Underlayment Tile and Method of Laying a Modular Surface Covering System

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for laying a modular surface covering system on a surface to the covered and an underlayment element for use in such a method and modular surface covering system. The underlayment element includes a planar base with a raised edge along two interconnected sides of the underlayment element. First coupling elements in the form of recesses are provided along the two sides with the raised edge and second coupling elements in the form of protruding tongues are provided along the other two interconnected sides. The finishing layer elements are clamped between raised edges of coupled underlayment elements. The top surface of a raised edge between finishing layer element provides the grout effect. The underlayment elements enables one to lay a surface covering system with a multitude of pattern, e.g. as grid pattern, brickwork pattern, herringbone pattern, etc.

1 . A parallelogram-shaped underlayment element for a modular surface covering system, the underlayment element comprises:
 an essentially planar base with a support surface at its top side configured to support a parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element, the support surface having a perimeter corresponding to an parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element;   a raised edge along two interconnected sides of the support surface, the raised edge having a width defining a distance between parallelogram-shaped finishing elements when placed next to each other; and,   a coupling structure at a bottom side of the underlayment element for releasably coupling parallelogram-shaped underlayment elements, the coupling structure comprising first coupling elements located along the two interconnected sides with the raised edge and second coupling elements located along the other two interconnected sides of the support surface, first coupling elements are connectable to second coupling elements of an adjacent underlayment element, the first coupling elements being located inside the perimeter defined by the support surface of the planar base, and the second coupling elements being located outside the perimeter defined by the support surface, wherein the first coupling elements are recesses and the second coupling elements are protruding tongues wherein the protruding tongues along a side of the underlayment tile have an outer circumference which corresponds with an inner circumference of the recesses along the opposite side of the underlayment tile, wherein a recess/protruding tongue can be coupled to a protruding tongue/recess of another underlayment element by a movement perpendicular to the planar base,   wherein each side of the underlayment element is composed of a plurality of adjacent uniform edge sections corresponding to the number of recesses or protruding tongues along said side.   
     
     
         2 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the recesses and the protruding tongues on opposite sides are equally spaced along the sides with a distance corresponding to the length of a side divided by the number of tongues/recesses along said side. 
     
     
         3 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein a protruding tongue comprises a first retaining structure and a recess comprises a second retaining structure, the first retaining structure and the second retaining structure are configured engage when a protruding tongue is pushed in a recess. 
     
     
         4 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 3 , wherein the first retaining structure is a ridge or a groove and the second retaining structure has a structure complementary to the first retaining structure. 
     
     
         5 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the second coupling elements have a top surface with a chamfered edge and edges of the bottom surface of the essentially planar base that define the perimeter of the first coupling elements are chamfered. 
     
     
         6 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein a cross section of the top surface of the raised edge of an underlayment element has a concave shape. 
     
     
         7 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the raised edge is wider at the top than at the bottom. 
     
     
         8 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein a side of the raised edge facing away from the support surface leans forward. 
     
     
         9 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the side of ends of the raised edge leans outwards. 
     
     
         10 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the underlayment element is made resilient plastic. 
     
     
         11 . The parallelogram-shaped underlayment element according to  claim 1 , wherein the support surface has a shaped which is one selected from a group comprising: rhomboid, rectangle, rhombus and square. 
     
     
         12 . A method for laying a modular surface covering system on a surface to be covered comprising:
 providing a multitude of parallelogram-shaped finishing layer elements;   providing a multitude of parallelogram-shaped underlayment elements according to  claim 1 ,   placing a first underlayment element on the surface to be covered,   placing a first parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element on the support surface and with two sides against the raised edge of the first underlayment element;   coupling at least one first coupling element of a second underlayment element to corresponding second coupling elements the first underlayment element, causing the first parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element to be clamped between the raised edge of the first underlayment element and the raised edge of the second underlayment element;   placing a second parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element on the support surface and width two sides against the raised edge of the second underlayment element;   coupling at least one first coupling element of a third underlayment element to corresponding second coupling elements the first underlayment element, causing the first parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element to be clamped between the raised edge of the first underlayment element and the raised edge of the third underlayment element; and,   placing a third parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element on the support surface and with two sides against the raised edge of the third underlayment element.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
 coupling at least one first coupling element of a fourth underlayment element to corresponding second coupling elements of the second underlayment element and third underlayment element, causing the second parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element to be clamped between the raised edge of the second underlayment element and the raised edge of the fourth underlayment element and causing the third parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element to be clamped between the raised edge of the third underlayment element and the raised edge of the fourth underlayment element; and,   placing a fourth parallelogram-shaped finishing layer element on the support surface and width two sides against the raised edge of the fourth underlayment element.