Lightweight building elements with high carrying capacity

Claim 1

A lightweight carrier element for forming a building element made of a number of interconnected lightweight carrier elements, the building element being mounted between horizontally spaced apart supporting points with its upper surface extending horizontally to be loaded downwardly from above onto its upper surface, and such that a downwardly directed load received onto the building element is transmitted horizontally therethrough to the supporting points, said lightweight carrier element comprising at least one lower base member for receiving tension forces, said at least one lower base member including an upwardly open box made of thin sheet metal plate material and having at its upper edges horizontally directed flanges, and an upper surface layer for receiving pressure forces in the building element and made of wood material which is essentially stiffer in all directions than the sheet metal plate of said at least one lower base member, said surface layer being wider than, and extending longitudinally beyond both sides of, its corresponding at least one lower base member, a wooden bar disposed between each of said lower base member flanges and said surface layer, each wooden bar being firmly connected to each of the lower base member and the surface layer by a continuous glue joint such that said wooden bars, surface layer, and at least one lower base member function as a one piece integral element to provide a statically cooperating and interacting carrier unit.