U.S. patent application number 11/859670 was filed with the patent office on 2009-03-26 for hardwood flooring.
Invention is credited to Rimoun Fam.
Application Number | 20090077919 11/859670 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40470224 |
Filed Date | 2009-03-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090077919 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Fam; Rimoun |
March 26, 2009 |
Hardwood Flooring
Abstract
An elongated flooring board for use in forming a warp-resistant
hardwood surface that can be repeatedly refinished, adhesively
bonded to concrete or nailed to a subfloor. The flooring board is
comprised of an upper hardwood layer and a plurality of lower
softwood layers adhesively bonded together and to the upper layer.
The hardwood upper layer is at least 7 mm. in thickness and the
lower softwood layers collectively define a thickness of at least
about 15 mm.
Inventors: |
Fam; Rimoun; (Canoga Park,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HOLLAND & KNIGHT LLP
633 WEST FIFTH STREET, TWENTY-FIRST FLOOR
LOS ANGELES
CA
90071-2040
US
|
Family ID: |
40470224 |
Appl. No.: |
11/859670 |
Filed: |
September 21, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/592.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04F 15/04 20130101;
E04F 2201/043 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/592.1 |
International
Class: |
E04F 15/04 20060101
E04F015/04; E04C 3/00 20060101 E04C003/00 |
Claims
1. An elongated flooring board for use in forming a warp-resistant
hardwood flooring surface on concrete, said flooring board
comprising an upper layer formed of a hardwood material, a
plurality of lower non-hardwood layers disposed below and
adhesively bonded to each other and to said upper layer to define
said flooring board and wherein said upper layer is at least about
7 mm. in thickness and said plurality of lower layers collectively
define a thickness of at least about 15 mm.
2. The flooring board of claim 1 wherein said non-hardwood layers
are formed of plywood.
3. The flooring board of claim 1 wherein said non-hardwood layers
are formed of pressboard.
4. An elongated flooring board for use in forming a hardwood
flooring surface that is warp-resistant when adhesively bonded to
concrete and capable of multiple refinishing operations, said
flooring board comprising an upper layer formed of a hardwood
material, a plurality of lower non-hardwood layers disposed below
and adhesively bonded to each other and to said upper layer to
define said flooring board and wherein said upper layer is at least
about 7 mm. in thickness.
5. The flooring board of claim 4 wherein said plurality of lower
layers collectively define a thickness of about 15 mm. and are
formed of plywood.
6. The flooring board of claim 4 wherein said plurality of lower
layers collectively define a thickness of about 15 mm. and are
formed of pressboard.
7. An elongated flooring board for use in forming a hardwood
flooring surface that can be repeatedly refinished and resists
warping when adhesively bonded to concrete or nailed to a subfloor,
said board defining opposed lateral edges, a tongue member
extending outwardly from one of said edges and a groove formed
within the other of said edges and wherein said flooring board
further comprises an upper layer formed of a hardwood material and
a plurality of lower non-hardwood layers disposed below and
adhesively bonded to each other and to said upper layer to define
said flooring board and wherein said upper layer is at least about
7 mm. in thickness and said plurality of lower layers collectively
define a thickness of at least about 15 mm.
8. The flooring board of claim 7 wherein said non-hardwood layers
are formed of plywood.
9. The flooring board of claim 7 wherein said non-hardwood layers
are formed of plywood.
10. The elongated flooring board of claim 7 including opposed
cutout areas in said side walls, one of said cutout areas being
adjacent and below said tongue member.
11. The flooring board of claim 13 wherein each of said cutout area
defines a depth of about 2 mm.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to hardwood flooring surfaces
and, more particularly, to a flooring surface formed of individual
multi-layer flooring boards having an upper hardwood layer.
Hardwood flooring is typically formed of a plurality of adjacent
boards of solid hardwood, such as oak, secured together to form the
flooring. Hardwood flooring is a very popular, albeit expensive,
flooring surface for commercial and residential buildings. Typical
solid hardwood flooring boards are of random length, about 18
millimeters (mm.) thick and 90-125 mm. wide and are provided with
mating tongues and grooves on opposed sides to form an interlocking
flooring. Such a solid hardwood flooring is very attractive and
durable in that it can be repeatedly sanded due to its thickness to
restore its finish. However, it cannot be glued directly to
concrete. Solid hardwood flooring expands and contracts under
variations in temperature and the adhesive securing the wood to the
concrete does not move with the wood, causing the wood to pop off
or separate from the concrete. As a result, a plywood subfloor is
required. To reduce the costs of such flooring, a laminate
construction has been developed which is known as engineered
flooring and is comprised of several thin lower layers of softwood,
such as plywood, and a single upper layer of hardwood, all bonded
together by a suitable adhesive. The multiple layers of bonded
softwood allow for some relative movement between the individual
layers, preventing the flooring from popping off the concrete
surface. As with solid hardwood floors, the individual laminated
planks can be secured together by a tongue in groove configuration
and nails are driven at an angular inclination so as to pass
between adjacent portions of the individual planks to secure the
planks together.
[0002] While the above-described engineered flooring provided a
flooring having the appearance of a solid hardwood floor that could
be adhesively secured to a concrete surface without warping, it had
a significant limitation. As a hardwood floor wears, it must be
periodically sanded and refinished. While the overall thickness of
engineered flooring is typically about 15 mm., the maximum
thickness of the upper hardwood layer that can be utilized in such
a construction is only about 5 mm. If a thicker upper layer of
hardwood is used in an effort to increase the longevity of the
product, the resultant planks have been found to warp. This occurs
because the upper layer of solid wood is stronger than the softwood
layers and thus does not move with the softwood layers as they
expand and contract. Thus, while having the same appearance as
solid hardwood flooring, engineered flooring has a much shorter
life as its ability to be refinished is substantially diminished
due to the relatively thin hardwood veneer. The present invention
is directed to a product having the advantages of both solid
hardwood flooring and engineered flooring. It has the same
appearance and durability as solid hardwood flooring and can be
adhesively bonded to concrete without warping and without the need
for a separate plywood subfloor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Briefly, the present invention is directed to a wood
flooring having a hardwood upper surface and comprised of a
plurality of elongated multi-layer flooring boards. Each of the
boards can define tongue and groove lateral edges for joining
adjacent boards together in the formation of the flooring, and
includes an upper hardwood layer and a plurality of softwood layers
disposed therebelow. The softwood layers are adhesively bonded
together and to the hardwood layer. The hardwood layer is at least
about 7 mm. in thickness and the softwood layers collectively
define a thickness of about 15 mm. So configured, the flooring
boards of the present invention provide a hardwood flooring that
can be adhesively bonded in a secure disposition to a concrete
surface without warping over time and without the need for a
separate subfloor and which has a sufficiently thick upper layer of
hardwood so as to allow for repeated refinishing of the flooring.
The flooring boards of the present invention also allow for the
securement of the flooring to a flooring substrate with nails in
the same manner as a conventional solid hardwood floor. A cutout
area may be provided along one of the edges of the flooring boards
in the softwood layers adjacent to the underside of the tongue
projecting laterally therefrom to allow for the expansion and
contraction of the bottom softwood layers which will tend to
undergo move movement than the upper softwood layers due to
adhesion attachment of the bottom softwood layers to the
concrete.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0004] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flooring board of the
present invention.
[0005] FIG. 2 is an end view of a conventional solid hardwood
flooring board.
[0006] FIG. 3 is an end view of a prior art laminated flooring
board having a hardwood upper layer.
[0007] FIG. 4 is an end view of a flooring board of the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0008] Referring now in detail to the drawings, the flooring boards
10 of the present invention are similar in overall shape to a
conventional hardwood flooring board 110 illustrated in FIG. 2. As
with conventional hardwood flooring boards, boards 10 can be
provided in any desired length and width, with lengths being random
and widths of 90-125 mm. being typical. In the preferred embodiment
of the invention, a tongue 12 projects laterally from one edge 14
of board 10 and an elongated groove 16 is provided in the opposing
edge 18 for receiving the tongue of an adjacent board as in
conventional tongue and groove flooring. As seen in FIG. 4, the
flooring board 10 further comprises an upper hardwood layer 20
disposed atop and adhesively bonded to a stack 22 of adhesively
bonded softwood layers 24. The individual layers 24 of a softwood
are typically formed of plywood and will be hereinafter referred to
as plywood, although layers 24 could be formed of a wide variety of
softwood materials, including pressboard. A standard adhesive of
the type used in the formation of plywood and in the formation of
engineering flooring can be used for the bonding together of the
individual plywood layers 24 and for the securement of the upper
hardwood layer 20 to the stack 22 of plywood layers. The upper
hardwood layer 16 is at least about 7 mm. thick. The individual
layers 24 of plywood are about 1-2 mm. in thickness and the stack
22 defines a thickness of 15 mm. For reasons to be explained, a
cutout area 26 is preferably provided in the adhesively bonded
layers of plywood adjacent to the underside of tongue 12. Through
the aforesaid configuration, a hardwood flooring can be formed by
securing together the individual flooring boards 10 in a
conventional manner utilizing the tongues and grooves provided on
the lateral edges thereof.
[0009] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of tongue and groove
engineered flooring 210 of the type discussed above that is found
in the prior art. As also noted above, the upper hardwood layer 210
is a maximum of about 5 mm. thick, and more typically 2-3 mm. in
thickness to prevent the product from warping due to the fact that
the upper layer of solid wood is substantially stronger than the
softwood (e.g. plywood) layers 224. As a result of the relatively
thin upper hardwood layer 210, engineered flooring has a relatively
short life span due to its inability to be repeatedly refinished.
By increasing the thickness of the hardwood layer 20 in the present
invention to at least 7 mm., the flooring boards of the present
invention can be refinished as often as conventional hardwood
flooring as the extent to which solid hardwood flooring can be
sanded is limited by the nails used to secure adjacent flooring
boards to each other and to the subfloor. One cannot sand beyond
the top of the nail heads. It has been found unexpectedly that by
also increasing the thickness of the stack of laminated plywood
layers from about 12 mm. to 15 mm., the strength of the laminated
stack is sufficiently increased to prevent warping of the entire
floorboard 10.
[0010] The flooring boards of the present invention are also well
suited for use on a flooring substrate. In such applications, a
nail 40 is typically angled at about 45 degrees so as to pass
through the tongue and the lower portion of the flooring as seen in
FIG. 3 as in the securement of solid hardwood flooring. In so
doing, the nail will pass through approximately the same amount of
material as would a nail in the application of a solid hardwood
flooring. When securing flooring boards 10 on a concrete surface,
only a suitable adhesive is used. If desired, an adhesive also
could be used in lieu of nails when securing the flooring boards 10
of the present invention to a wooden subfloor.
[0011] In addition to the above, a cutout area 26 can be provided
along edge 14 of the flooring boards 10 in the plywood layers
adjacent the underside of the tongue 12 projecting laterally
therefrom to allow for the expansion and contraction of the bottom
plywood layers in stack 22 which will tend to more movement than
the upper plywood layers in the event of an adhesive attachment of
the bottom layer to a concrete surface. An identical cutout area 28
can be provided along opposed edge 18 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4.
Cutout areas 26 and 28 preferably are about 2 mm. deep.
[0012] Various other changes and modifications can be made in
carrying out the present invention without departing from the
spirit and scope thereof. Insofar as these changes and
modifications are within the purview of the appended claims, they
are to be considered as part of the present invention.
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