Patent ID: 8631624

Claim:
A component of a flooring system comprising a flooring component, an adhesive, a tray substrate comprising a tray substrate surface which is an upward facing horizontal surface having a tray substrate surface perimeter, a tray substrate bottom with a padding attached to the tray substrate bottom, a plurality of tray substrate vertical tray edges which protrude upward and extend along the tray substrate surface perimeter, a plurality of tray substrate edges defining an outside perimeter of the tray substrate, the tray substrate edges having a plurality of upward tabs and a plurality of downward tabs wherein at least two adjacent tray substrate edges of the plurality of tray substrate edges have alternating upward and downward tabs, the plurality of upward tabs each having a protrusion with a flat surface and a valley, the plurality of downward tabs each having a flat surface and a lip, wherein the flooring component is smaller than the tray substrate surface and smaller than a tray surface defined by the tray substrate vertical edges and said flooring component is adhered to the tray substrate surface with the adhesive.