Granted Patent B2

US 10,024,065 · App. 12/412,419 · Granted Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

Claims (57)

1. A floor panel for use in a floating floor, the floor panel comprising:

a top layer having a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface having a visible decorative pattern;

a bottom layer having a top surface and a bottom surface;

the top surface of the bottom layer being adhered to the bottom surface of the top layer such that the bottom layer is offset from the top layer in a direction of length and width, thereby leaving both the top surface of a marginal end portion of the bottom layer and the bottom surface of a marginal end portion of the top layer exposed, and at least one of the marginal end portions having an adhesive, and a ratio of a thickness of the top layer to a thickness of the bottom layer is about 5 or greater; and

a length and a width of the bottom layer is less than a length and a width of the top layer, creating a gap between the bottom layer of the floor panel and a bottom layer of an adjacent floor panel of the floating floor, whereby no adhesive is present in the gap that causes the floor panel to adhere to a sub-floor, thereby allowing the floor panel to float relative to the sub-floor.

2. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the marginal end portions are substantially L-shaped.

3. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the adhesive is a pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive.

4. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the bottom layer is a moisture resistant film.

5. The floor panel of claim 1 , further comprising a release member adjacent the adhesive.

6. The floor panel of claim 5 , wherein the release member is separate from the bottom layer and the top layer.

7. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the bottom layer is selected from a group consisting of at least one of a continuous or discontinuous ink layer, antimicrobial layer, sound deadening layer, cushioning layer, slide resistant layer, stiffening layer, channeling layer, mechanically embossed texture, and chemical texture.

8. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of the top layer to the thickness of the bottom layer is about 10-100.

9. The floor panel of claim 8 , wherein the ratio of the thickness of the top layer to the thickness of the bottom layer is about 10-20.

10. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the bottom layer is about 1-60 mils.

11. The floor panel of claim 10 , wherein the thickness of the bottom layer is about 6.5-12 mils.

12. The floor panel of claim 11 , wherein the thickness of the bottom layer is about 8 mils.

13. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the top layer comprises a mix layer and at least one layer selected from a group consisting of a mix layer, a print film, a wear layer, and a top coat.

14. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the top layer is a substantially flexible sheet material.

15. The floor panel of claim 14 , wherein the substantially flexible sheet material is selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, and polyester.

16. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the bottom layer is a film selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyolefin, and nylon.

17. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the bottom layer is a tape selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyolefin, and nylon.

18. The floor panel of claim 1 , wherein the bottom layer comprises multiple layers.

19. A floating floor system, comprising:

at least two adjacent floor panels, each of the floor panels comprising:

a top layer having a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface having a visible decorative pattern;

a bottom layer having a top surface and a bottom surface;

the top surface of the bottom layer being adhered to the bottom surface of the top layer such that the bottom layer is offset from the top layer in a direction of length and width, thereby leaving both the top surface of a marginal end portion of the bottom layer and the bottom surface of a marginal end portion of the top layer exposed;

at least one of the marginal end portions having an adhesive; and

the bottom surface of the marginal end portion of the bottom layer being adhered to the top surface of the marginal end portion of the top layer of the adjacent floor panel;

a length and a width of each bottom layer is less than a length and a width of each top layer, creating a gap between the bottom layer of a first panel and a bottom layer of a second adjacent panel of the floating floor, whereby the first and second adjacent floor panels are not adhered to a sub-floor by the adhesive, allowing the first and second adjacent floor panels to float relative to the sub-floor.

20. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the marginal end portions are substantially L-shaped.

21. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the adhesive is a pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive.

22. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the bottom layer is a moisture resistant film.

23. The floating floor system of claim 19 , further comprising a release member adjacent the adhesive.

24. The floating floor system of claim 23 , wherein the release member is separate from the bottom layer and the top layer.

25. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the bottom layer is selected from a group consisting of at least one of a continuous or discontinuous ink layer, antimicrobial layer, sound deadening layer, cushioning layer, slide resistant layer, stiffening layer, channeling layer, mechanically embossed texture, and chemical texture.

26. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of the top layer to the thickness of the bottom layer is about 10-100.

27. The floating floor system of claim 26 , wherein the ratio of the thickness of the top layer to the thickness of the bottom layer is about 10-20.

28. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein a thickness of a bottom layer is about 1-60 mils.

29. The floating floor system of claim 28 , wherein the thickness of the bottom layer is about 6.5-12 mils.

30. The floating floor system of claim 29 , wherein the thickness of the bottom layer is about 8 mils.

31. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the top layer comprises a mix layer and at least one layer selected from the group consisting of a print film, a wear layer, and a top coat.

32. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the top layer is a substantially flexible sheet material.

33. The floating floor system of claim 32 , wherein the substantially flexible sheet material is selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, and polyester.

34. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the bottom layer is a film selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyolefin, and nylon.

35. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the bottom layer is a tape selected from a group consisting of plastic, vinyl, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyolefin, and nylon.

36. The floating floor system of claim 19 , wherein the bottom layer comprises multiple layers.

37. A floating floor system, comprising:

a plurality of floor panels, each of the plurality of floor panels comprising:

a top layer having a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface having a visible decorative pattern;

a bottom layer having a top surface and a bottom surface, the top surface of the bottom layer having an adhesive applied thereto;

the top surface of the bottom layer adhered to the bottom surface of the top layer by the adhesive such that the bottom layer is offset from the top layer in a direction of length and width, thereby leaving both the top surface of a marginal end portion of the bottom layer and the bottom surface of a marginal end portion of the top layer exposed;

a length and a width of the bottom layer being less than a length and a width of the top layer;

the plurality of floor panels arranged atop a sub-floor so that the marginal end portion of the top layer of one of the plurality of floor panels overlies the marginal end portion of the bottom layer of an adjacent one of the plurality of floor panels such that the adhesive on the top surface of the marginal portion of the bottom layer of the adjacent one of the plurality of floor panels adheres the overlying marginal end portions together, the top layers of the one and the adjacent one of the plurality of floor panels abutting one another and a gap existing between the bottom layers of the one and the adjacent one of the plurality of floor panels; and

wherein the plurality of floor panels are not adhered to the sub-floor by the adhesive, allowing the plurality of the floor panels to float relative to the sub-floor.

38. The floating floor system of claim 37 wherein for each of the plurality of floor panels, a ratio of a thickness of the top layer to a thickness of the bottom layer is about 5 or greater.

39. The floating floor system of claim 37 wherein no adhesive is present in the gap.

Assignments (11)