and positioned beneath said undersurface of said ceiling with said vertical legs of said angle strips depending from said horizontal legs thereof and residing in contact with said metal studs and with said horizontal legs of said angle strips directed outwardly away from said metal studs and residing in contact with said undersurface of said metal deck, and wherein said angle strips are formed with a plurality of vertically elongated stud fastener openings defined in said vertical legs of said angle strips and a plurality of horizontally elongated ceiling fastener openings defined in said horizontal legs of said angle strips and extending parallel to said alignment of said studs relative to each other, stud fasteners extending through at least some of said stud fastener openings and into said metal studs to secure said vertical legs of said angle strips to said vertical studs so as to permit relative vertical movement between said angle strips and said vertical studs limited by the lengths of said stud fastener openings, and ceiling fasteners extending through at least some of said ceiling fastener openings and into said metal deck to secure said horizontal legs of said angle strips to said metal deck so as to permit relative horizontal movement between said ceiling and said angle strips limited by the lengths of said ceiling fastener openings, and further characterized in that slits are formed in said horizontal legs of said angle strips so as to define pop-up tabs in said horizontal legs which are of a size that fit into and extend transversely across said downwardly facing flutes.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Seismic and fire-resistant head-of-wall structure

Life of this patent

Seismic and fire-resistant head-of-wall structure

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19