ARTICLES AND METHODS FOR LAYING CERAMIC TILE FLOOR

• US 20120279655A1
• Filed: 05/08/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nue Tile Patent Co. LLC
• Original Assignee: Joseph D. D'Agostino
• Inventors: D'Agostino, Joseph D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,003,741 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 156/331.7
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 15/20 comprising aluminium or copper B32B15/016 and B32B15/017 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2419/04 Tiles for floors or walls tiles for roofs B32B2419/06
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 3/14 characterised by a face layer formed of separate pieces of material which are juxtaposed side-by-side B32B5/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 7/12 using interposed adhesives or interposed materials with bonding properties
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 9/005 comprising one layer of ceramic material, e.g. porcelain, ceramic tile layered products with at least two ceramic layers composed mainly of ceramic B32B18/00
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 9/041 of metal
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 15/08 only of stone or stone-like material, e.g. ceramics, concrete; of glass or with a top layer of stone or stone-like material, e.g. ceramics, concrete or glass E04F15/02005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E04F 15/16 Flooring, e.g. parquet on flexible web, laid as flexible webs; Webs specially adapted for use as flooring; Parquet on flexible webresiliently-mounted floors, e.g. sprung floors, E04F15/22; linoleum D06N; carpets A47G27/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 156/10 Methods of surface bonding and/or assembly therefor

Abstract

Ceramic floors and methods of making thereof such that the ceramic tiles are quickly and easily removable from the floor substrate and replaceable at a future date.

A ceramic tile floor is laid by releasably adhering a sheet to a floor substrate and bonding at least one ceramic tile to the sheet.

A plurality of pre-fabricated articles each comprising a sheet and one or more ceramic tiles bonded to the sheet are laid onto the floor substrate with sheet edges abutting, and the sheets are releasably adhered to the floor substrate. The tile edges are set inwardly from the sheet edges so that a tile of one article is spaced from a tile of another article when the articles are laid. A non-Portland cement grout, preferably urethane grout, is provided between adjacent tiles.

Claims

1. A method of laying a ceramic tile floor comprising the steps of (a) releasably adhering a sheet to a floor substrate, and (b) bonding at least one ceramic tile to the sheet.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of releasably adhering the sheet comprises applying to the floor substrate adhesive tape comprising the sheet and a releasable adhesive.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of releasably adhering the sheet comprises applying to the floor substrate adhesive aluminum tape comprising the sheet composed of aluminum and a releasable adhesive.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein the sheet has a width which is at least about 22 inches.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of bonding the ceramic tile to the sheet includes applying a latex modified thinset mortar to the sheet and laying the ceramic tile in the thinset mortar.

6. An article for applying to a floor substrate along with others of the article for laying a ceramic tile floor, the article comprising a prefabricated combination of a sheet and at least one ceramic tile bonded to said sheet.

7. An article according to claim 6 wherein the prefabricated combination includes a releasable adhesive applied to said sheet for bonding said sheet to a floor substrate.

8. An article according to claim 6 wherein said sheet is composed of aluminum.

9. An article according to claim 6 further comprising means for laying the articles with said sheets thereof edge-to-edge and with a gap between a tile on one of the article and an adjacent said tile on an adjoining one of the article.

10. An article according to claim 6 further comprising means for preventing grout applied between an edge of said at least one tile of one of the article and an edge of said at least one tile of an other of the article from contacting the floor substrate.

11. An article according to claim 6 comprising at least two of said at least one tile bonded to said sheet, the article further comprising grout between said at least two tiles.

12. An article according to claim 11 wherein said grout is a urethane grout.

13. An article according to claim 6 comprising a latex modified thinset mortar bonding said at least one tile to said sheet.

14. An article according to claim 6 wherein the article is laid with others of the article on a floor substrate with said sheets of adjoining ones of the articles abutting thereby forming a floor, a releasable adhesive bonding said sheets to said floor substrate, and grout between adjacent ones of said tile.

15. An article according to claim 14 wherein said grout is a urethane grout.

16. A method for laying a ceramic tile floor comprising providing a plurality of articles each including a sheet and at least one ceramic tile bonded to the sheet and releasably adhering the sheets of the articles to a floor substrate

17. A method according to claim 16 wherein each of the articles is further provided to include a releasable adhesive on the sheet thereof for effecting the releasably adhering of the sheets to a floor substrate.

18. A method according to claim 16 further comprising laying the articles so that edges of the sheets of adjacent ones of the articles abut.

19. A method according to claim 16 further comprising applying grout between adjacent ones of the tiles including applying the grout between a ceramic tile of one of the articles and a ceramic tile of another of the articles which is adjacent thereto.

20. A method according to claim 19 further comprising selecting the grout to be urethane grout.