Spacer for providing drainage passageways within building structures

A spacer for providing drainage paths and air space within a building structure to prevent deterioration of the building structure due to trapped moisture, consisting of:

• a continuous, indeterminate-length, roll-form, corrugated openwork mat of randomly convoluted polymeric filaments;
• said corrugated openwork mat having an undulating front face, a corresponding undulating rear face, and a pair of serpentine-shaped, longitudinally-extending side edges, and said openwork mat having a plurality of openings permitting free passage of air and liquids in both transverse directions therethrough between said front and rear faces;
• said corrugated openwork mat being rolled lengthwise into a spiral roll about an imaginary central axis during manufacture and being unrolled lengthwise during installation;
• each of said undulating front and rear faces having an alternating array of uniformly-shaped ridges and uniformly-shaped grooves which extend continuously from one of said side edges to the other of said side edges;
• and
• said pair of side edges being substantially parallel, and said ridges and grooves extending substantially perpendicular to said side edges and substantially parallel to said imaginary central axis of said spiral roll such that, when said corrugated openwork mat is unrolled laterally on the building structure for installation on the building structure, said grooves on said front and rear faces provide substantially vertically-disposed, continuous, unobstructed drainage paths.

A building structure having drainage passageways and air spaces therein to prevent moisture from being trapped within the building structure and to retard deterioration of the building structure, comprising:

• an inner sheathing member;
• an outer building material;
• and
• an elongate corrugated web of openwork material located between said inner sheathing member and said outer building material for providing drainage passageways and air spaces therein to prevent moisture from being trapped between said inner sheathing member and said outer building material;
• said corrugated web having an undulating front face, a corresponding undulating rear face, and a pair of longitudinally-extending side edges each having a serpentine configuration, said pair of side edges being substantially parallel and being installed in the building structure such that said side edges extend substantially parallel with the horizontal, and said openwork material having a plurality of openings permitting free passage of air and liquids in both transverse directions therethrough between said front and rear faces;
• and
• each of said undulating front and rear faces having an alternating array of ridges and grooves which extend continuously from one of said side edges to the other of said side edges such that said grooves on said front and rear faces provide substantially vertically-disposed, continuous, unobstructed drainage paths within the building structure.

A method of assembling a building structure, comprising the steps of:

• providing a spiral roll consisting of an elongate corrugated web of openwork material adjacent an installed inner sheathing member of a building structure, said web having an undulating front face, a corresponding undulating rear face, and a pair of serpentine-shaped, longitudinally-extending side edges, each of said undulating front and rear faces having an alternating array of ridges and grooves which extend continuously from one of said side edges to the other of said side edges, and said openwork material having a plurality of openings permitting free passage of air and liquids in both transverse directions therethrough between said front and rear faces;
• unrolling said web in a lengthwise direction horizontally on said sheathing;
• and
• securing said web to said sheathing such that said rear face of said web faces said sheathing and said side edges extend substantially parallel to the horizontal;
• said grooves on said front and rear faces providing substantially vertically-disposed, continuous, unobstructed drainage paths within the building structure.