Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 0222018~ 1997-11-04
TILED SURFACE COVERING
Background of the Invention
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tiled surface covering.
More particularly, this invention is concerned with surface
covering tiles which carry an underlay sheet fixed to the
tile. This underlay sheet is a layer beneath each tile.
Advantageously, the installation of these tiles can create
o either floating or fixed floors.
Wall and floor tiles have been used which require
adhesive to be laid on the foundation, followed by the
securing of the tiles to the foundation by laying them over
the adhesive. There have also been tiles used as surface
covering where pressure sensitive adhesive was present in a
layer on the back of each tile. The tiles were then secured
to the surface by removing the release sheet and then
pressing each tile to the surface where it was to be
located. Such a system is described in U.S. 5,536,571.
Both of these types of tiles, however, suffer
disadvantages. In each case, the tiles adhere directly to
the surface underneath. In such cases, with the tile stuck
directly to the surface such as the floor, floor movement
will also directly affect the tile, causing tile movement.
This movement prevents the sealing of seams between the
tiles because the movement of the surface tends to tear
apart the tiles.
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Another disadvantage of these surface coverings is that
they are fixed permanently to the surface. They cannot be
removed easily. Scraping and even refinishing of the wooden
surfaces is necessary. The tiles themselves are destroyed
5 by their removal.
One wall and surface covering system which has
temporary, removable tiles for both the floor and wall is
described in U.S. 3,270,473 which uses L-shaped adhesive
elements under each tile. The elements are arranged in a
lo network which leaves a hollow rectangle in a reticular
matrix of such rectangles arranged end to end in contiguous
rows. Each tile is centered over the hollow rectangle and
each side of the tile is centered over a length of the
adhesive material. This floor covering system, however,
15 leaves the tiles fixed directly to the surface underneath so
that tile movement and seam splitting are still a problem.
Another surface covering system is taught in 3,902,293
which teaches the installation of a "Dimensionally-stable,
resilient floor tile". According to this reference, a
20 multilayer floor tile has a bottom layer which imparts
durable resiliency because it is a sheet molded from a
tangled network of thermoplastic fibers containing cells of
gas at superatmospheric pressure. Wafer board provides the
principal thickness of the floor tile and there can be one
25 or two strata of wafer board. The top layer has the same
rectangular dimensions as the contiguous strata of
waferboard but is secured thereto in a staggered arrangement
providing overhanging portions. This floor surfacing,
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however, is still difficult to remove, and there is no
provision for the convenient sealing of the seams.
Accordingly, the present invention offers a floor
covering system which can provide floating floors. The
5 floating floors advantageously provide a flooring system
which can be easily removed without scraping and refinishing
the flooring surface. In addition to this, the floating
floors do not experience the movement of the floor, and so
the seams in the tile floor can be sealed. No movement of
o the floor underneath the tiles will cause the seams to tear
apart.
Summary of the Invention
The structure of tiles placed by the present invention
comprises numerous tiles which together form a surface
15 covering, wherein at least part of each tile rests on a
piece of underlay that lays between the surface covered and
the tile. The piece of underlay had previously been fixed
to the tile (having pressure-sensitive adhesive). In the
embodiments of this invention, the underlay could optionally
20 and preferably is still attached to the tile, forming an
underlay which is permanently fixed to the tile. When the
underlay is not permanently fixed to the tile, the underlay
was taken off of the tile and placed on the surface to be
covered. The underlay could optionally have markings to
25 show where the tile should be placed on the underlay.
The surface covering of the present invention comprises
tiles, each tile being square or rectangular, and having
two, opposed surfaces, wherein the tile has edges A, B, C,
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and D, between the surfaces, and further has a coating of a
pressure-sensitive adhesive and an underlay fixed to the
surface having the coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive.
The underlay extends beyond the surface a certain distance
5 over adjacent edges C and D, wherein the underlay has an L-
shaped release strip which can optionally be removed from
the tile to expose the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating.
Removal of the L-shaped strip exposes the coating on the
tile in an area along adjacent edges A and B of the tile.
lo After the removal of the L-shaped strip, the area of exposed
surface extends a distance across the tile from edges A and
B, wherein the distance across the tile is equal to or
greater than the distance that the underlay extends beyond
the surface over edges C and D.
Where the distance across the tile is equal to the
distance that the underlay extends beyond the surface over
edges C and D, then each tile can be placed down so that the
pressure-sensitive adhesive touches only the underlay
extention from another tile. In this manner, even though
the optional strip of underlay is removed, a floating floor
covering can be put down which is not affected by floor
movement and which can very easily be removed.
Where the distance across the tile from edges A and B
is greater than the distance that the underlay extends
beyond the surface over edges C and D, then each tile will,
in part, adhere directly to the floor if the L-shaped
release strip is removed. If the L-shaped release strip is
not removed, then a floating floor can be laid.
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Detailed Description
The underlay of the present invention is a layer of
some material which rests directly under the tiles and
generally directly on the surface being covered. The
5 underlay comes in square or rectangular sections directly
attached to each tile.
The tile surface covering system of the present
invention provides individual tiles which have an underlay
attached to the tile. The underlay has an optionally
lo removable L-shaped strip on the back of each tile. This
optionally removable strip allows an L-shaped portion of the
tile surface covering in each room or area to be anchored to
the floor with the pressure-sensitive adhesive. If a
completely floating floor is desired, however, the strip can
15 be kept with the rest of the underlay sheet and put either
under the tile on the floor, or it can be left permanently
on the tile surface when it is installed. Thus, the
underlay would still be attached to the tile surface
covering and lays sandwiched between the tile and the floor.
Preferably, the sheet of underlay which is attached to
each tile is utilized by stripping off the L-shaped piece,
and then laying the tile with the remaining piece of
underlay still attached to the tile onto the floor of the
area to be covered. The remaining piece of underlay then
25 becomes an attached layer between the floor and the tile.
Each tile has a portion of the underlay sheet extending
beyond the tile, at least over edges C and D a certain
distance. In preferred embodiments before the removal of
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the L-shaped strip, the underlay sheet extends beyond the
tile over all four edges (A, B, C, and D). The overhang
over edges A and B is optional, but when it is present, it
is part of the optionally removable L-shaped strip which is
5 preferably removed when the tile is installed.
In some embodiments, the tile will have a completely
removable underlay which is removed from the tile and
placed on the floor. The underlay is marked to indicate
where the tile is laid on top of the underlay. Here the
lo underlay preferably has the same length and width dimensions
as the tile, and there is no removable L-shaped strip. In
installation, the tile is laid on the underlay so that it is
offset, allowing the extension of the underlay beyond the
tile along edges C and D. Pressure sensitive adhesive will
15 fix the underlay to the tile in the slightly offset manner.
In this embodiment, also there will be a portion of the tile
along edges A and B which either rests on the extension of
underlay from other tiles, or is fixed to the floor (in
cases where the underlay extension is not present).
In preferred embodiments, by having the L-shaped strip
expose an area on the tile which is as wide as the overhang
on edges C and D, a tile can be fixed to only the underlay
when it is installed. In such a case, if a completely
floating floor is desired, then the first tiles laid will
25 keep the L-shaped strip attached. When keeping the L-shaped
strip attached, it may be desired to have tiles with no
overhang of the underlay across edges A and B, or the
overhang over edges A and B may be cut off leaving the rest
CA 0222018~ 1997-11-04
of the L-shaped strip attached to the tile. When enough
tiles have been placed so that there are tiles with the
underlay extending beyond the tile (over edges C and D),
then the next tiles can have the L-shaped strip removed, and
the tile can be fixed to the underlay to complete a floating
floor.
In some embodiments, some of the tiles in the room have
the L-shaped strip removed, and some of the tiles are
anchored to the floor to create a partially floating floor
o (note Fig. 3, showing only a partially attached section).
In such cases where a partially anchored floor is created,
the floor covering will be anchored to the floor by the
pressure-sensitive adhesive preferably in an L-shaped
section of the room.
In other embodiments, the part of the tile exposed by
the removal of the L-shaped strip can be larger than the
amount of excess underlay from other tiles. In such a case,
each tile will be partially stuck to the floor where the
pressure-sensitive adhesive does not rest on the underlay.
The underlay can come in a variety of thicknesses.
Preferably, it can range from about 1 mil to about 20 mils
in thickness.
Any sheet material can be used for the underlay of the
present invention. The underlay, for example, can be paper,
a film such as a polymer film. The polymer film underlay
can be made of the many polymers, for example,
polyvinylchloride, polypropylene and polyethylene.
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Preferred materials for the underlay are
polyvinylchloride film and water resistant paper. If
desired, the paper can optionally have a silicon coating
over all or only part of it in order to make it easier to
remove all or part of the underlay as needed.
operation
A tile of the present invention is shown in Fig. 1. To
install the tile to create a floating floor partially
anchored to the floor, the L-shaped strip (3) is removed and
the tile is placed. Since this is the first tile placed,
there is no underlay from another tile to place the first
tile on and thus the tile s exposed adhesive surface will
fix the tile to the floor. By placing the tile directly
next to the wall along both of the edges A and B (done in
preferred embodiments), the number of tiles adhering to the
floor in the room can be minimized to one row and one
column. Other patterns of placing tile (such as when
beginning in the middle of the room) will leave more tiles
adhering to the floor if the removable L-shapes strip is
removed. In addition to this, the extension of underlay
over edges C and D require that the tiles be placed so that
the underlay is laid on the floor being covered.
For these reasons, it is preferred to start placing the
first tile so that edges A and B of the tile are adjacent to
walls. In such a case, except for the first row and the
first column in the room, the tiles placed will rest on
underlay which extends beyond edges C and D of the other
tiles in place. Figure 3 shows three tiles in a row, the
CA 0222018~ 1997-11-04
first tile having the L-shaped strip of underlay still
attached. If desired, the overlap over edges A and B of
such a tile can be trimmed. Optionally the tile could have
no overlap over edges A and B. By not removing the L-shaped
strip in such tiles, a completely floating floor can be
laid.
Fig. 3 also shows two tiles next to each other in a
second row. The first tile in the row of two tiles is the
tile adjacent to the first tile placed, and this first tile
of the second row forms a column with the first tile. In
Fig. 3 the first row and the first column each show tiles
which are adhering to the floor starting at points (6) and,
in fact, adhere in the whole area of the tile which is
exposed by the removal of the underlay but which does not
rest on any other underlay protruding from other tiles.
In laying a floor, when a second tile is placed, it is
adjacent to the first tile so that the adhesive-coated L-
shaped strip of the second tile (exposed by the removal of
the L-shaped piece of underlay) is put along edge D (10) or
C (9) of the tile already in place. The second tile placed
will adhere to the floor along one edge, and part of the
tile will adhere to the underlay which protrudes from the
first tile. Successive tiles are then placed adjacent to
the tiles already in place until the floor is completely
covered. Whenever edges A and B of the tile being placed
can be put adjacent to an edge C and D from two other tiles,
the tile being placed will float completely and will not
adhere to the floor at all (unless the L-shaped strip is
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wider than the extension of the underlay over edges C and
D).
Brief Description of the Drawinqs
Fig. 1 shows a tile 1 with the entire underlay sheet 4
5 attached to the tile. The removable L-shaped strip of
underlay is indicated by 3. The layer of pressure sensitive
adhesive 2 holds the underlay on. If desired, only the
removable L-shaped strip 3 can be made removable (by such
means as a release coating). Also shown are edges A (7),
lo B (8), C (9), and D (10). Permanent extension of the
underlay 4 past edges C and D can be noted.
Fig. 2 shows the underside of the tile 1 (face up),
after the removable L-shaped strip has been taken off. The
underside of the tile 5 is seen with the layer of pressure
15 sensitive adhesive 2 on it. Edges A (7), B (8), C (9), and
D (10) can also be noted. Permanent extension of the
underlay 4 past edges C and D can be noted.
Fig. 3 shows five tiles (1) as they may be placed to
cover a floor. Although it is preferred to take off the
removable L-shaped strip, the first tile shows the strip
attached as an alternative. The extension of the underlay 4
past edges C and D can be noted. Three tiles adhere to the
floor at 6. The layer of pressure sensitive adhesive 2 is
also noted, holding on the underlay 4.
- 10 -
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Preferred Embodiment of the Present Invention
Most preferably the removable L-shaped strip is taken
off each tile. The first tile is placed adjacent to the
walls in the room of the floor being covered. Successive
5 tiles also have the L-shaped strip removed and are placed
next to a previously placed tile. In the first column and
row of the tile covering on the floor, each tile will be
adhering to the floor in part (6 of Fig. 3). Whenever
possible, successively placed tiles also have the adhesive
lo (exposed by the removal of the L-shaped strip~ placed on the
underlay as it extends passed edges C and D of previously
placed tiles. Most of the floor covering will then be a
floating floor covering which advantageously can have the
seams sealed without danger of being damaged by the movement
15 of the floor beneath. Also advantageously, the non-attached
tiles are easily removed without any need to clean or
refinish the floor structure underneath.
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