Floor panel

A method for installing a floor covering comprising a plurality of similar floor panels, wherein said floor panels are rectangular and oblong comprising a pair of long edges and a pair of short edges, wherein said floor panels comprise a substrate comprising thermoplastic material and at least 45 percent by weight of inorganic or mineral filler, and a decor provided thereon, as well as, on said pair of long edges, coupling parts in the form of a tongue and groove connection, at least partially realized from said substrate and allowing to effect a mechanical locking between two of such floor panels by means of a turning movement, and, on said pair of short edges, coupling parts in the form of hook-shaped parts allowing to effect a mechanical locking between two of such floor panel by means of a substantially linear movement perpendicular to the plane of the coupled floor panels with the occurrence of a snap action, said method comprising:

• providing a first row of installed floor panels;
• installing a first floor panel in an adjacent second row;
• coupling a second floor panel in said second row by coupling this second floor panel with one of its long edges by means of a turning movement to the long edge of a floor panel in said first row, and by coupling this second floor panel with one of its short edges, in one and the same turning movement, to a short edge of said first floor panel;
• wherein said floor panels have an overall thickness between 3.5 and 8 mm, wherein said substrate comprises a rigid part formed by one or more rigid substrate layers, the sum of thicknesses of said one or more rigid substrate layers being at least 2 mm and forming at least 65% of the thickness of the floor panels, and wherein said thermoplastic material is chosen from the list consisting of PVC, polypropylene, polyester and PET;
• wherein said groove is limited by an upper lip and a lower lip, wherein said tongue and groove connection further comprises locking elements including a protrusion at the lower side of said tongue and a recess in the upper side of said lower lip, which, in a coupled condition, counteract the moving apart of the tongue and the groove in the horizontal direction, wherein said upper lip, said lower lip, the center line through said tongue and the most inwardly located point of said groove all being at least partially realized from said rigid part.