State of the Art Currently available ready-made interior finishing elements like finishing battens, e. g. edge, skirting or wall strips, and finishing panels, e. g. wall or ceiling panels, are mainly meant for use as sold, i. e. with the same surface finishing (colour and/or pattern) as delivered. Using such standard products for finishing interior spaces, the users have a limited choice of colour and pattern options to choose from. As the exterior surface of such interior finishing elements is mainly made for easy maintenance, i. e. repelling dirt and water and washable or easily cleaned, it is problematic to paint such surfaces later in the desired colour or colour pattern, which would also have sufficient resistance to wear and would sustain mechanical damage, i. e. having sufficient mechanical strength, and such painting is not possible without special preparation. Also, the preparation of such interior finishing elements for painting is not always possible, as the uniform quality of its surface, necessary for achieving a good result, cannot be maintained in the necessary mechanical or chemical treatment of the rather thin coat or veneer that is usually forming the outer layer of the surface material. Also, from the environmental viewpoint, such action is a waste of materials and energy.

A wall and ceiling panels covered with non-woven material are known from the patent US 5,178, 939. This solution comprises a non-woven material containing fibers with different melting temperatures. In order to fix them onto the panel, the non-woven material is heated in a such extent that the fibre component with lower melting temperature melts and attaches the non-woven material onto the panel. The result will be a panel covered with non-woven, i. e. with a carpet-like non-woven material having an outer surface resistant to mechanical wear, but which is not meant for repainting later.

From the patent applicationDE-Al-19708868 is known an exterior finishing element, covered with non-woven material attached to a panel and extending over the panel edges in order to cover the joint between two adjacent panels. The part extending over the edge is glued on the edge area of the adjacent panel. After this, the whole surface covered with such panels will be plastered.

Aim of the Invention The aim of this invention is to provide an interior finishing element, i. e. a finishing batten, like an edge strip, wall strip, cornice strip or skirting strip, or a finishing panel, which can be easily (re-) painted as the user wishes, using common techniques and paints, while the end user does not have to prepare the surface specially for that.

Detailed description The purpose of the invention is achieved in a way that, irrespective of the base material of the finishing element, the outer surface of the interior finishing element is covered with non- woven material; if necessary, the surface of such material is treated during manufacturing, so that the result would be an end product, i. e. an interior finishing element like a finishing batten or a finishing panel, which can be repainted at once with the paint of the desired colour (i. e. finishing paint) without special preparation of its outer surface. Non-woven material has been used due to the fact that, generally, it is less stretchable and less shrinking as compared to paper-based materials, for instance. In the context of this invention, the term'non-woven material'means mainly non-woven materials (i. e. non-woven fabric) made of natural and/or synthetic fibers for their most part. In the context of this invention, the term'outer surface' means the visible surface or surfaces of the installed finishing element, i. e. also the edges of the finishing element are covered with surface material, if necessary. Preferably, non-stretching and/or non-shrinking non-woven materials, for example non-woven materials containing glass fibre, textile fibre, or non-woven materials adhered to walls and used as wall covering material, are used for surface materials. An example of non-woven materials used as surface coating could be the impregnated non-woven materials Varitess 289, 150 and Varitess (D 265,065 by the German company FiberMark Lahnstein that are used for wall covering and are

painted after they have been fixed on the wall.

The non-woven material has been fixed to the outer surface of the interior finishing element during manufacturing, in order to maintain even outer surface over its whole surface, for example by gluing, using the techniques known already earlier from the technical art. If, for example, the surface at the side of the base material of the finishing element is covered with a layer of thermoplastic material, non-woven fabric can be fixed to the base material of the finishing element, by melting a layer of thermoplastic material. Depending on the qualities of the non-woven material used as surface coating, the surface ofthe adhered non-woven material can be treated in order to ensure repaintability without special preparation and good adhesion during the later use of the manufactured product. This lies in the fact that a suitable base coat, i. e. prime paint or prime varnish is applied on the outer layer of the non-woven material used as surface coating, or the outer layer is covered with a thin layer of polyvinylchloride (PVC).

Also, the surface coating can be textured by pressing or rolled before it is fixed to the finishing element.

A finishing element with an exterior surface covered in such a way enables to obtain an even surface, repaintable as the user wishes, without the need for a special preparation for that, and independent of the material used as base material of the finishing element. In other words, in case of this invention, it is not important what base material has been used as the finishing element, whether the base material of the finishing element is gypsum board, chipboard, metal plate, plastic foam board etc. , but the fact that for obtaining the desired colour the finishing element has been covered with surface coating during manufacturing, which enables its immediate repainting by the user, with paint of any colour and without prior preparation of the surface, i. e. without priming, puttying, sanding etc.

The idea of this invention is not limited only to the abovementioned examples in the description of the invention, but the details of the invention can vary within the limits of the claims.