Anchored/resilient hardwood floor system

Abstract

An anchored/resilient floor system includes at least one upper flooring layer supported by parallel rows of attachment members which are supported above a base by a plurality of compressible pads, the attachment members being secured to the base at predetermined positions therealong by a fastener construction which permits downward deflection under loaded conditions but prevents vertical raising of the members beyond their initial static position. The attachment members are anchored in a manner which does not hold the pads in a precompressed state when the floor is unloaded. The fastener construction may include a one, two or three piece construction. The single member fastener construction is particularly suitable for reanchoring or retrofitting an already installed floor at a significantly lower cost than that of installing a new floor, and the one-piece fastener construction also may be adapted for use with a portable floor.

I claim:  
     
       1. A floor system supporting a wear surface above a non-portable base comprising: 
       an elongated attachment member with upper and lower surfaces;  
       at least two compressible pads contacting the lower surface and supporting the attachment member in spaced relation above the base; and  
       a fastener arrangement for anchoring the attachment member to the base in a manner which does not hold the pads in a precompressed state when the floor system is unloaded, said fastener arrangement begin located at spaced positions along the attachment member and enabling said member to be downwardly deflectable but not upwardly raisable beyond a static position, wherein the attachment member has at least one vertically oriented bore extending therethrough from the upper surface to the lower surface, said bore having an enlarged-diameter upper portion and a reduced-diameter lower portion and said fastener arrangement extends through said bore.  
     
     
       2. The floor system of  claim 1  and further comprising: 
       means for reducing frictional engagement between the fastener arrangement and the attachment member, said reducing means located within the reduced diameter lower portion of said bore.  
     
     
       3. The floor system of  claim 2  wherein the reducing means comprises a cylindrical sleeve. 
     
     
       4. The floor system of  claim 1  wherein the pads are secured to the lower surface of the attachment member. 
     
     
       5. The floor system of  claim 1  wherein the pads are spaced horizontally away from said bore. 
     
     
       6. The floor system of  claim 1  wherein the vertical distance between the top of the fastener arrangement and the upper surface is greater than the vertical compressibility of the pad. 
     
     
       7. The floor system of  claim 1  wherein the fastener arrangement further comprises: 
       an anchor pin having a first end with an upper head with a diameter less than said bore upper portion and greater than said bore lower portion, a second end adapted to be extended into the bore and a depth stop located between the first and second ends, the depth stop adapted to limit downward extension of the pin into the bore, the vertical dimension of the pin from the depth stop to the upper head being approximately equal to the combined vertical dimension of the attachment member and the pads when the pads are not in a compressed state.  
     
     
       8. The floor system of  claim 7  wherein the anchor pin has an expansion curve located adjacent the second end. 
     
     
       9. The floor system of  claim 7  wherein the anchor pin includes an externally threaded bottom end which is received within an internally threaded anchor embedded in the base. 
     
     
       10. The floor system of  claim 7  and further comprising: 
       means for reducing frictional engagement between the anchor pin and the attachment member, said reducing means located within the reduced diameter lower portion of said bore.  
     
     
       11. An anchored/resilient floor system supporting an upper flooring layer above a base, comprising: 
       a plurality of attachment members arranged in parallel rows below the upper layer to form a subfloor layer;  
       a plurality of compressible pads located below the attachment members to support the attachment members and the upper flooring layer in spaced relation above the base; and  
       a fastener arrangement for anchoring each of the attachment members to the base in a manner which does not hold the pads in a precompressed state when the floor system is unloaded, said fastener arrangement enabling the members to be downwardly deflectable but not upwardly raisable beyond an initial static position, said fastener arrangement located at spaced positions along the lengths of each of the attachment members, wherein each of the attachment members has at least one bore extending vertically therethrough, each of the bores having an enlarged-diameter upper portion and a reduced-diameter lower portion, and the fastener arrangement extends through the bores.  
     
     
       12. The floor system of  claim 11  and further comprising: 
       means for reducing frictional engagement between the fastener arrangement and the attachment member, said reducing means located within the reduced diameter lower portion of said bore.  
     
     
       13. The floor system of  claim 12  wherein the reducing means comprises a cylindrical sleeve. 
     
     
       14. The floor system of  claim 11  wherein said upper flooring layer comprises a plurality of floorboards having an upper wear surface. 
     
     
       15. The floor system of  claim 14  wherein said upper flooring layer further comprises a layer of panels. 
     
     
       16. The floor system of  claim 15  and further comprising: 
       a plurality of floorboards secured to the panels.  
     
     
       17. The floor system of  claim 11  wherein the attachment members of the subfloor are relatively narrow and spaced from each other in parallel rows. 
     
     
       18. The floor system of  claim 11  wherein the attachment members of the subfloor comprise panels. 
     
     
       19. The floor system of  claim 18  wherein the panels are laid end to end in parallel rows with edges of adjacently situated rows spaced apart a predetermined distance. 
     
     
       20. The floor system of  claim 11  wherein the fastener arrangement further comprises: 
       an anchor pin having a first end with an upper head with a diameter less than said bore upper portion and greater than said bore lower portion, a second end adapted to be driven into the bore and a depth stop located between the first and second ends, the vertical dimension of the pin between the depth stop and the upper head being approximately equal to the combined vertical dimension of the lower portion of the bore of the attachment member and the pads when the pads are not in a compressed state.  
     
     
       21. The floor system of  claim 20  wherein the anchor pin includes an externally threaded bottom end which is received within an internally threaded anchor embedded in the base. 
     
     
       22. The floor system of  claim 20  and further comprising: 
       means for reducing frictional engagement between the anchor pin and the attachment member, said reducing means located within the reduced diameter lower portion of said bore.  
     
     
       23. An anchored/resilient hardwood floor system comprising: 
       a top layer of floorboards;  
       an upper subfloor located below the top layer;  
       a plurality of attachment members arranged in parallel rows to form a lower subfloor located below the upper subfloor;  
       a plurality of compressible pads located below the attachment members and supporting the attachment members, the upper subfloor and the top layer in spaced relation above a base; and  
       means for mechanically fastening the attachment members to the base in a manner which does not hold the pads in a precompressed state when the floor system is unloaded, said anchoring means permitting downward deflection but preventing vertical raising of the floorboards, the upper subfloor and the attachment members beyond an initial static position, the mechanically fastening means located at spaced positions along the lengths of each of the attachment members, wherein each of the attachment members has at least one bore extending vertically therethrough, each of the bores having an enlarged-diameter upper portion and a reduced-diameter lower portion, and the mechanically fastening means extends through the bores.  
     
     
       24. The floor system of  claim 23  wherein the attachment members are narrow and elongated and located in spaced rows and the rows of attachment members are spaced at least about fifteen inches apart. 
     
     
       25. The floor system of  claim 24  wherein the attachment members are at least eight feet long. 
     
     
       26. A floor system comprising: 
       an upper wear layer having top and bottom surfaces;  
       a subfloor located below the wear layer and secured thereto, the subfloor supporting the wear layer above a non-portable base;  
       the subfloor having a plurality of substantially vertical bores formed therethrough, each bore having an upper section and a lower section, the diameter of the upper section being greater than the diameter of the lower section;  
       a plurality of pads, the pads supporting the subfloor and wear layer above the base;  
       a plurality of anchor pins having top and bottom ends, each anchor pin extended through one of the bores and having its respective bottom end secured to the base, the top end being of diameter greater than the bore lower section, the anchor pin further including a depth stop located between the top and bottom ends, the depth stop limiting downward movement of the anchor pin into the base during installation, the vertical dimension between the depth stop and the top end being approximately equal to the combined vertical dimension of the lower section of the bore and the pads when the pads are in an uncompressed state so that the secured anchor pins permit downward deflection of the wear layer and subfloor upon impact from above the prevent vertical raising above a static position. 
       a fastener arrangement for anchoring the subfloor to the base in a manner which does not hold the pads in a precompressed state when the floor system is unloaded, said fastener arrangement being located at spaced positions along the subfloor and enabling the subfloor to be downwardly deflectable but not upwardly raisable beyond a static position, wherein the subfloor has at least one vertical opening extending therethrough from the upper surface to the lower surface, said bore having an upper portion and a lower portion and said fastener arrangement extends through said opening. 
     
     
       27. The floor system of  claim 26  wherein the subfloor further comprises: 
       a single layer of attachment members with the bores formed therethrough.  
     
     
       28. The floor system of  claim 26  wherein the subfloor further comprises: 
       an upper layer secured to  located above a lower layer, the upper portions of the bores defined by the upper layer and the lower portions of the bores defined by the lower layer.  
     
     
       29. The floor system of  claim 28  wherein the upper layer comprises panels and the lower layer comprises spaced rails. 
     
     
       30. The floor system of claim  29   28 wherein the upper portions of the bores are defined by spaces between adjacently located panelsparallel rows of the upper layer. 
     
     
       31. The floor system of claim  30   29 wherein the panels are angled with respect to the rails, adjacently located panels are spaced from each other and not all rails include bore lower portions, thereby allowing reduced area portions of the floor to act in a free floating manner. 
     
     
       32. The floor system of claim  26   41 and further comprising: 
       means for reducing frictional engagement between the anchor pin and the attachment member, said reducing means located within the reduced diameter lower portion of said bore.  
     
     
       33. A method for installing an anchored/resilient floor system to a non-portable base comprising the steps of: 
       forming a bore through an attachment member from a top surface thereof to a bottom surface thereof, the bore having an enlarged-diameter portion adjacent the top surface and a reduced-diameter portion adjacent the bottom surface;  
       securing at least two compressible pads to the bottom surface of the attachment member;  
       laying the attachment member on a base with the pads contacting the base;  
       drilling a hole in the base in alignment with the bore; and  
       extending a fastener downwardly through the bore and driving the fastener into the hole in the base, the fastener including an upper end which cooperates with the bore lower portion to secure the attachment member to the base in a manner which permits downward deflection of the attachment member but prevents vertical raising thereof and whereby said driving step does not vertically compress the pads, thereby to retain optimum compression capability for the pads.  
     
     
       34. The method of  claim 33  wherein the forming step further comprises: 
       aligning and securing two separate pieces to form the attachment member.  
     
     
       35. A method of reanchoring an installed floor system of the type having an upper wear layer secured to a subfloor which is supported above a base by a layer of compressible pads, the method comprising the steps of: 
       removing a plug of the wear layer;  
       forming a bore through the subfloor, the bore having an enlarged diameter upper portion and a reduced diameter lower portion;  
       drilling a hole in the base in alignment with the bore;  
       extending an anchor pin through the plug and the bore and driving the pin into the hole in the base to securely anchor a bottom end of the pin thereto, the anchor pin including a top end with a diameter greater than the bore lower portion but less than the bore upper portion, thereby to hold the subfloor to the base, the anchor pin further including a depth stop located between the top and bottom ends, the depth stop adapted to limit downward movement of the pin into the base to a predetermined vertical position during driving, the vertical dimension between the top end and the depth stop being approximately equal to the combined vertical dimension of the lower portion of the bore and the pads when the pads are in an uncompressed state, thereby to permit downward deflection of the wear layer and the subfloor upon impact to the wear layer but to prevent vertical raising thereof; and  
       replacing the plug back into the wear layer.  
     
     
       36. The method of  claim 35  wherein the bore is formed by drilling. 
     
     
       37. The method of  claim 35  wherein the floor system includes at lest two subfloor layers and the lower portion and the upper portion of the bore are formed in separate layers of the subfloor. 
     
     
       38. A portable floor system covering a rigid non-portable base, comprising: 
       a plurality of portable and connectable floor sections adapted to be connected in a predetermined manner to form a floor overlying the base, each of the connectable sections further including:  
       an upper wear layer;  
       at least one subfloor layer below the upper wear layer;  
       a plurality of compressible pads supporting the subfloor layer and wear layer in spaced relation above the base; and  
       a fastener arrangement for removably securing the section to the base in a manner which allows a downward vertical deflection but no upward vertical raising of the wear layer and subfloor layer.  
     
     
       39. The floor system of  claim 38  wherein the fastener arrangement further comprises: 
       an anchor pin with an upper end engaging the section and a threaded lower end adapted to be received within an internally threaded anchor embedded in the base.  
     
     
       40. The floor system of  claim 26  wherein the opening is a bore which is circular in cross-sectional shape and has an enlarged diameter for the upper portion and a reduced diameter for the lower portion. 
     
     
       41. The floor system of  claim 40  wherein the fastener arrangement further comprises: 
       a plurality of anchor pins having top and bottom ends, each anchor pin extended through one of the bores and having its respective bottom end secured to the base, the top end being of diameter greater than the bore lower section, the anchor pin further including a depth stop located between the top and bottom ends, the depth stop limiting downward movement of the anchor pin into the base during installation, the vertical dimension between the depth stop and the top end being approximately equal to the combined vertical dimension of the lower section of the bore and the pads when the pads are in uncompressed state so that the secured anchor pins permit downward deflection of the wear layer and subfloor upon impact from above but prevent vertical raising above a static position. 
     
     
       42. The floor system of  claim 28  wherein the fastener arrangement further comprises: 
       a clip having spaced upper and lower sections and a midsection therebetween; 
       the upper section engaging a top surface of the lower layer of the subfloor and residing in the upper portion of the opening; 
       the midsection extending vertically through the lower portion of the opening; and 
       the lower section secured to the bore. 
     
     
       43. The method of  claim 34  wherein during said extending there is a solid line or rigid material between the upper end of the fastener and the bore, thereby to permit vertical compression of the pads. 
     
     
       44. The method of  claim 42  wherein the fastener is single pin with a depth stop. 45 . The method of  claim 43  wherein the single pin has a depth stop, and the depth stop, the pin itself and the upper end of the pin define the solid line of rigid material.