Thursday, March 4, 2010

Leak-proof pre-fabricated architectural homes

One aspect of a prefab home that has irked me is the strong possibility that the joints in modules are the weakest points for both structural problems and livability/architectural problems.

In short how does one build a house within a few weeks(as most prefab architectural/engineering companies claim they do) without leaving holes that water, insects and air can filter through?

In prefab homes that use aluminum modular walls and floor systems, I've learned that most prefab companies use  high tech connectors designed to be air tight. One system I've discovered through reading the lines of prefab giant, Jeriko House is the use of a variant of T-slot framing common in industrial applications.












 In this approach, the main gravity/lateral system of the house is built with classic beam-column frames with attachment points that the floor and wall systems plug and play into.
















Above, one can see the that the frame of the building at the corners show aluminum profile frames that the curtain wall and regular walls frame into. Source: Kieran Timberlake Associates

















Above, the right wall clearly shows that there are metal(aluminum) channel tracks that walls frame into in a T-slot plug-and-play fashion.














More evidence of T-slot framing at the edges of glass walls and floor

The industrial modular building systems giant, PortaFab, uses this technology for designing quick-to-assemble clean rooms for manufacturing houses.  Using aerospace-grade aluminum a hollow channel with T-slot profile with thickness less that 0.1 inch is used to frame the main structural layout. The floor and wall systems then attach with precision to the frame.





 Source: PortaFab website

The corner framing is hollow to serve as mechanical and electrical conduits. Depending on climate needs, the floors or walls can also be hollow to serve as similar purpose. Backup wall elements(insulation, air/vapor barrier and stud framing) can be laminated to the aluminum panels as needed.

The sealant technologies used in this prefab modules are patented so I have no clue what the design is made of. The building envelope design guide(from Whole Building Design Guide(WBDG)) gives guidelines on different options for joint detailing depending on whether or not the metal panels are rain-screened system or barrier system.

This is my amateur attempt at detailing an aluminum track for prefab walls in Autodesk Revit:

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