Special
Colouring wooden floors
NOT ALL WOOD IS EQUALLY SUITABLE HOW DO YOU AVOID THE TRADITIONAL PITFALLS OF COLOURING? Vincent Lepais (Blanchon Group – F) ‘The many benefits of combining a colour oil with lacquer’ When it comes to colouring wood, Blanchon from France is very much a pioneer in this aspect of the parquet narrative in Europe and even worldwide. We asked this specialist company to outline a technique with which parquet floor fitters might not be so familiar, but which could generate extra income for them. In addition we asked them about their partnership with Debal Coatings, which is based in Roeselare, Belgium, and includes the Ciranova trademark. The Blanchon Group took over Debal Coatings in June of last year. To get some answers, we spoke to Vincent Lepais, a highly gifted technician who is responsible at Blanchon for buying products. He doesn’t have to think long about the subject which he wants to consider, namely fitting a seal on colour oil. When he spoke about the takeover as well, he hardly had to think. This was how he expressed it: ‘Obviously, this was a takeover, but in practice it’s more of a strategic, industrial, and commercial synergy, which is the result of a highly flexible partnership.’ ‘Actually, there are very few techniques which are unknown to the better parquet floor fitters, although some floor fitters don’t like to apply colour because of bad experiences in the past. However, that shouldn’t be a reason for working colourless, certainly when you realise that you miss out on considerable extra income,’ Vincent Lepais replies. ‘As you know, you can apply colour on site in three ways, including the distressing narrative. I find it particularly interesting in this connection to consider in more detail how you apply colour oil and then a seal on top. I notice that Belgian parquet floor fitters like to use oil and think it’s nicer to look at (as I do myself), so I want to help fitters to use it properly because it gives so much more flare.’ Fitting high-traffic floors In his explanation Mr Lepais refers to the Blanchon product which stands out the most, namely Solid'Oil™. This product has already yielded exceptional results for several years and is particularly suitable for high-traffic areas. References such as the Pleyel Hall, various Printemps stores in Paris, and Ile de France or the men’s fashion specialist Gant stores are testimony to that. ‘Making parquet watertight with a lacquer offers superior protection to that of oil and also has its place in the ordinary interior. If we think, for instance of the current trend of allowing parquet to run into the kitchen, a high-traffic area. There, too, you have to meet various requirements to keep it looking good. In these cases the use of lacquer on a colour oil is recommended.’ ‘A lot of parquet floor fitters prefer to apply only tinted oil, and that leads to a splendid effect via a simple manner of application, but they thereby forget that clients also opt for easy maintenance. That’s why you can best apply a seal with a finish system which combines decorative beauty and easy maintenance both safely and durably.’ Extra cost is relative Vincent Lepais points out that the costs as compared to traditional oil and varnish are quite modest. Certainly when you realise there’s a remarkable end result just waiting for fitters and end users. ‘That’s particularly the case with the application of a colour before one or two coats of varnish, where very often an interim application of a hard primer is needed to ‘establish’ the colour before the lacquer and at least two layers of kit for maximum protection. In the case of white and pearl grey on wood which contains tannic acid (most of the cases), an anti-tannin primer is recommended. In that case six coats are needed, something which is practically and financially unaffordable.’
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Floor Forum International 122
