Wood board and methods for making and using

Abstract

A sealed wood board apparatus uses wood and mesh and polymer materials, wherein the mesh covers a seam of wood boards and with the polymer adheres the wood board and mesh together to form a reinforced sealed wood board. Additional layers can be added on the sealed wood board with different materials. The improved sealed wood board can have many outdoor and indoor applications including balcony floor, patio floor, indoor floor, outdoor wall, and roof.

Description

Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1WOOD BOARD AND METHODS FOR MAKING AND USINGCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to US Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 833,452, filed on November 25, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure is directed toward a wood board apparatus in general, and more particularly to sealed wood board or floor systems and methods for making and using same. The process and apparatus described herein can be used for fabricating wood board devices to form sealed wood boards or floors for residential or industrial uses or to be used to improve and / or repair existing wood floors.BACKGROUND

[0003] Conventional wood floors are made by directly painting wood floors formed with many smaller wood boards. Although such wood floors have been widely used in homes and industrial settings for a very long time, painted wood floors used outdoors are not very successful, especially for use on balcony floors and patio floors. Specifically, a paint layer cannot control and / or stop cracks or gaps due to shrinkage and rot; consequently, the reliability of conventional painted wood floors is incredibly low. Furthermore, the cracking or gap between two wood boards causes leaking of the painted wood floor and affects many applications. Conventional methods to make painted wood floors cannot solve the wood cracking problem, which results in a short lifetime for the floor and / or excessively costly repairs. The conventional methods and principles of painted wood board are associated with many disadvantages and limitations. Due to weak protection by the paint and difficulty remedying losses once leaking and rotting start causing costly repairs, conventional methods and applications, especially for outdoor applications, remain a long-standing problem in both everyday living and industrial settings.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1SUMMARY[0004| This disclosure describes improved sealed wood board (SWB) apparatus and methods for effectively preventing cracking. Unlike the conventional methods to prevent cracking of painted wood board or floor, the techniques described in the disclosure extend the lifetime of sealed wood board (SWB)s by balancing both physical stress and chemical protection in normal or harsh use conditions. This technology’s improved sealed wood boards or floors eliminate and / or reduce shrinkage stress caused by wet and dry expansion and contraction as well as thermal expansion and contraction and aging shrinkage to sealed wood boards or floors by adhering wood board and mesh or screen material together with polymer, adhesive, coating, or paint. For example, an improved sealed wood board (SWB) is formed by two or more small wood boards. Specifically, following using one or more pieces of mesh to cover the large board, paint is applied on the mesh(es) to adhere the wood boards and mesh(es) together. After curing the paint, an improved sealed wood board (SWB) is formed. As a result of this arrangement, the improved sealed wood board (SWB) is protected by waterproof and / or UV proof paint to prevent getting wet, and wood shrinkage stress around a seam of wood boards is distributed over a large area by the mesh which in turn prevents both shrinkage by aging and damage by edge rotting from occurring. In a broad sense, the sealed wood board or floor can not only be used as balcony floor, patio floor or indoor floor, but can also be used in roofs and exterior walls. The techniques described herein can be used to extend the lifetime of wood floors, especially for outdoor applications. As will be apparent to those of skill in the art, the advantages of simple construction and low cost are welcome in the widest applications of wood house or building and the new technique can extend to many new applications, as discussed herein. The disclosure introduces SWB apparatus, methods, and principles to eliminate or reduce the cracking problem and perishable and short lifespan of conventional wood floors or wood boards. Examples of such devices and applications include fabricating units of SWB to form a large coverage of sealed wood board (SWB) and improving existing painted floors to reliable sealed wood floors used in houses and industries.

[0005] In one innovative aspect, this disclosure describes a protective layer of painted mesh which adheres to a wood board to create a waterproof and / or UV proof board referred to herein as a sealed wood board (SWB) or floor.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1[0006| In some implementations, the SWB can be made into units which can be formed into large SWB which can be assembled, for example, at a job site.

[0007] In some implementations, the SWB apparatus further includes additional layers with same or different materials added on the top of SWB to create different floor surfaces or finishings.[0008[ In another innovative aspect, this disclosure discloses a new board material, which combines the advantages provided by the physical and chemical properties of wood, like solid wood or plywood, mesh made of various materials like fiberglass, synthetic materials or metals and adhesives like paints, polymers, coatings or inorganic materials.

[0009] According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a wood board apparatus comprising: at least one board composed of a wood material; a mesh material having a plurality of openings, said mesh material covering a part of an outer surface of the at least one board such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the outer surface of the at least one board over said covered part while an uncovered part of the at least one board is free of the mesh material; and at least one coating layer comprising a coating material, said coating layer covering an outer surface of the mesh material such that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the mesh material are at least partially filled with the coating material, said coating material adhering the inner surface of the mesh material to the covered part of the surface of the at least one board.

[0010] The at least one board composed of a wood material may be a wood board, a solid wood board, a hardwood board, a softwood board, an engineered wood board, a plywood board, a medium-density fiberboard (MDF), a high-density fiberboard (HDF) particle board, an oriented strand board (OSB), a laminated veneer lumber (LVL), a decorative board, a specialty board, a veneered board, a laminated board, a melamine board, a bamboo board, or a board containing wood or wood fiber.

[0011] The mesh material may be an inorganic mesh, a fiberglass mesh, a synthetic mesh, a nylon mesh, a polyester mesh, a polypropylene mesh, a fiber mesh, a metal mesh, an iron mesh, a steel mesh, a stainless steel mesh or a copper mesh.

[0012] A size of at least one of the plurality of openings of the mesh material may be a range from 0.2 x 0.2 mm to 15 x 15 mm.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1

[0013] A thickness of the mesh material may be between 0.1 mm and 1.5 mm.

[0014] The at least one coating layer is composed of a polymer, an adhesive, a coating or a paint.

[0015] In some embodiments, the mesh material covering some portion such as about two thirds of the surface of the at least one board further comprises an extended mesh portion in one direction or two directions which is sufficient to cover a part, for example, an uncovered part of the first board, for example, about one third of the surface of the first board in this example, of a similarly sized board, to achieve a purpose of connecting boards together and covering seams between boards.

[0016] In some embodiments, the mesh material covers substantially all of the surface of the boards and the inner surface of the mesh material is adhered to substantially all of the surface of the boards or areas to be protected, wherein, as used herein, “substantially” indicates at least 90% including seams between boards.

[0017] In some embodiments, there is a second coating layer that fills substantially all of a respective one opening of the plurality of openings and substantially covers all of the outer surface of the mesh material.

[0018] In some embodiments, there is an outer coating layer covering substantially all of the second coating layer.

[0019] In some embodiments, the at least one coating layer is a water-based smooth acrylic paint or a water-based epoxy paint, the second coating layer is a water-based textured acrylic paint or a water-based epoxy paint and the outer coating layer is a water-based epoxy paint or polyurethane or polyaspartic paint. The coating materials can be changed depending on application.

[0020] In some embodiments, the at least one board comprises at least two boards composed of a wood material, said two boards being fitted together to have a combined outer surface, said combined outer surface being covered by the mesh material and coated with a polymer or a paint to adhere the boards and the mesh together, wherein the first board and the second board may be composed of same or different wood materials.

[0021] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a floor, roof, wall or building panel comprising a wood board apparatus as described above.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1

[0022] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method for manufacturing a wood board apparatus, said method comprising: covering at least one board composed of a wood material with a mesh material having a plurality of openings such that said mesh material covers a portion of an outer surface of the at least one board and such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the outer surface of the at least one board; and applying at least one coating layer comprising a coating material such that the coating layer covers an outer surface of the mesh material so that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the mesh material are at least partially fdled with the coating material, said coating material adhering the inner surface of the mesh material to the surface of the at least one board.

[0023] The mesh material may be attached to the outer surface of the at least one board, for example, by staples or nails. Preferably, at least one free end of the mesh material is stapled to the outer surface of the at least one board.

[0024] In some embodiments, the at least one coating layer is applied to the mesh material and the at least one board by rolling or spraying or brushing or squeezing.

[0025] According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a wood board apparatus panel comprising: at least one board composed of a wood material; a mesh material having a plurality of openings, said mesh material comprising a covering portion that covers a covered portion of an outer surface of the at least one board such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the surface of the at least one board and an extending portion that extends from the covering portion, said extending portion corresponding to a sufficient amount of the mesh material to cover at least a section of an uncovered portion of the outer surface of the at least one board; and at least one coating layer comprising a coating material, said coating layer covering an outer surface of the mesh material such that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the mesh material are at least partially filled with the coating material, said coating material adhering the inner surface of the covering portion of the mesh material to the outer surface of the covered portion of the at least one board.

[0026] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method of preparing a building material comprising: preparing a first wood board apparatus panel and a second wood board apparatus panel, by a method comprising: covering at least one board composed of a wood material with a mesh material comprising a covering portion that covers a covered portion of anAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 outer surface of the at least one board, said at least one board having an uncovered portion such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the surface of the least one board over the covered portion and an extending portion that extends from the covering portion of the mesh material, said extending portion corresponding to a sufficient amount of the mesh material to cover an uncovered portion of an outer surface of a second board; and applying at least one coating layer comprising a coating material, said coating layer covering an outer surface of the mesh material such that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the mesh material are at least partially filled with the coating material, said coating material adhering the mesh material to the outer surface of the uncovered portion of the at least one board of the first wood board apparatus panel; positioning the first wood board apparatus panel and the second wood board apparatus panel such that the extending portion of the mesh material of the first wood board apparatus covers the a portion of the outer surface of the second wood board apparatus panel uncovered by the mesh material of the second wood board apparatus; applying at least one connecting coating layer comprising a connecting coating material, said connecting coating layer covering an outer surface of the extending portion of the mesh material of the first wood board apparatus panel such that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the extending portion of the mesh material of the first wood board apparatus panel are at least partially filled with the coating material, said connecting coating material adhering the extending portion of the mesh material of the first wood board apparatus panel to the outer surface of the portion of the second wood board apparatus, thereby forming a building material.

[0027] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a wood board apparatus, comprising: a first wood board; a second wood board; wherein the first wood board is substantially parallelly placed adjacent to the second wood board with a seam between the first wood board and the second wood board; a mesh, wherein the mesh substantially covers the first wood board and the second wood board and the mesh; a polymer or paint or coating; and wherein the polymer or paint or coating adheres the first wood board and the second wood board and the mesh together to form the wood board.

[0028] The details of one or more implementations of the subject matter of this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS[0029| The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale and are used for illustration purposes only. In fact, the dimension of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

[0030] FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a part of improved sealed wood board 100.

[0031] FIG. 2 is an isometric view of an improved single unit of sealed wood board 200 which can be assembled to a large sealed wood board.

[0032] FIG. 3 is a cross-section view of a part of an improved sealed wood board 300 which is refurbished from a conventionally painted wood board.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The following description provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing distinctive features of the described apparatus or process. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and / or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the new various embodiments and / or configurations discussed.

[0034] Wood is a common building material for residential homes worldwide. The advantages of wood houses include being relatively inexpensive, easy to construct and use for example by cutting by saw or combining by nails, easy to achieve various designs, made from a renewable material and a long history of proven uses. There are several ways to build conventional protected wood floors such as painted wood floors and wood floors covered by ceramic tiles andAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 wood floors covered by foam materials such as polyurethane foam. Typically, the top materials seal seams between wood boards to offer a large waterproof wood board. However, because of a lack of functionality to eliminate or reduce or distribute shrinkage stress and prevent wood board cracking and leaking and wood rotting, none of these conventional floors have a long lifetime;, therefore, wood floors for outdoor use are still not popular. Since the basic requirements for the sealed floors are that they be flat and rigid and comfortable to walk on and highly durable, conventional roof surfaces made with bitumen and flat roof membrane materials such as Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) are not suitable for balcony floors or patio floors because those floors are not comfortable to walk on. Concrete roofs are not suitable to be balcony floors of wood houses because of their weight. Due to the above- mentioned limitations, there is a need for improved sealed wood boards or floors with high durability and long lifetime.

[0035] Conventional balcony floors and patios floors only have a short lifetime because wood boards crack, especially outdoors. For example, painted wood floors often crack at a junction of two boards within a few years because the thin paint layer can’t prevent the cracking. A wood floor that is covered by ceramic tiles will leak after a few years’ use when adhesives applied in between the wood boards and the tiles can’t stop wood shrinkage because the adhesives cannot seal the entire wood surface, thereby causing leaking. Also, there is a significant difference in expansion coefficients between wood and ceramic tiles, especially under outdoor conditions wherein conditions constantly change between wet and dry, and hot and cool. When shrinkage of wood boards occurs, cracks often show up at the junction of tiles or under or between tiles, causing leaking. Furthermore, a wood floor covered by polyurethane foam is rare to see, as the foam cannot be walked on for long without flattening and is also prone to cracking and leaking.

[0036] The above-mentioned conventional approaches did not offer high durability or a long period of use, because none of these methods prevent cracking at the junction of two wood boards. When painted wood boards are used as a floor surface, especially in outdoor conditions, the wood boards undergo wet and dry expansion and contraction as well as hot and cold expansion and contraction virtually constantly, which causes shrinkage and cracking at the sealing areas of the wood boards. The cracks cause leaking. Many attempts in the past to change materials to avoid material shrinkage, such as using plastic boards to replace wood boards, lose the many advantages of using wood. The market urgently needs a good solution for sealed woodAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 boards or floors, but a good solution has not appeared anywhere yet. This disclosure focuses on solving the cracking problem with an improved sealed wood board (SWB) by analyzing the key causes and then solving the leaking problem with a combination of three elements, specifically, wood and mesh and polymer, so that a high durability product can be obtained that maintains the advantages of wood boards or floor.[0037| The following examples or embodiments will be used to show the disclosure process, methods, materials and analysis of problems, advantages and applications.

[0038] FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a part of an improved sealed wood board (SWB) 100 which is formed from two (as an example) or more pieces of wood boards 101 with a seam102 between the two wood boards 101. The wood boards 101 are covered with one or more pieces of mesh 103 with mesh seam(s) 104. The wood board seam(s) 102 and the mesh seam 104 may have substantially vertical arrangements. To form an improved sealed wood board (SWB), a polymer, adhesive, coating, resin, monomer or collectively called paint 105 is applied on mesh103 to adhere wood boards 101 and mesh 103 together. The paint can be applied from, on or to an outer surface of mesh 103 or a surface not in contact with wood board of mesh 103. The paint can be applied once, twice or multiple times for different thickness and finishing, as discussed herein. After curing or drying paint 105, the improved protective layer or painted mesh layer 106 can strongly bond wood board 101 to form improved sealed wood board (SWB). The painted mesh layer 106 may have thickness as the thickness of mesh 103 and can also have greater thickness. Polymers or paints used to form the protective layer or painted mesh layer 106 may be same or different. Since “layer” refers to times painted, there may be no physical phase difference or material difference between layers if the same paint materials are used in each painting. The dried paint layer may be considered as either multiple layers or single layer in the disclosure.[0039| Wood board 101 can be composed of solid wood or plyboard or a synthetic material. Mesh 103 can be made of inorganic materials such as fiberglass, synthetic materials such as polyester or metals such as stainless steel or iron or copper which have strong toughness and / or high UV stability. Polymer, adhesive, coating or paint 105 can be applied onto or in meshes by foam roller or microfiber roller or brush or putty knife or rubber squeegee or notched squeegee or sprayer which may be chosen by desired thickness of paint, as discussed herein. Polymer,Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 adhesive, coating or paint 105 may be transparent, colored, smooth or textured. Painting can be applied once or twice or multiple times. SWB is protected with painted mesh layer 106 which can reduce damage from water, UV and heat. Due to the wood boards 101 having been tightly connected together without direct exposure to water and / or UV, uneven deformation and edge rot are limited. If wood shrinkage occurs, the protection or painted mesh layer 106 can distribute the stress over a large area around a wood seam 102; therefore, cracks have difficulty forming at the surface of the improved sealed wood board (SWB) 100. Meshes such as fiberglass mesh commonly used as window screen for mosquitoes are quite strong and a single thread of fiberglass usually can’t be broken by hand. Some data of a mesh or window screen include that thickness of glass fiber mesh is 0.32 mm, diameter of polymer coated glass fiber is 0.16 mm, mesh is 18 (18 holes per inch or 324 per square inch); opening size is 1.25 mm x 1.25 mm. The mesh or window screen is available on Amazon.

[0040] A wood board usually has two major surfaces showing a size of board and other side surfaces forming thickness of board. To clearly describe the disclosure, a major surface which contacts with paint is called outer surfaces of board or adhesive surface of board, and another major surface is called inner surfaces of board or non-adhesive surface of board. Also, mesh usually has a sheet structure with two major sheet surfaces with a plurality of openings on the surfaces. In applications, a major sheet surface of mesh facing wood surface is called inner surface of mesh or adhesive surface of mesh, and another major sheet surface facing outside or exposed to the environment is called outer surface of mesh or non-adhesive surface of mesh. It should be noted that paint has good diffusion and adhesion, and mesh structures allow application of paint from one side or outer surface of mesh to adhere a mesh and a board together. When we mention that a mesh covers a board with paint, it means that outer surface of a board and inner surface of a mesh are adhered together with a paint, and also means that paint spreads to a portion or all of surfaces of mesh and openings or holes of mesh have been partially or fully filled with paint. Although when discussion of process, multiple layers of paint are formed when applying paints at separate times, but there could be no physical layers present in a cured structure of paint if using same paint every time. To simplify discussion and claim, layer of paint may extend from concept of flat surface to concept of three-dimensional surfaces or from adhesive surface such as outer surface of board or inner surface of mesh to partial or all surfaces of threads of mesh.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1[0041| With mesh structures capable of distributing stress along with their thread / wire network and the paint having good adhesion to wood board and mesh, average stress distributed to each opening of mesh is very small, making it unlikely to generate enough force to make paint inside of an opening of mesh crack, because elastic modulus of paint is smaller than elastic modulus of fiberglass and paint thickness is greater than conventional paint layer. Therefore, this technique utilizes a network of mesh to efficiently distribute stress generated from shrinkage of wood greatly reducing shrinkage force in each opening of mesh to very small level and uses good adhesion of polymer, adhesive or paint to distribute stress over a large area on wood boards (to simplify description, polymer, adhesive, coating, resin and paint may be used interchangeably herein). On the other hand, each opening of the mesh is filled with polymer or paint making it unlikely to have cracking in openings, because both mesh and polymer or paint has a certain degree of elasticity and flexibility and the adhesions among them are strong. As such, the protection layer 106 consisting of mesh and filled polymer or paint solves the key cause of cracking. Therefore, a high durability can be achieved on the entire sealed wood board, no matter how big it is or whether it is used for indoor or outdoor applications, because the combination of wood and mesh and paint materially and practically provides necessary functions and capabilities of toughness, flexibility, durability, UV stability and adhesion to overcome cracking.

[0042] There is no need to caulk normal seams on surfaces of wood boards before applying coating. The coating will fill any uneven areas including nail holes. Depending on the surface conditions and requirements, different amounts of coating or paint may be needed. To convert an old painted floor with extra texture, more coating or paint is needed than working on original wood surfaces, because the coating or paint needs to fill up the extra textured spaces.

[0043] Mesh may cover up entire wood surfaces or areas to be protected. For example, the mesh may be said to cover “substantially all” of the top wood surfaces are covered by the mesh. If using multiple pieces of mesh, it is better to make mesh seams substantially vertical to the wood board seams like the situation illustrated in FIG. 1. In situations where there is a need to put the mesh seam parallel to the board seam, then there should be at least several inch distances between a mesh seam and a board seam, so that there is enough distance for the mesh to evenly distribute stress to the boards. The mesh may overlap at the edges or have a small gap. Although fiberglass mesh or synthetic fiber mesh is hard to tear by hand, it is easy to be cut by a knife or scissors. There is a way to make the mesh seams very small or almost invisible. The process is asAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 follows. First paint meshes overlapping at edges and then cut meshes at the overlapping area with a knife right after applying paint and remove top layer of cut edge of mesh. If planning to apply multiple layers of paint, there is no need to cut overlapped edges of mesh, because they are invisible when finished. It is fast to apply coating or paint with a foam roller or microfiber roller. Although to achieve the purpose of crack prevention, one coating of paint is enough, more layers may be necessary for other purposes such as texture or appearance or surface cleaning function. With one layer of coating, the texture of the meshes is clear to see even using colored paint. With the second or third layers of coating, the mesh texture cannot be seen.

[0044] As discussed herein, the mesh may be made of any suitable material, such as for example but by no means limited to inorganic materials like fiberglass, synthetic materials like nylon or polyester or polypropylene fiber mesh, and metals like iron, stainless steel or copper mesh. To take advantage of reinforcing effect of mesh, mesh materials used for this disclosure have a common characteristic, that is, their tensile strengths can be greater than that of wood.

[0045] The mesh may be made by different thickness of thread / wire. The thread may be straight or twisted or braided. Thread shapes may be cylindrical or flattened.

[0046] The shape of the openings in the mesh may be square, rectangle or other designed braided shapes. Thickness of longitude threads and latitude threads may be the same or may be different. The mesh may have different colors and weaving structure for non-metal wires. The wires may be non-coated or coated with paint or primer.

[0047] Commercially available fiberglass mesh with different thickness of thread / wire can be well used in this application. Some data of the meshes are included below:

[0048] Mesh A or window screen for mosquito protection: material: fiberglass, thickness of mesh: 0.32 mm or 0.0125 inch, thread thickness / diameter: 0.16mm or 0.0063 inch, mesh count 15 openings per inch, available sizes: many sizes including 48 x 118 inch,

[0049] Mesh B or plastering / stucco mesh: material: fiberglass, thickness of mesh: 0.46mm or 0.018 inch, thread size: 0.28mm x 1.28mm (flat in one direction) and 0.5 mm twisted (in vertical direction), mesh count: 6 openings per inch, available sizes: many sizes including 3.2 x 164 feet,Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1[0050| Meeh C or 304 stainless steel screen mesh: material: stainless steel, thickness of mesh: 0.30mm or 0.015 inch, thread thickness: 0.15mm or 0.006 inch, opening: 1.1 x 1.1 mm, mesh count: 20 holes per inch, available sizes: many sizes including 47 x 1176 inch.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1Table 1. Parameters of several meshes

[0051] Meshes come with different colors like white and yellow and different width of roll, like 1 to 4 feet width and different weave types. The mesh has been widely used in stucco, textile fabrics, fishing, packaging and filtration applications for years. When mesh is used in this application, some sizes of openings and thickness of threads may give a good anti-slip texture in this application. The thickness of the mesh may be between 0.1 mm to 1.5 mm7

[0052] In consideration of the reinforcement function, a range of opening or aperture size may be from 0.2 x 0.2 mm to 15 x 15 mm. If the opening is too small, paint may not easily go through the mesh to reach a wood board during painting; if the opening is too large, the density of reinforcement forces may be weak. Some extreme conditions may be overcome by other treatments. For example, using solvent to dilute paint allows use of mesh with smaller openings, and using a mesh material with thicker thread allows larger openings. An exact range of openings may not be important, because this application depends on the combinations of wood board, mesh and paint, and each of the elements has a great range of options, for example, larger openings or smaller mesh count of mesh can compensate with larger size of threads, as discussed herein.

[0053] There are two types of expansion and shrinkage forces that are applied to the wood boards, that is, thermal expansion and contraction in day and night and in summer and winter, and wet expansion and dry shrinkage. It is important to note that the mesh alone does not stop expansion or shrinkage of wood boards to prevent a crack of paint layer at a seam of wood boards. The layer of mesh coated with paint forms waterproof and / or weatherproof protection layer which stops or reduces expansion and shrinkage. Even if there is a seam generated between two wood boards, the painted mesh layer 106 can keep the wood boards dry and prevent rotting.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1[0054| On wood boards

[0055] In general, most wood boards can be used for this disclosure, such as solid wood board including hardwood board and softwood board, engineered wood board including plywood and medium-density fiberboard (MDF), high-density fiberboard (HDF) particle board, oriented strand board (OSB), laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and decorative and specialty board including veneered board, laminated board and melamine board, bamboo board, and other boards containing wood or wood fiber. Wood boards may be treated with different chemicals to add special functions like flame retardant or anti-corrosion or anti-ultraviolet properties. Some important advantages of wood as a building material is that it is natural, renewable, safe and environmentally friendly material.

[0056] There is no limit to types of wood materials used if having good adhesion to paint, no matter of same materials or different materials used. For example, for repairing purposes, different materials are usually used. The principle of this application utilizes three independent adhesives to achieve its goal, that is, adhesive of paint to mesh and adhesive of paint to one piece of wood board and adhesive of paint to another piece of wood (maybe different). The painted mesh is like a bridge at a seam of wood boards.

[0057] On paint or polymer

[0058] Paint usually includes polymer and additives such as pigment and / or fdler. Most paints for protection purposes and most polymer resin for bonding purposes can be used in this disclosure. More specifically, paints or polymers which have good adhesives to both wood and mesh materials are useful for this disclosure. To enhance capabilities of use outdoors, paints with waterproofing property and / or UV stable property are preferred.

[0059] On adhesion

[0060] As discussed herein, adhesion or adhesive properties of paint or polymer or coating or resin is important for this application. Most paints for protection purposes are suitable for this application because they can bond wood and mesh together. There are two adhesions involved in the disclosure: adhesion between wood and paint and adhesion between mesh material and paint. An innovative feature is a combination of these three elements, specifically, wood board and mesh and paint. This feature or combination includes two sub combinations, that is, combinationAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 of mesh and paint or painted mesh and combination of wood and paint. The combination of mesh and paint forms a strong protection layer which covers the outside of wood boards, at least covering seams between wood boards or more sides of a wood board beside outside or all (six) sides of wood board.

[0061] As will be understood by those of skill in the art, if different paints are used as different coats, all paints need to be compatible with each other.

[0062] If the final coat is not a UV stable type of paint, the color will fade sooner and / or paint layer may have many small cracks after years of use.

[0063] There are many kinds of paints on the market such as oil-based paints and water-based paints. The choice depends on three features for outdoor use: good adhesion; water resistance once dry; and high UV stability. Water based latex paints, water based acrylic paints, and many oil-based paints can be used for this purpose, such as polyurethan paint and polyaspartic paint and acrylic paint. Since some fiberglass meshes and synthetic fiber meshes are already coated, adhesion of a first layer paint to the mesh should be good. However, there may be a need to use different paints for different layers, such as for changing the finishing. There are different finishings to choose from, for example, smooth or textured or extra textured. Usually, smooth finishing is good for the first layer or first coating of paint, because it contains more polymer resins. Care should be taken if different paints for multiple layers are used as selection may affect results. For example, if using water based acrylic paint as first layer and second layer, the last layer may be a water-based epoxy paint. It is important that before applying the epoxy paint, the first two layers of acrylic paint must be fully dried, otherwise, there may be adhesive issues. Epoxy finishing is more durable and glossy than acrylic paint and does not trap dirt as readily as compared with acrylic paints. It should be noted as other options that polyurethane paint also have good UV protection and hardness of surface, and polyaspartic paint can provide both high UV protection and high hardness of surface. Similarly, textured or extra textured finishings trap dirt easier than smooth finishing. Furthermore, it is important to note that it is quick and inexpensive to refurbish SWB by repainting them to extend their lifetime.

[0064] An advantage of using mesh material is that final product such as SWB 100 and SWB 200 can be made by one side (outer side) painting or paint may easily penetrate holes of mesh to reach wood board during painting and enter area between threads of mesh and wood and adhereAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 wood and mesh together. A simple process is very important for implementing a technology, especially for construction field in comparison with non-mesh materials for protection purposes like sheet materials of plastic or sheet metal. Applying non-mesh material usually needs other more complicated processes like pressing, lamination or nailing.

[0065] Another advantage is that paint can penetrate into inside of thread or among fibers of a mesh thread. Threads are usually formed with organic materials such as polyester fibers or inorganic materials such as fiberglass. Uncured polymer or resin contained in paint can spread into threads or among fibers of threads to enhance durability of mesh, because stress transfer depends on continuity, and strength and flexibility of threads of mesh depend on mutual support between polymer and thread materials. Such mutually supportive structure and mechanism in thread level does not exist in stucco with fiberglass mesh and cement, because hardening of stucco mixture is due to inorganic reactions of solids of cement with water. Although water in stucco mixture can spread among fibers of a thread of mesh, the water is not a curable liquid, therefore, the fibers in each thread in stucco remain in their original state or uncoated, unbonded or unsupported individual fiber state without support of filled polymer. In this disclosure, polymer can spread among fibers of each thread in the painted mesh layer and cure, therefore can enhance the painted mesh layer and SWB in thread level. It is important to know that for the wood board system has relatively larger shrinkage rate in comparison with stucco or cement with steel bar.

[0066] Another advantage is that wood’s property and feature and safety have been proven by thousands of years’ use. This disclosure only adds a net durable protection feature to wood system, not trading with different board materials. Therefore, advantages of wood systems may remain. First, wood is a natural, environment friendly material having many advantages over manmade materials like good thermal insulation, not having electrical static and moisture balancing, not too hard, not too heavy, not too soft or fragile, easy to repair damage or refurbish. Wood materials are easy to obtain at a relatively low cost. Use of wood is simple and easy like using saws or common tools to make parts and using nails or glues to combine parts to form desired structures. Adhesion of paint to wood is strong involving considerable chemical bonding, because wood or lignin or carbohydrates provide lots of reactive function groups like hydroxyl groups and ether bonds to paints or polymers. Lacquer furniture or lacquer tableware may usually last hundred years. That is one of major reasons that plastic boards are still not as popularAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 as wood boards in construction fields. Plastic boards are relatively difficult to use nails, glues and paints. Another advantage is that when a thicker layer of paint is applied on wood board with mesh, the paint is in holes in the mesh. Such a thicker layer of paint is supported by mesh having stronger protection for waterproofing and / or weatherproofing but more durable than a thicker layer of paint without mesh because the paint hardly develops cracks or micro cracks. As mentioned before, another advantage is the combination of wood boards and mesh and paint with a good function of protecting cracking and rot of wood. Another advantage is the protective coating can easily have different colors or art painting or informative painting.

[0067] Furthermore, it is important to note that the method, system and device of the disclosure are not sensitive to sizes. There is not much difference in implementing this application for sizes from a few square inches for repairing to thousands of square meters of outer surfaces for entire wood buildings including all wood floors, wood roofs and wood walls.

[0068] As discussed herein, the general purpose of this disclosure is to form a large waterproof wood board either from one piece of wood material or from small wood boards by providing a new sealing feature or protected outer layer. It can easily handle a large gap / crack such as 1 cm wide between boards.

[0069] As another embodiment, FIG. 2 illustrates an isometric view of an improved single unit of improved sealed wood board (SWB) 200 which can be assembled at job sites to form a large SWB covering a large area. As illustrated in FIG. 2, one wood board 101 is partially covered with same sized mesh 103 but up left shifted about % of its width (shifting ratio is not important, and shifting distance is depending on board or mesh size). A portion of mesh is extended to outside of board 101 to cover portions of other boards. There are many ways to produce the unit of SWB 200. For example, by using a roller or sprayer to apply paint on the mesh covered area of a wood board surface while leaving some area of board surface uncoated and then adhering mesh covered portion of the board. Like many identical puzzles, many identical units of SWB 200 can form a large board with attached same sized meshes, but mesh position is shifted. At the application site, the free portion of the mesh of a first SWB board covers a portion of a second SWB 200 board and the extended mesh of the first board is painted onto the uncoated area of the second board with new paint or polymer or adhesive to form a larger area of coverage, that is, to connect the two or more boards together. Polymers or paints used to make units of SWB 200 andAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 larger boards may be same or different. The wood edges of SWB 200 can have matching edge shapes.

[0070] As an example of implementing the disclosure, a SWB unit of 4 x 8 foot wood boards (four layered plywood, $27 / each from Lowes) is made with stucco mesh. Same size 4 x 8 foot mesh (rolled mesh from Amazon) is used to cover a plywood board with 8 inch shifting in two directions. A heavy-duty stapler is used to position the mesh on the wood board. The mesh covered area of the wood board is spray painted with one-part water-based BEHR acrylic coating as first layer (from Home Depot) while extended area of mesh and mesh uncovered board surface is temporarily covered with cardboard. After installing many SWB units on walls and roof of a storage house, extended mesh is positioned with staples and spray painted with same BEHR acrylic paint on unpainted areas. Second layer or final layer is spray painted with polyaspartic paint (from Kretus, distributed by Jon-Don) for good UV stability. It is quite efficient to build a durable storage house in this way.

[0071] This way will provide new building materials which combine wood and mesh already with optional sizes to simplify design and building process and improve construction efficiency. The reason to leave a partial uncoated area is to allow to use of the same paint on both sides of a seam to ensure good flatness and good adhesion. Such design facilities use pneumatic tools, further speeding up construction. Staples or nails can be left in place and then covered by paint.

[0072] FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-section view of a part of an improved sealed wood board (SWB) 300 which is refurbished from a conventionally painted wood board or balcony floor. It consists of wood board 101 and old painted layer 301 and improved protective or painted mesh layer 106. The entire balcony floor structure usually has an enclosed hollow structure. The top part is balcony floor structure, the bottom part is patio ceiling structure, and the hollow part is equipped with wood beams. Leaking is very harmful for the common enclosed floor structure of wood houses, because wood boards are prone to mold and rot in such a confined space. After repairing, cracks 303 are covered with durable protective or painted mesh layer 106, and the floor is like new.

[0073] The details of the process include the following steps for a project of 41 m2balcony floor.

[0074] 1. Clean the surface of old balcony floors with a power washing machine. This old balcony floor used two different floor surfaces or ceramic tile floor and painted floor before thisAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 repairing and had been repaired twice in past ten years. The repairing costs were high and we needed to change a lot of rot wood boards or entire floor structure.

[0075] 2. Treating the cracked area (optional). Dissolve some Steramine tablets in a plastic wash bottle. Steramine is a non-toxic multi-purpose sanitizer and may be used for sanitizing food contact surfaces. Apply Steramine solution in cracking areas or into holes to stop wood rot and allow the surfaces to dry. If wood under the old paint is rotted, apply super glue in rot areas to harden the rotten wood.

[0076] 3. Cover the old painted floor with meshes. It is better to make mesh seams substantially vertical to the wood board seams like the situation illustrated in FIG. 1. If, in some situations, there is a need to put mesh seams parallel to the board seams, then there should be a distance of at least several inches between a mesh seam and a board seam, so that there is enough area for the meshes to evenly distribute stress to the boards. The meshes may overlap at the edges or have a small gap if vertically arranged. Although fiberglass mesh or synthetic fiber mesh is hard to tear by hand, it is easy to be cut by a knife or scissors. Furthermore, there is a way to make the seam of meshes very small or almost invisible: first, paint meshes with overlapping at edges and then cut meshes at the overlapping areas with a knife right after applying paint and remove top layer of cut edge of mesh. There are several ways to lay meshes out flat before applying coating. For example, it is better to purchase rolled mesh because there are no folding marks. First, just rough layout meshes on an old floor. Using a stapler, fix one short edge of the mesh to the board and then stretch another short edge and fix that short edge with staples to the board. The staples may remain on the floor or may be removed after first painting.

[0077] 4. Apply the first layer of paint. If using rolled meshes, there is no special sequence to apply paint. It is easy to use foam roller to apply paint, and spray painting is even faster. If using folded meshes, folding marks may affect the final appearance if only applying one layer of paint, although there are some special ways to apply paint may eliminate or reduce the influence of folding marks. For example, fully stretch a mesh and fix four corners with staples to the board and then start to paint, or pour some paint in the center of a mesh without fixing the comers of the mesh and then roll the roller from center to opposite edges and comers to eliminate or reduce the effect of folding marks. In this way, flattening is included in the operation. Water based paint is common in the market and there are some paints suitable for outdoor use, such as one-partAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 water-based BEHR epoxy coating and one-part water-based BEHR acrylic coating. The BEHR epoxy coating may be also used to fill depression areas by just pulling it into the depression area and letting it dry before laying out the meshes. Each paint has three different finishings available: smooth, textured and extra textured. It is recommended to use smooth paint for the first layer because of the high content of polymer resin is helpful to build the protective layer 106. For example, fillers of textured paint are smaller than the openings of mesh, but viscosity of smooth paint is comparatively lower and makes it easier to reach all areas under the mesh.

[0078] 5. Curing or drying and finishing. The water-based paint normally dries within one day. If using same paints for different layers, it is ok to apply a second layer the next day. If using different paints for different layers, it is better to wait two days to add a second layer. Because a water-based BEHR acrylic paint has less gloss than the water-based BEHR epoxy paints, to have a semigloss finishing, the water-based BEHR epoxy paint is used for the last coating of this project. This project uses four layers of paint (wherein “layer” refers to each separate application of paint). Since the old paint is water-based acrylic paint with extra textured finishing, the project uses two layers of light grey paint to cover mesh texture. The first layer is BEHR water-based acrylic paint with smooth finish. After applying the first layer of paint, the mesh texture is clearly seen. The second layer is BEHR water-based acrylic paint with textured finish. After applying the second layer of paint, the mesh texture has almost been covered. The third layer uses the same paint as the second layer to complete covering of the texture of mesh. The fourth layer or last layer or outer layer is BEHR water-based one-part epoxy paint for more wear-resistance and self-cleaning function with its semi-gloss finishing and harder surface. Since the third layer and fourth layer are above mesh thickness, meaning there is no mesh materials within these layers, after applying the third layer of paint, the mesh texture has been covered. Since the original old layer is water-based acrylic paint with extra texture finishing and acrylic paint has better flexibility than epoxy paint, thus openings of mesh filled with acrylic paint has better flexibility to prevent cracking of protected or painted mesh layer 106 of painted mesh. Epoxy paint has more wear-resistance in comparison with acrylic paint. If using polyaspartic paint as top layer or last layer, UV stability is even better, but cost is higher.

[0079] Paint usage for the first layer is about 6 m2coverage per gallon and the second layer is about 10 m2coverage per gallon and the second layer has already covered up the texture of mesh. Paint usage for the third layer is about 13 m2coverage per gallon for complete cover up ofAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 the texture of the mesh. The second layer and third layer use the same paint. Paint usage for the last layer is about 13 m2coverage per gallon. The total material cost is about $1000. In previous repairs, it cost $40,000 for labor and materials to rebuild the entire balcony which was repaired only 5 years ago with painted wood floor, because much of the wood had rotted in the enclosed balcony structure, and 8 years ago, the balconies of a new luxury villas were covered with ceramic tiles. The usage of paints in this implementation is greater than directly working on a wood subfloor or plywood surface, because the old paint floor had extra textured finishing.

[0080] By analysis of cracking wood floors, it is easy to understand that cracking often starts with deformation at the edges because edges have more surfaces to absorb water, and the deformation promotes more shrinkage subsequently by both wet and dry shrinkage and heat and cold shrinkage. The edges are also easier to rot. This method has three distinct functions. First, painted mesh can efficiently distribute shrinkage stress to large areas by its networking structure. In other words, each opening of mesh only bears very small shrinkage stress, meaning that it is difficult for cracks to form. Second, the protective layer or painted mesh layer 106 is much stronger than paint itself because paint and mesh and wood board support each other. A crack only occurs when shrinkage forces beyond the tensile limit of paint filled in the mesh openings. Specifically, the mesh structure prevents such an amount of shrinkage stress from being cumulated, or theoretically, it is unlikely to have such shrinkage rate generated within an opening of mesh. Furthermore, layers added on the painted mesh surface are also stabilized because its base, that is, the painted mesh layer 106 receive less shrinkage force. Therefore, the above- mentioned combination of three functions makes it difficult to crack or for cracks to form, and the more durable protective layer provides highly effective protection from leaking. Third, even if the wood boards eventually have overall shrinkage due to aging, the thicker and stronger layer of painted mesh can still play a better protective role in comparison with conventional conditions, not affecting its protection functionality of waterproof and / or weatherproof. Thus, this technique achieves its goal to extend the lifetime of SWB. Since the fundamental SWB has been built, this paves the way for the promotion of applications.

[0081] Once a basic SWB is built, one or more layers with same or different materials can be added on the base layer. Using different tools can give different thickness of paint in a single application. For example, using microfiber roller can add more paint than using foam roller. Using spray paint (with choice of different pressure) can give even thicker layer of paint thanAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 using rollers, and using notched squeegee (with optional notch patten) can apply more paint at once than spray paint. There is no limit for the number of layers for the purpose of creating durable sealed wood board for various applications. Each element in the three element combination or wood and mesh and paint can have options to change, as discussed herein.

[0082] As mentioned before, one advantage of using wood and mesh and paint is that this combination can efficiently distribute stress to large areas, greatly preventing uneven changes of wood boards and wood cracks.

[0083] Another advantage of combination of using wood and mesh and paint is that when applying paint on one side of the mesh, the paint can easily penetrate through openings of the mesh and easily distribute the paint to both sides of the mesh as well as on the surface of the wood boards and areas between threads of mesh and board. Non-mesh structures do not have such advantages and therefore cannot use such process.

[0084] One advantage of the combination of using wood and mesh and paint is that the paint may stay in the openings of the mesh to form a strong sealed layer. Since the paint in the openings is reinforced with mesh in relatively small areas, making the protective layer much stronger and more durable than conventional paint layer with only paint itself.

[0085] One advantage of SWB is that the structure of SWB has flexibility to hold more paint or different thicknesses of paint without the risk of cracking of the protective layer. Unlike ordinary multi-layered painting, the greater thickness of the protective layer in SWB increases protection function, because both paint materials in the openings of mesh or over mesh are not affected much by stress. Conventional multi-layered painting usually does not reach 0.32 mm thickness or higher without a higher risk of paint cracking.

[0086] Since this technology still uses wood, many advantages of wood materials can be retained, such as it is easy to change shapes, to combine parts together, to form complicated constructures, to have a low cost for material and labor, to repaired or refurbish and to be environmentally friendly.

[0087] One advantage of SWB is that great compatibility of wood to paint or (synthetic) polymers. Wood is composed of complex mixture of biopolymers, primarily lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose in a complex 3D network structure. These biopolymers contain lots of different?Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 functional groups such as hydroxyl (-OH) groups, carboxyl (-COOH) groups, Acetyl (-COCH3) groups, phenolic (-OCeHs) groups, methoxy (-OCH3) groups and ether (-O-) linkages. These polar and / or active functional groups provide a lot of chemical bonding between wood and paint or polymer, which is why polymers or paints have great adhesion to wood. Weaker adhesion of paints to plastics or metals is because it is mainly physical adhesion with less chemical bonding. Such condition provides high durability and convenience for selecting specific properties of paints such as high UV stability, good flexibility and / or required finishing for outdoor uses.

[0088] Besides the advantages mentioned above, the improved SWB has wider applications. For example, it can not only be used as balcony floors, patio floors and indoor floors, but can also be used for roofs and exterior walls. Because the outer layer is painted, these new applications can easily have different colors. Since stained fences may last more than six years, the lifetime of sealed protected roofs and exterior walls can be comparable with roof shingles. Such painted roof has a simple structure and strong protection, therefore, it is easier to locate leaking and, for example, to resist hurricanes or tropical storms. A good thing is that it is easy at a lower cost to refurbish the roofs or exterior walls by repainting them to extend lifetime. In the roof application of SWB, overlapping of mesh edges may be favorable and using putty knife or squeegee or spraying to apply paint may be faster.

[0089] In mechanics, this technique shares similar principles of fiberglass material and carbon fiber material or using fiber kind of materials to distribute forces and using polymers to stabilize the fiber materials and provide protection and enhance the entire device, but working elements, wood, mech and polymer are different from the devices of fiberglass and carbon fiber. Therefore, many advantages associated with wood and paint and fiber elements can be reflected, such as easy building large or complicated structures at a lower cost and colorful and / or artistic looking.

[0090] Mesh structure includes two outstanding advantages, one is high strength capable of withstanding significant tensile and compressive forces and flexibility due to their interconnected structures, and another advantage is mesh structure can flex and deform without breaking the networking structure. There are different kinds of mesh available in the market, such as fiberglass mesh, polyester mesh or synthetic fiber mesh and stainless-steel mesh, copper mesh or metal mesh. Sizes of wires forming mesh can be selected. Opening sizes of mesh, shapes of openings, wire diameters may be selected according to need.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1[0091| There are many options for paints, polymers, and adhesives. Different terms come from different fields of applications. For example, in the construction industry, paint usually refers to some coatings used to protect some surfaces or appliances. From the point of view of material science or chemistry, paint mainly consists of polymer resins and pigments or particles or fillers or solvent. Clear paint may consist of only polymer or resin or solvent. Texture is made with particles or filler, and sizes of texture affect level of texture. For example, extra texture is made with larger size particles or fillers. Patterns of mesh can be used as a kind of texture. On the other hand, when a material such as polymer is used to adhere two objects together, the material is usually called adhesive. These different applications can be achieved by one polymer or copolymer. Therefore, terms of paint, coating, polymer and adhesive have a broad meaning. For the sake of brevity, these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Water-based paints are popular in the market. Oil-based paints are also popular and suitable to be used for this purpose, especially for enhancing UV reliability or weather reliability or durability, and some polymers or coatings, such as silicon and polyurethane and polyimide, are good as a top coating and / or bottom or middle layers of coatings. Many polymers can be used for this purpose including latex, acrylic, alkyd, epoxy, polyurethane, vinyl and silicone polymers, and combinations of polymers. Due to variety of paint, properties of SWB and / or buildings built with SWB can be changed with paint specialty. For example, UV stable paints like polyurethane paint and polyaspartic paint and acrylic paint offer UV protection, and silicone paints offer heat reduction and fire protection and UV protection. Some special paints may have breathability while preventing water, noise reduction function or fireproofing, anti-fouling or self-cleaning features These special features give buildings built with such SWB special functions. Paints can even change basic property of wood too. For example, fully covered (six sides) SWB can greatly improve wood’s fire resistance while remaining all advantages of wood like light weight, low cost and easy to use etc. Such fully covered SWB can be mass produced like the SWB unit shown in FIG. 2.

[0092] In considering some other factors, such as material cost and labor cost, conventional balcony floors and patio floors and indoor floors approach wood board and paint only obviously have their limitations and disadvantages, such as no control for cracking. That is why despite many years of use history of the conventional methods, leaking and high costs of maintenance remain problems. This technique not only keeps some advantages of wood applications but alsoAttorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1 has low cost including a low labor cost for easy construction and easy detection of problems and easy repairing and refurbishing.

[0093] Changing wood board to plastic board did not directly solve the problem of wood cracking. It just avoids the problems of wood shrinkage and rotting edges but still needs to face the problems of sealing seams of plastic boards and paint cracking with thermal expansion and contraction of plastic boards. It is better to use these novel approaches and new methods for simultaneously resolving problems mentioned above or durability problem of protection layer, wood edge shrinkage problem causing enlarged seams, damage problem caused by wood rot and cracking of paint layer. This is an innovative concept of this disclosure of using combination of wood, mesh, and paint to achieve great durability of SWB and wider applications.

[0094] One of advantages of SWB is that if used on roofs, it is easy to find any hole, defect or issue because of its flatness and simple and clean surface, and repair leaking is easy with a blocking adhesive or repaint at leaking area. In comparison with shingle roof, many nails, nail holes, shingle damage, shingle cracking, and issues of shingle coverage are difficult to find or locate. That is why we often see that whole roof shingles need to be replaced for some minor leaking problems of shingle roof. Also, SWB roofs have stronger stability than shingle roofs against hurricanes and hail damage, because SWB is a component of roof structure, but shingles are attachments to roof structure.

[0095] Further, the technical scope of this disclosure is not limited to the scope in the above examples. It should be clear to a person skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be made to the above examples. Many other materials may be used for this purpose.

[0096] In summary, this disclosure describes a new principle, new combination, new methods, new approaches, new structures, new materials to create a durable sealed wood board apparatus or devices. In comparison with conventional balcony wood floors or patio wood floors, the new technology shows many advantages including easy to make, high durability, economic cost and wider applications. It is a total surprise that centuries-long problem is resolved with a simple solution.What is claimed is:

Claims

Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO1CLAIMS1. A wood board apparatus comprising: at least one board composed of a wood material; a mesh material having a plurality of openings, said mesh material covering at least a portion of an outer surface of the at least one board such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the outer surface of the at least one board; and a coating material, wherein said coating material adheres at least a portion of a surface of said board and at least a portion of a surface of said mesh material together and said coating material fills a least a majority of the plurality of openings of said mesh material.

2. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a size range of the plurality of openings of the mesh material is from 0.1 x 0.1 mm to 15 x 15 mm.

3. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a thickness of the mesh material is between 0.10 mm and 1.5 mm.

4. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein at least one coating layer is composed of a polymer, an adhesive, a resin, a monomer, a pigment, a filler, or a paint.

5. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the mesh material covering at least a portion of the surface of the at least one board further comprises an extended mesh portion which is sufficient to cover a portion of the surface of a similarly sized board, said extended mesh portion not covering the surface of the board.

6. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the mesh material covers substantially all of the surface of the board and the inner surface of the mesh material is adhered to substantially all of the surface of the board with the coating material.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO17. The wood board apparatus according to claim 6 further comprising one or more additional outer coating layers covering substantially all of a second coating layer of the wood board.

8. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the mesh material covers a board such that a seam of the mesh material is arranged vertically relative to a seam of the board or a working orientation of the wood board apparatus.

9. The wood board apparatus according to claim 1 comprising at least two boards composed of a wood material, said two boards being fitted together to have a combined outer surface, said combined outer surface being covered by the mesh material and adhered with the coating material together to form a sealed wood board.

10. A method for manufacturing a wood board apparatus, said method comprising: covering at least one board composed of a wood material with a mesh material having a plurality of openings such that said mesh material covers a covered portion of an outer surface of the at least one board and such that an inner surface of the mesh material contacts the outer surface of the at least one board over the covered portion; and applying at least one coating layer comprising a coating material such that the coating layer covers an outer surface of the mesh material so that at least a majority of the plurality of openings of the mesh material are at least partially filled with the coating material, said coating material adhering the inner surface of the mesh material to the outer surface of the at least one board.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein the mesh material is attached to the outer surface of the at least one board.

12. The method according to claim 10 wherein a size of at least one of the plurality of openings of the mesh material is a range from 0.1 x 0.1 mm to 15 x 15 mm.Attorney Docket No.: 32091-001 1WO113. The method according to claim 10 wherein a thickness of the mesh material is between 0.1 mm and 1.5 mm.

14. The method according to claim 11 wherein the at least one coating layer is composed of a polymer, an adhesive or a paint.

15. The method according to claim 10 wherein the mesh material covering a portion of the surface of the at least one board further comprises an extended mesh portion which is sufficient to cover a section of the surface of a similarly sized board.

16. The method according to claim 10 wherein the mesh material covers substantially all of the surface of the board and the inner surface of the mesh material is adhered to substantially all of the surface of the board with the coating material.

17. The method according to claim 10 further comprising applying a second coating layer to the wood board apparatus such that the second coating layer fills substantially all of a respective one opening of the plurality of openings and substantially covers all of the outer surface of the mesh material.

18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising applying an outer coating layer covering substantially all of the second coating layer.

19. The method according to claim 10 wherein the mesh material covers the at least one board such that a seam of the mesh material is arranged vertically relative to a working orientation of the wood board apparatus.

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