Laminated indoor flooring board and method of making same

Abstract

A laminated board for indoor use has a substrate formed of a mixture of sawdust and plastic particles joined together by a binder, with a thin strip of natural hardwood secured to one surface of the substrate by an adhesive. A groove is formed along one side of the substrate and a complementary tongue along an opposite side to provide a tongue and groove joint when joining adjacent board in an indoor flooring assembly. The substrate is extruded from a mixture of the sawdust and plastic particles and then cut to size.

1 . A laminated indoor flooring board comprising: 
 an elongated generally rectangular substrate having top and bottom surfaces and a pair of side surfaces, said substrate being formed of a mixture of sawdust, plastic particles, and a binder; and    a laminate bonded to the top surface of said substrate, said laminate being an elongated sheet of natural hardwood.    
     
     
         2 . The board defined in  claim 1  in which a longitudinally extending groove is formed in one side of the substrate and a complementary shaped longitudinally extending tongue is formed in the other side of said substrate.  
     
     
         3 . The board defined in  claim 2  in which the sidewall groove has an inwardly extending truncated configuration and the tongue has a complementary shaped outwardly extending truncated configuration.  
     
     
         4 . The board defined in  claim 1  in which the substrate has a thickness between ½-2 inches and 6 times greater than the thickness of the laminate.  
     
     
         5 . The board defined in  claim 4  in which the substrate has a thickness generally 6 times greater than the thickness of the laminate.  
     
     
         6 . The board defined in  claim 1  in which the plastic particles in the substrate include high density polyethylene and/or polyurethane.  
     
     
         7 . The board defined in  claim 1  in which an adhesive bonds the laminate to the substrate.  
     
     
         8 . The board defined in  claim 6  in which the adhesive is selected from the group consisting of a hot melt adhesive, acrylic adhesive, rubber cement, contact adhesive, epoxy, and hot liquid plastic.  
     
     
         9 . The board defined in  claim 1  in which the laminate is natural wood.  
     
     
         10 . An indoor floor comprising a plurality of elongated rectangular laminated boards placed in an abutting side-to-side relationship, each of said boards having a substrate with top and bottom surfaces and a pair of opposed side surfaces, with one of said sides being formed with a groove and the other side being formed with a tongue received in the groove of an adjacent board to join said adjacent boards, said substrate being formed of plastic particles, sawdust, and a binder; and a laminate thinner than the substrate bonded to the top surface of each of the substrates, said laminate being formed of a natural hardwood.  
     
     
         11 . The floor as defined in  claim 10  in which a sub-flooring sheeting is supported on and extends across a plurality of spaced floor joists; and in which a plurality of the laminated boards are secured to said sub-flooring.  
     
     
         12 . The floor as defined in  claim 10  in which the plastic particles in the substrate include high density polyethylene and/or polyurethane.  
     
     
         13 . The floor as defined in  claim 10  in which the adhesive is selected from the group consisting of a hot melt adhesive, acrylic adhesive, rubber cement, contact adhesive, epoxy, and hot liquid plastic.  
     
     
         14 . The floor as defined in  claim 10  in which the laminate is natural wood.  
     
     
         15 . A method of forming a laminated indoor floor board comprising the steps of: 
 forming a mixture of sawdust and plastic particles;    extruding an elongated substrate of said sawdust and plastic particle mixture, said substrate having top and bottom surfaces and a pair of spaced sidewalls;    forming a strip of natural hardwood; and    bonding said hardwood strip to the top surface of the substrate.    
     
     
         16 . The method defined in  claim 15  including the step of forming a groove along one side of the substrate and a complementary shaped tongue along the other side of the substrate during the extruding step.  
     
     
         17 . The method defined in  claim 15  including the step of applying an adhesive between the substrate and hardwood strip to bond said strip to the substrate.  
     
     
         18 . The method defined in  claim 17  including the step of selecting the adhesive from the group consisting of a hot melt adhesive, an acrylic adhesive, a rubber cement, a contact adhesive, an epoxy, and a hot liquid plastic.  
     
     
         19 . The method defined in  claim 15  including the step of selecting the hardwood strip from the group consisting of maple, oak, hickory, poplar, and cherry.  
     
     
         20 . The method defined in  claim 15  including the step of forming the substrate between ⅛-2 inches and 2-20 times thicker than the laminate.