A method for the manufacture of mats of inorganic fibres, which on one of two surfaces have at least one printed coating comprising the steps: (i) manufacture or supply of a mat of inorganic fibres, which is strengthened with a chemical binder, or by means of a hydrodynamic method, (ii) coating of one side of the mat by means of the application of an aqueous solid dispersion on one of the two sides of the mat, (iii) drying of the coated mat obtained in accordance with step (ii), (iv) printing of the coated mat obtained in accordance with step (iii) by means of direct printing methods on the surface of the coating, (v) optional application of a protective layer onto the printed surface, (vi) application of a binder, and removal of excess binder as necessary, (vii) at least partial drying and at least partial crosslinking of the mat to which binder has been applied, (viii) rolling up of the obtained material web, or cutting to size as sheets, characterised in that, (a) the mat manufactured in step (iii) has a permeability to air (in accordance with Gurley) in the range from 50 to 150 s/300 ml, and smoothness values (in accordance with Bekk) between 100 and 500 s, and preferably between 150 and 400 s, (b) the aqueous dispersion applied in step (ii) comprises particles, said particles consist of particles with a grain size in the range from 0.1 μm to 5 μm, and preferably in the range from 0.5 μm to 2 μm, (c) the aqueous dispersion applied in step (ii) is applied by means of an application process not requiring the application of force, said process being transfer coating method or slot bead method, the coating is selected such that it does not penetrate and fill the mat completely, resulting in a low mass per unit surface area of the coating and having a permeability to air in accordance with Gurley in the range from 50 to 150 s/300 ml, (d) the coating applied in step (iii) after drying corresponds to a mass per unit surface area of between 50 and 200 g/m 2, and preferably between 80 and 150 g/m 2, (e) the printing executed in step (iv) takes place directly onto the surface coating obtained in accordance with step (iii), said direct printing means that the surfaces no longer need to be smoothed using abrasive methods and there are no longer any unevennesses present that must be removed by the application of appropriate fillers, (f) the binder in step (vi) is a binder system capable of B-stage curing, and the binder system capable of B-stage curing is transferred in step (vii) into a B-stage state, (g) the application of the B-stage capable binder system in step (vi) takes place on the non-coated side of the mat, or by impregnation of the mat, and (h) the quantity of the B-stage capable binder system applied in step (vi) is between 40 and 80 % by mass, and preferably between 50 and 70 % by mass, wherein these numbers relate to the total mass of the mat after it has been fully dried. (i) manufacture or supply of a mat of inorganic fibres, which is strengthened with a chemical binder, or by means of a hydrodynamic method, (ii) coating of one side of the mat by means of the application of an aqueous solid dispersion on one of the two sides of the mat, (iii) drying of the coated mat obtained in accordance with step (ii), (iv) printing of the coated mat obtained in accordance with step (iii) by means of direct printing methods on the surface of the coating, (v) optional application of a protective layer onto the printed surface, (vi) application of a binder, and removal of excess binder as necessary, (vii) at least partial drying and at least partial crosslinking of the mat to which binder has been applied, (viii) rolling up of the obtained material web, or cutting to size as sheets, (a) the mat manufactured in step (iii) has a permeability to air (in accordance with Gurley) in the range from 50 to 150 s/300 ml, and smoothness values (in accordance with Bekk) between 100 and 500 s, and preferably between 150 and 400 s, (b) the aqueous dispersion applied in step (ii) comprises particles, said particles consist of particles with a grain size in the range from 0.1 μm to 5 μm, and preferably in the range from 0.5 μm to 2 μm, (c) the aqueous dispersion applied in step (ii) is applied by means of an application process not requiring the application of force, said process being transfer coating method or slot bead method, the coating is selected such that it does not penetrate and fill the mat completely, resulting in a low mass per unit surface area of the coating and having a permeability to air in accordance with Gurley in the range from 50 to 150 s/300 ml, (d) the coating applied in step (iii) after drying corresponds to a mass per unit surface area of between 50 and 200 g/m 2, and preferably between 80 and 150 g/m 2, (e) the printing executed in step (iv) takes place directly onto the surface coating obtained in accordance with step (iii), said direct printing means that the surfaces no longer need to be smoothed using abrasive methods and there are no longer any unevennesses present that must be removed by the application of appropriate fillers, (f) the binder in step (vi) is a binder system capable of B-stage curing, and the binder system capable of B-stage curing is transferred in step (vii) into a B-stage state, (g) the application of the B-stage capable binder system in step (vi) takes place on the non-coated side of the mat, or by impregnation of the mat, and (h) the quantity of the B-stage capable binder system applied in step (vi) is between 40 and 80 % by mass, and preferably between 50 and 70 % by mass, wherein these numbers relate to the total mass of the mat after it has been fully dried.