Prefabricated wall facing panels

Claim 1

A wall facing applied to a support surface and comprising a plurality of prefabricated wall panels, and means attaching said panels to said surface; said panels each comprising: a rigid sheet of a thermally insulating material having an outer surface, a generally flat inner surface, two opposite end edges, and two opposite side edges; the panels being arranged in a plurality of aligned horizontal rows including a bottom row with said side edges disposed horizontally and with the panels in each row in abutting end-to-end relationship, the lower side edges of the panels in said bottom row being formed with aligned longitudinally extending grooves and the remaining side edges of the panels being shaped to define co-operating tongues and grooves, the rows of panels being interlocked with one another by engagement of the tongue and groove side edges of the respective panels; and wherein said means attaching the panels to a support surface consists solely of a plurality of elongate attachment members disposed at the inner sides of said panels generally co-extensively with joint lines defined by said side edges of the panels, each of said attachment members comprising a first limb attached to said support surface, and a second limb which projects outwardly from said first limb and is engaged in said groove of at least one of the panels, the attachment members at the lower side edges of the panels in said bottom row being generally U-shaped with said first limbs longer than said second limbs and the remaining attachment members having a cross-sectional shape resembling a lower case letter h.