Special Who sells LVT, PVC, vinyl or design floors for the project market

ENDLESS OPTIONS

PROJECT RANGE IS ALSO GROWING STEADILY

Robert Siewes (Egger Benelux)

‘Egger floors are housed in a durable and decorative total story.’

The Egger family business started in 1961 as a chipboard factory in St. Johann in Tyrol, Austria. At the end of 2021, we see a big international family company with 60 different nationalities in 20 factories and 25 sales offices worldwide. Wood was the core product from the very start and this is still the case today. Egger continues to be a total vendor of wood and wood products for the whole interior.

Floor Forum International spoke to Robert Siewes, sales manager of EFP Benelux, about the range of floors. We discovered that Egger has some big plans for the immediate future. In particular, they want to establish a better connection between the decorative products and the range for the floor. One consequence of that is that they also want to be increasingly active on the project market.

More from wood

Our interviewee comments: ‘Our company slogan “More from wood” summarises perfectly what our company is about. Everything that we make is produced solely with wood, so you won’t find items such as PVC or vinyl here because that would contradict our philosophy. Our philosophy also states that we work only with ecological products and give priority to durability in the entire pro-duction chain. We also strive to be the market leader in everything that we do.’

In the floor range, Robert Siewes refers particularly to the Design Green Tec and Comfort floor sorts. ‘If you look at Comfort, you notice that it’s based on cork. That is a product which has been used in the past in flats and deck floors. For us, Design Green Tec is mainly important as a floor which forms an equivalent to PVC and vinyl floors. One of its great strengths is that, despite the fact that it is based on wood, it is waterproof and can be fitted in wet rooms.’

‘A central thread in the development in recent years is how strongly we’ve committed ourselves to waterproof floors, in combination with design. In that respect we are now a leader in the sector, as proved by a Nalfa study which we recently had carried out. After extensive tests, this big and inde-pendent organisation in the USA gave us the label of 72 hours of waterproof quality, something which is unique in comparison with similar traders on the market.’

Towards a thickness of 7.5mm

‘In recent times, we’ve refined our floors with product improvements. What’s particularly worth mentioning is our Design Green Tec, which went from 5 7.5mm thick. We opted here for an under-lay in cork and a somewhat thicker panel to make the floor more stable. We also tackled the top layer, so that we now meet class 33, whereby the floor is suitable for intensive commercial use.’

In the context of this dossier we want to know mainly how Egger responds to the needs of the pro-ject market. What we do know is that the company was particularly active in the residential seg-ment, but that is changing fast.

‘We’re moving more and more towards the project market. For that purpose we’re increasingly stressing the link to our decorative products, with which we’ve been working on for much longer with architects and buyers. What it comes down to is that we’re increasingly matching our products to each other and offering them interactively in a total concept. And so, we connect our decorative panels, which are not end products, to our floors, which are such an end product, so that architects can contact us for all elements.’

‘We’ve tested this approach over the last year and launched it for the first time during the Pro Wood show in Ghent, Belgium. Reactions were highly favourable, and that has further convinced us that in the near future we can do a lot of good business by offering our total story! We were known in the project sector for the decorative, but not for the floors, and now we’re changing that per-ception.’

www.egger.com

Vinyl floors are making rapid strides, not only in residential properties, but also in commercial properties as well. In terms of looks, these floors bear a striking resemblance to linoleum, but they are nevertheless different. Linoleum is completely natural, whilst vinyl is made on the basis of petroleum derivatives. What do vinyl floors have to offer parquet professionals?

If we consider firstly what vinyl is, it will then largely be clear why this type of floor is so popular. Vinyl comprises a flexible synthetic which consists of various layers: a bottom layer, a protective glass fibre layer, a design, and the top layer. The durability of vinyl depends on the thickness of the top layer and the solidarity of the base layer. An extra protective layer makes the floor more durable and scratch-proof. For commercial use, add also a wide choice of colours and designs, low maintenance, and natural sound insulation and it becomes clear why vinyl is so popular.

Amongst the various types of vinyl, there is one type which is used a lot on the commercial market and stands out. This is a glued and very sturdy floor which is 2 to 2.5mm thick. In addition, there are also floated fitting flexible vinyl planks with a click system on offer, and there is rigid vinyl, which has a sturdy and waterproof core. That latter is easier to fit and requires less preparation of the base. With this rigid vinyl, you glue a thin layer of vinyl onto a sturdy and waterproof base or the layers are pressed together to form a uniform product. For that matter there’s also woven vinyl, where a small amount of polyester is added to the vinyl. What’s attractive about this variant is that it is highly durable, has a long lifespan, and is easy to maintain. However, on the other hand, you can’t combine it with floor heating and it isn’t suitable for damp rooms.

Fitting

How do you fit this vinyl? Here, too, there are various options, depending on the type of vinyl. Vinyl is available in various sizes in rolls, strips, and tiles (hence the name LVT or Luxury Vinyl Tiles). Vinyl in rolls has no joints, unlike vinyl in strips and tiles (although the joints are quite thin). Manufacturers have several variants on offer for fitting vinyl. You can glue it, weld it warm, or click it. You always apply the same principle with which parquet floor fitters are very familiar: Make sure that the base is absolutely clean and dry. Moreover, remember that vinyl is thin, so any unevenness soon shows up.

Maintenance

When you fit vinyl, you should certainly tell clients that it’s best to vacuum clean the floor every week and that regular mopping is also needed. For mopping it’s best to use a pH neutral detergent.

You can’t just use anything for the maintenance because vinyl needs special treatment to protect it from marks and streaks. And so, consider carefully the composition of the cleaning product so that the treatment given in advance isn’t neutralised. Remember, too, that scouring, wax, and varnish are sworn enemies and point out that warm objects can damage the floor.

We should also point out that although this material is scratchresistant, that doesn’t mean that it is also scratch-proof. And so, you can best advise clients to use door mats and not to slide objects over the floor, but to pick them up. Felt pads under furniture are also highly recommended.

Easy on the eye

If we consider the range briefly, you yourself will certainly have noticed that this has expanded considerably in recent years and not just for residential floors. Actually, anything you can think of results in a version emerging on offer. And so, apart from parquet and ceramic tiles, you also find things such as a look of concrete or natural stone or finishes with fantasy colours and designs.

Photo – Egger – EPD036