Non-Interlock Assembled Flooring System

Abstract

Disclosed is a non-interlock assembled flooring system, comprising: a base sheet layer and a surface slat layer disposed on the base sheet layer, wherein the surface slat layer includes a plurality of wood floor slats arranged side-by-side in a widthwise direction, the wood floor slats are separated by a plurality of cut grooves serving as expansion joints, and the surface slat layer has a continuous wood-grain surface formed by upper surfaces of the wood floor slats.

Claims

1. A non-interlock assembled flooring system, comprising: a base sheet layer, made of a flexible sheet, a lower surface of the base sheet layer being a laying surface; and a surface slat layer, disposed on the base sheet layer, the surface slat layer including a plurality of wood floor slats arranged side-by-side in a widthwise direction, the wood floor slats being formed by longitudinally cutting a plurality of cut grooves parallel to each other on a single wood panel securely attached to an upper surface of the base sheet layer, such that the wood floor slats are separated by the cut grooves serving as expansion joints, and the surface slat layer has a continuous wood-grain surface formed by upper surfaces of the wood floor slats, wherein, by laying the non-interlock assembled flooring system on a floor with the laying surface of the base sheet layer facing the floor, the floor is covered by the wood floor slats which are not interlocked with each other, and by bending the non-interlock assembled flooring system using at least one of the cut grooves as a fold line, the non-interlock assembled flooring system has a folded width for storage and transportation less than its original width before bending, and the non-interlock assembled flooring system is allowed to be laid on the floor in a bending manner to match the unevenness of the floor.

2. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible sheet is a fabric sheet, a paper sheet, a plastic sheet, or a metal sheet.

3. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flexible sheet is provided with a mesh attached thereto.

4. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wood panel is made of solid wood or recycled wood.

5. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an intermediate layer disposed between the base sheet layer and the surface slat layer, wherein the intermediate layer is made of recycled wood.

6. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an intermediate layer disposed between the base sheet layer and the surface slat layer, wherein the intermediate layer is made of recycled wood.

7. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the surface slat layer, the cut grooves are formed simultaneously in a single cutting process with a plurality of cutting tools arranged in parallel to improve the parallelism between the wood floor slats.

8. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the surface slat layer, the cut grooves are V-shaped grooves.

9. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the surface slat layer, the cut grooves are vertical linear grooves.

10. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface slat layer further includes a plurality of gap fillers filling in the cut grooves, thereby forming an upper surface of the surface slat layer into a seamless surface.

11. The non-interlock assembled flooring system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a transparent coating layer formed on the upper surfaces of the wood floor slats in a manner that the continuous wood-grain surface is visible through the transparent coating layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing illustrating a non-interlock assembled flooring system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing illustrating the non-interlock assembled flooring system according to the embodiment of the present invention installed on a floor;

[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing illustrating the non-interlock assembled flooring system according to the embodiment of the present invention during storage and transportation;

[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing illustrating the non-interlock assembled flooring system according to the embodiment of the present invention during storage and transportation;

[0019] FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing illustrating the non-interlock assembled flooring system according to the embodiment of the present invention installed on an uneven floor;

[0020] FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing illustrating a non-interlock assembled flooring system according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

[0021] FIG. 7 is a schematic drawing illustrating a non-interlock assembled flooring system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 7. The description is used for explaining the embodiments of the present invention only, but not for limiting the scope of the claims.

[0023] As shown in FIG. 1, a non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a base sheet layer 1, made of a flexible sheet, a lower surface of the base sheet layer 1 being a laying surface 11; and a surface slat layer 3, disposed on the base sheet layer 1, the surface slat layer 3 including a plurality of wood floor slats 31 arranged side-by-side in a widthwise direction, the wood floor slats 31 being formed by longitudinally cutting a plurality of cut grooves 32 parallel to each other on a single wood panel securely attached to an upper surface of the base sheet layer 1, such that the wood floor slats 31 are separated by the cut grooves 32 serving as expansion joints, and the surface slat layer 3 has a continuous wood-grain surface 33 formed by upper surfaces of the wood floor slats 31.

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, during installation, by laying the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention on a floor G with the laying surface 11 of the base sheet layer 1 facing the floor G, the floor G is covered by the wood floor slats 31 which are not interlocked with each other.

[0025] Specifically, since the surface slat layer 3 formed by the wood floor slats 31 has been disposed on the base sheet layer 1, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 can be installed by directly laying the whole non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 on the floor G without the need to install the wood floor slats 31 to the floor G one by one.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, during storage, by bending the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention using at least one of the cut grooves 32 as a fold line, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 has a folded width less than its original width before bending.

[0027] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 can be bent upwardly using the cut grooves 32 as fold lines to form a roll, thereby significantly reducing the lateral width of the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 for easy storage, as well as facilitating transportation to the installation site by a vehicle or manually, and facilitating installation by rolling out. As shown in FIG. 4, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 can also be bent downwardly using the cut grooves 32 as fold lines to form a board, thereby significantly reducing the lateral width and thickness of the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 and making it easier to store and transport.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, during installation, by bending the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention using at least one of the cut grooves 32 as a fold line, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 is allowed to be laid on the floor G in a bending manner to match the unevenness of the floor G.

[0029] Specifically, since the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention can be bent using the cut grooves 32 as fold lines, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 can be bent upwardly or downwardly in accordance with the unevenness of the floor G and thus cover well even on the floor G which is uneven and has a curvature. As a result, compared with conventional wood flooring and interlock assembled floorings, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 of the present invention can be installed more efficiently by eliminating the need to pre-install a subfloor for leveling the floor before installation.

[0030] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1, in the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, the flexible sheet may be a fabric sheet, a paper sheet, a plastic sheet, or a metal sheet. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the flexible sheet may be any other type of sheet as long as it has the required flexibility such that the base sheet layer 1 has the flexibility to closely fit the uneven floor without the problems of conventional flooring, such as the difficulty of construction, the uneven surface, the warping, and the inability to closely fit the floor. In addition, the flexible sheet may be further provided with a mesh attached thereto to improve the strength and/or flexibility of the flexible sheet.

[0031] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1, in the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, the wood panel is made of solid wood or recycled wood. Furthermore, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 further comprises an intermediate layer 2 disposed between the base sheet layer 1 and the surface slat layer 3, wherein the intermediate layer 2 is made of recycled wood. With this structure, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to the present invention is able to save material costs and is environmentally friendly.

[0032] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1, in the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, in the surface slat layer 3, the cut grooves 32 are formed simultaneously in a single cutting process with a plurality of cutting tools arranged in parallel to improve the parallelism between the wood floor slats 31. With the surface slat layer 3 produced by this manufacturing method, since all the cut grooves 32 are cut simultaneously in one cutting process, the effect on the parallelism due to the difference in the environment and parameters between different batches of cutting processes can be reduced, resulting in a more neat arrangement and better parallelism of the wood floor slats 31.

[0033] In addition, in the surface slat layer 3, since there is no need to have connecting grooves on the sides of the wood floor slats 31, the thickness of the wood floor slats 31 is not limited, and therefore thinner wood sheets can also be used as the wood panel to form thinner wood floor slats 31 at a lower material cost.

[0034] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, in the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention, in the surface slat layer 3, the cut grooves 32 are V-shaped grooves that are wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. With such structure, the upward bending degree of the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 using the cutting grooves 32 as a fold line can be significantly increased so that even for the drastically uneven floor G (e.g., a staircase), the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100 of the present invention can be correspondingly bent to achieve a good covering effect. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and the cut grooves 32 can also be other shapes of grooves according to different needs, such as vertical linear grooves (as shown in FIG. 7).

[0035] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 6, in a non-interlock assembled flooring system 100a according to another embodiment of the present invention, the surface slat layer 3 further includes a plurality of gap fillers 4 filling in the cut grooves 32, thereby forming an upper surface of the surface slat layer 3 into a seamless surface.

[0036] Specifically, the gap fillers 4 may be gel-type gap fillers formed by combining a powder of the same material as the surface slat layer 3 with a bonding resin, or a gel-type bonding resin, a waterproof resin, an eco-friendly resin, a silicone material, etc. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the gap fillers 4 can be made of various other materials according to different needs. The gap fillers 4 can be applied with a spatula into the cut grooves 32 after the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100a has been laid, and then dried and shaped to form the seamless surface together with the wood floor slats 31. By filling the gap fillers 4, the upper surface of the surface slat layer 3 no longer has gaps (the cut grooves 32) and is smoother and more leak-proof. Therefore, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100a is suitable for application in places with higher requirements for smoothness and waterproofing.

[0037] Preferably, as shown in FIG. 6, in the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100a according to another embodiment of the present invention, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100a further comprises a transparent coating layer 5 formed on the upper surfaces of the wood floor slats 31 in a manner that the continuous wood-grain surface 33 is visible through the transparent coating layer 5. The transparent coating layer 5, for example a transparent protective varnish for wood flooring, can protect the wood floor slats 31 without obscuring the continuous wood-grain surface 33 of the surface slat layer 3, and keep the continuous wood-grain surface 33 smooth.

[0038] With the above structure, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100, 100a and 100b of the present invention is a single-piece flooring, which can be installed without gluing or nailing the wood planks to the floor one by one or connecting the floor tiles to each other one by one, and can be installed simply by directly laying the whole non-interlock assembled flooring system at one time. Furthermore, the wood floor slats of the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100, 100a and 100b of the present invention are cut from a single wood panel to collectively form an upper surface with a continuous wood-grain surface 33, thus saving installation time by eliminating the need to think about the matching of the wood-grain between the adjacent wood planks or floor tiles as is required by a prior art. The non-interlock assembled flooring system 100, 100a and 100b of the present invention not only has merit of requiring significantly less time and labor for installation compared to conventional and interlock assembled floorings, but also the present invention can be laid on the floor G in a bending manner to match the unevenness of the floor, which eliminates the problem that wood planks are difficult to align flatly or that floor tiles fail to connect due to the unevenness of the floor. Additionally, the non-interlock assembled flooring system 100, 100a and 100b of the present invention can be bent using the cut grooves 32 as fold lines, making it easy to store and transport even though it is a large single-piece flooring.

[0039] The above description should be considered as only the discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, a person having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications without deviating from the present invention. Those modifications still fall within the scope of the present invention.