FREE FLOATING SUB-FLOOR PANEL

PANNEAU DE SOUS-PLANCHER FLOTTANT LIBRE

English Abstract

A floor panel is provided for use in a sub-floor application. The floor panel has an upper member and a lower member. The upper member is made from a sheet floor material and the lower member is made from a waterproof sheet material. The lower member has a series of projections extending away from the floor panel and located adjacent to an underlying surface when the panel is in use. The projections allow moisture to drain between the floor panels and the underlying surface and also permit air circulation.

French Abstract

Un panneau de plancher est prévu pour une utilisation dans une application de sous-plancher. Le panneau de plancher dispose d'un élément supérieur et d'un élément inférieur. L'élément supérieur est constitué d'un matériau mince de plancher et l'élément inférieur est constitué d'un matériau mince imperméable à l'eau. L'élément inférieur présente une série de projections qui s'étendent loin du panneau de plancher et sont situées à côté d'une surface sous-jacente lorsque le panneau est utilisé. Les projections permettent à l'humidité de s'écouler entre les panneaux de plancher et la surface sous-jacente et permettent aussi à l'air de circuler.

Claims

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WE CLAIM:
1. A flooring panel which provides underfloor drainage, the flooring panel
comprising:
an upper member of rigid, wood containing sheet flooring material;
a substantially rigid lower member, attached to the upper member and of a
waterproof
sheet material having a plurality of dimpled projections extending away from
the upper
member to support the flooring panel above an underlying surface and permit
moisture to
drain between the flooring panel and the underlying surface; and
edges extending about said flooring panel each of said edges having at least
one part
of a connector assembly for connecting adjacent edges of adjacent of said
panels to prevent
relative vertical movement therebetween.
2. A flooring panel according to claim 1, wherein the upper member is made
from
random wafer board.
3. A flooring panel according to claim 1, wherein the lower member is made
from a
plastics material.
4. A flooring panel according to claim 3, wherein the plastics material is
polyethylene.
5. A flooring panel according to claim 2, wherein the lower member is made
from a
plastics material.
6. A flooring panel according to claim 5, wherein the plastics material is
polyethylene.
7. A flooring panel according to claim 1, wherein the lower member is
adhesively
attached to the upper member.
8. A flooring panel according to claim 6, wherein the lower member is
adhesively
attached to the upper member.
9. A flooring panel according to claim 1, wherein the connector assembly
comprises at
least one tongue and at least one groove,

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10, A flooring panel according to claim 1, wherein the connector assembly
comprises at
least one key and at least one groove
11. A flooring panel which provides underfloor drainage, the flooring panel
comprising:
an upper member of rigid, wood containing sheet flooring material;
a substantially rigid lower member, attached to the upper member and of a
waterproof
sheet material having a plurality of dimpled projections extending away from
the upper
member to support the flooring panel above an underlying surface and permit
moisture to
drain between the flooring panel and the underlying surface; and
a tongue located on two adjacent edges and a groove located on two adjacent
edges
for connecting the panel to an adjacent panel with at least one corresponding
tongue and at
least one corresponding groove to prevent relative vertical movement
therebetween.
12. A flooring panel which provides underfloor drainage, the flooring panel
comprising:
an upper member of random wafer board;
a substantially rigid lower member of polyethylene, attached to the upper
member and
having a plurality of projections extending away from the upper member to
support the
flooring panel above an underlying surface and permit moisture to drain
between the flooring
panel and the underlying surface; and
a tongue located on two adjacent edges and a groove located on two adjacent
edges
for connecting the panel to an adjacent panel with two corresponding tongues
and two
corresponding grooves to prevent relative vertical movement therebetween.

Description

CA 02315462 2000-08-09
FREE FLOATING SUB-FLOOR PANEL
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to floor panels and more particularly, to free
floating sub-
floor panels capable of supporting a floor and having a rigid waterproof lower
layer that permits
moisture drainage and air circulation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A finished floor typically consists of a sub-floor and a flooring surface,
supported by the
1o sub-floor. The nature of a sub-floor will vary depending on the flooring
surface it needs to
support and the environment in which it must function. For example, for
linoleum tile or carpet
on a main floor of a house, the sub-floor may simply consist of sheets of
plywood. For a ceramic
tile floor a cement layer will typically also be required.
Basement flooring presents additional challenges, one of which is the
possibility of
moisture being present and another which is to insulate the floor from what
could be a very cold
underlying surface ofpoured concrete. Fixed sub-floors or "non-floating" sub-
floors can be used
in basement applications. This type of flooring may have an underlying sheet
of semi rigid plastic
having depending protrusions over which is placed a series of plywood panels.
The panels are
securely fixed to the underlying floor using concrete bolts. Fixed sub-floors
may be rather labour
2o intensive to install and rely on secure and frequent fastening to prevent
movement between
adjacent flooring sheets.
U.S. Patent No. 4,945,697 to Ott et al. which teaches a floor tile and floor
for direct
installation on a support such as a floor or walkway without a sub-floor. This
patent teaches a
floor system that uses floor tiles comprised of two layers, an upper layer
made of ceramic
material and a lower layer made from resilient material with anti-skid
characteristics. The two
layers are secured together to form a floor tile. The lower layer includes
drainage channels on
the underside, that allow the passage of water underneath the floor tiles.
When used outside, the
tiles are spaced apart with gaps between adjacent tiles to allow vertical
movement between the
tiles. When the floor tiles are used indoors, the gap between adjacent tiles
is filled with a flexible
material that allows vertical shifting of the tiles. These tiles will not
provide a rigid sub-floor
layer that would be capable of use in a sub-floor application for supporting a
further rigid floor
layer on top of the tiles, since any vertical motion between adjacent tiles
would cause the further
floor layer to crack.

CA 02315462 2000-08-09
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Another example of a non sub-floor application is U.S. Patent No. 5,950,378 to
Council
et al. This patent describes a composite modular floor tile for use in
athletic playing surfaces
such as basketball courts and tennis courts. The floor tile has a top and a
bottom member with
support nodes extending from the bottom member which provide an air
circulation space
underneath the floor tiles. The bottom member is made from a resilient impact
absorbing
material that would not provide a rigid supporting layer and therefore would
not be suitable in
a sub-floor application.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sub-floor
panel capable
of supporting a floor that will allow moisture drainage and air circulation
between the tiles and
to the underlying surface.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A floor panel is provided that is capable of supporting a floor surface and
provides under-
floor drainage. The floor panel has an upper member and a lower member
attached to the upper
member. The upper member is made from a sheet flooring material and the lower
member is
made from a waterproof sheet material. The lower member has a plurality of
projections
extending away from the panel to support the floor panel above an underlying
surface and to
permit moisture to drain between the floor panels and the underlying surface.
2o BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to
the
accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a scrap perspective schematic view of the panels of the invention;
Figure 2 is an underside plan of a floor panel according to a preferred
embodiment of the
invention taken in the direction of Arrow 2 of Figure 1, and showing the lower
member
with a series of projections and a tongue projecting out from two of the panel
edges;
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the floor panel of Figure 2 taken in the
direction of the
stations 3-3;
Figure 4 is an enlarged scrap elevation of the floor panel of Figure 3
indicated in the
3o circle 4, but inverted from Figure 3 to show the panel in its installed
orientation, with
one of the projections shown in sectional view and adjacent floor panels shown
in chain
dot outline;

CA 02315462 2002-06-19
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Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 4, but showing the area in the direction
of stations
5-5, and an adjacent floor panel shawn in chain dot autline;
Figure 6 is a clam-shell exploded loerspective view of two of the floor panels
to show
the tongue and groove relationship;
Figure 7 is a side elevation similar to Figure 3 of an alternative embodiment
showing
the panels with a key and groove arrangement; and
Figure 8 is a clam-shell exploded perspective view of two floor panels of the
embodiment of Figure 7 to show a loose key in its relationship.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference is first made to Figures 1 to 3 to describe a preferred embodiment
of the
floor panel, designated generally by the numeral 10. The floor panel 10
includes an upper
member 12 of sheet flooring material and a lower member 14. The lower member
14 is
attached to the upper member 12. The lower member 14 may be of polyethylene or
other
suitable waterproof sheet material and includes a plurality of projections 16
which rest on an
underlying surface 11 to support the floor panel 10 on the underl~~ing surface
11 and allow
moisture to drain between them and to permit air circulation between the floor
panel 10 and
the underlying surface 11 when the floor panel 10 is installed. Figure 1
illustrates a series of
floor panels 10 adjacent and interlocking one another.
In a preferred embodiment, the floor panel 10 is attached to the adjacent
floor panel
10 using a tongue 18 and a groove 20 arrangement, which will be described
later.
The floor panel 10 will now be described in more detail. As seen in Figure 2,
the
floor panel 10 may be square, and is preferably manufactured as a 4' by 4'
panel, although
other sizes may also be manufactured. The upper member 12 is attached to the
lower
member 14 using an adhesive 22 in Figures 4 and S. The adhesive 22 must be
compatible
with the upper member 12 and the lower member 14. tn a preferred embodiment
where the
lower member 14 is of polyethylene, the adhesive 22 is Fastbond 2000-NFTM
manufactured
by 3M Canada Company.
In a preferred embodiment, the upper member 12 is made from random wafer
board,
such as manufactured and sold under the name WaferweldT'~' by 1 onglac Wood
Industries
Inc., as opposed to oriented strand board ("OSB"). Random wafer board is
manufactured
from wood chips that have a random orientation, as oppased to oriented strand
board
("OSB") in which wood strands are oriented to lay in a perpendicular fashion
with the
majority of strands oriented

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to lay with the longitudinal direction of the board. The random orientation of
the chips allows
the random wafer board to expand evenly in all directions as opposed to
longitudinal expansion
tendencies characteristic of OSB which makes random wafer board less prone to
buckling in this
flooring application. The lower member 14 may be made from System PlatonT~"
manufactured
by Armtec Limited.
Turning now to Figure 4, the projections 16 extend away from the lower member
14 in
the opposite direction to the upper member 12. The proj ections 16 are
frustoconical shaped with
a bottom surface 24 and a cavity 26 extending from the bottom surface 24
towards the upper
member 12. Preferably the projections 16 are aligned in rows and columns to
enable the floor
1 o panels 10 to be cut between the proj ections 16 without leaving any half
cut proj ections 16. When
the floor panel 10 is installed, the bottom surface 24 of the projections 16
is located adjacent the
underlying surface 11. In some applications further levelling of the floor
panels 10 may be
required if the underlying surface 11 is uneven. This can be achieved by
stacking additional
layers of the lower member 14 under the lower member 14 on the floor panel 10
in the areas
where raising is required. The additional layers of the lower member 14 can be
sized to fit the
area that requires further levelling.
In order to connect adjacent floor panels, the panel sides may be configured
in a tongue
and groove arrangement. The upper member 12 of each floor panel 10 has a
tongue 18
protruding from two adjacent sides and a groove 20 extending into each of the
remaining sides.
2o The groove 20 is sized and operable to receive the tongue 18 to
interconnect adjacent floor
panels. The tongue 18 is formed during manufacturing of the floor panel 10 by
shaping the upper
member 12.
In use, a series of floor panels are interlocked and located on an underlying
surface 11,
shown in Figure 1, and abutting walls 15. In the preferred embodiment, adj
scent floor panels are
interconnected using a tongue and groove arrangement as shown in Figures 4 to
6. Each floor
panel 10 is placed with the projections 16 adjacent the underlying surface. In
order to connect
each floor panel 10 to an adjacent floor panel 10, the tongue 18 of the floor
panel 10 is inserted
into the groove 20 located on the adjacent floor panel 10, as indicated by
arrow A shown in
Figure 6.
3o Although not illustrated, it will be appreciated that when the floor panels
10 have been
installed over the underlying surface 11, an additional flooring surface can
be laid on top of the

CA 02315462 2000-08-09
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floor panels 10. Excess moisture can flow between the projections 16 and air
can circulate
between the floor panels 10 and the underlying surface 11.
Turning now to Figures 7 and 8, an alternative interlocking arrangement to
connect
adjacent floor panels is shown. Each floor panel 10 has a groove 28 similar to
the groove 20
described above, but running along all of the edges of the floor panel 10. To
interlock adjacent
floor panels, a key 30 which is sized to fit within the groove 28 is utilized.
The groove 28 is
operable to receive approximately half the width of the key 30. When the key
30 has been
inserted into the groove 28 of the floor panel 10, an adjacent floor panel 10
can be attached to
the protruding edge, the remaining half of the key 30.
1 o To install the floor panels 10 that use a key and groove arrangement, the
key 30 must first
be inserted into the second groove 28 in the direction shown by arrows B in
Figure 8. Once the
key 30 is installed the floor panel 10 is inserted into the second groove 28
on an adjacent floor
panel 10, in the direction shown by arrow C in Figure 8. Similarly, adjacent
panels are
interconnected until the required sub-floor coverage is achieved.
The preferred embodiment can be modified in many ways. For instance, the lower
member 14 can be made from any suitable waterproof sheet material. The
projections 16 can be
located in a random pattern on the lower member 14. The interlocking structure
of the tongue
and groove arrangement can be any interlocking combination that will prevent
significant vertical
shifting between adjacent panels. Other adhesives may be used that are capable
of securely
2o bonding the upper member to the lower member.
The floor panel described as exemplary of the invention can be modified as
required in
such fortification within the scope of the description and invention and
claims.

CA 02315462 2000-08-09
PARTS LIST
floor panel
11 underlying surface
12 upper member
14 lower member
walls
16 projections
18 tongue
groove
22 adhesive
24 bottom surface
26 cavity
28 groove
key
INTELLECTUAL PROP.~245659_1
July 20, 2000

Representative Drawing