Thin stone or brick veneer wall system and clips therefor

Abstract

A wall system, particularly for thin stone or thin brick veneer walls, has a plurality of stones or bricks with grooves running along the upper and lower edges and a plurality of clips for linking the stones or bricks. One type of clip having one or more connecting flanges links an upper stone or brick to a lower stone or brick with the one or more connecting flanges housed within the groove in the lower edge of the upper stone or brick and within the groove in the upper edge of the lower stone or brick. The one or more connecting flanges of the clip depend from one or more base flanges of the clip and have a width just equal to the distance from the rear face to the groove of the upper and lower stones or bricks. The one or more base flanges of the clip depend from a support flange of the clip. The support flange has one or more apertures for accepting a screw or nail for fastening the clip to a structural wall.

1 . A thin stone or thin brick wall system comprising:
 (a) a structural wall   (b) a plurality of stone or brick facing elements, each facing element having a weight, a thickness, an upper edge and a lower edge,
 the upper edge and lower edge of each facing element having a groove running along the edge at a distance from a rear face of the facing element, the groove having a width and a depth; and, 
   (c) a plurality of clips for linking the upper facing elements to the lower facing elements and to the structural wall
 each clip having a first connecting flange housed within the groove in the lower edge of one of the upper facing elements and a second connecting flange housed within the groove in the upper edge of one of the lower facing elements, 
 the first connecting flange depending upwardly at right angles from a first base flange of the clip 
 the second connecting flange depending downwardly at right angles from a second base flange of the clip 
 said connecting flanges of the clip depending at right angles from a support flange in spaced apart relationship to each other to define a mortar joint therebetween 
 the support flange having one or more apertures for accepting fastening means for fastening the clip to the structural wall, and 
 the base flanges having a width greater than the distance from the rear face to the groove of the upper and lower facing elements. 
   
   
   
       2 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the clip has a length less than half the length of the groove to permit positioning of the first clip at any one of a plurality of positions along the groove. 
   
   
       3 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more connecting flanges of each clip do not bottom-out in the grooves so that the weight of the upper facing elements is borne by the depending base flange. 
   
   
       4 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more apertures in the support flange is one aperture. 
   
   
       5 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the mortar joint has a spacing of about 4 inches. 
   
   
       6 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of facing elements have front faces with beveled edges. 
   
   
       7 . The wall system of  claim 1 , including one or more starter strips for supporting the bottom row of the facing elements,
 each starter strip having an upwardly depending flange that is housed within the groove in the lower edge of one or more of the facing elements,   the upwardly depending flange of the starter strip depending at right angles from a base flange of the starter strip,   the base flange of the starter strip depending at right angles from a support flange of the starter strip,   the support flange of the starter strip having one or more apertures for accepting fastening means for fastening the starter strip to the structural wall,   the base flange of the starter strip having a width greater than the distance from the rear faces to the grooves of the facing elements, and   the starter strip having a length long enough to span two or more facing elements arranged side-by-side.   
   
   
       8 . The wall system of  claim 7 , wherein the base flange of the starter strip has one or more drainage holes. 
   
   
       9 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of clips are made of stainless steel. 
   
   
       10 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the thickness of each facing element is about 1.25 inches. 
   
   
       11 . The wall system of  claim 10 , wherein the weight of each facing element is less than about 15 lbs/square foot. 
   
   
       12 . The wall system of  claim 1 , wherein the structural wall comprises sheet material, and wherein the support flanges of the first clips are fastened to the sheet material. 
   
   
       13 . The wall system of  claim 12  further comprising vertical drainage board between the sheet material and the plurality of facing elements. 
   
   
       14 . The wall system of  claim 13  further comprising weather-resisting wall wrap between the drainage board and the sheet material. 
   
   
       15 . The wall system of  claim 14  further comprising a fabric layer between the drainage board and the plurality of facing elements.