Special Producers of veneer floors

THE BENEFITS, NOT THE DRAWBACKS

ALTERNATIVE TO BOTH LAMINATE AND HARDWOOD FLOORS HAS MORE AND MORE WIND IN ITS SAILS

Griet Fournier and Tim Hennin (Parky – B)

‘Forget rationality! Wood is emotion!’

Parky, based in Menen (Belgium) and a brand of Decospan, is a market leader in veneer floors. Next to its production in Belgium, Decospan has 2 other factories where they produce multi-layer parquet. We spoke to flooring product manager Griet Fournier and group product manager Tim Hennin.

‘We’re often seen solely as a producer of veneer parquet, but that’s not quite right. For instance, we also produce engineered parquet in our own factory in Cabannes, near Bordeaux, France, under the name Cabbani. This is parquet with a top layer from 2 to 5.5mm on HDF or birch plywood. This collection is a custom-made parquet where you put together your own floor in five steps. There’s also a factory in the Czech Republic under the name Esco,’ Tim Hennin says. ‘Here we make solid and engineered 2- and 3-layer parquet. Within this product portfolio we’ve recently launched the brand The Twelve. Easy choice parquet, which is kept as simple as possible with a 3mm top layer on a spruce core.’

Eight coats of varnish

What we’re particularly interested in is obviously the veneer floor. In that context we hear that Parky turns out no fewer than eight coats of super strong varnish. ‘The finish to our veneer floor has been completely renewed, and that has yielded greater durability and scratch resistance,’ Griet Fournier explains. ‘The rethinking of the product coincided with a complete rebranding. The result is that in fact we now fit the strongest wooden floor on the market, which corresponds to a usage class of 33. Whilst veneer floor used to be limited roughly to a bedroom floor, it is now a fully fledged alternative for the project market and commercial projects such as shops, offices, studies, etc. Moreover, we made the surface waterproof for at least 12 hours, and we've revamped the look & feel: deeper brushing and a more matt finish yield a much more natural look.’

‘More and more clients are telling us that they regard veneer floor as the best alternative to solid and semi-solid parquet on the one hand and laminate and vinyl on the other,’ Tim says. ‘In the past, it was more of a niche product which no one knew or understood. Veneer wood was a difficult product because everyone just assumed that a thicker top layer also yielded a stronger product. And so, we’ve worked rigorously on our product to make it even more efficient to launch a much better alternative to laminate and vinyl on the market which is just as strong and equally simple as regards fitting and maintenance, but which comprises real wood. Ecologically, too, this is the floor of the future, certainly now that wood is getting more scarce and people are grasping the narrative. And last but not least, we source our trees from sustainable managed forests and every board is 100% recyclable, participating as such in the circular economy.’

‘We continue to invest in improving our product and service,’ Griet adds. ‘For instance, we’re investing hugely in the finish department until we get a production capacity of about three million square metres. This is linked to investment of 12 million euros. In the next three years, we’re going to expand further in phases to meet the rising demand for veneer floor. At the moment, we’ve started to work out all the plans, whilst the start is planned for next year. We should reach the projected capacity by the start of 2023.’

New marketing strategy

In Menen, during the almost full closure of the market during the pandemic, they worked particularly hard on a new marketing strategy. ‘We’re much more committed to sales points where we invest to involve them in our floor strategy and get more visibility,’ Tim explains. ‘Moreover, we want to get everyone on board digitally with digital marketing. What it boils down to is that we form a link between consumers and retailers. With an important note: no direct sales to end clients!’

For that matter this applies not only to Parky, but also to Cabbani and The Twelve. The three floor trademarks are perfectly autonomous, they each have their own USPs, but they are perfectly compatible and reinforce each other as one whole flooring concept. And so, they go from 0.6mm of veneer floor at the price of laminate to high-end custom-made parquet and in this way they cover the entire wooden flooring spectrum. The stores which enter into this partnership will be given extra support and activation online.

Finally, our interviewees emphatically stress the importance of follow up and therefore providing good service. The recruitment of Tim last year was no coincidence. He adapts the products, marketing, and digitalisation to each other with one aim in view, namely giving clients as few worries as possible and providing them with perfect assistance.’

It’s good to live on wood

‘If you’re looking for something in wooden floors, we’ve got it. We convert that into three distinct brands,’ they tell us. ‘Everything revolves around proving our motto: ‘It’s good to live on wood’. Wood forms a basis of pride due to its genuineness. Scientific research has shown that products with emotion make people happier and we’re working on that to the full!’

For a long time, veneer parquet was regarded purely as a rather costly alternative to laminate. The main USP was that veneer parquet meant a thin top layer (generally 0.6mm) of real wood so that it looked much more like a real wooden floor, but with a more attractive price.

In recent years, veneer parquet has gone to a new level and there are several reasons for that. Not only the rising price of wood and the ever greater yearning for sustainability play a part, but also certainly the technical development of the product itself which has resulted in it being applied as a worthwhile alternative in projects.

Natural product

The benefits of veneer parquet are legion. For instance, as a natural product, it is strong and sustainable and people use only the most beautiful wood. That’s why veneer parquet constitutes the ultimate and more sustainable alternative for all wooden floor lovers, since you need less wood. Moreover, it’s also very easy for users to fit and maintain and has some hygienic assets. Vacuum cleaning and occasional mopping with a damp cloth will suffice. Moreover, just like solid wood, it is anti-static and hypoallergenic. Yet perhaps the biggest argument in its favour is that the use of wood creates a naturally warm look and feel when you walk on the surface.

Similarity with multilayer parquet

What is the product actually? You can regard it as a sort of multilayer parquet which combines the warmth and unique design of real wood with the benefits of laminate, such as the easy fitting of laminate. Yet you don’t have the artificial imitation print, which is nothing more than a ‘paper’ decor layer. The look of veneer parquet is unique because the top layer really is genuine wood, a thin layer of high-quality wood veneer which is pressed onto an HDF. Due to the various layers, it also forms a highly stable product so that it is also suitable for floor heating.

Much thinner top layer

You can already guess what the big difference is with multilayer parquet. The top layer is much thinner than the required minimum of 2.5mm, which is necessary to qualify for the title of ‘real’ parquet. What happens with the production is that various coats of varnish are applied to create high scratch resistance. The top layer of real wood veneer may be thin, but it is highly resistant and, moreover, you don’t have to face cavities or ‘dents’ because the HDF panel onto which the veneer is glued is even stronger than the wood itself and therefore absorbs the impressions.

Finish

Generally speaking, veneer floors consist of three different layers, namely veneer, HDF, and a counter layer in veneer for the stability, and they are given a number of strong coats of lacquer. This means that veneer parquet is also a good choice for a high-traffic floor. If we consider the approach of the Belgian specialist Parky in this sort of parquet, we see how they apply a finish with their own latest Titanium finish, which guarantees a usage class of 33, in combination with a thick fibre board core (HDF). This makes the floor stronger and more dimensionally stable than any traditional wooden or solid wood floor. This creates a product which is also doing much better in busy places for commercial use, such as hotel lobbies, offices, or shops.

Obviously, at Parky they’ve also thought of watertightness. For instance, this producer uses its own Aqua Sealing Complete system which protects the floor surface and the grooves from damp for 12 hours. Furthermore, for the top layer, they use only wood which originates from sustainably managed forests and every plank can be recycled for the full 100%, and that contributes to the circular economy. For the production they draw on the resources of solar and wind energy and sawdust and waste wood from their own production facilities are used to heat the factory. This is how they contribute to a CO2-neutral world.

Improvement in air quality

We can add to all this the fact that for the finish they use water-based products, adhesives with no volatile organic compounds, and solventless stains. This improves the air quality indoors considerably so that they can boast various quality labels such as the A+ quality label for all floors.