SE522250C2 - Rectangular floorboard for providing a patterned floating flooring, has opposing long edges, each having a length not exceeding 80 centimeters and short edges having a length not exceeding 10 centimeters - Google Patents

Abstract

The floorboard (40) has opposing long edges (4a,4b), each having a length not exceeding 80 centimeters and short edges (5a,5b) having a length not exceeding 10 centimeters. Independent claims are also included for the following: (a) a patterned floating flooring; (b) a block of floorboards; (c) a method in manufacturing a floorboard; (d) a flooring system; and (e) a method in installing a flooring

Description

20 25 30 522 250 2 can thus also be applicable to homogeneous wooden floors and wooden floors consisting of several layers, floors with a core of wood fibers or plastic and with a surface which is printed or which consists of plastic, cork and the like.

Background of the invention Parquet floors have from the beginning been laid by laying wooden rods of suitable shape and size in different patterns and joining them together by gluing them to a subfloor. As a rule, the floor is then sanded to obtain an even floor surface and surface-treated with, for example, varnish or oil. Traditional parquet rods according to this technique have no locking means at all, as they are fixed by gluing to the subfloor.

Another known method is that the wooden rods are provided with a groove, or a groove in all the edges around the rod. When the wooden rods are then laid by gluing to the substrate, springs are inserted into the grooves in the places where it is needed.

This thus provides a floor where the wooden rods are locked in the vertical direction relative to each other by the spring engaging in groove grooves of two adjacent wooden rods.

The surface becomes smooth and the wooden rods can thus be delivered with a finished lacquered surface.

Traditional parquet rods are rectangular and usually have a size of about 7 * 40 cm. The advantage of the above floor is that the rods can be laid in attractive patterns, for example in parallel rows with the short sides offset in relation to each other, or in herringbone patterns where the rods are connected long side to short side.

The disadvantage of these floors is mainly that the laying and manufacturing is cumbersome and expensive. When the rods shrink and swell due to fluctuations in the relative humidity (RH), unwanted joint cracks occur between the rods.

To solve these problems, the floating wooden floors were first developed. These floors consist of significantly larger floorboards with a width of, for example, 20 cm and a length of 120 - 240 cm. Later, floating laminate flooring was developed, which was essentially a copy of the floating wooden floors, with the difference that the decorative surface layer consisted of a printed and impregnated paper that was laminated to a wood fiber core. Floating floorboards of this type are joined only in their joint edges, ie. without gluing, on an existing subfloor that does not have to be completely smooth or flat. Any irregularities are eliminated with the help of base material in the form of, for example, cardboard, cork or foam. They can thus move freely towards the subfloor. With changes in RH, the entire floor swells and shrinks. The advantage of floating floors is that the joints between the floorboards are tight and the change of size takes place hidden under the skirting boards. The floorboards have a significantly larger surface area than the wooden poles and this enables a faster installation and rational production.

Traditional such floating laminate and wooden floors are usually joined by means of glued tongue / groove joints (ie joints with a tongue on a floorboard and a tongue groove on adjacent floorboards) on the long and short side. When laying, the boards are brought together horizontally, whereby a projecting tongue along the joint edge of a board is inserted into a tongue groove along the joint edge of an adjacent board. The same method is used on both long and short sides, and the boards are usually laid in parallel rows long side to long side and short side to short side.

In addition to such traditional floats as floors, joined together by glued tongue / tongue-and-groove joints, floorboards have been developed in recent years, which do not require the use of glue but which are instead joined mechanically by means of so-called mechanical locking systems. These systems contain locking means that lock the discs horizontally and vertically. The mechanical locking systems can be formed by machining the core of the disc. Alternatively, parts of the locking system can be formed of a separate material that is integrated with the floorboard, ie joined to the floorboard already in connection with the manufacture of this in the factory. The floorboards are joined, ie connected or locked together, by various combinations of angling, snapping and insertion along the joint edge in a locked position. The floorboards are joined one after the other, ie. the previous floorboard is connected to another floorboard on a long and a short side when a new floorboard is joined to the previous one.

The main advantages of floating floors with mechanical locking systems are that they can be laid even more easily and quickly and with high precision through various combinations of ice angling and snapping. They can also, unlike glued floors, be easily picked up again and reused elsewhere.

Definition of certain terms In the following text, the visible surface of the pre-assembled floorboard is referred to as "front", while the opposite side of the floorboard, facing the subfloor, is referred to as "back". The sheet-shaped starting material used in the manufacture is called "core". When the core is coated with a surface layer closest to the front and preferably also forms a semi-finished product called “floor panel” or “panel blank” in the case where the semi-finished product is divided into a number of the above-mentioned floor panels. When a balance layer closest to the back, in a subsequent operation, the floor panels are edge machined so that they have obtained their final shape with the joint system, they are called "floorboards".

By "surface layer" is meant all layers which are applied to the core closest to the front and which preferably cover the entire front of the floorboard. "Decorative surface layer" refers to layers that are mainly intended to give the floor its decorative appearance. "Wear layer" refers to layers that are primarily intended to improve the wear resistance of the front.

"Laminate flooring" refers to floors that are on the market under this name. The wear layer of the laminate floor usually consists of a transparent paper mixed with alumina which is impregnated with melamine resin.

The decorative layer consists of a melamine impregnated decorative paper.

The outer parts of the floorboard at the edge of the floorboard between the front and the back are called "joint edge". The joint edge usually has several “joint surfaces” which can be vertical, horizontal, angled, rounded, bevelled, etc. These joint surfaces are available on different materials, such as laminate, wood fiber boards, wood, plastic, metal (especially aluminum) or sealing. material. "Joint" or "locking system" refers to cooperating coupling means, which connect the floorboards vertically and / or horizontally. By "mechanical locking system" is meant that joining can take place without glue horizontally parallel to the surface and vertically perpendicular to the surface. Mechanical joint systems can in many cases also be joined with glue.

"Floating floor" means floors with floorboards that are only joined to their respective joint edges and thus not glued to the subfloor. During moisture movements, the joint remains tight. Moisture movement takes place in the outer circumference of the floor around the walls hidden under the baseboards. "Parquet rod" refers to a rectangular floorboard that has the shape of a traditional parquet rod. The most common format is about 40 * 7 cm. However, the parquet bar can also have a length of 20 - 60 cm and a width of 5 - 10 cm. Prior Art and Problems Therewith In order to facilitate the understanding and description of the present invention and the understanding of the problems underlying the invention, with reference to Figs. 1-3 on the accompanying drawing sheets, a description of known technology.

The predominant part of all floating laminate floors (Fig. 1a) consists of rectangular floorboards 1 'with a length (4a) of about 120 cm and a width (5a) of about 20 cm.

With the help of modern printing technology, laminate floors can be produced which, in terms of appearance, are very lifelike copies of various natural materials such as wood and stone. The most common pattern is an imitation of parquet flooring consisting of wooden rods (40). These wooden rods usually have a width of about 7 cm and a length of 20 -40 cm.

The floorboard usually contains three rows of parallel bars whose short sides are offset in relation to each other.

This means that at least one rod (5a, 5b) (41) at the short side of the floorboard will be shorter than the other two rods. When the floorboards are joined together (fig. 1 b), the result is an unnatural appearance in comparison with a real parquet floor which consists of equally long bars with offset short sides. The same applies to floating wooden floors. Another problem that gives an unnatural look is related to the manufacturing technology. This is shown in figure 2. Laminate flooring is manufactured by impregnating a printed decorative paper with melamine resin and laminating it to a wood fiber core so that a panel blank 2 is formed. This panel blank 2 is then sawn up, for example, to a dozen floor panels 3 which are edge machined into floorboards 1. The edge machining is done by first processing the long sides 4a 4b of the panels first in a machine 101, after which they are moved to another machine 105. which processes the short pages. In connection with the impregnation, the decorative paper swells in an uncontrolled manner. The swelling and the manufacturing tolerances that arise in connection with lamination, termination and edge shaving lead to the position of the rods in different floorboards deviating from the desired position. When two floorboards are joined to each other, the rods 41b) can become short sides towards each other, (4la, laterally offset and its length can vary greatly (Fig. 1 c).

To solve these problems, a number of costly methods have been used to control the manufacturing process in the manufacture of laminate flooring.

The most common method is that production is controlled with advanced cameras that automatically measure and position the semi-finished products during the manufacturing process. Different patterns are also produced with special displacements of the rods so that the position errors are hidden to the greatest possible extent. In wooden floors, rods of varying length and parallel displacement are used to hide the cut rods at the short side.

All known methods give an unsatisfactory result. Floating floors could reach a larger market if lifelike parquet patterns could be achieved in combination with a rational production and installation.

Figures 3a-3d show examples of mechanical joint systems used in floating floors. All these systems give rise to material waste W. This waste occurs in connection with (SB) termination and in connection with processing of the mechanical coupling means. To minimize this spill W, the aim is to make the floorboards as large as possible and with as few joints as possible. The floorboards should therefore be wide and long. Narrow floorboards contain many joints per square meter of floor space. Such narrow laminate floorboards with a width corresponding to a traditional parquet bar do not exist on the market. The narrowest laminate floorboards have a width exceeding 150 cm. Figure 3e shows interconnection by angling and Figure 3 f shows interconnection by snapping.

Summary of the invention An object of the present invention is to provide floorboards which can be mechanically joined to a floating floor with a true-to-nature parquet pattern which in appearance corresponds to traditional parquet rods.

The invention is based on a first insight that modern production technology and mechanical joint systems in combination with special laying methods make it possible to join very small floorboards quickly and with extremely high precision. A surprising result is that floors that consist of small floorboards can be installed almost as quickly and with the same quality as traditional floors that consist of considerably larger floorboards. It is also possible to achieve an installation that is faster and gives a better result than large floorboards with mechanical joint systems. The reason is that we have discovered that small floorboards are easier to handle, the friction surfaces along the long sides of the joint parts become smaller, which facilitates displacement, and finally, shortening of the short side can take place with lower force because the parts that bend in connection are smaller and provide less resistance. . The invention is based on a second and very surprising insight that the production cost for small floorboards with mechanical joint systems does not necessarily have to be greater than for large floorboards. Admittedly, small floorboards contain significantly more joints per square meter of floor than large floorboards, and the processing cost and material waste are large with the known mechanical locking systems. However, these problems can be largely avoided if the floorboards are produced and if joint systems are designed according to the invention. In addition, the format of the floorboard can be used to create the decorative look in a cost-effective way. By terminating a veneer pattern, a parquet pattern of wooden rods can be created.

The swelling problem of the decorative paper is eliminated and no careful positioning and pattern fitting in connection with termination is necessary. This reduces production costs. If the floorboards are narrow, any angular errors between the long and the short side will be less visible in a narrow floorboard than in a wide one.

The invention is based on a third insight that it is possible and even advantageous to use small floorboards in floating floors with formats corresponding to, for example, traditional wooden rods. Such a floating floor will consist of significantly more joints than a traditional floor consisting of large boards. The large amount of joints per unit area reduces the movement of the floor around the walls because each joint has a certain flexibility. Laminate flooring moves about 1 mm per m when RH varies during the year. For example, if the floorboards have a width of 66 mm, each meter will contain 15 joints. A shrinkage will then result in a maximum joint gap of 0.06 mm, provided that the floor is prevented from moving due to load. Such a joint gap is invisible. Floating l0 15 20 25 30 522 250 10 floors that consist of small floorboards can thus be laid in larger spaces.

The invention is based on a fourth insight that narrow floorboards cup significantly less than wide floorboards as RH varies. This provides a flatter floor and easier installation.

The invention is based on a fifth insight that a floor consisting of many small floorboards provides better opportunities to achieve a high laying quality with invisible joint cracks. Laminate and wooden floors can become side hooks due to uneven moisture content in the board. This "banana shape" can give rise to visible joint cracks. For example, if the length of the boards is reduced from 1200 mm to 400 mm, the joint gap will be significantly reduced. Narrow discs are also easier to bend and in practice the mechanical joint system will automatically pull the discs together and completely eliminate the banana shape.

The invention is based on a sixth insight that the moisture problems that often arise when gluing wooden rods to a concrete floor can be solved by joining the wooden rod floating so that a plastic moisture barrier can be laid between the wooden floor and the concrete.

Finally, the invention is based on a seventh insight that a very suitable way of creating a true-to-nature parquet pattern, which consists of parallel staggered wooden rods, is that the floorboards are made narrow with a width and preferably also with a length corresponding to a parquet rod. The above thus means that according to the invention it is possible to provide small floorboards, with a format corresponding to a traditional parquet rod, which in a surprising way and contrary to what has hitherto been considered possible, can contribute to giving 10 15 20 25 30 522 250 ll benefits in floating floors. These advantages significantly outweigh the known disadvantages.

This object is achieved in whole or in part by a method for laying floorboards, as is apparent from the independent claims. The dependent claims state particularly preferred embodiments of the invention.

Herein, according to a first aspect, rectangular floorboards with long sides and short sides and with a width corresponding to a traditional parquet bar for forming a floating floor covering are shown, which floorboards are mechanically lockable and have along their four edge portions pairwise coupling means for locking similar, adjacent floorboards in both vertical and horizontal directions (D1 and D2, respectively), and the long side of the floorboards having a length not exceeding 80 cm and the short side a width not exceeding 10 cm.

According to a preferred embodiment of this first aspect, the floorboards can be provided with mechanical locking systems consisting of a separate material which is mechanically connected to the floorboard. This reduces material waste in connection with machining the joint edges.

Several variants of are possible. Flooring can be provided with all known mechanical joint systems. Special floorboards can be produced which consist of, for example, 9 floorboards according to the invention which are joined in three parallel staggered rows. The short sides are thus not straight but consist of staggered lines. Such floorboards can be laid by a combination of angling the long side, side displacement and snapping in the short side.

According to a second aspect, a method for rational manufacture of floorboards is shown as above. According to this method, in a first step, a floor panel 10 15 20 25 30 522 250 12 is machined, the width of which corresponds to the length of the floorboard. The floor panel is then sawn up perpendicular to the long side in new panels, after which these are edged along the long sides in a second step. The manufacturing technique is thus characterized by the short sides being processed before the final termination and before the long sides. This method enables a rational manufacture of small floorboards.

Both the first and the second step can be done in the same machine line. If the floorboards have identical locking systems on the long and short side, the same tool set can be used for both the long side and the short side.

The present invention encompasses alternative methods of laying a floor covering using floorboards as above. With any of these methods, rapid and efficient laying of a floor according to the present invention can be performed. According to a preferred alternative, the floorboard is joined at an angle to the locking means in contact with each other but in a position which deviates from the final position when the floorboards lie flat on the subfloor. The floorboard is then shifted corresponding to its entire length relative to another floorboard in the previous row before the final reading takes place.

The above-mentioned manufacturing and laying technique is especially suitable for small floorboards but can of course also be used in floorboards with other and larger formats.

The invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, which for exemplary purposes show presently preferred embodiments of the invention according to its various aspects. 10 15 20 25 30 522 250 13 Brief description of the drawings Figures 1a-c show known floorboards.

Fig. 2 shows the manufacture of laminate flooring according to known technology.

Figures 3a-f show examples of known mechanical locking systems.

Figures 4a-e show floors according to the invention.

Figures 5a-d show joint systems according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figures 6a-d show a laying method according to the invention.

Figures 7a-d show a laying method according to the present invention.

Fig. 8 shows a manufacturing method for manufacturing floorboards according to the invention.

Description of preferred embodiments Figs. 4a-c show floorboards 1, 1 ', the long sides 4a, 4b and short sides 5a, 5b of which are provided with mechanical locking systems. The vertical locking means may, for example, comprise a groove 23 and a spring 22 The horizontal ones (see Fig. 5a). the locking means may comprise locking elements 8 which cooperate with locking grooves 14. All floorboards are rectangular and have a width corresponding to a traditional parquet rod.

The width is thus about a third of a traditional laminate floorboard. In Fig. 4a the surface of the floorboard has the shape of a parquet rod: In Fig. 4b the surface has a decorative surface layer consisting of two parquet rods and in Fig. 4c the surface layer consists of three parquet rods.

Figure 4d shows that such floorboards, which may thus consist of one or more rods, can be joined to a floor which in a true-to-nature manner forms a rod parquet pattern. V All rods, except those located at the outer portions of the floor, can be full length. 10 15 20 25 30 522 250 14 If the floorboard consists of more than one rod (Fig. 4b, c), a certain pattern fit must take place in production. If, on the other hand, the floorboard consists of a single rod, according to Figure 4a, it is necessary to submit such a pattern fit. The floorboard can be made by sawing or dividing a panel blank, which only has a pattern consisting of, for example, wooden veneers with varying shades, which mimic wooden rods made from different wooden logs of the same type of wood.

In the floor according to Fig. 4d, the rods are offset corresponding to half the length. Figure 4e shows an example of a displacement by one third of the length.

Figs. 5a -d show that the material spillage can be reduced to substantially the spillage that occurs in connection with the termination if the locking system is formed with a separate strip 6 which is mechanically fastened by a tongue 38 cooperating with a groove 36. Fastening can take place by snapping into the floorboard 1 joint edge in such a way that the upper lip 20 and lower lip 21 are bent upwards and downwards, respectively, when the strip 6 is pushed in against the groove 36 of the floorboard 1.

This enables cost-effective production of narrow floorboards. Fig. 5a shows an example of a laminate floorboard 1, 1 'with a wood fiber core 30 and a surface layer 31 of laminate. The separate strip 6 in this embodiment consists of wood fiber. Figures 5a, b show a locking system which can be locked by angling and snapping and Fig. 5c, d shows a locking system which can be locked by snapping.

Figs. 6a - 6d show a laying procedure.

The floorboards are rectangular and can be joined together mechanically. The laying begins, for example, by joining a first row R1 by, for example, angling the short sides of the floorboards together.

The first row, which may actually be an optional row in the floor, contains a floorboard G1 called the first floorboard. A second floorboard G2, in a second row R2 (Fig. 6a), is placed at an angle A relative to the first floorboard G1 and is in contact with its upper joint edge with the joint edge of the first floorboard G1. Fig. 6b shows that the installation can be facilitated if a wedge-shaped tool WT is used as a support. A new floorboard G3 in a second row R2 is then locked with its (G2) second row. This short-side joining can take place by short side against the short side of the second floorboard in the indentation along the joint edge of the short side, by angling or by snapping towards the joint edge of the short side. When angled and preferably also when snapping in, this joining is carried out so that the upper joint edge of the new floorboard G3 is at a distance from the upper joint edge of the first floorboard G1. contact with the first disc. The new board G3 can also first be joined to the first G1 by snapping, after which it is laterally displaced along the long side so that its short side is snapped towards the short side of the second floorboard G2. Then, laterally (Fig. 6c), both the new G3 and the second floorboard G2 are displaced along their long sides parallel to the first floorboard G1.

The first lateral displacement is preferably substantially equal to the length 4a of the floorboard. Another new floorboard G3 'can then be joined according to Fig. 6d.

When substantially the entire second row R2 is filled, all floorboards are angled down and locked. Essentially the entire flooring can be done in this way.

Figures 7a - 7d show the corresponding floor laying seen from above. When a new board G3, G3 'and G3 "is moved after angling, the second row R2 grows. This laying can be repeated until the second board G2 reaches the outer part of the floor according to Fig. 7d. The main advantage is that the whole row R2 can be laid without Due to the weight and flexibility of the floorboards, the different upturned floorboards will take on different angles.They can easily slide in a semi-locked position.This is shown in Fig. 5b. 23 and 8, 14 are not completely locked and this reduces the friction at the same time as the boards 1, 1 'are prevented from sliding apart by the locking element 8 being partially inserted in the locking groove 14. This laying method is especially suitable for small floorboards but can also be used in major.

The laying method makes it possible to automate the laying.

Another advantage is that this laying method enables an automated laying with the aid of a laying device. According to the invention, which thus also comprises a laying device for floorboards, the floorboards can be laid with a suitable device which, for example, consists of the following parts and functions.

The device has a magazine which contains a number of new floorboards G3, G3 'etc. These floorboards are for example stacked on top of each other. It has a first sliding device which first inserts the new disc G3, at an angle to the first disc G1 in the first row R1.

The insertion movement takes place along the short side of the second disc G2 so that the short sides of the second G2 and the new G3 disc are mechanically locked. The device further has a second sliding device which displaces the two interconnected discs laterally parallel to the first row R1. When the device is moved away from the first row R1, all boards, which have not yet reached a position parallel to the subfloor, are finally angled down towards the subfloor.

Figure 8 shows a method of manufacturing floors with mechanical joint systems. The panel blank 2 is sawn up into new panel blanks 2 'These panel blanks are machined along their long sides. This machining, which is thus a rational machining of the long sides of the panel blank, actually forms the short sides 5a, 5b of the floorboards. After this first machining, the panel blank 2 'is sawn up into floor panels 3 which are then edge machined along their long sides 4a, 4b.

The method is based on the fact that the production, contrary to today's production, takes place by the long sides being machined last and that a special sawing or splitting operation takes place between machining the short side of the floorboard and its long side. The method thus means that the short sides can be manufactured very rationally even if the floorboards are narrow. The risk of angular errors between the long side and the short side is significantly less than in traditional manufacturing.

Machining of long sides and short sides can also take place in one and the same machine and with the same set of tools.

Several variants of this method, with division after the first processing, are possible.

The long sides can, for example, be machined first. The panel blank then has a length corresponding to several floorboards and a width corresponding to one of the floorboards. After the first machining, the panel blank is divided into several floor panels which are then edge machined along the short sides.

Claims (2)

10 15 20 25 30 522 250 18 PATENT REQUIREMENTS A method for providing a floor of mechanically locked rectangular floorboards (1, 1 ') joined in parallel rows with long sides (4a, 4b) and short sides (5a, 5b,) which floorboards along their four joint edges have pairwise opposite coupling means 8, 9, 14, 22) for locking similar, adjacent floorboards in both vertical and horizontal directions (D1 and D2, respectively), the coupling means of the floorboards being designed such that two opposite joint edges on the long sides (4a, 4b) can be locked by angling, characterized of the steps that a second floorboard (G2) in a second row (R2) is placed at an angle relative to a first floorboard (G1) in a first row (R1), (G2) is with its upper joint edge in contact with the first floorboard (G1) ) so that said second floorboard upper joint edge, that a new floorboard (G3) in a second row (R2) is locked together with a short side (5b) of the second floorboard (G2) in the second row (R2), so that the new floorboard (G3) the upper joint edge comes into contact with the first floorboard ( Gl) joint edge, that both the new (G3) and the second floorboard (G2) are displaced laterally parallel to the long side (4a) of the first floorboard (Gl), said lateral displacement being longer than the length (4a) of the floorboards, and that the second (G2) ) and the new (G3) floorboard is angled down after the side shift. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that the length and width of the floorboards do not exceed 80 and 10 cm, respectively.