DECORATIVE MULTI-LAYER COATING FOR HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL SURFACES

Abstract

A decorative multi-layer covering for horizontal and vertical surfaces such as floors and walls, having a decorative layer provided with decorative motifs visible from the outside, a support layer and a self-adhesive layer to be placed on the surface to be covered. The self-adhesive layer has a perforated foam material layer with an outer surface provided with an adhesive. The perforated surface of the foam material layer has between 5% and 95%, and more preferably between 15% and 50%, of the entire surface of one of the two faces of the support layer, which is distributed over several perforations. A stabilising layer can be arranged between the support layer and the self-adhesive foam material layer, the perforations connecting to the lower face of the stabilising layer.

Claims

1. A decorative multi-layer coating for horizontal and vertical surfaces such as floors and walls, comprising a decorative layer provided with decorative motifs visible from the outside, a support layer and a self-adhesive layer designed to be placed on the surface to be covered, characterised in that the self-adhesive layer comprises a perforated foam material layer with an outer surface provided with an adhesive.

2. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the perforated surface of the foam material layer comprises between 5% and 95% of the entire surface of one of the two faces of the support layer, which is distributed over several perforations.

3. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 2, wherein the perforated surface of the foam material layer comprises between 15% and 50% of the entire surface of one of the two faces of the support layer.

4. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the foam material layer, provided with several perforations, is a layer of polymeric material selected from the group formed of IXPE cross-linked polyethylene foam, XPE cross-linked polyethylene foam, EVA ethylene-vinyl acetate foam, expanded polyurethane foam and polystyrene foam.

5. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the foam material layer, provided with several perforations, has a thickness comprised between 1 and 50 cm.

6. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein a stabilising layer is arranged between the support layer and the self-adhesive foam material layer.

7. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 6, wherein the stabilising layer is a layer made of polyvinyl chloride, fibreglass, aluminium, melamine resin or a combination thereof.

8. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 6, wherein the perforations of the foam material layer connect to the lower face of the stabilising layer.

9. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 8, wherein each perforation has a circular or polygonal base comprised between 0.7 cm.sup.2 and 20 cm.sup.2.

10. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the decorative layer is a layer made of plant, mineral, organic, inorganic, natural or synthetic material, or a mixture thereof.

11. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive of the self-adhesive layer comprises ethyl acetate or an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.

12. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive of the self-adhesive layer is covered by a removable sheet of paper.

13. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, comprising an outer protective layer arranged over the decorative layer.

14. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 13, wherein the outer protective layer is a polyurethane layer.

15. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the support layer is a vinyl material layer.

16. The decorative multi-layer coating, according to claim 1, wherein the coating has a square or rectangular piece format.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The attached drawings show, by way of a non-limiting example, one embodiment of the decorative multi-layer coating, object of the invention. In said drawings:

[0025] FIG. 1 is a cross-section view of the decorative multi-layer coating, object of the invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the foam material of the decorative multi-layer coating in FIG. 1; and

[0027] FIG. 3 is a cross-section view of the decorative multi-layer coating, object of the invention, once it is placed on a wall surface.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of a decorative multi-layer coating 10 in the shape of a tile, suitable for coating horizontal and vertical surfaces such as floors and walls.

[0029] The coating 10 represented is formed of the following layers arranged in order one after the other: an outer protective layer 5 (optional), a decorative layer 4, a support layer 3, a stabilising layer 2 and a foam material layer 1, this last layer being a self-adhesive layer and designed to be applied on the horizontal or vertical surface to be covered.

[0030] By way of example, some of the possible materials that may make up the aforementioned layers are described below.

[0031] The foam material layer 1 is a layer of polymeric material selected from the group formed of IXPE cross-linked polyethylene foam, XPE cross-linked polyethylene foam, EVA ethylene-vinyl acetate foam, expanded polyurethane foam and polystyrene foam. The foam material layer 1 is a deformable layer that absorbs the irregularities that the wall surface 7 may have, thus preventing said irregularities from affecting the rest of the layers of the coating 10, as seen in FIG. 3. In addition to its function levelling the wall or floor surface, the foam material layer 1 has sound and thermal insulation properties.

[0032] The stabilising layer 2 acts structurally as an expansion compensator and prevents the tile-shaped coating 10 from becoming excessively curved, in both a concave and convex shape, in adverse environmental conditions, thus helping to keep it flat. This stabilising layer 2 may be polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or fibreglass.

[0033] With regard to the support layer 3, it may be a vinyl material, for example.

[0034] The decorative layer 4 may be made of a plant, mineral, organic, inorganic, natural or synthetic material, or a mixture thereof. For example, the decorative layer 4 may be formed of a patterned fabric, a wooden sheet with its natural grain or an engraved wooden sheet, a PVC sheet, a metal sheet and so on.

[0035] Depending on the type of decorative layer 4, the coating 10 may comprise an outer protective layer 5 arranged over the decorative layer 4, in order to protect it from wear or outside elements. As well as being resistant, the outer protective layer 5 must be a material that enables the decorative layer 4 it covers to be seen correctly. For example, the material of said outer protective layer 5 may be highly resistant and transparent polyurethane.

[0036] The foam material layer 1 is provided with an adhesive 11 on the face opposite the stabilising layer 2, which makes the foam material layer 1 self-adhesive, along with the tile that makes up the coating 10. The adhesive 11 of the self-adhesive layer comprises ethyl acetate or an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer.

[0037] In addition to the layers described above, FIG. 1 shows that the adhesive 11 spread over the outer face of the foam material layer is covered on the outside by a removable sheet of paper 13 that the user removes when applying the coating 10 on the wall 7 or ground.

[0038] A particular feature of the foam material layer 1 is that it is a perforated layer, being provided with several distributed perforations 12 that pass through the layer, as shown in FIG. 2. The perforation surface of the foam material layer 1 comprises between 5% and 95% of the entire surface of one of the two faces of the support layer 3 or the stabilising layer 2, since all the layers of the coating 10, except the foam material layer 1, have faces with the same surface. The perforated surface of the foam material layer 1 preferably comprises between 15% and 50% of the entire surface of one of the two faces of the support layer 3. Generally, each perforation 12 has a circular or polygonal base and comprises between 0.7 cm.sup.2 and 20 cm.sup.2, depending on the size of the coating tile 10 and its total weight.

[0039] The perforations 12 provided in the foam material layer 1 enable the user or operator that must apply the coating 10 on the wall 7 to fill said perforations 12 with an adhesive filling material 8, such as adhesive silicone, glue or a similar product that reinforces the adhesive strength of the coating 10 to the wall surface 7, the action of the adhesive 11 itself adding to the strength already provided by the outer surface of the foam material layer 1. There are different products on the market that may be used as an adhesive filling material 8, for example a fast-grabbing elastic adhesive, the composition of which is formed of calcium carbonate, ethyltrimethoxysilane, 3-trimethoxysilyl-1-propanamine and titanium dioxide, with a density of between 1.54 and 1.58 g/cm.sup.3 (at 23 C.) with a thick consistency.

[0040] The number, arrangement and size of the perforations 12 are calculated so that the amount of silicone or glue with which they are filled, along with the adhesive action of the adhesive 11, is appropriate for the tile-shaped coating 10 to be permanently placed on the wall surface 7 with it peeling off or moving. Thus, the perforations 12 act as a guide for the user to know where and how much silicone to apply in order to correctly secure the coating 10, which means that no mistakes are made when mounting or applying the coating 10. Generally, the perforations 12 and the arrangement thereof have been designed taking into account the normal resistance and adhesion values of the majority of glues, silicones and similar products found on the market. However, in order to make the application of the tile-shaped or rectangular coating 10 on the wall 7 even easier, it has been provided that the tiles or pieces of coating 10 be marketed along with the adhesive filling product.

[0041] By way of example, a 30.5 cm61 cm coating tile, weighing approximately 700 g, has a total of 72 perforations with a diameter of 2 cm, which are uniformly distributed in twelve rows and six columns, on the foam material layer. It has been proven that applying the fast-grabbing elastic adhesive (described two paragraphs above) in just 50% of the perforations offers a high level of stability and resistance against the tile peeling off, a minimum force of 0.2 N/mm.sup.2 being necessary to separate the tile from the wall 7, thus calculating that the tile will remain adhered to the wall surface 7 for at least eight years.