^ DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to flooring and to an edging

< member for use in the flooring .

In various industrial and commercial situations the lower regions of walls are liable to damage , as by being scraped or impacted by trolleys or the like and it would be desirable to provide f loor edging means which provide ef f ective protection in a c onvenient way . Al so , to f acilitate maintenanc e of a high l evel of hygiene in particular rooms , for example , in food processing rooms , it is necessary to provide flooring which can be thoroughly cleaned from time to time , as by water applied by way of high pressure hoses . Various suitable flooring materials are available f or such rooms , but a problem arises at the junctions between the floor and the walls of the room. Any cracks or discontinuities between the floor and wall surfaces could harbour potentially dangerous bacteria , and it is therefore usual to continue the flooring material for a short distance up the wall , so that the flooring comprises a floor surrounded by an integral upstanding rim , f orming a continuous tray-like surface , which can conveniently be flushed with water during a cleaning operation . The floors of such rooms are usually shaped to slope downwardly from the walls towards a central drainage position .

The invention is concerned with the provision of an edging member for use with flooring, or in a flooring system which is readily installed and which ensures that desired performance characteristics can be readily obtained.

_» The invention thus provides a flooring system comprising

^ a layer of impervious material extending over a base floor, and pre-f ormed edging members received in the junctions between the floor and the walls upstanding from it , the edging members providing a surface extending upwardly from

the flooring layer, to form or receive an extension of that layer to an appropriate height on the wall.

The invention also provides a member for use as a floor edging member, the member having rear and undersurfaces or edges engageable respectively with a wall and a floor at the junction between the wall and the floor, and a front surface providing a continuation, preferably a smooth continuation upwardly of a flooring layer provided on the floor and adjoining the member. Such an edging member may be cast or moulded but is conveniently shaped to provide a cavity between it and the wall and floor, which cavity is filled during installation by concrete or other suitable filler material.

The edging members of the invention can be free-standing and may be simply placed on suitable bedding on the base floor, so the room in which the flooring is to be laid requires no special preparation. The edging members are preferably made in straight lengths and also in L-shaped corner pieces. Members with appropriately shaped ends can be provided to accommodate doorways. The members will require to be cut to length and may comprise for example glass-fibre reinforced plastics or cement, resin injected mouldings or concrete polymers or PVC (polyvinyl chloride) extrusion.

The wall of the edging member can be quite thin if appropriately supported and secured. The invention thus also provides a floor edging member in the form of an elongate strip or wall portion for reception in the corner between a floor and a wall and shaped between the longitudinal edges to afford a transition between the floor and the wall, the member including fastener or connector means provided at the lower surface or the surface which is inwards in use, whereby the member may be secured in the desired position. Where connector means are provided at the inner surface, they can be employed to provide good engagement with a filler material

introduced before installation, installation being then by the external means provided or by other techniques.

The member can be of uniform transverse cross-section with the fastener portions extending continuously lengthwise. The member can then be manufactured by extrusion, for example, in polyvinyl chloride material, or by pulltrusion, for example, in glass reinforced plastics material.

Such a floor edging member can be installed as manufactured, but may instead be painted with epoxy or the like prior to installation. The member can be secured to an existing wall and/or floor mechanically by means of fastener elements secured thereto at appropriate positions and arranged to engage, permanently or releasably, with the fastener portions of the member. The volume between the member and the wall and floor is then filled with a suitable settable material.

In an embodiment of the invention, a settable filler material is introduced into the edging member and set prior to installation.

Provision can be made to facilitate sealing between adjacent members and between the members and the floors and/or walls against which they are placed in use, in the form for example of appropriately located edge grooves for receiving a bead of sealing material.

Edging members of the invention can be provided with internal support elements for supporting an internal partitioning wall, for example, an insulation panel, at a level above the base floor, two rows of the members being placed back-to-back to form a plinth to support or receive the partitioning wall between them. Such support can instead be provided by concrete or other solid fill between the members. As the members will normally be of hollow construction, the voids between them, and between them and the wall, are desirably filled by a suitable filler material

which may function also to seal and/or bond the member to the wall and/or an adjacent member. Where the edging member is thin-walled and co-operates with fastener elements, the elements can be such as to extend across the plinth structure from the fastener portions of one member to those of the other. The fastener elements are embedded in the filler material between the edging members which supports the partitioning wall.

According to one embodiment of the invention a floor edging member is provided that gives protection against physical damage to the base of walls such as insulating panels in for example cold storage areas and provides a transition section between a floor and a wall which is hygienic and is easily cleaned.

The invention is further described below, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of a floor edging member in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear view of part of the edging member of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective rear view, on a smaller scale, of the edging member of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional end view of a second floor edging member in accordance with the invention, together with a fastener element therefor, in an intermediate stage of installation;

Figure 5 is a perspective rear view of the edging member of Figure 4 showing two of the fastener elements;

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional end view of two of the edging members of Figures 4 and 5 assembled in use to provide a plinth for supporting an insulating panel or other intermediate wall;

Figure 7 is a view similar to that of Figure 6 but

showing a different means for assembling together third edging members in accordance with the invention;

Figure 8 is a perspective end view of a fourth edging member in accordance with the invention;

Figure 9 illustrates installation of the fourth edging member;

Figure 10 illustrates the fourth edging member positioned for setting of a settable filler material received within it;

Figure 11 illustrates installation of the fourth edging member after setting of the filler material; and

Figure 12 is a cross-sectional end view of a fifth edging member in accordance with the invention, positioned for setting of a settable filler material received within it.

The floor edging member 1 of Figures 1, 2 & 3 has a foot portion 2 having a flat undersurface by which the member rests on a floor in use, at a junction formed between the floor and a wall. A main wall portion 4 extends upwardly from the first portion with a slight inclination rearwardly, towards the wall (to the left as shown in Figure 1). An upper wall portion 5 inclines rearwardly more sharply than the main wall portion. The upper wall and foot portions have rear wall engagement surfaces in a plane at right angles to the foot portion undersurface. The foot and main wall portions 2 & 4 merge together at the front of the member (right-hand side in Figure 1) over an arcuate surface portion 6.

The wall thickness above the foot portion 2 is substantially uniform, but a shelf or ridge 7 extends rearwardly just below the upper wall portion to a rear surface lying in the plane of the rear surfaces of the upper wall and foot portions.

As best appears from Figures 2 and 3, the shelf 7 is provided with vertical slots 9 in its upper and rear

surfaces, three of the slots being spaced along the length of the member, say, one metre in length. At the lateral ends of the member, end walls 10 extend back from the foot and wall to the plane containing the rear faces of the foot portion, the upper wall portion and the shelf. A square cross-section groove 11 is formed at the upper rear corner of the upper wall portion 5 and a similarly shaped groove 12 is provided at each end of the member along the front corner formed between the foot and wall portions 2, 4 and 5, and the end wall 10.

In a first mode of use, the illustrated edging member 1 is incorporated in flooring for a room, such as a food processing room, having a base floor, normally with a central drainage outlet, and walls upstanding from the base floor. The member 1 is placed on suitable bedding at the junction between the base floor and the wall, with further members aligned in end-to-end relationship with it along the entire junction. At each corner of the room, a modified form of edging member is provided. The modified member is L-shaped in plan but in other respects resembles the illustrated member 1. To complete the rows of the edging members 1 between the L-shaped corner members, one of the members may need to be cut transversely to an appropriate length, and the material of which the member is made permits a clean cut to facilitate obtaining a close fit with the adjoining member.

To assist in relative location of the members 1, the end walls 10 can be provided, as shown in Figure 3, with one or more projecting pins 15, for reception within correspondingly positioned holes or recesses in the other end wall of an adjacent member 1. Alternatively, the ends of each member can be shaped so that each interfits with the other end of an adjacent member.

To ensure the continuous outer surface between adjacent members 1, a suitable sealing compound can be introduced into

the adjacent grooves 12, or a layer of such material may be received between the two end walls 10, to enter into the grooves. A similar seal is made between each member 1 and the wall it engages by means of a sealing compound received in the groove 11.

With the edging members 1 and the L-shaped edging members in place around the floor of the room, a flooring layers, for example of epoxy resin, is laid on the base floor within the area between the edging members, right up to the foot portions 2, as by hand trowling. The thickness of the layer corresponds at least approximately to the thickness of the foot portion 2 at its outer edge, remote from the wall. Where it is desired to ensure continuity between this flooring layer and the edging members, the flooring material can be continued up the edging member, for example, by way of the application of layer of epoxy paint.

The floor having hardened, flooring is obtained which has a continuous impervious surface extending over the area of the base floor and smoothly upwardly over the outer surface of the edging members, to form the desired tray-like flooring surface.

The panel mount edging member may also be installed on top of existing floors to provide a crash barrier and a hygienic junction between the floor and the wall. The floor finish does not need to be brought up to the edges. The edge of the panel mount can be finished flush with an existing floor covering by means of a small fillet.

In this first mode of use of the member 1, the shelf 7 plays no part and could be omitted. However, it is often desired to partition a room, for example a cold storage room, into smaller rooms or compartments each having flooring of the kind with which the invention is concerned. The edging member 1 as illustrated, in co-operation with the L-shaped version of the member, can be employed to support and locate

internal partitioning for this purpose.

In this second mode of use, two rows of the edging members 1 are placed back-to-back with a space between them corresponding to the thickness of the partitioning wall. The partitioning wall should not rest directly on the base floor, and is therefore supported by pins 16 received in the slots 9 so as to extend across between the edging members. The pins 16 then provide spaced supports on which can rest a partitioning wall received between the members. The flooring of the compartments on either side of the partitioning wall can then be formed as described above.

In this or in the first-described mode of use of the edging members 1, it may be considered desirable to fill the voids between the edging member and the wall, or between the spaced rows of edging members to eliminate volumes in which bacteria may flourish. Any suitable filler material, for example a foamed plastics material can be employed for this purpose. In the second mode of use, it may be convenient to use a solid fill between the members up to a level appropriate to provide support for the partitioning wall, when the pins 15 can be omitted, or the member formed without the shelf 7.

The second illustrated floor edging member 20 of the invention comprises essentially an elongate sheet member which may be of substantially constant thickness. The member has in use a lower edge or foot portion 21 from which a concave portion 22 extends upwardly and inwardly towards a wall 25 on which the member is mounted, to join with a generally vertical planar portion 26, extending generally parallel to the wall. Towards its upper edge 27, the member 20 has an upper planar portion 29 inclined at about 45° to the portion 26 and to the wall.

On the inner surface of the member 20, there are provided several spaced longitudinally extending connector or

fastener portions 24. The portions 24 are uniform in cross- section, as is the entire member 20, so that it can be produced by extrusion or pulltrusion.

The member 20 is mounted on the wall 25 by locator members 30 provided with fastener elements 31 which extend outwardly towards the member 20 from a mounting member or plate 32 attached to the wall. The fastener portions 24 are conveniently configured as ribs with enlarged free ends shaped to be received within recesses at the free ends of the elements 31 by a snap-fit connection provided by resilience of the materials employed, but other releasable or non- releasable connection means can be employed. As appears from Figure 5, the plates 32 are elongate and several of them are secured upright to the wall, at spaced positions along it, in any convenient manner. The elements 31 extend from the plates 32 at positions and angles, and are of such length, that each can engage with a respective one of the fastener portions 24, so that the edging member is secured in a predetermined relationship to the wall 25.

As shown, the member 20 has ten of the fastener portions 24 spaced along it, and the locator member 30 has four of the fastener portions 31, but the number and positions of the portions and elements can be differently selected according to requirements.

In installation of the edging member 20, a horizontal datum line is first marked on the wall 25, to indicate the position of the tops of the locator members 30 needed to achieve the required position of the member 20. The edging member is set so that its foot portion 21 rests on an existing floor, or as shown is set sufficiently above the floor 35 to match with the thickness of a flooring layer to be subsequently applied.

Next, a sufficient number of the locator members 30 are secured to the wall at appropriate spaced intervals, as by

adhesive and/or by "pop" ri etting or by any other suitable means. The member 20 is cut to appropriate lengths and is mitred or otherwise shaped to form internal and external angles. An end plate shaped to correspond to the cross- section of the volume between the floor edging member and the wall can be provided at any end of the floor edging member which would otherwise be exposed. An appropriate primer and bond or adhesive is applied to the foot portion of each of the lengths of the member 20 and these are installed on the locator members 30, by means of the co-operating fastener portions and elements.

The cavity between the floor edging member and the wall is then filled with suitable filler material, for example epoxy resin, cementitious grout, synthetic anhydride. Alternatively, the volume can be filled by injection of a polyurethane foam or the like. The cavity is filled to the top edge portion 27 of the member 20 and a seal in the form of a fillet at 45° to the horizontal is made between the top edge portion and the wall, using such materials as a polysulphide, epoxy resin, silicon or polyurethane. A floor finishing layer 45 of any suitable kind is then applied but where the member 20 is being installed over an existing, finished floor, a gap between it of 6-8 mm. width can be closed by a fillet similar to the fillet 44.

In Figure 6, two of the edging members 20 are shown in back-to-back relationship to form a plinth for supporting an insulation panel 40 or other partitioning. The edging members here are connected together by tie rods 41, of suitable material, polyvinyl chloride, glass reinforced plastics or stainless steel, which connect at their ends to the fastener portions 24, by way of co-operating fasteners portions at their ends. The tie rod connections are preferably made to fastener portions 24 at the planar portions 26 of the members 20, so that tie rods of only one

length are required. The spacing of the two edging members 20 is such that the panel 40 is received between them at their top edge portions 27 with spacing similar to that provided between the edging member and an existing wall, as shown in Figure 4.

Construction of the plinth is effected at the desired position on an existing floor by preparation of the floor material to provide a good key for a primer and bonder/adhesive 42 for securement of the foot portions 21 of the edging members to the floor. The two edging members 20 are then assembled together by way of the tie rods 41 and are located on the floor. The cavity between the edging members 20 is then filled with a suitable filler material 43, in which the tie rods 41 become embedded. Any suitable high strength low shrink rapidly curing material may be employed as for the cavity of the installation of Figures 4 and 5, to an appropriate level. The insulation panel 40 is then set in place, to rest on the filler material and/or the tie rods, and a fillet 44 is formed along each top edge 27, again as described with reference to Figures 4 and 5. A floor finish 45 is added to provide a floor surface continuous with the foot portion 21 and the exterior surfaces of the edging members.

The third, fourth and fifth edging members (50, 60 & 70) of the invention, shown in Figures 7-12, are modifications of the second edging member 20 and can be produced by the same or similar methods and in the same or similar materials. Parts of these further edging members which correspond to parts of the second edging member 20 are indicated by the same reference numerals.

Referring back to Figure 6, it will be evident that the edging members 20 when assembled together by the tie rods 41, prior to the introduction of the filler material, will not be entirely stable. Figure 7 shows two of the third edging

members 50 connected back-to-back by a rigid truss or tie frame 46 at vertically spaced fastener portions 24 of the portions 26 of each edging member, so that the assembly has lateral stability. The wall portions 29 are connected to the frame 46 to ensure appropriate location of the central and upper parts of the edging members during the introduction of the filler material.

Use of the frame 46 is not confined to the back-to-back assembly of Figures 6 and 7. The frame 46 can also be used between the edging member 50 and an existing wall, in a system similar to that of Figure 4. A locator similar to the locator 30, but with shorter fastener elements 31, is secured to the existing wall. Correct location of the lower portion 22 of the or each edging member 50, whether used in an assembly similar to Figure 4 or in that of Figure 7, is ensured by the configuration of the foot portion 51. This foot portion comprises a downwardly opening channel formed between spaced, generally parallel, inner and outer ridges 52 and 54. Longitudinally extending grooves are formed on the opposed faces of the ridges 52 and 54 and on the outer face of the outer ridge 54, so that the foot portion has a toothed configuration in cross-section.

On installation, the edging members 50, rest on the free edges of the ridges 52 and 54. The channel between the ridges 52 and 54 is filled with an adhesive and/or sealant material 55 which bonds the member to the floor 35 and thus prevents leakage of the filler material 43 outwardly of the edging member. The grooving of the ridges provides a positive key for the material 55 and also for the floor finishing layer 45.

As appears from Figures 8-11, the fourth edging member 60 has an additional wall portion 61 extending, in use, parallel to the floor 35. The under or outer surface of the wall portion 61 has longitudinally extending keying

configurations in the form of ridges 62, of generally T- shaped cross-section, with the cross-bar remote from and parallel to the wall portion. The upper or inner surface of the wall portion 61 has one or more of the fastener portions 24 and this permits rigidity to be provided for the edging member by means of one or more tie rods 64 having their ends connected to fastener portions on the main wall portion and on the additional wall portion respectively.

The edging member 50 can be installed in a back-to-back assembly by the tie rods 41 or the frame 46, or against an existing wall by means of the locator members 30 as shown in Figure 9. The wall portion 61 is secured to the floor by an epoxy or similar bedding mortar 65, into which the ridges 62 engage, and then filled and provided with a fillet seal as described above.

The cross-sectional shape of the member 60 also permits it to be filled with a settable filler material 43 prior to installation. The member can be orientated in the position shown in Figure 10, with its ends closed by suitable end plates, and preferably with one or more of the tie rods 64 in position, to receive the filler material. The fastener portions 24 provide good mechanical connection between the filler material 55 and the edging member. In addition to the fastener portions 24, or instead, as where the tie rods 64 are not to be employed, the edging member can be provided at the its inner surfaces with ridges 66 specially shaped, so as to promote keying engagement with the material 55, for example, similarly to the ridges 62.

Referring now to Figure 12, the fifth edging member 70 of the invention has, in addition to the additional wall portion 61, a further wall portion 71 extending generally at right angles to it, so as to be parallel to the surface of a wall in use. The wall portion 71 is provided with the fastener portions 24 and tie rods 72 or a frame such as the

frame 46 can be employed to connect the wall portion 71 to the opposed wall portion of which the outer side is exposed in use. A gap 74 between the wall portions 61 and 71 allows the member 70 to be prefilled with the filler material 43, the edging member being orientated as shown for this purpose, until the filler material has set.

The prefilled edging members 60 and 70, or any other prefilled embodiment of the invention, can be installed by being bedded into position on the floor 35, with an epoxy or the like grout or seal layer 77 between it and the wall. In some instances the panel mount may be bonded to the wall and not to the floor, for example where an expansion joint exists between the floor and the wall so that the wall needs to move independently of the floor. In this case the panel mount will be stuck to the wall (or insulating panel) and will move with the wall sliding over the top of the floor. Instead of effecting floor location by means of the key ridges 62, pins 65 extending upwardly from the floor into the edging member can be used, as shown in Figure 11.

It will be evident that the features of certain embodiments and installations can be employed in others. For example, the channelled lower edge of the third illustrated edging member could be employed in the other edging members, or the groove 11 of the first edging member could be provided in the second, third, fourth and fifth edging members. The invention can thus be embodied in a variety of ways other than as specifically described and illustrated.