Patent Application
20050284072
The present invention relates to floor assemblies, and more particularly, to extrusions, such as plastic extrusions, which are connected to a rigid underlying support, such as a plurality of wood joists, to form a floor assembly.
It is very well known to construct floor assemblies, such as decks for homes and boat docks, using wood planks secured to an underlying support, such as spaced wood joists. There are, however, several disadvantages with using exposed wood planks for these applications. Wood, if left untreated, can quickly rot, thus requiring replacement of some if not all of the wood planks. This occurs especially for wood decks and boat docks that are subject to outdoor weather conditions such as rain, snow and sunlight. In addition, wood planks can shrink, creating unsightly and dangerous gaps in the planking. Finally, wood is becoming more and more expensive.
Pressure treated lumber is widely used to protect the wood from rotting. However, even pressure treated lumber begins to rot over time with exposure to the elements. In addition, it is recommended by most vendors of pressure treated lumber that a protectant be applied to the wood. This protectant usually must be applied annually. This is a major disadvantage of wood decks, due to the expense and time-consuming nature of applying and reapplying this protectant year after year. Failure to be diligent in these applications can lead to early rotting of the exposed wood planks and the major expense and inconvenience of replacing some if not all of the wood planks.
It is known to provide a floor assembly constructed of a number of elongated extrusions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,427 to Andres and U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,479 to Andres, owned by the assignee hereof, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, each describe a floor assembly constructed of a number of elongated extrusions each secured to an elongated snap connector, which in turn is secured to a rigid underlying support such as a plurality of spaced wood joists. While these floor assemblies are effective and well-suited for their intended purposes, improvements and advancements, which would result in even better floor assemblies, are desirable.
The present invention relates to an extrusion for use in a floor assembly such as an outdoor residential deck, boat dock, patio enclosure, dance floor or any other flooring assembly where materials such as wood are currently used. The extrusion includes a load bearing horizontal portion in a first horizontal plane and at least one horizontal support member in a second horizontal plane substantially parallel to the first horizontal plane. The extrusion also includes a first outside surface located adjacent to a first end of the at least one horizontal support member and a second outside surface located adjacent to a second end of the at least one horizontal support member and opposite the first outside surface. A plurality of leg members extend downwardly from the load bearing horizontal portion. In addition, a tongue extends outwardly from the first outside surface and the second outside surface includes a receiving portion that is sized and positioned to receive therein a tongue of a second extrusion forming a part of the floor assembly. The at least one horizontal support surface also includes at least one first aperture that is sized and positioned to receive therethrough at least one fastener for securing the extrusion to a rigid underlying support such as a plurality of wood joists. The at least one first aperture is located between the receiving portion and the first outside surface at a position that is adjacent to the receiving portion. The plurality of leg members may comprise a first outer leg member and a second outer leg member, and the tongue may be connected to the first end of the at least one horizontal support member, with the receiving portion being part of the second outer leg member. The extrusion may also include at least one second aperture provided in the second outer leg member. In one embodiment, the at least one horizontal support member includes a first horizontal support member and a second horizontal support member, with the tongue being connected to the first horizontal support member and the at least one first aperture being provided in the second horizontal support member.
In another embodiment of the extrusion, the at least one horizontal support member includes a first horizontal support member and a second horizontal support member, and the extrusion further includes a first inner leg member connected to the first horizontal support member and a second inner leg member connected to the second horizontal support member. The first and second inner leg members define a channel disposed along a longitudinal axis of the extrusion for receiving a snap connector secured to the rigid underlying support. The first inner leg member and the second inner leg member may also include a retaining tab which cooperates with the snap connector for mechanically securing the extrusion to the snap connector and thus to the rigid underlying support.
In another embodiment of the extrusion, the at least one first aperture may include a plurality of first apertures, and the at least one second aperture may include a plurality of second apertures, wherein each of the first apertures is aligned with a corresponding one of the second apertures such that each first aperture and the corresponding second aperture are adapted to receive therethrough a fastener for securing the extrusion to the rigid underlying support. The apertures may each be an elongated slot, and are preferably sized to allow water and debris to pass therethrough, from the load bearing horizontal portion, when a fastener is inserted therethrough.
The receiving portion of the extrusion may be an overhang portion, wherein the second outer leg member includes a vertical member extending upwardly from the at least one horizontal support member and a horizontal member connected to the vertical member, the vertical member and the horizontal member forming the overhang portion. In addition, the second outer leg member may further include an outwardly and downwardly extending angled member, with the at least one second aperture being provided in the angled member.
The extrusion is preferably made of an extruded plastic material, such as PVC material. The extrusion may also be made of a first extruded material and a second extruded material, wherein the second extruded material forms the outer surface of the extrusion. The first extrusion material may be recycled PVC material and the second extruded material may be virgin PVC material. Furthermore, the load-bearing horizontal portion may include a plurality of depressions on the exposed surface thereof. Also, the extrusion may further include at least one soft layer attached to the bottom surface of the at least one horizontal support member, wherein the load-bearing horizontal portion, the at least one horizontal support member and the plurality of leg members are made of a first material, and the soft material is a material having a durometer that is softer than a durometer of the first material. Such a soft material may be soft PVC.
The present invention also relates to a floor assembly including a plurality of extrusions according to one or more of the embodiments just described, wherein each of the extrusions is secured to a rigid underlying support by at least one fastener inserted through the at least one first aperture of each extrusion and into the rigid underlying support, and wherein each of the receiving portions of each of the extrusions except for a last extrusion forming the floor assembly receives therein the tongue of the extrusion located directly adjacent thereto. In one embodiment, the floor assembly comprises a plurality of snap connectors secured to the rigid underlying support, and each of the extrusions forming the floor assembly is mechanically secured to a corresponding one of the snap connectors. In another embodiment, the floor assembly includes one or more snap connectors secured to the rigid underlying support, and each of one or more of the extrusions is mechanically secured to a corresponding one of the snap connectors. In this embodiment, the one or more snap connectors may include first and second snap connectors secured to the rigid underlying support, and a first one of the extrusions may be mechanically secured to the first snap connector and a second one of the extrusions may be mechanically secured to the second snap connector. In addition, the first one of the extrusions may be a first extrusion forming the floor assembly, such as an extrusion located adjacent to a wall, and the second one of the extrusions may be the last extrusion forming the floor assembly, that is the extrusion located farthest away from the first extrusion. In yet another embodiment, no snap connectors are used at all, and instead each extrusion is secured to the rigid underlying support using fasteners inserted through the apertures of the extrusion.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the following drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts, and in which:
The extrusions shown herein are used to form floor assemblies, such as an outdoor residential deck. It will be appreciated, however, that there are numerous other uses for the extrusions disclosed herein including, but not limited to, boat docks, enclosure patios, dance floors or any flooring assembly where other materials, such as wood, are currently used. Therefore, although the description set forth herein focuses on a residential deck, it will be appreciated that the invention is not so limited and can encompass other flooring assemblies such as those mentioned above as well as more.
Referring to
Horizontal support member 35 includes tongue 55 extending outwardly therefrom at an end of horizontal support member 35 located opposite retaining tab 45. Tongue 55 thus extends outwardly from the first outside surface of extrusion 5. Tongue 55 preferably extends along the longitudinal axis of extrusion 5 along the entire length thereof, although it is possible that it extend along only a part of such length. Outer leg member 20 includes a lower portion 60 that includes outwardly and downwardly extending angled member 65, first vertical member 70, horizontal member 75 and second vertical member 80. As seen in
As shown in
Extrusion 5 preferably consists of a substrate made of an extruded plastic material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Most preferably, extrusion 5 is made of recycled PVC covered by a co-extruded virgin capstock material, such as weatherable, hard, virgin PVC material. It will be appreciated that recycled PVC can, in this most preferred embodiment, be used in the substrate because the substrate has all of its exposed surfaces covered by the virgin capstock material. Thus, the bulk of the extrusion can be made of less expensive, less attractive and readily available recycled PVC. In addition, the virgin capstock material is preferably applied to the substrate so as to provide a crown on the top surface and at the center of extrusion 5. Advantageously, this allows water, such as rain, to run off of extrusion 5.
In order to eliminate annoying squeaking sounds which may be made when load bearing objects, such as persons, move across the floor, a soft, PVC layer or layers may be applied to the bottom surface of each of the horizontal support members 35 and 40. This layer (or layers) has a softer durometer than the PVC used for the remainder of extrusion 5. In this way, the soft layers act as a cushion between the rigid underlying support, such as a wood joist, and the remainder of extrusion 5 so that there is not rigid structure-to-rigid structure contact therebetween. This, in turn, eliminates the annoying squeaking sound common to such floor assemblies.
Referring to
According to a first embodiment of the present invention shown in
Once extrusion 5A, and in particular retaining tabs 45 and 50, are pressed down far enough to clear bottom sections 145 and 150 of flanges 125 and 130, extrusion 5A and snap connector 100 snap into position as shown in
Next, referring to
According to an alternate embodiment of the present invention, snap connectors 100 are only used in connection with certain extrusions 5 used to create the floor assembly. In other words, not every extrusion 5 used to create the floor assembly is secured to a corresponding snap connector 100. In this embodiment, shown in
In yet another embodiment of the present invention shown in
In any of the embodiments described herein, an elongated end cap (not shown) as is known in the art may be provided over the outside surface (including outer leg member 20) of the last extrusion 5 forming the floor assembly (i.e., the extrusion 5 positioned opposite wall 65). Such an end cap covers outer leg member 20, giving the floor assembly a more pleading finished look.
The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not as limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed. Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in the foregoing detailed description, it is to be further understood that the present invention is not to be limited to just the embodiments disclosed, but that they are capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions. For example, an alternate extrusion 5 may be constructed having only a single horizontal support member instead of two horizontal support members such as horizontal support members 35 and 40. In such an extrusion 5, there would be no channel created by inner leg members for receiving a snap connector 100, such as the channel created by inner leg members 25 and 30. Thus, such an extrusion 5 would only be able to be utilized in embodiments, or portions thereof, where a snap connector 100 is not used to secure the extrusion 5 to a rigid underlying support.
