Patent ID: 8511040

Claim:
A method for producing a floor panel, with a core of wood material or a wood material/plastic mixture, a top and a bottom, which has on at least two side edges (I, II) lying opposite one another a profile corresponding to one another such that two panels embodied identically can be connected and locked to one another in a horizontal and vertical direction by an essentially vertical joining movement, wherein the locking in the vertical direction can be effected by at least one tongue element formed in one piece from the core on the side edge (II) and moveable in the horizontal direction, which tongue element during the joining movement snaps in behind a locking edge extending essentially in the horizontal direction, in that, by means of tools displaceable transversely to a processing direction, the at least one tongue element is exposed with respect to the core in the direction of the top and in the direction of the side edge (I) lying opposite the top, and thereby remains connected to the core in the direction of its side edge (II) on at least one of its two ends.