Floor panels which are provided with a mechanical locking system including an extruded flexible tongue in a sidewardly open groove which during a vertical folding motion is bent horizontally. A tongue adapted for being received in a sidewardly open groove of a floor panel, wherein the tongue, which is an elongated extruded section, when received in the groove is bendable in a plane substantially parallel with a front face of the floor panel, such that the tongue is at least partially resiliently displaceable inside said sidewardly open groove in said plane during locking of the floor panel with another floor panel and wherein a vertical protrusion, serving as a friction connection between the tongue and the groove, is arranged at an upper or lower part of the tongue, wherein a total width of tongue varies in a longitudinal direction of the tongue.

The panel includes a first pair of opposite edges; these comprise male and female coupling parts - in the form of a tongue and groove and locking elements - in order to couple two such panels to each other on their first pair of opposite edges. The panel and coupling parts thereof are configured so that in a covering formed with these panels, the expansion and contraction of the panels in the coupling zone on the first pair of opposite edges is compensated in this coupling zone itself.

A floor may include a substrate having a top side and a bottom side. A top layer may be provided on the substrate. The top layer may consist of a printed thermoplastic film and a thermoplastic transparent or translucent layer provided on the printed thermoplastic film. The top layer may be directly adhered to the substrate by heat welding the printed thermoplastic film and the top side of the substrate, in the absence of a glue layer. The substrate may be a synthetic material board including a filler. The substrate at least at two opposite edges may include coupling means provided in the synthetic material board. The thermoplastic transparent or translucent layer may be provided with a structure.

A connector system for mechanically connecting two structural elements to each other, consisting of a connector element and mating grooves in each structural element. The connector element is comprised of a base plate having a split-tongue element at each side or end of said base plate. Each joined element has a mating groove formed into its connector-receiving surface. The mating groove is designed to allow fabrication via four sequential circular saw cuts, without loss of saleable decorative surface, and at a rate consistent with economical commercial production of vinyl, laminate, or hardwood flooring. The connector element is readily extruded in a variety of polymers, including PVC. The connector and mating grooves interact so as to generate a force component acting to forcibly draw the connector into the mating grooves. The connector system operation is relatively insensitive to geometric deviations associated with normal manufacturing methods.

A method for producing a floorboard having a topside veneer includes forming a multilayer body which includes a starting carrier plate, a plurality of veneers placed on the starting carrier plate so that a gap is formed between neighboring ones of the veneers, a resin layer including a resin provided between the starting carrier plate and the veneers, and a balancing layer arranged on a bottom side of the starting carrier plate; joining the starting carrier plate, the resin layer, the veneers and the balancing layer by pressing the multilayer body in a press; separating the multilayer body into individual boards between the neighboring veneers in a region of the gap; profiling the individual boards at side borders of the boards; and providing the individual boards with joining means.

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.

Floor panel, with a horizontally and vertically active locking system allowing that two of such floor panels can be connected to each other at said sides by providing one of these floor panels, by means of a downward movement, in the other floor panel; wherein the vertically active locking system comprises a locking element in the form of an insert; wherein this locking element comprises at least a pivotable lock-up body; characterized in that the pivotable lock-up body comprises a support portion which is rotatable against a support surface pertaining to the floor panel concerned, and more particularly in a seat.

A panel comprised of at least one connector that facilitates connection with an adjacent panel. An exemplary embodiment of a panel may be comprised of a female connector and a male connector such that the male connector may be inserted in a female connector of an adjacent, substantially similar panel. The female connector may include a ridge, and the male connector may include a flange. An exemplary embodiment of a panel assembly may be formed when a male connector of one panel is inserted in a female connector of another panel such that the flange of the male connector slides over the ridge of the female connector to interlock the panels.

A floor panel may include a substrate having a top side and a bottom side. A top layer may be provided on the substrate. The top layer may consist of a printed thermoplastic film and a thermoplastic transparent or translucent layer provided on the printed thermoplastic film. The top layer may be directly applied to the substrate using a glue layer available between the printed thermoplastic film and the top side of the substrate. The substrate may be an extruded synthetic material board including a filler selected from the group consisting of chalk, wood and sand. The substrate at least at two opposite edges may include coupling means provided in the extruded synthetic material board. The floor panel may have a thickness of 5 to 10 millimeters.

A decorative surface covering element has a height of 4 mm or less from its top surface to the bottom surface. The surface covering element is configured as a multi-layered compound with a polymer-based core layer laminated between a backing layer and a wear layer, the core layer comprising a core material having a lesser shore hardness than the backing layer and the wear layer. The surface covering element comprises a first connecting profile, integral with the multi-layered compound, that extends along at least one of the edges of the surface covering element. The first connecting profile comprises at least one protrusion realized in the core layer, the protrusion having side surfaces for being seized between opposite surfaces of a recess in a second connecting profile, configured for mating with the first connecting profile, of another decorative surface covering element.