US20050284067A1

US20050284067A1 - Combination structure of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solid wood flooring

Info

Publication number: US20050284067A1
Application number: US10/865,805
Authority: US
Inventors: Tzu-Chiang Mei
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-06-14
Filing date: 2004-06-14
Publication date: 2005-12-29

Abstract

A combination structure of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solid wood flooring each unit of which having a plastic base and a solid wood panel. The plastic base is constructed as an elongated body and made of plastics by an injection molding procedure. The plastic base includes a smooth surface and a hollow bottom side with a plurality of supporting feet for providing a sufficient supporting force to the solid wood panel. Two adjacent sides of the plastic base are respectively fitted with a female portion having a U-shaped cross section while the other adjacent sides thereof are respectively provided with a male portion downwardly extended therefrom and tightly fittable into the female portion. The solid wood panel is adapted to the dimensions of the smooth surface of the plastic base and glued thereover.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved structure of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solid wood flooring, and more particularly, to a combination structure of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solid wood flooring each unit of which includes a solid wood panel and a plastic base so as to have the advantage of quality of the actual solid wood and the advantages of moisture-resistance and anti-deformation and rapid assembly of plastics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid wood flooring provides a durable surface that is widely received by house owners for its natural warmth, beauty and protection of children against injuries in falling over to the ground. As shown in FIG. 1, solid wood flooring is, however, made up of separate wood panels laid side-by-side. Therefore, the gap left between each wood panel is of utmost importance and must rely on the craft and skill of the floor panel layer. If the panels are not laid properly, expansion and contraction will cause the panels to deform after a while, and the entire flooring must be changed. Because of this, labor costs are often much higher than the cost of the wood material, resulting in higher overall construction costs and additional financial burden to the user. Furthermore, floor panel layers are often hard to hire if the construction project is small or for only partial interior decoration.
The solid wood flooring, as shown in FIG. 1, is made of a piece of solid wood and has a thickness of about 10 mm, thereby resulting in a huge consumption of wood. Since the wood resources become fewer, the cost of wood remains always high. In addition, the grain of solid wood is in lateral direction, marked by “X” in FIG. 1 so that the solid wood expands or contracts in the lateral direction as well. In laying the solid wood panels, wooden bars have to be placed on the ground first to protect the solid wood against moisture from the bottom. However, the main source of moisture comes from the top surface. In cleaning the floor, for example, the cleaning water will seep into the gap between two adjacent wood panels. Besides, the solid wood will be deformed due to the higher water content in the solid wood when the indoor humidity is high. Since the whole piece of the solid wood has the same thickness (t), the deformation in this case is inevitable.
Another type of conventional flooring, as shown in FIG. 2, has over 70% of market share. This flooring includes an upper layer of solid wood 10 with a thickness of 1˜3 mm and a lower layer 11 consisting of sheets of wood 110 glued over each other. In this way, the dimensions of the solid wood 10 is reduced to one fifth through one third in comparison with the prior art according to FIG. 1, thereby reducing the solid wood consumption and its cost. Moreover, sheet of wood 110 with inferior quality is much cheaper than the solid wood. Meanwhile, the sheets of wood are glued or cemented together with the grains of adjacent layers arranged at right angles or at a wide angle, thereby protecting the lower layer 11 against lateral expansion. Accordingly, the expansion rate of the solid wood 10 can be relatively reduced.
However, both of the above-mentioned conventional floorings have following common disadvantages:
1. In order to protect the combination type flooring against moisture or unevenness, both of the above-mentioned prior arts have to employ wooden bars to lift the flooring and to even out differences in height, thereby increasing the construction cost and duration. Besides, the wooden bars must have a thickness of over 40 mm to reach the expected effect. This will result in a spatial restriction.
2. The aforementioned flooring includes a female portion 12 at one side and a male portion 13 at the opposing side. The male portion 13 is fitted into the female portion 12 in the lateral direction. After their assembly, they have to be nailed by the professional solid wood layers. It is difficult for the DIY'er to master this nailing technique.
3. If the attachment gap (S) left between solid wood panels are improperly handled, the gap will expand or contract under external influence, thereby causing unevenness or instability. This is the main reason why great noise is made when people tread on the solid wood floor.
4. Both of the aforementioned floorings are nailed or glued on the ground. When the flooring are locally damaged, the repair thereof will bring damage to the ground material, as of marble or tiles.
In light of these problems, I, the inventor, have completed this invention after constant study and modifications to the commonly used DIY solid wood flooring.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the invention to provide an improved structure of a DIY solid wood flooring that has the same appearance as the actual solid wood flooring without diminishing the wooden quality. Meanwhile, the price of the invention is only half or one third of the actual solid wood flooring, thereby reducing the construction cost and the solid wood consumption.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved structure of a DIY solid wood flooring each unit of which includes a plastic base and a solid wood panel. Two adjacent sides of the plastic base are respectively fitted with a female portion having a U-shaped cross section while the other adjacent sides thereof are respectively provided with a male portion downwardly extended therefrom and tightly fittable into the female portion. Accordingly, both of which can be firmly secured without nailing, thereby facilitating the DIY assembly.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved structure of a DIY solid wood flooring in which the solid wood panel is glued to the surface of the plastic base. Meanwhile, the plastic base includes a hollow bottom side with a plurality of supporting feet for providing a sufficient supporting force to the plastic base. This arrangement creates point contact for adapting to the unevenness of the ground to prevent them from making noise. Moreover, the plastic base is water-repellent so that it's not necessary to install any bars for moisture-proof purposes. This allows the reduction of construction cost as well. In addition, the solid wood panel glued on the surface of the plastic base has a thickness reduced to 2˜3 mm so that the expansion stress in the lateral direction can be absorbed by the glued joint of the plastic base. Thus, problems with deformation and expansion of the flooring can be eliminated.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an improved structure of a DIY solid wood flooring in which the bottom side of the plastic base includes a plurality of laterally extending grooves for receiving and handing cable so as to have an aesthetically pleasing contour for the whole flooring.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an improved structure of a DIY solid wood flooring that is secured to the ground without nails or glued joint. When locally damaged, the flooring can be easily replaced without destroying the original material of the ground.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accomplishment of this and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following descriptions and its accompanying drawings of which:
FIG. 1 is a cutaway view of a conventional solid wood flooring;
FIG. 2 is a cutaway view of another conventional solid wood flooring;
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the invention;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the invention after assembly;
FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a top view of the invention; and
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

First of all, referring to FIGS. 3 through 5, the invention includes a plastic base 20 and a solid wood panel 30.
The plastic base 20 is constructed as an elongated body and made of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) by an injection molding process. The plastic base 20 has a smooth surface 21. Two adjacent sides of the plastic base 20 are respectively provided with a female portion 22 having a U-shaped cross section while the other adjacent sides thereof are respectively provided with a male portion 23 downwardly extended therefrom and tightly fitted into the female portion 22. As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom side of the plastic base 20 is hollow and includes a plurality of supporting feet 24. Moreover, the bottom side thereof includes a plurality of laterally extending grooves 25 for receiving cable.
The solid wood panel 30 has a thickness of over 1.5 mm and is glued over the smooth surface 21 of the plastic base 20 so as to form a combination type solid wood flooring 31 (see FIG. 4).
Since the left and the front side of each unit of the solid wood flooring 31, as shown in FIG. 6, are provided with a female portion 22 while the right and the rear side thereof with a male portion 23, the solid wood floorings 31 can be assembled in such a way that, as shown in FIG. 7, the male portion 23 is tightly fitted into the female portion 22. Moreover, the female portion 22 and the male portion 23 are integrally formed with the plastic base 20 in a body and the plastic material features its flexibility. Accordingly, this ensures a tight engagement of the male portion 23 with the female portion. No nails are necessary more for strengthening the force of attachment. In addition, the male portion 23 has an opening directed upwardly while the female portion 22 is extended downwardly. So, it's much easy for the users to understand the assembly way and to complete the assembly without any tools.
Referring to FIG. 6 again, the smooth surface 21 of the solid wood flooring 31 of the invention includes the grooves 25. This ensures an easy cabling 40 of electric system, telecommunication system and cable television network.
Besides, the plastic base 20 of the invention, as shown in FIG. 7, includes a plurality of supporting feet 24 to contact with ground unlike the prior art in which the whole bottom side is in contact with the ground. This can protect the solid wood flooring 31 from making noise when people walk on the solid wood flooring 31 by adjusting the supporting feet 24 to the ground.
Again, referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the male portions 23 at the left and the front side of one solid wood flooring 31 are downwardly fitted into the female portion 22 at the right and the read side of another solid wood floorings 31. This ensures a two-side-assembly with only one action. Meanwhile, the conjunction sides of the solid wood floorings 31 are flexible plastics rather than the wooden material. This can further prevent them from making noise. After laying the solid wood flooring 31, only the solid wood panel 30 is exposed without seeing the plastic base 20. Therefore, the effect of the invention is completely identical with the actual solid wood flooring but without the disadvantages thereof. Furthermore, the thickness of the solid wood panel 30 amounts to 2-4 mm and is reducible to one fifth to one third in comparison to the conventional solid wood flooring. Therefore, the price of the solid wood flooring 31 can be considerably lowered and the consumption of wood can also be decreased for protection of our natural resources against unnecessary waste. In addition, the plastic base 20 can be recycled for further use.
The invention is not only suitable for DIY, but also easy for laying the solid wood flooring 31 to a small room. When the solid wood flooring 31 is locally damaged, it can be locally repaired unlike the conventional one in which a whole piece must be replaced. Thus, the invention is more economical and practical than the prior art.
Many changes and modifications in the above-described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A combination structure of a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solid wood flooring, each unit of the solid wood flooring comprising:

a) a plastic base constructed as an elongated body and made of plastics by an injection molding process, the plastic base having a smooth surface and a hollow bottom side with a plurality of supporting feet for providing a sufficient supporting force, two adjacent sides of the plastic base being respectively fitted with a female portion having a U-shaped cross section while the other adjacent sides thereof are respectively provided with a male portion downwardly extended therefrom and tightly fitted into the female portion;

b) a solid wood panel adapted to the dimensions of the smooth surface of the plastic base and glued thereover.

2. The combination structure of a DIY solid wood flooring as recited in claim 1 wherein the bottom side of the plastic base includes a plurality of laterally extending grooves for receiving cable.

3. The combination structure of a DIY solid wood flooring as recited in claim 1 wherein the female portion is formed at the left under the front side of the plastic base while the male portion is formed at the right and the rear side thereof.