Vertical alignment and levelling of modular building units

Abstract

The invention provides a modular building unit ( 1 ) comprising walls, a floor and a ceiling, which is preferably assembled off-site and furnished or fitted out off-site prior to being transported to a building site for assembly in a stack as a vertical and horizontal array to form a building. The modular building unit is essentially a lined shell defining the walls of a room. Vertical location of one such modular building unit ( 1 ) on the unit below it in the stack is established by a downwardly extending location flange ( 6 ) around the outside bottom edge of each module, engaging in a peripheral recess ( 2 b, 2 c) around the top perimeter of the outside top edge of the vertically adjacent module beneath it in the stack.

1 . A modular building unit comprising a skeletal shell lined to define the walls of a room or rooms, the building units when stacked in a vertical and horizontal array cooperating to form the linked rooms of a building, wherein for precise location of one module or part thereof vertically over another in the resulting building, each module is provided around the perimeter of its base with a downwardly extending location flange, and each module is also provided with an external roof covering of load-bearing boarding which extends close to but not up to the outside perimeter of the top of the module, and the external perimeter of the module is clad with an edging of cold-formed lightweight steel which has a first portion which laps around the top of the side and end walls of the module and a second portion which laps over the outside edge of the boarding, so that between the first and second portions of the edging is formed a peripheral locating recess into which the location flange of a vertically adjacent building module can accurately locate.  
   
   
       2 . A modular building unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the peripheral recess has an inside side wall which slopes upwardly and inwardly relative to the building module, to guide the vertically adjacent building module into position when stacking the modules one above the other during the erection of a building therefrom.  
   
   
       3 . A modular building unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the modular building unit comprises a skeletal shell of structural steel uprights and cross-members lined to define the walls of the room.  
   
   
       4 . A modular building unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the lined skeletal shell is clad with an external roof covering of load-bearing boarding which extends close to but not up to the outside perimeter of the top of the module, so that the edge of the boarding lies along the inside edge of the locating recess.  
   
   
       5 . (canceled)  
   
   
       6 . A modular building unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the locating recess is lined with a rubber or elastomeric or other sound-absorbing lining.  
   
   
       7 . A modular building unit according to claim [[ 5 ]]  1 , wherein the edging of cold-formed lightweight steel is laid over a layer of a rubber or elastomeric or other sound-absorbing lining.  
   
   
       8 . (canceled)  
   
   
       9 . A method of building using modular building units according to  claim 1 , wherein [[the]] one or more levelling units comprising a skeletal shell of structural steel peripheral members and cross-members [[to]] define [[the]] a footprint of a modular building unit according to  claim 1 , and for precise location of the modular building units of the floor of a building immediately above the levelling unit, each levelling unit is provided round its top perimeter edge with a peripheral recess into which the location flange of a modular building unit according to  claim 1  can accurately locate, and wherein the levelling units are positioned over a foundation or ground level structure of the building, and each is accurately levelled and located relative to the adjacent levelling units by the use of shims or screw jacks between the levelling units and the building foundations or ground level structure; and the levelling units are secured fast to the building foundations or ground level structure prior to placing individual modular building units thereon, and locating those modular building units by engagement of the generally extending location flange around the perimeter of the base of each building unit into [[the]] a peripheral recess formed around the respective levelling unit into which the location flange of the corresponding modular building unit can accurately locate.