A floor panel has a rectangular and oblong shape, and includes a substrate and a top layer provided on the substrate and forming a decorative side of the floor panel. The top layer is composed of a print provided on a carrier sheet and a transparent thermoplastic layer situated above the print. The substrate has a thickness from 2 to 10 millimeter and forms at least half of the thickness of the floor panel. The substrate is a polyurethane-based substrate and the transparent thermoplastic layer is polyurethane-based. The floor panel has a length of more than 1.1 meters and has a plurality of reinforcing layers situated outside the center line of the substrate. A reinforcing layer may be provided in combination with the substrate and the top layer.

Floor panels are provided with a mechanical locking system including a flexible locking element in a locking groove which during a horizontal motion is displaced vertically. A panel system including a plurality of rectangular panels with long and short edges which are mechanically connectable to each other along at least one pair of adjacent edges, said panels each being provided with a tongue and groove formed in one piece with the panels for mechanically locking together said adjacent edges at right angles to the principal plane of the panels, thereby forming a vertical mechanical connection between the panels, said panels being provided with a first locking element at one first edge formed in one piece with the panel and a locking groove at an opposite second edge, the locking groove being open towards a rear side or a front side of the panel.

This invention relates to an assembly type floor panel that is easy to assemble, dismantle, and maintain, and that closely and nonadhesively contacts an underlying floor. The floor panel is composed of a base panel of elastic material, e.g., calcium carbonate, a stiffer panel on the upper side of the base panel and a sliding protective sheet on the bottom side of the base panel. Adjacent panels are joined by the cooperation of a projection and groove along an edge of one panel with a projection and groove along an edge of an adjacent panel. By virtue of the elasticity of the base panel and the protective sheet, the floor panel can closely contact an underlying floor, accommodate uneveness in the underlying floor, and conduct heat from the underlying floor.

A device for joining floor tiles, having at least one joint unit; each joint unit has an L-shaped frame and a floor tile fixing plate; the L-shaped frame is provided with block members intersected with each other. The L-shaped frame is provided with inner engaging slots and outer engaging slots at an inner side and outer side respectively on upper surfaces of the block members. The inner engaging slots are engaged with inner engaging hooks disposed on the floor tile fixing plate. The outer engaging slots are engaged with outer engaging hooks on bottom sides of floor tile fixing plates of adjacent joint units. Also provided is an installation method of floor tiles.

A composition having a base-substrate component fixably attached to a substantially planar first surface of a resilient component; a spacer component fixably attached to a substantially planar second surface of the resilient component, wherein the spacer component is a rigid structure having a planar surface with four raised flanges thereon, the four raised flanges being collectively positioned in a cross-like configuration; and at least one tile in contact with the spacer component.

A method for laying tiles or other coating elements where a separator is placed under, above and between adjacent tiles during the process of cementing the tiles to a surface. The method includes: placing a metal rod of a one-piece tile separator between two adjacent tiles, with a metal base part under adjacent tiles, sliding a tile holder onto the metal rod, where one-way steel jaws opposite each other in the tile holder are pressured towards two opposed smooth surfaces of the metal rod, preventing return movement of the tile holder along the metal rod while the opposed one-way steel jaws indent the softer metal surface of the metal rod.

A tile leveling system for leveling tiles is disclosed. The system has a tile lifter whose transverse member is inserted into the grout gap, and turned to get underneath adjacent tiles. The system has a reusable clamping unit, a U-shaped, possibly flexible, wedge, which is slid through the lifter's vertical shaft to sandwich the tiles between the transverse member and the wedge. The transverse member can be concave up, and the lifter can have two transverse members with spacers on each four-corner junction. The lifter's handle can have a U-shaped hole, which allows a rocker tool to be used to level tiles. Another leveling tool, called a gun tool can be used with any of the lifters. Also proposed are two simpler threaded and zip-tie systems. The leveling devices can be used as needed, thus saving the cost of using them in the entire tiled area.

A tile leveller and spacer system that allows rapid and reliable spacing and levelling of tools is described. The tile spacer comprises a base for locating the spacer under the tiles, and a stem that includes an alignment cross which is used to correctly space the tiles. The stem tile spacer is placed over the stem and engages with teeth on the stem. The tile leveller is pushed down over the stem to level the tiles between the base and the bottom of the tile leveller. The stem further comprises a frangible portion located between the base and the tile alignment portion, and when the stem is pulled with sufficient force, the frangible portion breaks to allow removal of the stem. A hand tool may be used to assist in this process. The hand tool can have an adjustable stop which can be set to a first setting to level the tiles, and a second setting to cause the frangible portion to break, allowing removal of the stem and leveller.

A floor panel has a rectangular and oblong shape, and includes a substrate and a top layer provided on the substrate and forming a decorative side of the floor panel. The top layer is composed of a print provided on a carrier sheet and a transparent thermoplastic layer situated above the print. The substrate has a thickness from 2 to 10 millimeter and forms at least half of the thickness of the floor panel. The substrate is a polyurethane-based substrate and the transparent thermoplastic layer is polyurethane-based. The floor panel has a length of more than 1.1 meters and has a plurality of reinforcing layers situated outside the center line of the substrate. A reinforcing layer may be provided in combination with the substrate and the top layer.

Floor panels are provided with a mechanical locking system including a flexible locking element in a locking groove which during a horizontal motion is displaced vertically. A panel system including a plurality of rectangular panels with long and short edges which are mechanically connectable to each other along at least one pair of adjacent edges, said panels each being provided with a tongue and groove formed in one piece with the panels for mechanically locking together said adjacent edges at right angles to the principal plane of the panels, thereby forming a vertical mechanical connection between the panels, said panels being provided with a first locking element at one first edge formed in one piece with the panel and a locking groove at an opposite second edge, the locking groove being open towards a rear side or a front side of the panel.