FFI May 2017 by Media-Pact NV / FFI bvba

INTERNATIONAL trade journal f or impor t , expor t , dis tr ibution and lay ing of par que t , laminate, cor k f loor ing and r elated pr oduc t s

N° 88, May 2017 - Price: €8 - Published 7 times a year - (Feb, March, May, July, Sept , Nov, Dec) Of fice of deliver y 9099 Ghent X , P911092, BC 31359 - Responsible Publisher: Filip De Ridder

Special: Hungary Special: Producers of style panels : who still makes them?

Special: Producers of oil for parquet

Review: Domotex asia/ CHINAFLOOR Special: Damp and hygrometers

Review: Made Expo Milan (IT) Special: Suppliers of mops and cleaning products in kit form

Pure Titan Strength Bona Titan – The next generation of powerful adhesives

PARQUET FRANÃ&#x2021;AIS

Content INTERNATIONAL trade journal f or impor t , expor t , dis tr ibu tion and lay ing of par que t , laminate, cor k f loor ing and r elated pr oduc t s

Editorial

N° 88, May 2017 - Price: €8 - Published 7 times a year - (Feb, March, May, July, Sept , Nov, Dec) Of fice of deliver y 9099 Ghent X , P911092, BC 31359 - Responsible Publisher: Filip De Ridder

Special: Hungary Special: Producers of style panels : who still makes them?

Pure Titan Strength Bona Titan – The next generation of powerful adhesives

Special: Producers of oil for parquet

“Silane adhesives have gradually revolutionised the parquet market” ‘Bona is one of the leading players in wood floor installation and renovation products. We spoke to Thomas Hallberg, strategic product manager at Bona, about developments on the wood floor adhesives market and the launch of the new Bona TITAN adhesive. ’

Review: Domotex asia/ CHINAFLOOR Special: Damp and hygrometers

Review: Made Expo Milan (IT) Special: Suppliers of mops and cleaning products in kit form

Floor Forum International n° 88 May 2017 Photo Bona

4 Inside news 8 Advertorial Chimiver Panseri Spa (IT) /Art Parquet (RU) 10 Review Domotex asia/CHINAFLOOR 13 Special Pre-colouring versus coloured oil 21 Special Producers of dispersion glues 25 Special The perfect screed 27 Special Producers of wooden and composite wall cladding:

who has what? 30 Advertorial Küberit (DE) 32 Special Suppliers of mops and cleaning products in kit form 36 Special Producers of style panels : who still makes them? 39 Special UV curing on the yard 42 Review Made Expo Milan (IT) 43 Special Damp and hygrometers 45 Special Producers of profiles specifically for LVT, PVC, and

vinyl floors 49 Special Producers of oil for parquet 53 Special Parquet & laminate in the hotel sector 55 Industry news 56 Special Hungary 58 Product news

How have you seen the wood floor adhesives market develop in recent years? ‘Actually, that market has undergone a vast change over the past decade. Since the launch of silane adhesives in 2004, those adhesives have enjoyed ongoing growth. As a result, this type of adhesive now has a Thomas Hallberg, market share in Europe of about 75%, although there strategic product manager are big differences between the different countries. (Bona) Over the years, the market has recognised that silane technology had particular benefits, whilst at the same time the increasingly strict health and environmental legislation in the various countries has also played a major part in the success of this adhesive technology.’ ‘Four years ago ISO17178 was released, helping in differentiation between the growing amount of silane based adhesives on the market. This standard ensured that adhesives could be divided into three objectively measurable classes: hard, hard-elastic, and elastic adhesives. Two parameters are measured objectively, namely elongation and shear strength. Both parameters are important when choosing the suitable product for each specific wood floor installation. It also enables us to make a better comparison between adhesives from different producers’

You’ve just launched a new pioneering adhesive, Bona Titan, a silane adhesive with new titanium technology. Where should we put this innovation in the spectrum of wood floor adhesives? ‘It’s a hard silane adhesive, which, thanks to our revolutionary titanium technology, has some unique properties. This technology has some useful features in the diverse conditions which floor fitters face every day. Due to its quality and versatility, this adhesive also offers peace of mind and extra security for the success of the project. Thanks to the titanium cross-linking, Bona Titan can cope perfectly well with various challenging conditions. Applying a primer to the substrate, for instance, is not necessary with Bona Titan and this adhesive really does set new standards in stability, thanks to the exceptional shear strength of Bona Titan. Solid parquet planks, too, remain unmoved with this adhesive, which is also ideal for laying complex fitting patterns. It adheres rapidly and the sturdy adhesive ribs reduce the risk of hollow places. Another special feature is that the floor can be sanded just twelve hours after installation. And so, there is no risk of discolouration or other interactions if the parquet is coloured or if there is an oil finish. In short, Bona Titan is an exceptional adhesive, which floor fitters can always rely on, even in very difficult conditions and when they are under severe time pressure.’

Editing & advertisements FFI bvba PO BOX 29 9870 Olsene, Belgium Tel: +32 (0)9 385 80 40 Fax: +32 (0)9 385 88 85 sales@media-pact.com www.floor-forum.com Publisher Filip De Ridder

Subscriptions to Floor Forum International: Mail to info@media-pact.com

Lay-out: Be-able Communication www.be-able.be Production: Lowyck - Oostende

Advertising & subscriptions Adriana Dascalu info@media-pact.com Hilde De Ridder floorforum@telenet.be Filip De Ridder sales@media-pact.com Editors: Jean Paul Talbot, Ludwig Janssens, Filip De Ridder Jacques Legros

Translation: Michael Robinson www.glossa.be Floor Forum International is a publication of FFi bvba.

The copyright of Floor Forum International and the articles appearing herein are retained by the publisher. By agreeing to publication of an article in this journal, the author assigns to the publisher the irrevocable and exclusive right under Copyright law to collect charges due from third parties for copying said article and to undertake legal or other action for this purpose. Editorial and advertising copy in this issue have been carefully checked and Floor Forum International bvba cannot accept any responsibility for any errors.

∂ Inside news THE PARQUET TRADE FAIR EFWEX 2018 (14-16 March Ghent BE) High time to sign up! Organised by the leading publisher of trade journals in the parquet and wooden flooring industry, the Parquet Trade Fair EFWEX 2018 has all the ingredients to be a success. If you want to keep up with current trends, make sure you’re there! EUROPEAN FLOOR & WALL EXHIBITION The following trademarks have already registered for EFWEX 2018 and have taken advantage of the 15% early-booking discount: Ciranova, Yepp, Flamingo Parket, Devomat Industries, Kerkhofs Parket, COREtec®, Rubio Monocoat, Parador, Doubly, Hesse Benelux, Rigo Verffabriek, Bauwerk, Inpa Parket, Cardotech, Spea, Abriso, Tip Top Schuurmaterialen, Hesse Lignal, Sika Belgium, Osmo, De Somer, Wood 4 U, CSP Engineering, Abetech Abrasifs, Floortech, PEFC Belgium,… Download your registration form on www.efwex.eu or call us on +32-9-3858040 or send an e-mail to sales@media-pact.com!

CSP Engineering

Top Parquet Show

EFWEX 14|16.03.2018

Blanchon Remarkable ‘Technique and Decoration ‘ days in 2017

CSP Engineering organized on 16 & 17 March DEMO days for Professionals. The event took place in the newly equipped ExperienceCenter, recently put in operation. The demonstrations attracted visitors from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, UK, Poland, Czech Republic and Latvia. The astonishment and interest was great during the live observation of PAR-Filler® ‘filling technology for wood flooring boards’ and the PAR-Scan® ‘in line measuring and packing’. The visitors had large opportunities to discuss their desired specifications and questions with the developers and engineers of CSP Engineering. General Manager Jan Peeters mentioned a successful organization, requesting to be repeated.

Vesting, father of LED oil, is proud of imitations Vesting LED hard wax oil has conquered the world

The ‘Passion for Parquet’: It is a pleasure that Blanchon and its parquet floor fitters are willing to share. As happens every year, almost 200 specialists from France and the rest of Europe had the opportunity for two whole days to glaze a parquet floor oiled and finished with Solid Oil; to discover Cimethane UV (glazer and oil) and their immediate availability with 100% ultra-performances, the Natural Effect (4% gloss, as a glazer and as an oil), the latest trends in terms of Shades, Reactive Agents, and distressing Agents; and to apply the new Oil-Wax SD (for use both on site and in the workshop), and consult fellow professionals in a very pleasant atmosphere. The day concludes with a visit to the laboratories and the production and logistical sites, and this is always greatly appreciated.

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Its success is reflected partly by the fact that others have rapidly imitated this revolutionary invention. Europe, America, and China are all convinced of its exceptional qualities. Together with huge energy savings and less harm to the environment, Vesting LED hard wax oil has proved a real game changer. With the launch of the matt version of the LED hard wax oil, Vesting has taken the next step in the ongoing development of high-quality wood surface treatment products. Vesting LED hard wax oil – unrivalled in colour, protection, and convenience. www.vesting.nl

Your

NEW DEVELOPMENTS AT KANEKA BELGIUM presents NEW LOGO

Kaneka Belgium NV celebrated the 20th birthday of Kaneka MS PolymerTM production in Belgium at the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg. Kaneka introduced the new logo which has been registered and can be used by its customers to emphasize the presence of Kaneka MS PolymerTM in their sealant-, adhesive- and coating products. This new logo illustrates the solid character of the brand and the continuous drive to innovate.

EXTENSIVE PRODUCT PORTFOLIO Kanekaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continuous strive for innovation is reflected in the Kaneka MS PolymerTM product portfolio. As a pioneer, Kaneka launched the silane terminated polyetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (STPEs) about 40 years ago in Japan. At that time the polymer portfolio was limited to highly elastic low modulus sealants. The last decades the trend towards harder adhesive grades was initiated. First by adding acryl modified MS PolymerTM grades and later by launching high strength grades. The high elasticity, paintability and good UV-resistance are important characteristics that made MS PolymerTM a success story in Japan and far beyond.

FROM PARQUET TO LVT The parquet adhesive market is already well-established with Kaneka MS PolymerTM based adhesives. On the other hand, MS PolymerTM also offers solutions for the emerging market of vinyl flooring. The composition of these floors can vary considerably because of the use of various additives. Acryl modified Kaneka MS PolymerTM ensures the production of an adhesive with a very broad adhesion profile. On top of that, the absence of solvents and isocyanates and the very low emission of VOC (volatile organic compound) in the product are other important advantages.

CONTINUOUS GROWTH There is no doubt that Kaneka MS PolymerTM is a success story in Europe as well. To keep up with the growing demand for all regular and new grades, an expansion has become necessary. Kaneka will investigate 34 million euro in the production site in Belgium to set up a 3th production line for Kaneka MS PolymerTM which will be operational in Q1 2019.

∂ Inside news Ciranova

Quebec Wood Export Bureau Quebec Wood Export Bureau created a new brochure: Creative Souls. In this brochure, we would like to showcase the brilliant work of these creative souls. From an unpretentious piece of wood, talented people have produced masterpieces. Our goal is to encourage and inspire you to use wood from trees that grow in northeast North America and also to trust Quebec manufacturers as the suppliers. In addition to this somewhat mercantile goal, we want you to indulge your senses and enjoy browsing through this brochure. The link to Creative Souls: http://quebecwoodexport.com/en/ hardwood-lumber-and-value-added-hardwood-lumber

OIL – LACQUER SYSTEM > UN1CO – FORTICO SYSTEM

To have the best possible protection with a minimum amount of maintenance, you can apply our anti-scratch lacquer FORTICO 2C on top of UN1CO. By applying FORTICO 2C NATURAL on top of the UN1CO, the natural look and feel of an oiled floor will be retained. If you want some more shine you can apply FORTICO 2C mat or satin. For more information concerning the application of the FORTICO on top of the UN1CO, please contact our technical team.

MAPEI WOOD FLOORING PRODUCTS USED IN PRESTIGIOUS WESTMINSTER APARTMENT DEVELOPMENT

Filling technology for wood flooring MACHINED FILLING OF KNOTS IN PARQUET before

after

Image Credit: Berkeley Homes (Central London) Mapei UK has specified and supplied products for the installation of wood flooring on an area of 13,000m2 throughout the prestigious Berkeley Homes Abell & Cleland Westminster apartment development. The apartment building comprises 1, 2, 3 and 4 bed apartments and penthouses which have been completed to the highest specification and using Eco-rated products from Mapei’s range of resilient products, for substrate preparation ready to receive the engineered wood flooring. Jason Mortenson, Project Director from Berkeley Homes (Central London) commented “We have used Mapei’s Eco prim T primer with great success, giving us a high quality base before starting our flooring works with the key benefits of being safe, sustainable and easy to use”. Mapei’s Eco prim T is a water based and low VOC solvent free primer for interior use, ideal for priming before installing levelling compounds.

CSP Engineering bvba Stenehei 30/10 B-2480 Dessel (Belgium) 6

Tel: +32 14 37 77 52 info@csp-engineering.com www.csp-engineering.com

Floor Forum International 88

∂ Inside news At Abell & Cleland, Eco Prim T was used throughout before applying Latexplan Trade to level and smooth the substrate, ready to receive floor coverings. Ultrabond Eco S940 1K is Mapei’s one-component, solvent and isocyanate-free sililated polymer adhesive with extremely low emissions of VOCs can be used with all types and sizes of engineered wood flooring, hence it’s suitability for the installation at Abell & Cleland. Throughout all apartment flooring in the development, Mapesonic CR sound proofing matt was laid directly below the wooden flooring to offer a 17db sound deadening reduction. The project director from Loughton Contracts Plc, the flooring contractor responsible for the supply and installation of floor finishes at Abell & Cleland, said: “The Mapei products were easy to handle and move about with the difficult daily logistical issues we faced, and confidence in application during install was high.” Mapei’s dedicated specification Centre is based in the heart of Clerkenwell and provides detailed specification and technical assistance for your project. Call 0121 50 6970 for more information and full details about Mapei’s product range.

Ciranova : expansion of International Dealer Network Thanks to some exceptional contacts made at Domotex and the growing demand for the high quality products from Ciranova, we are pleased to announce our new international distributors !

For the Canadian market we are introducing two new distributors : Stanley Cooper and Exotic Woods. Both companies are well established in the Canadian wood- and parquet market and have the majority of the Ciranova product range in stock. Tip Top in the Netherlands & Sweden are already importers of our Ciranova products and we are now pleased to welcome TIP TOP Denmark to our distribution family. The three branches in Denmark will now specialize in our 1-coat oil UN1CO, our anti-scratch lacquer FORTICO, Aquapad and our maintenance products. We also have new, highly enthusiastic distributors in Lithuania, Slovenia and New-Zealand ! If you are interested in distributing our high quality finishing products, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

D E S I G N® PA R Q U E T Fr a nc e

Customized parquet

LOFT PRO

OAK

Loft Pro XXL Semi-solid wood flooring Prime and Rustic/campagne 20 x 295 x 1800-3000 mm 2 bevels, T&G

www.designparquet.fr Floor Forum International 88

Advertorial

Chimiver Panseri Spa (IT) / Art Parquet (RU)

PARQUET WITH ORIENTAL PATTERNS FOR PRESIDENTIAL HOME IN TAJIKISTAN CHIMIVER PARQUET TECHNOLOGY FOR PARQUET WITH EXCEPTIONALLY COMPLEX MARQUETRY

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re prepared to travel a long way for exceptional projects. In one of the residences of the president of Tajikistan we found this new parquet floor with oriental patterns, intricate medallions, and boards in various types of wood. The parquet floors were made expertly by the internationally renowned Russian parquet company Art Parquet. For the fitting and finish they called upon the services of the top quality European parquet chemical products from Chimiver.

Oriental patterns The presidential residence is located in Dushanbe, the capital of this mountainous Central Asiatic country. Eventually, Art Parquet fitted over 2,000 square metres of parquet floors. The most exceptional

Floor Forum International 88

parquet floor was also to be found here. This was an intricate style parquet with lavish oriental patterns and ornamental trees in lots of shades.

Whole range of wood sorts Art Parquet itself produced and fitted the floor. The company is both a manufacturing and fitting company and is based in the region around Moscow. It justifiably commands an outstanding reputation in Russia and beyond. It has a wealth of experience with projects involving a high degree of difficulty, but for that purpose can count on the expertise of its production staff and fitters. Art Parquet has already renovated several prestigious houses and buildings in Russia and beyond and fitted them with splendid parquet floors.

The marquetry for the parquet in this residence comprises a range of wood sorts in order to obtain intricate patterns with a wide diversity of shades. The list of wood sorts for this parquet floor is very long and exclusive: oak, walnut, maple, ash, merbau, yatoba, padauk, kempas, wenge, karelia birch, lemon wood, amarant, and plataan.

Knowledge and experience required It was not only the production of the style panels for the parquet in this palace which was complex, but also the fitting itself. The room which we find there has rounded walls, and that made the fitting an extra challenge for the floor fitters. The entire plan of the parquet floor to be fitted was marked in expert fashion on the subfloor. After that, the fitters started work, and, moreover, they had to adapt the supplied wood to the whimsical contours of the room with the required flexibility. The planks between the medallions and ornamental boards were produced in yatoba and merbau. All other wood sorts mentioned above are worked into the intricate eastern figures which adorn the floor.

daytime temperatures of up to 45°C. However, the work couldn’t be postponed – you don’t keep a president waiting. The high temperatures meant that the parquet lacquer dried faster than it would have done in milder temperatures. The vast experience of the Art Parquet fitting team meant that the accelerated drying of the parquet lacquer did not present any impossible problems and the floor was completed in perfect condition. For more information please visit us on www.chimiver.com

Top chemicals from Chimiver For glueing and finishing the solid parquet sections, Art Parquet relied on Chimiver technology. The parquet sections were glued securely with Chimiver SIGOL. SIGOL is a two-component epoxy PU adhesive without water. It is suitable for glueing wood onto various sorts of subfloors and ensured an outstanding result here, too. After they had sandpapered the wood, they first applied a two-component polyurethane primer, namely FONDO WR306. This primer has outstanding coverage qualities and can be sandpapered with no problem at all. Joints and gnarls were sealed using the Polifilm TP10 Legastucco. The floor was then lacquered with Ecostar 2K which is a two-component gloss waterborne polyurethane lacquer. This lacquer has a high quantity of solid matter and scores excellently in terms of durability. And so, the floor is ready for years of intensive use. You don’t expect anything less for a presidential residence.

Heatwave One final peculiarity of this parquet project were the weather conditions in which the floors were fitted. At the time of the fitting (last summer), Dushanbe was in the middle of a heatwave with

Floor Forum International 88

Review

Domotex asia/CHINAFLOOR

THE 19 EDITION OF DOMOTEX ASIA/CHINAFLOOR CONCLUDED STRONGER THAN EVER TH

products to the audience before and during the exhibition. More than 500 new products were launched on the show’s dedicated online platform by over 400 exhibitors. Visitors voted online and onsite for their favorite innovative products choosing the Top 10 from wood, carpet and resilient sectors. The companies that received an award under the category 2017 Top 10 New Products were: ERE FLOORING, FUYU WOVEN, FUXING CARPET, PROPARQ, HOMEDEC WEIYA CARPET, INNOMASTER HOME, JIALI CARPET, KINGDOM PLASTICS, TAISHAN ARTIFICIAL TURF INDUSTRY, and YINGTAIHONGYE HOME DECORATION. Onsite, visitors had a chance to preview and experience a selection of 50 new products displayed in 2 dedicated InnovAction Centers. cadex, the international hub for connecting, learning and doing business in the design and architecture industry was held for the second year concurrently to DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR. cadex hosted three days of conferences, networking, interactive events, creative displays, and much more.

DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR, the leading flooring tradeshow in Asia-Pacific, opened its doors to visitors and exhibitors from all around the world during March 21-23, 2017 at the Shanghai New Exhibition Centre. 1,364 exhibitors from 40 different countries, among which 313 were international, exhibited both traditional and innovative flooring products in an extended gross area of 145,000sqm spread throughout 13 halls. Ten countries, namely Afghanistan, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Iran, Turkey, The Netherlands and USA were also represented through country pavilions. The total number of visitors increased by 8.2 % from the previous edition and reached 54,529 visitors, among which 12,812 were international flooring professionals. “Again DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR confirmed its leading position in Asia-Pacific. In particular, the huge variety of domestic and international brands proved the profound commitment of the flooring industry “, said Ms. Susanne Klaproth, Global Director DOMOTEX at Deutsche Messe, one of the organizers of the show. “We received a very positive feedback from our exhibitors who appreciate the high quality of the visitors. This motivates us to keep on targeting the best buyers of carpets and floor coverings from China and Asia-Pacific. “ The InnovAction Flooring program once again gave DOMOTEX asia/ CHINAFLOOR 2017 exhibitors the opportunity to showcase their newest

Floor Forum International 88

For the first time, DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR in collaboration with COVER magazine successfully hosted “Luxury Brands”, a contemporary high-end handmade design carpet showcase in the heart of hall W5. Luxury Brands consisted of an exclusive display area which featured a curated selection of high-end hand-made carpets from some of the top international rug brands, namely: Amadi Carpets, Ariana Rugs, Art Resources, Ayka Design, Creative Matters, Hossein Rezvani, Knots Rugs, New Moon, Rug Star, Samad, Tissage, Wool & Silk Rugs and Zollanvari. The Luxury Brands showcase was met with great enthusiasm and interest by the visiting audience, showing a clear trend setting in the Asian market for the handmade carpet sector. The exhibition’s halls were flooded by visitors from China, Asia-Pacific and other regions of the world, who came to discover new trends, technologies and innovations and took part in 33 conferences, events and seminars around flooring practices, applications and modern day challenges, presented by world-renowned flooring experts, professionals and designers. Events like the “ALL IN ONE Home Decoration Industry and Wooden Products Development Summit” and the “Bamboo Flooring and Outdoor Decking Matchmaking” attracted a plethora of both domestic and international flooring visitors, while cadex conferences such as the “Luxury Boutique Hotel Design” and “Smart Home” were fully packed with architecture and interior design professionals. Another feature that continued its successful route following its 2016 launch was the US Distributor Delegation that brought together 10 flooring professionals from some of the biggest flooring distributing companies in the US for a China Factory Tour before the exhibition and onsite B2B match making with selected exhibitors during DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR. “The breadth of products at the exhibition was simply incredible. It is something that any executive who deals with Asian manufacturing should experience. I would definitely say the trip provided me with extra knowledge that will prove crucial for future

dealings.” – said Chuck Greene, hardwood product manager at Apollo Distributing. Future is looking particularly bright for DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR 2018, which will mark its 20th year on the forefront of the flooring industry in Asia as the leading flooring tradeshow. With a phenomenal onsite rebooking rate of 64 % and an excellent feedback from the exhibition’s visitors, the 2018 edition is sure to come back even more enriched and maintain its position as the No. 1 flooring exhibition both for exhibitors and for visitors in Asia-Pacific.

Some exhibitors : Adesiv

market leader and manufacturer of products for wooden floors installation, finishing and cleaning-nourishing such as adhesives, water-based lacquers, primers, care-maintenance line, outdoor line and recently for decorative microcements/resins as well as resilient and synthetic grass, it has been a natural step/evolution the opening of CHIMIVER Shanghai branch, a clear signal of the strong will to invest on the chinese market. According to FMI estimate, the China GPD increase in 2017 will be 8% (vs 2.4% average of most advanced economies) and individual private income continously raising as well; further elements supporting our decision. Once more, also in Shanghai the choice of the right partner is making the difference, permitting to write another chapter of CHIMIVER successul history. Keep up the good work!!

Kaneka

Adesiv was pleased to be in attendance again at this second biggest floor show in the world, which covers 140,000m² of space. Adesiv, which has made glues for the building industry since 1971, but also for the shoe and paper sectors, offers customised solutions for the flooring industry. Andrea & Filippo Dal Ponte and Enrico Passerini told us: ‘Contacts with the Chinese market were very good once again. We had lots of contacts with Chinese operators, but also from Argentina, South America, and Australia.’ Adesiv silane adhesives and primers for the preparation of the subfloor attracted the most interest. Adesiv’s export efforts over many years and the quality of their products mean it is no coincidence that they operate in over 40 countries worldwide.

Kaneka showed MS PolymerTM based Parquet and LVT adhesives. Both locally produced and European import products were exhibited. A lot of flooring and interior construction companies visited the booth. The key message of Kaneka was to strengthen the environmentally friendliness of MS PolymerTM: very low VOC, odorless, solvent- and isocyanate free. All these features have already been recognized in the Chinese market and even more welcomed by Chinese users in the near future. Construction developers and big flooring manufactures are very much interested in MS technology and offer solutions to the people in China looking for safe, healthy and clean air to improve their quality of life.

Chimiver Panseri Spa

Premium-Profile System PPS®-Champion

For the fourth consecutive year CHIMIVER PANSERI SPA, recognised as one of main worldwide players in the industry of wooden floors treatments, exhibited at Domotex Asia Chinafloor from March 22-24th, 2017 obtaining even more great success than past editions in terms of visitors. New and older professional partners, both local and foreigners, all together meeting in CHIMIVER booth curiously informing and discussing about our wide range of quality products for wooden floors installation, treatment and care-maintenance. Needless to say, CHIMIVER PANSERI is constantly present in all those areas since many years, nowdays working in 60 different countries all over the world. Considering the above figures and being a consolidated

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Küberit Generation 4.0: more security, more comfort and flexibility At Domotex Asia in Shanghai Küberit was present as in the last years. The newest development of their patented premium profile system PPSChampion generation 4.0 was one of the highlights. Three grooves and a pre-determined bending point in the base profile provides an application range from 6.5 to 18 mm. The connection profile can be used for adjacent floor coverings of the same height or with floorings with a height difference up to 5 mm. Hence the profile systems offers 67 % advantage than conventional systems. Due to the larger base with 400 mm width means 82 % larger fixing surface. New smooth surface also available in stainless steel optic mat brushed.

Floor Forum International 88

Review

Domotex asia/CHINAFLOOR

Stauf Gateway to Asia: STAUF at DOMOTEX in Shanghai Products for the flooring sector are becoming ever more popular in Asia. To establish STAUF Klebstoffwerk GmbH more securely in China and to strengthen existing contacts to industry and dealers, adhesives specialist STAUF presented itself at DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR. This international trade fair in Shanghai is the most important trade show for carpets and flooring in Asia. From 21 to 23 March, STAUF and its sales partner Shanghai Inwood exhibited their wares in the German pavilion at Shanghai's New International Exhibition Centre. Here, visitors were able to get to know products with the "Made in Germany" quality guaran-tee. Under the heading "Experience adhesive technology", the adhesives manufacturer from the Siegerland region of Germany presented its entire range of flooring technology prod-ucts. Visitors to DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR were able to meet STAUF directly and expe-rience the world of adhesives with all of the senses. They were able to touch and hold prod-uct constructions, adhesive samples and tools, watch entertaining installation videos on flat screens and take a look at a wall of application pictures. Since STAUF as a brand and manufacturer of wood flooring adhesives is still relatively un-known in the Asian market,

OUTDOOR DECKING

TREATMENT

and the topic of underfloor heating - and thus also flooring ad-hesives - is becoming increasingly important in China, STAUF focused decisively on wood flooring adhesives as well as lacquers and oils at the trade fair. This year, STAUF Klebstoffwerk GmbH was represented at DOMOTEX in Shanghai for the third time.

Lalegno This year was Lalegno’s third participation in Domotex Asia Shanghai and it was once again a success. Engineered wooden floors are becoming very popular, also in Asia, but despite the large number of competitors, we found that the beautiful colors of our range and the huge variety of Lalegno floors were very well received. The new UV products on birch multiplex with oak top layer of 4mm, could count on a lot of attention. All this resulted in some very interesting contacts that offer excellent prospects for the future of Lalegno in China.

Neuhofer Holz Convincing innovation and a new campaign Neuhofer Holz presented its innovations and the tried and tested FN product pallet – each time with their own stand – at the trade fairs Domotex Asia in Shanghai / China (21. - 23.3.2017) and, for the first time, at Suisse Floor in Luzern / Switzerland (29. 31.3.2017). The new campaign, which visualises all the processes behind skirting board production in miniaturised illustrations, was also presented. “We were very satisfied with both trade fairs and had some promising meetings”, says Managing Director Franz Neuhofer.

Wintersteiger

LIOS SUNDECK WOOD OIL Outdoor wood oil impregnator particularly recommended for the treatment of outdoor wooden floors (swimming pool edges, verandas, walkways), window and door frames, fences and canopies made of wood.

CARE

PRO

Chimiver Chimiver ChimiverChannel Chimiver APPs

CHIMIVER PANSERI S.p.A. - Via Bergamo, 1401 - 24030 PONTIDA (BG) - ITALY Tel. +39 035 795031 - Fax +39 035 795556 - chimiver.com - info@chimiver.com

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New entry-level model for precision thin cutting of wood. Wintersteiger is opening up new possibilities with the DSB Compact 310 single-module band saw! The machine was developed as an entry-level model for the precise thin-cutting of wood. Adapted exactly to customer requirements, it cuts wooden blocks with a width up to 310 mm and with a kerf starting at 1.1 mm – with an excellent price/ performance ratio. A newly-developed conveyor belt feed system transports wooden blocks at speeds between 1 and 16 m/min. At those speeds, the machine achieves a cutting precision of +/- 0.2 mm.

Special

Pre-colouring versus coloured oil

PRE-COLOURING OR A COLOUR OIL FINISH? SAME PALLET, DIFFERENT DURABILITY

Photo – Rubio Monocoat

You see it more and more; association or sports club members pick up their paint brushes to freshen up their meeting room, a solid wood building about 30 years old. The somewhat dark, yet still delightfully charming wooden interiors are given a coat of ‘white’ or ‘ broken white’ and, well, it’s as if the room suddenly looks a whole lot bigger. Obviously, there are advocates and opponents, but it is still a fact that you can do anything with wood. And so, it’s no surprise that the idea of ‘coloured’ wood is now in fashion in installations and therefore in new buildings. The different ways of applying colour have one thing in common, namely the fact that the colour pallet is endless!

The ‘drastic’ techniques We will see below that from a technical point of view there are two distinct ways of colouring a wooden floor (or wood). Both techniques have advantages and drawbacks. Both techniques offer a ‘different’ (or even no) degree of protection. Apart from the two techniques which are available and which parquet floor fitters can execute perfectly well in their workshops or on site, there are a few other colour methods which have an impact on the wood itself. Smoking and thermal treatment

have one effect in common, namely that they make the wood ‘darker’. That process of ‘darkening’ was a technique to give wood (oak, for instance) the look of an antique floor or a rare exotic wood sort.

Smoking Smoking wooden planks highlights the specific grain of the wood. The structure of each separate plank comes out. Each plank is in fact different and has its own look. Sun, wind, rain, and soil have caused this natural distinction and smoking the wood highlights those influences clearly. The process of smoking makes the plank somewhat darker. Oak is still the type of wood which lends itself ‘most willingly’ to smoking. The effect is even stronger with double-smoked oak floors. Traditionally, ammonia has been used to smoke wood. Today, there are several alternative products to ammonia.

Thermal ‘colouring’ Thermal treatments turn the wood darker. They give the wood a darker brown colour which resembles the effect of a smoked floor. The big advantage is that the floorboards treated in this way are also coloured immediately in the mass, and that means they can be sandpapered several times without losing their colour. The question arises

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as to whether the treatment (cost price) is worth the final result. The improved stability is certainly a benefit if we are going to apply this treatment indoors to European soft wood sorts. If we are going to treat oak thermally, you could ask the question: ‘What have we actually gained apart from a nice colour?’ Oak is already very stable in itself. Yet we must admit that the floors which we have looked at where thermal treatment had been used certainly were beautiful. The treatment also lends itself perfectly to distressing floorboards.

Pre-colouring parquet What exactly is pre-colouring? We speak of pre-colouring because the treatment to achieve the required colour (across the entire surface or just a part) is applied prior to the actual finish. In other words, the finish still has to be applied after the colouring. This also applies to smoking and thermal treatment. This conclusion immediately illustrates one of the drawbacks of pre-colouring parquet. A pre-colouring treatment doesn’t offer any protection from the influences against which we want to protect parquet: wear and tear, scrapes, damage, chemical damage, damage from household products, sunlight, etc. Apart from smoking and thermal treatment, the most important way of pre-colouring parquet is ‘staining’.

Creating contrast Staining parquet can give the wood any colour as required, from black and blue-grey to white, anything is possible. The stain penetrates deeply into the wood, creates a nice contrast, and thereby highlights the specific wood structure. Stain is often a traditional product for ennobling wood on a base of natural linseed oil. This wood stain is ideal for colouring wood, parquet, and wooden floors with both ordinary and noble wood sorts.

Countless shades of ‘stain’ Stains appear in a vast range of colours. In the past, most stains were available in wood colours. And so, for example, it was possible to give a cheap pine floor the look of oak by means of a darker oak colour. Nowadays, the colouring agents appear in a range of trendy colours. Each wood sort can be given a completely different appearance by applying certain colours.

Imitating other wood sorts By applying a red shade, for instance, you get the effect of American red oak. By colouring light wood sorts extremely dark, you give them the airs of certain tropical wood sorts. Even now, you have to be a connoisseur to distinguish (almost) black coloured oak from a wood such as wenge or to distinguish extremely dark coloured oak from pangapanga. In this respect coloured (cheaper) wood sorts can act as a substitute for often unaffordable tropical hardwood sorts for which the substitute is equally no match in terms of hardness.

The wonder of colour oil We start here with the big advantage of colour oil over the various pre-colouring techniques. Indeed, as we’ve already said, some ways of colouring wood still need to be supplemented with a protective treatment. With a coloured oil we apply both protection and colour in a single finish product. This method is suitable for all new wooden floors or recently sandpapered parquet in all wood sorts. Most colour oils are transparent. A finish coat with these oils also provides a good protective coat.

Also ‘all over’ Since oil penetrates deeply into the pores of the wood, the same can be said of colour oil. The benefit is that you can achieve a colouring all over to a certain extent. Lots of other colouring products or techniques result

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Pre-colouring versus coloured oil

in a colouring on the surface. A possible drawback is that if we want to renovate the floor, it is not so simple to abandon the chosen colour.

Also an endless colour pallet Coloured oils consist of a wide range of modern and timeless colours. They are usually prepared by adding dyes to the natural oil. And so, this transparent colouring for wooden floors can be supplied in many different colours which can even be combined with each other. What is remarkable is that producers no longer draw their inspiration mainly from a range of wood shades, but from other colours which have nothing to do with the wood sorts. Moreover, colour oils can still be combined with other treatments such as soaking in lye and smoking to obtain very different results. Conclusion The benefits and drawbacks summarised Oil requires only one work session Most techniques for colouring wood still don’t provide any protection. And so, they need a supplementary finish. That can be wax, lacquer, or oil. In the case of colour oil the colouring and the protection is applied in one movement. That obviously saves time. With all the well known benefits of oil Oil preserves the natural look of the wood like no other finish. The structure, the grains, and the colour all stay close to the properties of an untreated floor. Since the oil impregnates the wood (i.e. it fills the pores of the wood), a floor treated with oil repels damp and dirt. Scratches on an oiled floor are obviously possible, but

they stand out less than scratches on a lacquered floor. Moreover, an oiled floor is easy to maintain and when an oiled floor is due for some thorough refreshment, it doesn’t have to be sand papered. The durability with renovation The fact that oil penetrates deeply into the wood is both a blessing and a curse in the case of renovation: a blessing because the colour is preserved, and a curse because it is not easy to abandon the colour.

What’s on the market? Bona Bona presents the colour oil Bona Craft Oil 2K, which can be finished with the 2-component lacquer Bona Traffic for extra solidarity. Bona Craft Oil 2K, a 2-component parquet oil based on vegetable oils, ensures rapid drying and the very best protection. It is the ideal finish for sometimes difficult wood sorts such as kambala, afzelia, and walnut and is also suitable for use on smoked oak and steamed beech. Bona Craft Oil 2K provides an exceptionally splendid and water and stain-proof surface and is ready for use after a drying time of just 8 to 12 hours. The benefits? Easy

Most invisible finish on the market

The LOBA

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LOBA GmbH & Co. KG Leonberger Str. 56-62 | 71254 Ditzingen | Germany Fon: +49 7156 357-0 | Fax: +49 7156 357-211 E-Mail: service@loba.de | www.loba.de LOBA – The surface specialist for wood and cork floors

www.ciranova.be | info@ciranova.be | Tel. +32 (0)51 30 11 40 Also available for industrial application

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Pre-colouring versus coloured oil

application, fast drying, compliant with VOC legislation, compliant with the EN 71-3 norm for use on children’s toys, and it can be painted over. This oil is available in 11 colours in line with the most popular colours amongst floor owners. The Bona Craft Oil 2K system also enables you to opt for extra effects by using the following products: Bona Nordic Tone, Bona Rich Tone (Grey), and Bona Mix Colour.

with the content substances. The colour stain can be finished with lacquer or oil, the lye stain with oil.

Chimiver Chimiver presents Colour GTN. Colour GTN is a water-based impregnation product for giving wood complete protection. The product is recommended for both indoor and outdoor use. A whole range of AMC products can be added to GTN Colour to obtain a colour entirely as required by the client. Colour GTN is available in 18 different colours. The application can be carried out two or three times.

Blanchon Treatments to affect the original colour of the wood have always been in existence. For about thirty years now, the market has been offering water-based colourings, which, amongst other things, have the advantage of being more resistant to light. Blanchon offers a full assortment of colourings, decorations, and distressing options with two ranges: a range of distressing options and a range with a number of reactives. Blanchon has developed Aquateinte 2K specially for parquet. This is obviously water-based and available in six wood colours and six shades from black to white. For small surfaces there is Wood Stain (‘Teinte à bois’) with 12 wood colours, white, black, and five shades of grey. The Wood Distresser (‘Vieillisseur Bois’) from Blanchon offers 10 nuances with five shades of grey. The Reactives and Sheens (‘Reactifs et Patines’) react to the tannic acid in the wood and yield a number of surprising colour effects, depending on the product: Wood Reactive – Tannic, Wood Reactive – Greyed, and White Sheen. All these treatments obviously still require a protective finish. Most products can be applied both on site and in the workshop. Obviously, Blanchon also presents a range of colour oils. According to Blanchon, a new trend is undoubtedly the combination of these pre-treatments with a lacquer finish. And so, consumers get a much coveted exceptional look with the easy maintenance of a lacquered floor.

Bichemie For pre-colouring wooden floors Bichemie offers Trae Lyx colour stain and lye stain. They have noticed a growing demand, for instance, for shades of grey and colouring lighter wood sorts to give them a more luxurious look. These products are used both on site and in the workshop by the parquet floor fitter, but even consumers themselves apply them. The products under the Trae Lyx trademark are water-based; drying time is five hours. Bichemie believes that this working method gives a deeper colour than with colour oil. The lye stain colours by creating a reaction

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Ciranova Ciranova presents some unique colourings in its range. A distressing stain (lye stain) is particularly suitable for distressing wood which contains tannic acid, such as oak and pine. This is suitable only for indoor use. Aquapad is uniform and easy to apply and provides an even look and allows the wood grain to come into its own. Due to its special composition and user-friendliness, Aquapad is ideal for colouring large surfaces such as parquet. Aquavintage is a water-based reactive stain to give the wood a distressed look quickly and easily. This is also suitable only for indoor use. Vintage is a water-based reaction stain to give oak a weathered vintage look. Parquet floor fitters and manufacturers are always looking for innovations. Ciranova has some unique colours which offer a lot of options in combination with coloured oil. That’s why they are still seeing growth in pre-colourings year after year. The products can be applied on site or in the workshop. How important is pre-colouring? A colour oil usually provides a less intense colour. Pre-colouring the wood will give it a more intense colour. Furthermore, you can obtain a vast number of different finishes by combining pre-colourings with coloured oils. If you finish colours with a water-based varnish, it is always advisable to test this first. It is best to apply water-based varnishes mechanically to prevent discolouration.

DevoNatural® For pre-colouring parquet and wooden floors, Devomat offers clients two lines of products: DevoNatural® Easy Colour (a vegetable colour stain) and DevoNatural® Reactive (a reactive distress product with smoked effect for ‘oak’ parquet and wooden floors). In addition, DevoNatural® Floor Paint is a covering

universal water-dilutable adhesion primer based on vegetables. It can be applied to various substrates such as wood, stone, concrete, synthetics, etc. DevoNatural® Floor Paint serves as a covering primer and can be finished further with any DevoNatural® varnish. Since the launch of DevoNatural® Easy Colour, Devomat has noticed that, despite the convenience of the product, more floors are once again being coloured. There is a growing demand for unique colour combinations e.g. the floor is distressed with DevoNatural® Reactive and then finished with a coloured DevoNatural® High Solid Oil. For DevoNatural ®Easy Colour Devomat also offers the option of creating customised colours. Both product lines can be applied on site, in the workshop, or in the factory. DevoNatural® Easy Colour gives a deeper colour to the entire floor, whilst a colour oil will highlight mainly the grain and only to a lesser extent the surface. DevoNatural® Reactive is a reactive product and cannot be compared to a colour oil or another colouring product. The distressing effect depends on the tannic acid content and thereby differs from plank to plank. This gives a unique look to each parquet floor. Both products can be finished with any DevoNatural® finish product (lacquers, oils, or beeswax).

Ecofa Ecofa is also finding that colouring parquet floors is in fashion, certainly for dark types of wood. They recommend applying a coloured ‘background’ and then a finish (read: protection) with a colourless hard wax oil. A colourless protection at the end offers greater durability. The white shades are the ones most in demand. The shade can be applied in special hard wax oil, but dyes are also possible. At Ecofa they present five basic colours: antique oak, dark walnut, dark brown, black, and Makassar.

FAXE Faxe produces an extensive range of colouring agents for pre-colouring wooden floors. This range includes products for the chemical conversion of the wood fibre to a smoked, distressed grey, black, or simply a lighter shade. White effects or contrasting colours are also available. The fact that the market is growing is the fruit of the ‘yearning’ for exclusivity. The company has been offering those products since 1926, but, until recently, classic shades dominated, whilst now there is a demand for tailor-made colours. The products are available for application on site or in the factory. Depending on the dosage, the drying time varies from a few minutes to an hour. Pre-colouring causes a chemical reaction. The effect for Faxe is much more intense than that of a colour oil. Once the pre-colours have dried, any finish can be applied.

Floorservice Prime Design Line offers a wide range of pre-treatment products Prime Old Grey

Hesse Hesse offers a full assortment of stains for this purpose. These stains should be applied to the bare wood and finished with the customary parquet finish systems. In addition, parquet can also be coloured using a coloured oil. A combination of both is often offered. Consumers and parquet traders like to stand out from the rest. In that context colouring parquet is an exquisite manner of creating a floor which can be found nowhere else. Parquet is coloured on site or in the workshop. There are both industrial and traditional methods of colouring parquet. For each method Hesse supplies the most suitable product. The drying time for a stain is about four hours, depending on the ventilation and temperature. A stain is a concentrated colouring agent with which colour can be applied quickly and intensively. A coloured oil is an oil to which a small quantity of colouring agent is added. The concentration of colouring agent is therefore many times lower in an oil than in a stain. This means that it is harder to apply intensive colouring to wood with an oil. Several coats are needed.

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Gives oak a weathered appearance. The possibilities and variations are numerous and leads to various creative and commercially attractive shades. Prime Old Grey is available in three types, I, V en X. Prime Old Black Developed to provide a black base for oak. Finishing the floor with Floorservice Hardwax-oil offers the possibility of completely black floor or a black floor with a brown, grey, white or even metallic finish. Prime Colors Available in four colors: White, Black, Grey, Brown. When applying the Prime Colors, varying with the intensity of buffing allows for different effects ranging from very light, almost transparent up to full intense colouring. Prime Stain Suitable for mechanical application by either spray- or roller-coater. After the initial treatment with one of the Floorservice Prime Stains, the floor needs to be polished prior to application of the top-coat.

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Pre-colouring versus coloured oil

Glimtrex

Impact Oil. A finish with one of the beeswaxes from their assortment is also possible. To do that, they always recommend applying one coat of HS 2K Impact Oil.

Loba

Glimtrex offers two colouring variants. The Hard Wax Oil is available in the most popular colours with the addition of dyes. The first coat is immediately stronger than most colour alternatives. The same asset also applies to Glimtrex Hard Wax Oil, namely the more you apply, the greater the protection. The system dries within three to six hours. 95% of the entire structure is dry within 24 hours. That is better than most traditional systems. Last year, Glimtrex launched a new system. Based on the basic oil and nine dyes, this system means a variety of 180 colours. A finish is possible with Unio oil, hard wax oil from Glimtrex, or the 2K waterborne lacquer. And so, clients have a choice of three finishes which the market offers. For retailers this means a mass of possible choices on 1m².

Lecol Lecol presents two types of products for pre-colouring impregnation oil in its range. These pre-colours are ideal for combination with their high-quality impregnation oil Lobadur® HS 2K Impact Oil. This oil is available in 18 modern shades and a transparent version. The transparent version and colours can be mixed together to create an even greater colour pallet. The first product is Lobasol® Active Colour. This is a reactive stain which reacts to the tannic acid present in the wood, which is present mainly in oak. Active Colour is available in the colours brown and grey. There is also Lobasol® Pre-Tone. This is a water-based stain which is suitable for all types of wood. Pre-Tone is available in the colours black, brown, and white and is very simple to apply. Pre-Tone can also be used in combination with the new oil-based primer Lobadur® HS 2K Intensive/Colour A.T. under a lacquer system. These products have been developed to treat new untreated or renovated floors on site. It is also possible to apply these products in the floor fitter’s workshop before the floor is fitted. The Pre-Tone pre-colour can be finished with impregnation oil, HS 2K Impact Oil, or in combination with the new oil-based primer Lobadur® HS 2K Intensive/Colour A.T. The Active Colour can be finished only with impregnation oil or HS 2K

Floor Forum International 88

Loba presents two types of products for pre-colouring impregnation oil in its range. These pre-colours are ideal for combination with their high-quality impregnation oil Lobadur® HS 2K Impact Oil. This oil is available in 18 modern shades and a transparent version. The transparent version and colours can be mixed together to create an even greater colour pallet. The first product is Lobasol® Active Colour. This is a reactive stain which reacts to the tannic acid present in the wood, which is present mainly in oak. Active Colour is available in the colours brown and grey.

Rigo Verffabriek Rigo Verffabriek offers five reactive stains. The Rigo Reactive Stain is available in the colours smoked, salted, seasoned, charred, and white wash. Furthermore, upon request, Rigo can make any required colour in (water-based) stain in its workshop. The market for reactive stains is fairly stable and aged colours are still a trend. Most of those types of products are made for machine processing by means of (semi-)industrial processors, but stains can be deployed perfectly well on site with the necessary skill. The drying time of a water-based pre-colouring in the shape of a stain is between one and a few hours as a rule. If we’re talking about reactive (colour) stains, then apart from the ‘drying time’ you also need to allow extra time for thorough drying before continuing with the Royl Oil. A stain can be used perfectly well to deepen a colour oil. Furthermore, effects with contrasting colour oil from ROYL offer almost unlimited possibilities. Coloured floors pre-treated with Colour Wash 2K can be lacquered with no problem at all. If colouring is also achieved with a reactive stain as well as with the Colour Wash 2K it depends entirely on the type and the coat thickness of the applied pre-colouring. As a rule it is not easy to finish a reactive stain with a water-based lacquer/varnish simply because the reactive elements will react as soon as water comes into contact with them.

Rubio Monocoat, King of Colours

Timberex

Rubio Monocoat has been the king of colours on wood since 2005, due to the wide range of colours. RMC Oil Plus 2C oil for interior applications includes 40 standard colours, which will colour and protect the wood in one single layer. In 2017, 3 Chic Collections were added to that, based on the colour trends for interior design. To create special contrasts, a pre-colour may be selected. These have been designed for use with our oil finish. Consequently, the molecular binding of the oil continues to be guaranteed, which ensures that the wood is optimally protected. The RMC Fumed & Smoke are two reactive pre-colours. Because reactive pre-colours are very beautiful, but difficult to reproduce, Rubio Monocoat offers Precolor Easy, a range of 14 non-reactive pre-colours. These are always reproducible and are also a lot stronger than reactive pre-colours. The combination of 14 pre-colours with 40 Oil Plus 2C colours results in endless creative possibilities, especially because the colours from the Precolor Easy range can also be mixed with each other.

Timberex doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make any products based on colouring agents for pre-colouring. Colouring is done in combination with natural Timberex oils (www. Timberex.com). In its range Timberex presents the Timberex Coloured in which the products can be mixed together to make practically any colour. Staining is an alternative. For the protection of parquet and wood in general Timberex offers the Fassitek series of products. Sometimes, after staining, additional protection is necessary in the form of a coat of varnish such as Plasti parquet, Fassithane series, or Rust oleum 4900. The products can be finished on site or in the factory. Amongst other things, the choice depends on the question of whether or not a protective layer is necessary before the parquet is fitted. Drying times are difficult to determine and depend on a large number of factors. The applicable times for each coat are given in the technical specifications. The Timberex oils are maintained with similar products, not with lacquers, due to possible (bees)wax in the oil.

Prime Old Grey I V X Prime Old Grey gives a weathered appearance to oak. The possibilities and variations are numerous by finishing the floor subsequently with one of the 34 standard colours of the Floorservice Hardwax-oil Classic, Pro of Profiline. The water-based product Prime Old Grey offers very attractive market possibilities for both industrial and manual application.

Prime Old Grey I

Prime Old Grey V

Prime Old Grey X

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Pre-colouring versus coloured oil

Tover Tover offers several very innovative colouring systems to create highly customized finishes : with a solvent free single-coat oil available in more than 30 colours to achieve a rustic or contemporary look: L’Olio 100%. Or using water-based reactive stains to get distressed grey, smoked, black or bleached effects: Bosch Vej, Gris and Ciair. And why not by using “Design Maker kit” composed of a water-based stain, Belle Epoque in its 12 shades of gray, sand and brown overcoatable with a neutral or coloured oil to obtain natural two-tones finishes? If a higher resistance and protection is requested for intense traffic, it is also possible to apply a coat of water-based lacquer over the stain or oil! Innovation and Design!

Vesting Colouring floors is extremely popular, especially in the middle and upper segments. At Vesting they have noticed that consumers are

looking for a richer experience and new colours, so they experiment a lot with several colours. There is a demand for more depth in the floor. Vesting can give this with modern stains and oils, but also through new application combinations. One of these, for example, is to treat the wood first with a colour stain and then apply a colour oil to the whole surface. The grain colours differently to the rest of the plank to create a sort of 3-D effect. Basically, colouring looks nice on just about all sorts of wood. Vesting has already completed tests with many popular sorts and had good results. The biggest demand at present is for colouring oak floors. All colour oils are based on natural oil. Shades of white and grey are still the favourites. However, in recent times, Vesting has witnessed a growing demand for shades of brown. The company also has the Nazir Collection. This is a wax oil in the colours mother-of-pearl, gold, and silver. The use of aluminium dyes with these colours gives the floor a sparkling appearance. This results in an extra luxurious look. Since these oils can also be used as a top coat, they can be combined with other colour oils and stains from Vesting.

OIL STAIN Especially for the professional colouring of wooden floors - seamless and individual! > Transparent or intensive coloured, for interior use > Highly recommended for solid wood, plank, strip, OSB flooring; also for furniture surfaces and edge-glued panels > Oil Stain enables the individual coloring of wood surfaces and produces a microporous and breathable surface.

Floor Forum International 88

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Special

Producers of dispersion glues

FLEXIBLE FLOOR COVERINGS TAKE A FANCY TO DISPERSION GLUE A GLUE FOR STABLE WOOD SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL

Photo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Soudal

Water dispersion adhesives should be used to glue stable wood, and even then preferably sections of wood in small sizes such as mosaic parquet or subfloor, planks, etc. A water dispersion glue is best used on absorbent substrates so that the water extracted from the glue is absorbed not only by the wood, but also by the absorbent subfloor. Dispersion glues, and some PU glues, are also ideal for flexible floor coverings (apart from cork) such as vinyl and linoleum.

Definition and composition Dispersion glues consist of a synthetic resin (binding agent), which is dispersed in water. These glues consist for 50 to 65% of solid matter. The most common synthetic resins are polyvinyl acetate, acrylate, polyurethane, and derivatives of those synthetic resins. An organic thinner is added to dispersion glues for special applications in order to disperse the binding agent (mostly by using a synthetic resin with a limited melting point). This is done in percentages from 0 toâ&#x20AC;Ż5.

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Producers of dispersion glues

Emulsifying agents, cross-linkers, and preservatives may be found in some versions of the glue. Dispersion glues set as water withdraws from the glue to create an adhesive film (water disappears, whilst solid substances remain to create the binding). This means that one of the parts to be glued must be capable of absorbing water. Metal, wood, paper, and textile can be glued using dispersion adhesives. Since metal cannot absorb water, it is only possible to stick metal components to non-metals using dispersion glue. Most dispersion glues for parquet are based on polyvinyl acetate.

Glue for indoors We now know that there are all sorts of ways or baselines for classifying adhesives. This applies to adhesives in general (as a means of binding objects), but also to adhesives specifically designed for building applications such as parquet glues or other glues for fitting floor coverings. Amongst other things, adhesives can be classified according to possible applications. The possible applications of a glue depend on all sorts of external factors. To make the distinction in applications clear, glues have been classified in four effectiveness classes in accordance with the standard EN 204. These classes indicate the sorts of applications for which certain glues are suitable. - Class D1: The glue can be used for indoor applications where temperatures occasionally and temporarily can exceed 50°C and where the moisture content does not exceed 15%. - Class D2: The glue can be used for indoor applications where condensation and/or high relative humidity occurs occasionally and briefly for certain periods. - Class D3: The glue can be used for indoor applications where condensation and/or high relative humidity occurs frequently and briefly for longer periods. It can also be used outdoors in places protected from severe weather conditions. - Class D4: The glue can be used for indoor applications where there is frequent and considerable contact with condensation. It can also be used for outdoor applications, exposed to the weather, with suitable surface protection. Dispersion glues can be used for several applications (and materials), partly because the set glue is colourless. The glue has outstanding mechanical properties and adheres quickly. Since dispersion glues are thermoplastic glues, they are less resistant to higher temperatures. Once the glued joint has set, it is fairly resistant to chemical influences and mould. This means that dispersion glues are obviously yield a durable adhesive bond, but the dried glue is not very resistant to strong acids. Most dispersion glues have only limited moisture resistance, so

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they are suitable mainly for indoor applications (Classes D1, D2, and D3). Outdoor applications (D4) are possible if a hardener is added.

Applications As we’ve already said above, dispersion glue is best used on stable wood sorts. After all, with water dispersion glue water is added to the wood at all events so the stability of the wood is affected. With dispersion glue it is not possible to apply a finish immediately. The wood needs a longer period of time to stabilise, a problem which doesn’t arise with dual-component polyurethane glues. That’s precisely the reason why makers are firmly committed to reducing the water content in water dispersion glues considerably. Dispersion glues are also ideal for flexible floor coverings (apart from cork), such as vinyl and linoleum. Some PU adhesives are also suitable. These floors have a smoother and more sealed structure than wood, which has open pores. That means it is hard for them to absorb the water in the glue, and so semi-moist or almost dry glueing is necessary. Moreover, those materials move a lot less than wood, and that means different requirements as regards elasticity. The glue and subfloors are put under much less pressure (less sideways tensile forces) than with wooden floors. Nevertheless, the glue has to be strong enough to make a durable bond. Some producers therefore add reinforcement fibres to the dispersion glue.

The use of dispersion glue Dispersion glues are supplied ready for use. In some cases it is permissible to add just a touch of water to modify the viscosity. At all events, the glue must be stirred thoroughly before use. The glue is odourless, non-inflammable, and harmless to users. Dispersion glues are processed above the film-forming temperature (usually 15°C). The moisture content of the sections to be glued is vitally important (8-12%). Dispersion glues are applied on one side with a brush, spatula or trowel, glue roller, gun, or cylinder. It is essential to dispersion glues that the substrate is level. In the case of parquet a strongly absorbent substrate has to be pre-treated first with a primer. Substrates which are not level enough must be levelled first. Once the glue is applied, the floorboards must be fitted at once so that the glue isn’t exposed to the air for too long. Dispersion glues are stored in their original packaging from the factory. Since dispersion glues contain water, they have to be protected from freezing cold. The storage temperature is between 10 and 20°C. It is advisable not to store jars on a concrete floor, but rather on wooden pallets. The lifespan of dispersion adhesives obviously depends largely on their composition, but the glue can be stored for up to one year in a sealed pack.

Your Premium Polymer of Choice for Parquet and LVT Adhesives

What’s on the market? Adesiv

For a long time, Adesiv has had a series of water-based dispersion glues within its extensive range of adhesives for block parquet, namely the ADECON E/3 family in three variants. Vinyl-based glues in a watery dispersion can be used for all sizes of wooden floors on cement covering floors. However, these sorts of glue are not recommended for finished floors. The big advantages of these glues are the outstanding price/quality ratio and the guarantee that using them doesn’t involve any risk. In addition, Adesiv also presents Adetac S, a universal single-component acrylic glue of very high quality and with an EC1 certificate. This glue is suitable for glueing all sorts of vinyl, rubber, PVC, linoleum, and textile on both absorbent and non-absorbent substrates. In contrast to wooden floors, these types of floors swell and shrink a lot less, so there is no need for elastic glues.

BASF/Thomsit

One of the benefits of dispersion glues is that they don’t contain any solvents, so they aren’t subject to labelling. They don’t have any negative effect on the indoor air quality and are therefore ecological products. The drawback is that the water can cause problems with a wooden floor covering. BASF offers dispersion glues under the Thomsit trademark for glueing mosaic parquet, 22mm solid wood strip parquet, cross-cut engineered parquet, 10mm solid oak floors (up to 250 x 50mm), two-layer parquet (up to a length of 1200mm) and cross-cut parquet RE. The adhesives can also be deployed for floor coverings such as carpet, PVC, linoleum, and rubber. The range includes Thomsit K 112, K 150, K 188, K 188 E, K 145 Design tack, L 240 D, T 440, T 280, P 618, and UK 800.

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Bona Dispersion glue is a white wood glue which is made stable and spreadable by additives. Such glues are cheap and, provided that they are spread properly, extremely stable. The drawback is the large quantity of water which is mixed into the glue and the accompanying drying time of about three days. Furthermore, the fluid in the glue has an adverse effect on the wood. These glues are particularly suitable for wood on wood and, therefore, particularly on traditional parquet. The D750 is also used for other types of floors such as LVT and PVC. Bona has the D720 for parquet.

Bostik A dispersion adhesive is a waterborne adhesive to which dissolved polymers such as organic binding agents based on PVAc (polyvinyl acetate, EVA; ethylene vinyl acetate) or acrylates, together with fillers and special additives have been added. The water content in these adhesives varies from 16 to 25% for the current dispersion adhesives for parquet. These adhesives are ready to use in a bucket. Depending on the dosed specific synthetic resins and polymers, it is possible to give a dispersion adhesive certain properties. These adhesives are easy to spread, economical, and ecological. They can be used only on porous substrates and are not suitable for moisture sensitive and tropical wood sorts. Dispersion adhesives are used for gluing oak mosaic parquet, chipboard, and OSB panels on absorbent substrates, for glueing engineered parquet and strip parquet with maximum dimensions of 250 x 50mm, and for glueing solid oak flooring (9mm thick) and traditional parquet onto a wooden substrate in combination with nails. There are dispersion adhesives for LVT, PVC, rubber, carpet and linoleum flooring. Bostik has a suitable dispersion adhesive for each common floor covering. The BOSTIK POWER ELASTIC is a new adhesive developed specifically for glueing LVT and PVC design floors with a very quick and high initial adhesive power and with a very high shearing tensile strength, so that LVT can also be glued in areas where direct sunlight enters (e.g. under large glass).

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Producers of dispersion glues

Chimiver Chimiver presents Adesiver RE 400/ RF glue. This adhesive is a universal glue on an acrylic water base and is flame-retardant. The glue is suitable for flexible floor coverings on absorbent or semi-absorbent substrates. It is a terpolymer and is thixotrophic. It offers outstanding adhesion, a high content of dry substances, and spreads excellently. It has a low water content. It is specifically suitable for linoleum up to 3mm, carpet, and textile on any stable backing, vinyl with felt, PVC in rolls or tiles, semi-flexible vinyl, coconut floors with latex backing and polyester.

absorbed more by the substrate than the parquet itself. The fact is that in the latter case parquet would start to curve. Dispersion glue is suitable mainly for classic native wood, and less so for tropical hardwood and moisture-sensitive types such as cherry and beech. Dispersion glues for other floor types such as carpet or linoleum are possible, but also LVT (luxury vinyl tiles) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride). With the latter group, you use more of a semi-wet to wet glueing principle. Rectavit offers Rectavit 243 Dispersion, 260 Universal Floor and Wall Covering Glue, and 263 Floor Covering Glue PVC-Vinyl-LVT.

Stauf

Emfi A dispersion glue is a water-based emulsion with vinyl or acrylic and with variable viscosity. The water which has to be released is an important point for attention. The big advantage of these glues is the extremely good mechanical efficiency. Emfi recommends this glue for solid strip parquet, but not for finished parquet. Acrylic dispersions can also be used for design floors. For parquet Emfi offers the Emfi parquet RL, whilst for LVT, PVC, and such like it has the Emficryl Polyvalent.

Rectavit A dispersion, also known as a colloid, is a sort of mixture in which the parts continue to float in a solution. In the case of parquet glue it is a hard glue in which the binding agent, PVAC (polyvinyl acetate), dissolved in water. This glue has several benefits. Firstly, there is the cost price (dispersion glue is cheaper). Then, dispersion glue is easy to handle, it is easy to spread, and stains and such like can be cleaned easily when still wet using a damp cloth. With PU adhesive you would have to use Aceton, whilst with polymer adhesive you use Rectavit Easy Wipes or benzine. It is a very strong glue with a high shear value and long inlay time. The drawback is that it works only on substrates which are flat and highly absorbent since the residual moisture from this water-based glue is

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In 1952 STAUF developed the first ever dispersion based wood flooring adhesive. Today, STAUF M2A 910 (EMICODE EC 1 plus) is the top rated product in the STAUF dispersion adhesive range. STAUF M2A 720 is a classic, well-proven dispersion-based wood flooring adhesive with fast setting, a shorter open time, but a comparable low wood swell-in factor as the M2A 910. For design floor coverings, STAUF recommends D 50. The fibre reinforced dispersion adhesive is ready for use immediately and the fibre reinforcement produces improved dimensional accuracy in comparison with conventional one-side adhesives. STAUF offers various special adhesives for textile and elastic floorings, for example STAUF D 8 for linoleum, STAUF D 20 for rubber floorings and STAUF D 5 for PVC.

Tover Tover offers in his range different water-based glues for the bonding of resilient floors like LVT, a really trendy material, textile, rubber, cork, etc on any type of supports, absorbent and not and on underfloor heating systems. Tovcol RP and Tovcol MPL are two acrylic solvent free adhesives to be used both in horizontal and vertical position with an excellent adhesion Peel and a high coverage. Tover also proposes an adhesive with permanent tack which enables to lay a floor, remove it after a long period of time without damaging it: Tovcol TST. Easy and safe!

Special

The perfect screed

A PERFECT SCREED IS ESSENTIAL IT ALL STARTS WITH A PRE-INSPECTION AND OTHER MEASURES

Photo – Saint-Gobain (Division Weber)

The screed is the foundation not only of parquet, but also of all floor coverings. It has to be perfect, and if it isn’t, there is a risk of this showing up in the final result. A number of parameters should be checked in advance. The ‘tolerances’ regarding those parameters can vary according to the type of floor covering. For example, the definition of a ‘perfectly level screed’ meets different requirements for parquet than for flexible floor coverings. However, it is absolutely vital to check several points for attention in advance. And so, what is a perfect screed?

The types of covering floors The two most common types of screed in construction are the cement screed and the more recent anhydrite screed, although there are other types. Obviously, the difference lies in the composition.

Cement screed The most classic screed and in recent decades also the most common screed in construction is the cement screed. A cement

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The perfect screed

screed is a mixture of coarse sand and cement. A solid cement covering floor (screed) consists of about 300-320kg of cement per square metre of sand. Various screed suppliers use a computer system to get the correct mix ratio before the screed is mixed and pumped.

Anhydrite screed An anhydrite screed is a gypsum covering floor. The mineral anhydrite is actually the dehydrated variant of gypsum. This type of screed is sometimes also called a flow screed. Commonly used fillers include natural anhydrite and base silicates, quartz sand, and substances to refine the screed and make it more fluid. This screed is absolutely level and flat with an even and uniform grain structure. Liquid floors are applied as liquids and are virtually selflevelling. This type of screed shows very few cracks, doesn’t need reinforcement, and has minimal swelling and shrinking. The crystal compound of an anhydrite screed also has a certain stretch. This means that this intrinsically hard material has high tensile and compressive strength. Cement bonding doesn’t have this flexibility.

Necessary properties A suitable screed onto which you can fit a floor covering meets a number of minimal requirements. If the screed fails to meet these requirements, certain measures will be essential.

Is the screed level? Whether we consider new construction or renovation, a screed is rarely 100% flat. Tolerances of up to 7mm are permitted for new construction, whilst for renovation even greater differences in height can emerge when small rooms are joined together to make one big room. This fault will seldom arise with anhydrite screeds since they have a high self-levelling capacity. For fitting parquet we have to regard a 2mm difference in level as the absolute maximum. Levelling is the best solution for both floating and glued floors. For floating floors, a levelling subfloor can often suffice. For glueing vinyl or linoleum levelling is usually necessary because any unevenness invariably shows up in the end result.

What’s on the market? Mapei A screed has to comply with the prevailing local standards in order to be designated the perfect screed. The screed from Mapei complies with all European standards. The main points for attention before fitting a floor are mechanical resistance and residual moisture content. It is also important to follow the maker’s guidelines. It can sometimes be necessary to level the surface, but not always. Mapei has a whole range of levelling agents and the best one of all is Topcem Papecem.

Saint-Gobain (Division Weber)

Is the screed solid and uniform? The question about the solidarity of the screed arises for both the ‘mass’ and the top layer. As far as the mass is concerned, if a cement screed contains insufficient cement, it will lack the necessary (tensile) strength to withstand the movement of the glue and floor. This applies less to floating fitting where compressive strength is more important. The top layer may be unsuitable for several reasons. In the case of new construction this can be for the same reason as mentioned above (cement composition) where the screed is too powdery; in the case of renovation this can be due to damage as a result of the removal of existing floor coverings (e.g. tears, adhesive residue, or holes). In the case of renovation the powdery structure of the screed might simply be the result of wear and tear from years of dehydration. Moreover, for glueing wooden floors it is essential that the absorption capacity of the screed is equal everywhere.

Is the screed dry? With certain damp percentages it is better to postpone fitting the floor. However, sometimes there is no alternative, so a solution has to be found. There are various chemical treatments for securing the substrate. Obviously, these solutions for glued floors can also be used for floating floors, but usually not the other way round. The most important solutions are primers and epoxy screens.

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According to Saint-Gobain, there certainly is such a thing as a ‘perfect screed’, as long as you follow the rules of the trade, use the right materials, and respect drying times. The floor covering adhesion depends on the quality preparation of the substrate and the diagnosis made in advance. A good substrate always has to be flat, hard, stable, cohesive, clean, dry, and sufficiently porous. With some types of floor covering, these seven requirements really are a must, whilst with other types some faults can be absorbed by the product applied to the floor covering. In the case of tiles it is possible, for instance, to remove unevenness in the screed by using the tile adhesives in the Webercol range. This is not possible when fitting soft floor coverings such as carpet or vinyl, so it is advisable to apply a levelling product. Levelling is not always necessary, and with the tile adhesives from Weber it is permissible to glue directly onto a screed as long as it meets the requirements. The use of a leveller from the Weberniv range will make it easier to glue tiles, if there is any unevenness in the screed.

Special

Producers of wooden and composite wall cladding: who has what?

WALL CLADDING IS STILL POPULAR IDEAL FOR RENOVATION, BUT JUST AS GOOD FOR NEW BUILDINGS

You might think that the increase in the number of available sorts of wood has stunted the quest for alternatives. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is precisely because the ‘ look’ of wood is so appealing that the wall cladding market has enticed producers of other materials, who have felt drawn by that success. Wood and composite (or even complete synthetics) live side by side. Manufacturers of accessories have also noticed this and are taking it into account. This is why there are ‘new’ fastening systems usually in proportion to the different materials.

Like every other building material, wood is also ‘finite’ in some respects. It has to stop somewhere. However, the combination of the intrinsic qualities of wood and human technological ingenuity might postpone the end until well into the future. Just look at the countless wooden homes which, for instance, have survived for centuries in the Scandinavian countries (i.e. in bitter cold weather). That is the result of ‘good wood used in the right way’. Strictly speaking, there are three different building methods with wood, yet the proportion of wood in the entire structure differs with all three.

Wood in ‘construction’

The term solid wood construction says it all. The construction, both the bearing structure and the walls, is erected in solid wood beams. The walls are usually formed by beams with (nowadays multiple) tongue and groove joints. The thicknesses of these solid wood walls are extremely varied, depending on the purpose of the building and the designer of the home.

Wood is enjoying great success in the construction industry. We’re also looking more and more for sustainable and natural materials, and that fits in completely with a growing environmental awareness. Wood is a renewable raw material and, if it originates from (proven) sustainably managed forests, we can rest easily as far as that point is concerned.

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Solid wood construction

Floor Forum International 88

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Producers of wooden and composite wall cladding: who has what?

Timber frame construction The technique of timber frame construction is completely different. Here a frame is put down using construction wood. That frame is furnished with panels on the inside and outside. The insulation comes between both panels. With solid wood construction the insulation value arises from the thickness of the wood. Both building methods have in common the fact that they are dry systems and that the process is very speedy because the construction sections leave the factory ready-made for fitting. Both building methods can be finished with facing brick on the outside.

Wall cladding Anyone who opts for a traditional brick construction (or concrete) can still have the look of a wooden home by furnishing the frontages with wooden planks or sidings. These planks can be deployed for the entire construction or parts of it. And so, wooden wall cladding isn’t actually wooden construction, but a finishing method.

Wood as a wall cladding Wood has always existed as a wall cladding, in some regions more than others. There was a period when, in order to reconcile the look of wooden planks with durability and low maintenance, masses of designers made use of technical alternatives and composites or synthetics pushed wood onto the sidelines. Today, it is clear that wood, too, can enjoy a long lifespan if it is treated properly. Wooden wall cladding has made great strides, sometimes for entire frontages and sometimes as a highlight. It is no surprise that fastening systems which are being deployed increasingly often for fitting wooden terraces are emerging here as well. The choice of the type of wood is determined by various factors: - Budget: This is inevitably limited and the various types of wood can differ greatly in price. - The look: Types of wood can also differ greatly in grain and colour. Obviously, that greatly affects the look of the home. - Durability: This is decisive for the lifespan of the wall cladding.

Popular types of wood Generally, we can say that wood sorts in durability classes 1 to 3 are suitable for wall cladding without any extra protection. Examples of popular sorts include African padauk, basralocus, purperhart, sapupira, bossé, light chestnut wood, European oak wood, cumaru, framiré, ipe, iroko, jarrah, kapur, louro gamela, makoré, merbau, moabi, niangon, sapelli, sipo, tiama, tola, panga-panga, wenge, jatoba, itauba, afzelia, tatajuba, movingui, and western red cedar. For outdoor use with no contact with the ground, preserved larch and oregon are suitable, or even less durable types of wood such as fir and pine wood provided that they are given some form of preservative treatment (e.g. chemical modification or thermal treatment). Sometimes, it is claimed that wood modification reduces the mechanical properties (bearing function), but that is not really a relevant point for wall cladding, whereas the improved stability is particularly important.

The technical alternatives Professionals have an ecological and extremely functional alternative in composite materials which have the look of wall planks, but consist only partially of wood. These composites usually consist of recycled wood fibres or waste wood and recycled polyethylene. The ingredients are mixed and undergo an extrusion process at high temperature and under heavy pressure. Thanks to extrusion technology, you also get accurate dimensioning and all things are possible as regards the dimensioning. Today, there are different ‘recipes’

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and composites with bamboo are also in the range. Furthermore, there are still the classic sidings, which usually consist entirely of synthetics.

What’s on the market? Bewood® Bewood® presents solutions in a Premium composite for wall cladding. These products consist of a core in aluminium and a shell in wood composite. Both technically and aesthetically, these products meet market expectations. The advantages are manifold as opposed to a classic composite. The product is six to eight times lighter. The fitting is quick and simple, just like with aluminium profiles. The expansion co-efficient is no fewer than three times smaller (0.7mm/m). These products offer all the qualities of Premium wood composite, combined with those of aluminium. They also score well from an ecological point of view as the materials are produced from recycled raw materials and do not contain any PVC. Bewood® cladding matches up perfectly with the design ideas of this age and of architects. Major projects, in particular, have discovered this solution. The company can provide references in Europe, Japan, and the USA.

Denderwood Wall cladding, and wooden wall cladding in particular, has almost become a classic both in rural and urban areas. You will see it in different forms and on all sorts of buildings: single person homes, flats, or industrial, agricultural, or cultural buildings. For that matter, it is wall claddings in solid wood elements which are still the most popular. Denderwood offers wall cladding in solid wood elements (both open and closed) in different profiles (Parallello, straight, and B-Fix) . Infinite variations are possible, as well as customised work in sections and profiles. They offer high quality tropical hardwood sorts: padauk, afrormosia, afzelia, iroko, and merbau. Furthermore, they also offer wall cladding in wood composite material, UPM Pro Fi Façade, which is weatherproof, colour-fast, impact-resistant, recycled, and recyclable. In recent years, interest in wooden wall cladding has increased considerably. The fact that wall cladding in wood has a natural look is certainly the main reason behind this revival. Wood is a natural product with a natural and authentic look. Moreover, wood is a natural

and renewable material. Wood provides good insulation and keeps the heat inside the home. Obviously, unfinished wood will show signs of age under the influence of sun and rain. The natural ageing process has no influence whatsoever on the durability or technical qualities of the wood. Once the wood has started to age, it doesn’t need any further maintenance treatment.

Outdoor Wood Concepts Wooden wall cladding is still popular on the market. The ‘special’ profiles in particular are making strides; they create ‘context’. Ordinary flat wall cladding with tongue and groove 18 x 130, which does still have a large market share, is no longer growing. Some traders may want to add something to it. For example, Outdoor Wood Concepts did a major project in France in which there was an extra V-groove in the middle of the width. As regards materials, they offer mainly W.R. cedar, African padauk, thermo-wood in fir, pine, ayous, afrormosia, and oak. For the soft wood sorts they usually opt for oil (grey and black). Wood scores excellently. The reasons? It is natural and combines with other materials such as Crepi, it provides variety in the use of material, and establishes

highlights. Outdoor Wood Concept has a wealth of references on the project market such as Decathlon Brussels, Canal Grande Maasmechelen, and a residential care home in Haut Ittre to name just a few.

Vetedy Vetedy offers with its Techniclic® a complete range of invisible fixation system for wood cladding, from wooden board and its fixation, to all the fixation accessories and a cleaning product without sanding neither brushing; really simple et efficient without difficulty. The installation of Techniclic® authorize horizontal and vertical, gives the choice to work with similar width, or to mix up the 3 available widths and to choose the spacing between the boards (4 possibilities). Our technics also allows LED incrustation for more “brilliant” design and always market-leading. The wood species are thermo-treated local and exotic as well: padouk, ayous, ash, northern pine… The system’s simplicity allows an easy and fast installation for a net and precise result. All our woods are from sustainably managed forests.

DENDERWOOD J.Cardijnstraat 3 9420 Erpe-Mere Belgium Tel. +32 (0) 53-73 74 74 Fax +32 (0) 53-73 74 75 E info@denderwood.com Web www.denderwood.com

Tropical hardwood importer Durable, stable and innovative solutions for exterior applications - Decking (traditional screwing or clip system) - Underconstruction - Wall cladding (slated cladding and open structures) Large range of different sections, profiles and species (Padouk, Iroko, Afzelia, Afrormosia, Ipe, Teck, Yellow Balau) MarQuise Greenline Primeline Floor Forum International 88

Advertorial

Küberit (DE)

SKIRTING BOARD AND PROFILE SPECIALIST PRESENTS FOURTH GENERATION OF PPS CHAMPION THREE FINE GROOVES IN PROFILES GIVE PROFESSIONALS CERTAINTY ABOUT LEADING KÜBERIT QUALITY The German top global skirting board and profile producer is launching the PPS (Parquet Profile System) 4.0. In the 1980s, PPS was the first profile system designed specifically for floating parquet floors. It was the first profile system with a built-in expansion joint under a covering top profile to guarantee a faultless professional floor finish. Thanks to a built-in folding point, it is possible with the latest PPS Champion 4.0 to bridge differences in height of up to 10mm, whilst the glueable surface of this two-part system has increased by 82% thanks to the standard width of 40mm. All Küberit profiles have three fine grooves to make them easier to recognise and give professionals the necessary quality guarantee.

PPS Champion 4.0 During the long history of the PPS Champion, this system has won prizes on several occasions. This is due to the unique basic profile and the built-in tongue and groove for height adjustments. This profile is therefore suitable for floor thicknesses from 6.5 to 18mm. The accompanying connection profile can now be used for height differences of up to 10mm. Moreover, the system now has 82% more glueable surface thanks to the standard 40mm width.

New profile finish in lightly brushed stainless steel optics An innovation in the PPS Champion range is the connection profile 289 with a lightly brushed top layer for a refined floor finish. This profile is available in six different designs, namely polished, silver,

Floor Forum International 88

sand, gold, bronze, and finely brushed stainless steel. These colour and style variations mean it is always possible to guarantee a finish which is attractive and perfectly suitable as regards style.

Torx screws and reinforced screw holes With this profile Küberit is once again counting on the renowned Torx screws with reinforced screw holes so that the screws cannot tilt. Lars Maier, sales manager for Germany at Küberit explains: ‘This fastening technique is the best and safest guarantee for fastening the profiles onto a flat subfloor with a sharp gradient with no problem at all.’

3R: Three grooves stand for quality, safety, and innovation

Since January 2017, Küberit has been marking its products. The application of three fine grooves on the profiles and profile systems for floor covering assures professionals of the renowned Küberit quality. The three grooves on a specifically chosen point are a licensed point of recognition and stand for quality, safety, and innovation. And so, this isn’t about an assessment of the design, but a means of recognising Küberit products. ‘This decision was necessary because we have discovered that more and more inferior profile systems are coming onto the market which appear at first sight to be identical to our products. We want to be sure that our clients can identify our products at once and that our reputation for guaranteed product quality, innovation, and know-how is better protected,’ says Udo Ulbrich, CEO of Küberit Profile Systems.

Finally, it’s no easy matter to become the world’s leading skirting board and profile supplier and set the international standard. Lars Maier stresses, ‘We supply over 14,000 products from our stock and have a suitable profile for each method of installation and for each type of floor. Today, there is no other company which can offer a comparable product quality and variety of solutions. This is possible only due to our many years of acquired know-how and a tradition which goes back over 150 years. All those assets are reflected in the three licensed and fine grooves in the Küberit profiles.

For more information, please visit us on : www.kueberit.com

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Suppliers of mops and cleaning products in kit form

MOPS AND CLEANING KITS AS EXTRA BUSINESS A FORM OF CLIENT LOYALTY WHICH SELDOM ENDS The parquet retailer The core business of a parquet floor fitter is still the sale and fitting of parquet, wooden floors, and other floors. In the meantime, it has become clear that floor fitters, on the periphery of their core business, have scores of chances and opportunities to achieve more turnover, partly through the sale of various products and accessories. Parquet traders with a showroom have developed into parquet specialists where clients can find anything and everything even remotely related to floors. If traders don’t have a showroom, they can still offer products, but only when they see their clients.

Products in the supermarket Anyone who visits a supermarket or DIY store and goes to the section for cleaning and maintenance products is confronted at once with the tale of ‘the wood and the trees’. Scores of trademarks with an equal number of products for various applications together form a wall of chemicals; it’s certainly an ode to cleanliness, but at the same time all rather excessive and chaotic. It is worthy of note that for all applications in the home, both in and outdoors, there is a certain range, but it is much harder to find a product specifically for parquet and wooden floors.

Delicate floors With parquet, consumers are clearly much more cautious than, for instance, with a ceramic tile. You can clean the latter in a manner of speaking with any detergent whatsoever. Bleach is equally not a problem. In other words, you can’t really go wrong with ceramic tiles and faience. Natural stone is regarded as somewhat more ‘delicate’. For that purpose there are certain products, oils, or soaps, which, just as with wooden floors, have both a cleansing and a nutritional function. However, people express the utmost caution when it comes to cleaning and maintaining wood. Consumers are almost paralysed by fear of damaging their showpiece item through the use of the wrong products.

Specialist products

Photo – Mapei

Chemical producers or specialist suppliers in the parquet industry present complete systems for parquet maintenance. Those systems form a wide range which is divided up according to the applied finish. Products for daily maintenance form the basic assortment, but the range also includes so called ‘refreshers’, which are designed to give a somewhat ‘weary-looking’ floor a new lease of life. Then there are ‘tools’, such as broomsticks, swiffer dusters, mops, cloths, and dusters. The kits which comprise all those products offer floor fitters the chance to do a lot of extra business.

Floor Forum International 88

The range of cleaning and maintenance products for wooden floors has therefore also appeared as a specialist assortment which usually requires further explanation from the parquet floor fitter. There is an undeniable link between the finish of a parquet floor and the products with which it should be maintained. A lacquered floor requires different maintenance to that of a floor which has been treated with an oil or hard wax oil. The normal maintenance of a lacquered floor is limited to daily cleaning with a swiffer or vacuum cleaner and mopping once a week. To that end, you can basically use almost any cloth to pick up dirt and any detergent. Nevertheless, here, too, products are supplied which are ‘compatible’ with the applied lacquer. Maintenance products for other types of finish are usually based on the product used for the finish itself (e.g. oil, hard wax oil, wax, or soap).

Complete systems Makers of maintenance and related products for parquet certainly haven’t missed this opportunity for extra business. On the contrary,

they present their products in a ‘house assortment’, as it were. The ‘mop’ for the daily removal of dust, special dusters and cloths, detergents ‘specially for parquet’, oils, maintenance polish, power cleaners, stain removers, and nutritional products. All those products are available (from some makers) as a total system. They are usually presented in the shop in displays specially made for that purpose. Another eye-catcher is the presentation of the products on the shop shelves, but there is also a dispenser with folders or flyers which promote the products.

Also for LVT, PVC, and Linoleum The range also includes specialist products for flexible floor coverings. Just as an oiled wooden floor needs maintenance from time to time and lacquers can use certain nutritional components to keep them from losing their shine, LVT floors, too, have specific needs. The need to ‘feed’ a surface is all about the porosity. Extremely porous surfaces can contain a lot of dirt, so they need to be saturated in some way or other. PVC is almost completely impervious. And so, in this case there’s no need for feeding, but only cleaning. By contrast, vinyl is (often) highly absorbent and porous and requires a maintenance treatment which is comparable to the pore-filler of wooden floors before you can apply a so called ‘metallic agent’, which has to protect the floor constantly against dust and stains.

What’s on the market? Adesiv For cleaning and maintaining wooden floors and parquet Adesiv presents a full and convenient range of maintenance products. Parquet pro is a neutral cleansing agent for lacquered floors, whilst Oil pro is a cleansing agent and refresher for oiled floors. Shine and Polish WB are for refreshing lacquered, polished, semi-matt, and matt finishes. Decerlegno is a concentrated cleaner for removing stains and, finally, Detpro is a multifunctional cleaner for all surfaces. For presenting products Adesiv offers a two-sided display for exhibiting the range conveniently. All packaging is UV-resistant.

lacquered floors Blanchon has two detergents (metallic agents), namely the Satin Renovator for semi-glossy or glossy floors and the Matt Renovator for matt floors. Both products are suitable for renovation since they are capable of sealing small cracks and reviving worn lacquers. For the regular maintenance there is the Parquet Cleaner-Protector (Lisabril®), which is used diluted. This product has recently been given a new formula to make it even more suitable for large surfaces and surfaces such as sports floors. The Sure Activity Cleaner is a power cleaner, but it doesn’t damage the lacquer. For oiled floors and floors finished with wax-oil Blanchon promotes its Maintenance Oil. For regular cleaning they recommend the Natural Soap. Finally, for waxed floors there is the Blanchon Liquid Wax. Blanchon has developed a display cabinet for its maintenance range. The cabinet can be filled and divided up as required and combined, if necessary with other products such as varnishes or oils.

Bona Bona presents a complete maintenance package with the Spray Mop as the driving force. The Spray Mop from Bona enables clients to clean and maintain their floors in no time at all. It is ergonomic and easy to use. The Spray Mop can be assembled quickly and the specially developed cartridge can be re-filled quickly with Bona Wooden Floor Cleaner. The rotating base even makes it possible to reach the hardest places, which traditional mops are unable to reach. Bona Wooden Floor Cleaner protects and cares for the wooden floor. It removes stains, dirt, and grease without leaving streaks. For oiled floors there is the Bona Spray Mop for oiled wooden floors (with the Bona Cleaner cartridge for oiled wooden floors) and for laminate and tiles there is also a Spray Mop solution (with the specially developed Bona Floor Cleaner cartridge). The Bona Microfibre cleaning Pad is part of the kit.

Chimiver Chimiver offers the Alfred Spray Mop. This mop is suitable for all types of floors. It is ergonomically designed and easy to use. The tool is light and handy and easy to assemble. The re-fillable cartridge is highly ecological. This mop works with a rotating base. The kit includes one Alfred Spray Mop, a micro-fibre Clean, and one litre of maintenance product. The cartridge can be re-filled 15 times.

Blanchon Those who need to clean in a hurry will find the solution at Blanchon in the shape of the Lagoon®. This product is sprayed onto the floor and then the floor is cleaned using a micro-fibre cloth. Blanchon offers Lagoon® in a kit (brush with 500 washable micro-fibre cloths + the spray). Lagoon® can be deployed on both oiled and lacquered floors, and that’s also a plus point for the retailer! For

Ciranova Ciranova offers an extensive range of cleaning and maintenance products. For each type of floor there is a product for daily maintenance and a detergent for the removal of stains. For oiled, lacquered, and

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Special

Suppliers of mops and cleaning products in kit form

laminate floors Ciranova presents a handy maintenance kit with the necessary products for cleaning and maintaining the floor. For oiled floors we can identify Intensive Cleaner, Parquet Soap, Oil Refresh, and Maintenance Oil. For lacquered floors there is Hard Floor Fresh, Hard Floor Cleaner, Hard Floor Polish, and UNICARE X-MATT, universal protection for all types of matt varnished floors. For displaying the products Ciranova offers a handy display cupboard which clients can use in their shop. Furthermore, there are also various maintenance leaflets which include details of how to maintain varnished and oiled floors. For maintenance leaflets and specific promotions Ciranova also offers a suitable plexi leaflet holder to put on the counter.

DevoNatural® Devomat presents two different mops, depending on the floor finish applied and the maintenance product. DevoNatural® Spray Mop with Hard Floor Cleaner has been developed for the rapid, easy, and ecological cleaning of varnished parquet, laminate, cork, vinyl, LVT, ceramic tiles, sealed natural stone, and all other impervious hard floors. DevoNatural® Spray Mop with Oiled Floor Cleaner is also designed specially for the rapid, easy, and ecological cleaning of oiled parquet and wooden floors. Obviously, there are re-fill products for both variants: DevoNatural® Hard Floor Cleaner and DevoNatural® Oiled Floor Cleaner. DevoNatural® Hard Floor Cleaner is a ready-for-use ‘cleaner’ for use with the DevoNatural® Spray Mop or floor cloth. It is suitable for the regular maintenance of stone floors, cast floors, varnished parquet, bamboo, cork, vinyl, and laminate floors. It cleans without leaving streaks! DevoNatural® Oiled Floor Cleaner is suitable for oiled parquet and wooden floors and absorbent natural stone. The sets and refills are part of the DevoNatural® product range. Devomat offers shop presentations for premium and maintenance dealers.

FAXE Faxe presents an extensive range of cleaning and maintenance products for wooden and other floors such as the Wooden floor soap, Oil soap, Active care, Lacquer soap, Vinyl cleaner, and Spray mop soap’. The range includes both mops and spray mops. The spray mops go together with white dyed soap or natural soap. For in the shop the company offers displays of ¼ pallet. Two years ago, Faxe changed the presentation of the range to stimulate sales. A simple colour code and the

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limitation of the instructions to one language were some of the major changes.

Floorservice In order to keep the floor in optimal condition after treating it with Hardwax Oil or Lacquer we have developed a Parquet Cleaner and Maintenance Oil which perfectly suit the basic treatment of the wooden floor and which guarantees carefree enjoyment of the floor. Floorservice Hardwax and Maintenance oils offer the floor the best possible protection, irrespective of the type of wood or pattern of the floor. Floorservice's natural oil products keep the floor young and they are already being used by satisfied customers for the maintenance of millions of square meters of parquet and solid floors. Maintenance and protection A beautiful floor is in perfect condition. Floorservice offers you the maintenance products to keep it beautiful. These products restore your floor to its original new state, for you to enjoy for a long time. Floors originally treated with Hardwax-oils are best maintained by use of the Floorservice Maintenance oils. Despite the wood species or floor motif. Floorservice also offers the maintenance product Nature Care in order to keep the ultra matte look of wooden floors treated with Floorservice Nature Protect 2K.

Lecol The Loba maintenance and cleaning kit provides a spray (Parquet Refresh) for lacquered floors and for oiled floors. For wooden floors and all waterproof floors there is the Parquet Cleaner, which is extremely powerful and yields a pleasant aroma. The Spray Mop Set has an integrated spray. And so, the Mop is completely suitable for the application of all Lobahome products. The cleaning pad is washable. Loba offers an attractive display to stimulate sales for both the Refill and the Lobahome products.

Mapei Mapei has a range of cleansing agents, including a cleaner, two polishes, and a special remover for polish. For rapid daily cleaning they have an innovative Spray Mop. These items are listed separately in the catalogue. To go with the products, Mapei offers a nice sophisticated display with some basic tips on using the products. This simple presentation is necessary as the information is for end users.

Loba

Plastor

The Loba maintenance and cleaning kit provides a spray (Parquet Refresh) for lacquered floors and for oiled floors. For wooden floors and all waterproof floors there is the Parquet Cleaner, which is extremely powerful and yields a pleasant aroma. The Spray Mop Set has an integrated spray. And so, the Mop is completely suitable for the application of all Lobahome products. This mop is washable. Loba offers an attractive display to stimulate sales for both the Refill and the Lobahome products.

Parquet has to be protected so that it can withstand harmful external effects (e.g. shocks and chemical hazards) day in day out subject to the preservation of the natural look of the wood. That’s why maintenance with the right products is necessary. Professionals use maintenance products only rarely. They are intended rather for clients, who, after the delivery, are responsible for the maintenance. To simplify the maintenance of all parquet floors, Plastor offers an assortment of just three products. This range is clear and convenient. Parquet Cleaner is for daily cleaning, Intensive Cleaner is to remove grease and stains, and Metallic Agent Revival is to give weary-looking parquet a new lease of life. A single-disc machine (with green pad) can be used for any depth cleaning.

Osmo Osmo Spray-Mop: simple and quick cleaning Muddy footprints, paw prints or surface stains – no flooring is completely safe from dirt and stains. Fast relief is offered through the Spray-Mop from Osmo, which was specifically developed for the quick and partial clean-up job in-between. The cleaning and care product Spray-Fix contains natural ingredients and is sprayed via a refillable cartridge directly onto the wooden flooring. While mopping, the Active Fibre Cloth absorbs the dirt. This way stains can be removed quickly and effortlessly.

Pallmann Pallmann presents the Clean & Go kit for the rapid routine cleaning of wooden floors. This kit includes a cleaning mop with handle, a spray with a wood cleaner (750 ml), a cleaning pad (damp), a (dry) pad for removing dust, and a leaflet about the maintenance of wooden floors. All Pallmann maintenance and cleaning products are designed to give wooden floors a longer lifespan. To stimulate sales, Pallmann offers an eye-catching display, which can be put in the shop at once. There are instruction leaflets for clients regarding both oiled and lacquered floors. A good presentation is extremely important for the sale of these products.

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Stauf With traditional cleaning and care methods involving the application of several layers, often of various different products, the treatment must be used regularly which takes time and can be costly. With its “aqua Easy Clean” and “aqua Protect & Clean” products, Stauf now offers a completely new type of system that is much more practical and easy to use, even for private users. The gentle, wood-conserving method of application, using just two products, can used universally on all types of wooden surface independent of the surface treatment. Whether the surfaces to be treated are varnished, oiled wooden surfaces or prefabricated parquet floors, the alternate application of the two STAUF products is all that is required to ensure the cleaning and care effect.

Tover Cinderella: Floor Care Kit from Tover Cinderella is the exclusive floor care system developed by Tover to preserve and valorize the original beauty of a wooden floor, cork or laminate. The set is composed of a practical spray mop for an easy cleaning, a reusable microfiber pad, an anti static cloth to remove the dust and a ready to use detergent suitable for all surfaces. Only the necessary quantity of water and soap is used, rinsing is not necessary; finally to clean a floor becomes pleasant, in the respect of the Environment. A plus is represented by the window cleaning kit. Cinderella: a professional result in a few minutes.

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Special

Producers of style panels : who still makes them?

STYLE PANELS EXUDE SHEER CLASS FLOOR FITTERS CAN STAND OUT ‘QUITE EASILY’

Photo – Design Parquet

Panel or design floors immediately make an impression because they immediately evoke the association with luxury, wealth, castles, and mansions. That’s also their origin. Nevertheless, parquet floor fitters don’t really need any extra skills to fit design floors. This job fits in perfectly with their normal activity and there aren’t really any extra major points for attention which they have to take into account. Demand for these design floors is growing again. And so, it’s best for all professionals to include them in their presentation album or showroom.

Let’s summarise Style panels or design floors are part of a building style that is no longer applied. Its young history goes back to the 16th century and the rulers of glorious France. Versailles is still the birthplace. On the other hand, they provide a technical floor solution which makes all things possible. After all, there is no limit whatsoever as regards pattern, wood sort, or even floor structure. They are available in solid wood and multi-layer. What they most certainly offer is the possibility of arriving at the ultimate exclusive floor.

Pre-fabricated panels Panel floors or design floors are pre-fabricated square panels into which wooden sections are fitted according to a certain fitting pattern. Each panel forms a mini-parquet floor in some respects. The sections

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are sawn as required and mitred and are glued together sideways and clamped in order to dry. After the assembly, it is possible that another tiny piece is sawn out of the formed panel in order to obtain the same dimensions and square shape for all panels. That obviously simplifies the fitting for the floor fitter considerably.

Solid wood and customised An important aspect of these panels is that, strictly speaking, nothing is sawn on site. Indeed, each panel forms a complete pattern which cannot do without a single piece. Amongst other things, this means that most design floors have to be customised because the dimensions of the room are crucial to the size of the panels. Popular standard sizes are 600 x 600mm, 700 x 700mm, 800 x 800mm, and 1,000 x 1,000mm. The latter was also the size of the original Versailles panels in the palace of the same name. As regards thicknesses, there are also different possibilities (linked partly to the size): 8, 8.5, 15, 18.5, and 20mm.

Multi-layer can be ‘standard’. Multi-layer panel floors or cassettes are usually constructed from two layers, but three-layer floors are also found. The top layer of usually 6mm of noble wood is glued to a birch multiplex. The panels can be fully glued onto a screed. Especially in multi-layer we notice that some producers also offer a number of standard sizes. Obviously, the chances of standard sizes being ideal are minimal.

Points for attention for the fitting As we said at the start of this article, fitting these panels doesn’t require any special skills on the part of the floor fitter. It is a job for a professional, but any professional can do it. As with all parquet floors, the substrate preparation is crucial. An important point for attention is the need to measure the room before it is possible to determine the panel sizes. Measuring precisely makes it possible to make perfectly tailored panels so that no sawing is required later on. We picked up a useful tip from BJ Parket, one of the top Belgium specialists in the business: ‘When fitting style panels, and especially with the plaited patterns, you must make sure that the panel pattern runs across the entire floor surface. This means that some designs in style panels have a particular fitting direction and cannot be turned even a quarter. It’s also advisable to use major pointers (e.g. a mantelpiece or doorway) to line up the panels.’ An elastic adhesive is usually recommended for the glueing.

The designs Strictly speaking, all fitting patterns are possible. New laser techniques even make it possible to design ‘tailor-made’ patterns or insert corporate logos into the panels. The most common designs hark back to classic fitting patterns such as Hungarian point, herringbone, or Versailles. Hungarian point is one of the oldest parquet patterns. This pattern is usually fitted ‘separately’, but can also be applied in panel form. In this pattern the strips are fitted against each other in herringbone pattern at an angle of 30 to 45°. Sandpapering creates a subtle difference in colour, which provides a three-dimensional effect. Hungarian point sometimes gets mistaken for herringbone. The latter is also a classic fitting pattern for parquet and can also be a pattern for a panel design. The slats are fitted in herringbone bond, the upper sides directly opposite each other, to create a zigzag pattern. Finally, the Versailles panel looks like a diagonal plait work surrounded by a square edge of parquet strips. In the Palace of Versailles the panels are exactly 1m² (100 x 100cm). They are separated by three strips of 8cm which come together in a corner to form a point. Nowadays, these panels are available in different sizes and they are adapted to the room in which they are fitted.

MANUFACTUROR OF SOLID AND ENGINEERED WOODFLOORS Style panels, end grain, distressed floors (different ageing techniques ‘sanded, brushed, tumbled, smoked and structured’): Customised work on simple request!

What’s on the market? BJ Parket For BJ Parket, style panels are still important. Versailles is one of the most coveted. Versailles is a classic type of style panel which consists mainly of a (diagonal) plait framed by a square edge of parquet strips. The panels are usually customised. Adapting the size of the panel to the size of the location makes it possible to work even more towards a natural harmony between floor and room. That’s why BJ Parket has three dimensions in the range in which the plaits are composed of friezes of 55mm (panels of 49.5cm or of 55 to 73cm wide), friezes of 72mm (panels of 65cm or of 73 to 95cm wide), and friezes of 90mm (panel

B.J. Parket

BVBA

INDUSTRIESTRAAT 44 9240 Z ELE – B ELGIUM TEL: +32 52 44 45 57 FAX: +32 52 45 06 71 EMAIL: INFO@BJPARKET.BE WWW.BJPARKET.BE

Special

Producers of style panels : who still makes them?

102cm wide). The measure is adapted precisely for each floor by changing the size of the square blocks. These panels are making their way into both private homes and catering establishments. Distressed designs are increasingly in demand.

Design Parquet At Design Parquet they believe that there is still a place for panel floors on the market. They believe that they are suitable for each type of client and suit any interior. Special designs, drawn by the architect and Versailles panels are the most popular panels. They certainly regard distressed as a trend. These panels are glued or nailed. The sizes at Design Parquet are 14 x 600 x 600mm, 14 x 800 x 800mm, and 23 x 1000 x 1000mm.

Houtbedrijf Kerkhofs

Style panels or panel floors have been much in demand at Houtbedrijf Kerkhofs in recent years and they have received lots of orders. These

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panels are often used for projects e.g. in hotels, restaurants, and other large public areas. Style panels are also popular amongst wealthy private clients. Actually, you can fit these floors anywhere. It’s a matter of taste. They are often fitted in combination with a classic design. According to Houtbedrijf Kerkhofs, that trend is shifting towards a modern design with a classic touch. The Versailles pattern is the most popular because it is the most well known design. Houtbedrijf Kerkhofs can make all sorts of patterns in almost any dimension as required. First of all, a drawing is submitted to the architect/client for approval. After that, production can start. Style panels can be supplied distressed. For the composition the sections are distressed. This isn’t really a trend because it’s been in evidence for a long time. There are no specific dimensions. All panels are made in the dimensions required by the client (this is feasible). Burgundy panels are always glued.

Intrawood INTRAWOOD produces customised work only. This gives them the opportunity to meet all their clients’ requests and wishes. Yes, it’s possible! The extensive range of colours, sizes, and patterns gives clients the opportunity to put together their own personally chosen parquet. Herringbone, Hungarian point, Versailles panels, INTRAWOOD produces everything customised with the utmost care up to and including the fitting. INTRAWOOD has been a respected maker of distressed and non-distressed parquet in Europe for years. INTRAWOOD stands out for its unique and flexible production process. The carefully selected French oak, the efficiently planning, and the use of the best finish products on the market ensure a natural and authentic floor. INTRAWOOD transforms new oak into a parquet floor which looks old. The company produces what clients ask for. As far as style panels are concerned, they have noticed that demand is rising both territorially (now also Germany, England, and Switzerland) and as regards types of houses (now also modern homes).

Special

UV curing on the yard

DRYING WITH LIGHT CAN NOW BE DONE ON SITE UV IS NOW MORE ACCESSIBLE

Photo – Decorad® Systems

‘Air-drying’ is as old as Methuselah. Just about everything in the construction industry dries ‘ in the air’. The basic principle is that damp which is found in building products to make them serviceable evaporates to some extent. That is the case with cement and concrete, plasters, paints, various adhesives, etc. Drying with ‘ light’ is much more recent, but it’s no longer brand new. The graphic world (printed material drying) and the medical world (dentistry) are two fields where it has already been in use for years. UV light takes the prize, yet the light spectrum has even more to offer.

About ‘light’ and ‘energy’ All frequencies of electromagnetic radiation together form the so called light spectrum. The word spectrum was regarded originally as ‘something which can be seen’. Today, however, we know that the spectrum is much broader than the part which we can observe. Visible light falls approximately in the middle of the spectrum. The human eye sees light because the retina contains cells which are sensitive to one wavelength area. And so, this is a subjective perception. That’s why some animals perceive light ‘differently’: bees react to UV light, rattlesnakes to infrared. All electromagnetic radiation contains energy. We

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Special

UV curing on the yard

perceive energy from infrared radiation as heat. However, the ultraviolet part contains much more energy than the infrared. Each wavelength has its own amount of energy. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the energy level.

UV light and UV drying UV light is the part of the spectrum with radiation between 40 en 400nm. UV light doesn’t emit any heat, but breaks down the binding between the units of chemical compounds called molecules. Ultraviolet light can even ensure that compounds die out. UV drying is done by means of radiation with UV light. UV light is present in sunlight and in light from fluorescent lamps. Obviously, neither of these sources of light is strong enough for this ‘rapid drying technique’, so special UV lamps are used. A ‘photo-initiator’ is added to the lacquer with a special binding agent and this photo-initiator is activated by the UV radiation. The photoinitiator disintegrates under the influence of the right UV radiation and hereby forms free radicals which set off the drying reaction (polymerisation). This joins the resin molecules together to create a very strong three-dimensional network.

On the site Top arguments for the use of UV light as a drying agent usually relate to the speed of operations in industrial applications. However, it is obviously wrong to suggest that UV is solely for use in the factory or workshop. The use of UV light for hardening fillings at the dentist is now common practice. In other words, the use of UV light extended beyond the factory some time ago.

UV appliances on site For a few years now, we have been witnessing the appearance of UV appliances which floor fitters can use on site. The principle and working method are comparable to the industrial procedure. The UV coating, which may or may not be preceded by a UV-drying primer, is applied using a classic roller, just as with a waterborne single-component lacquer. After the application, the lacquer can air-dry for about 45 minutes, and then you ride over the entire floor (about 200m² per hour) with a motorised mobile UV machine. There is a portable UV lamp for the edges and places which are difficult to reach. As we have already said, the floor is ready for use as soon as it is finished. To use the UV lamps, floor fitters must wear an adapted outfit for this work; these outfits are generally supplied as standard with the appliance.

UV coatings are getting better Lacquer producers have seen the phenomenon and are responding with ‘adapted’ coatings. Obviously, this reaction comes as no surprise since major clients such as airport managers, retail chains, and hospitals are all opting resolutely for UV coating on site and some are even buying their own equipment so that their staff can do this themselves. And so, it’s logical that lacquer producers are jumping on board, but it’s certainly no sinecure since various producers of UV machines work with various lamps. Most lacquer producers have mainly developed their lacquers on the basis of the safest lamp, namely that with no ozone and without the most harmful part of the UV radiation. Moreover, the sector is now looking forward to coatings based on dyed lacquer systems.

UV LED UV is now a permanent fixture, whilst LED is still emerging. One doesn’t rule the other out. Although the technology is of a completely different kind, the initial applications yield comparable results and, according to the first pioneers, have even stronger assets than UV drying. We need to clear up a common misunderstanding; LED isn’t a type of light on the light spectrum, but a light technology!

LED lamps are UV lamps Indeed, LED lamps give light which falls within the UV spectrum (especially UV-A). The light is transmitted via Light-Emitting Diodes instead of via a compact fluorescence lamp. The light which LED lamps diffuse has a smaller reach in UV light wavelengths than UV lamps, which use a compact fluorescence lamp. LED lamps do diffuse a higher concentration of UV light and more energy. The LED lamp is making its entrance mainly in (semi-) industrial use due to its low energy consumption and long lifespan. For on-site use, too, LED offers possibilities, at present for a number of UV LED oils.

Two specialists Decorad® Systems BV New products from Decorad® Systems BV, the top specialist in UV equipment The Decorad Floormate is available in stainless steel or aluminium and is even diagnostic. Fitted with the latest electronics and software, the Floormate is now even easier to operate. Apart from the Decorad Handmate UV600, there is now

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dutchy qualit also the Decorad Handmate UV1800, which is specifically for stairs, balconies, and bar and table tops and is suitable for power supplies of 110-250V. The cure span of the Handmate UV1800 is 20cm. The Decorad LED Linemate is a (semi-) industrial line, which can dry UV oils at a speed of about 15 metres per minute with excellent results thanks to the use of high-quality LEDs. There are various possible cure spans, ranging from 24 to 72cm. The LED lamp unit is designed so that it can also be put inside the Decorad Floormate fairly easily for use on site.

LED-HardWax Oil The new standard in finishing oil!

www.vesting.nl

Vesting UV drying on site anno 2017 UV drying on site has changed completely since the introduction of the revolutionary LED hard wax oil from Vesting (NL). Gone are the high investments in suction installations, climate control, expensive UV lamps, and high energy bills. Vesting LED hard wax oil gives you the benefits of UV drying without the drawbacks. Vesting LED hard wax oil dries instantly and completely under the influence of cold LED light. Unlike traditional drying with UV lamps, this process doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t emit harmful ozone fumes. Moreover, there is no build up of heat. And so, suction installations are not needed and fire hazard or roughening, discolouring, and glue problems are reduced to a minimum. Drying under the influence of LED light has more benefits. LED lamps have a very long lifespan (up to factor 20 as compared to UV lamps now commonly in use). Furthermore, LED lamps consume a lot less energy and they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to warm up ready for production. All this soon achieves a reduction of over 60% on energy costs! It is important for your clients that the wood comes completely into its own with the use of Vesting LED hard wax oil and is fully protected from dirt, damp, and scratches. Moreover, Vesting LED hard wax oil is available in no fewer than 60 colours. To sum up briefly, drying under the influence of LED light with the use of Vesting LED hard wax oil results in minimum investment with maximum output, satisfied workers, and satisfied clients.

INNOVATIONS AWARD WINNING

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WOOD SCIENCE.

2O17

LED-Hardwax Oil

UNSURPASSED With its world first of the LEDdrying hardwax oil, Vesting has set a new standard in the field of wood treatment products. Vesting LED hardwax oil proved its exceptional strength throughout the world in the past year and is available in as many as 60 vibrant colours!

Review

Made Expo Milan (IT)

MADE EXPO SHOWS INNOVATION AND PROGRESS MADE Expo, the trade fair in Milan for architecture, design, and construction, can look back on a successful event. The show brought the fields listed above together nicely with an innovative and future-oriented range and also showed that the Italian construction industry can expect a recovery after a drawn out crisis. With 1060 exhibitors, 52,000 square metres of stands, 123 seminars, 11,000 participants in surveys, and over 620 internationally renowned speakers and delegates from 38 countries, MADE EXPO had plenty to offer visitors from both Italy and abroad. After four days, the visitor counter stopped at 106,000 visitors, 12% of whom were of foreign origin. The exhibitors were also well satisfied with the quality of the visitors.

International recognition A number of specific themes continue to resound after the show: reconstruction after the earthquake in Italy, urban renewal, and the digital progress applied to the construction and home sector. Roberto Snaidero, chairman of MADE Eventi commented: ‘The success of this show is proof of the sheer effort of the organisers. Although the economic situation is still far from ideal, the show was able to highlight the exhibitors’ very latest solutions and ideas in an appropriate manner. Furthermore, Italian organisations which are committed to international trade succeeded in making the show more attractive to foreign companies. Consequently, MADE EXPO is now a greatly appreciated event in Europe and much further afield after just eight editions.’

Wood construction During this edition of MADE EXPO it emerged once again that wood has great potential for the construction of houses. One could even ask whether timber construction is a niche market. Light materials have gained a fresh breath of wind everywhere in the economy and that also applies to wood. Architects like to commit themselves to lightweight construction and want to reconcile that with stability, safety, and domestic comfort. Wood scores excellently in all those areas.

Holzbau forum The originally German Holzbau (wood construction) forum also made itself at home at MADE EXPO. The forum also accommodated the Universities of Helsinki

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(Finland), Rosenheim (Germany), Bile/Bern (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), Vancouver (Canada), and Trento in Italy. The show paid particular attention to the physical and material technical properties and the seismic safety of wood. There were also presentations of attractive and successful solutions in the area of urban architecture. All building professionals, engineers, and architects were treated to specific solutions for their field.

Impertek RAISED FLOORINGS Discovering the new self-levelling head for Jack Support This year at Made Expo in Milan Impertek presented BALANCE, the new self-levelling head for Jack Supports, which compensates automatically up to 5% of slope and more. A great innovation for the raised floorings field, which deeply simplifies work on site and substitutes additional tolls. Balance works with all the Jack Supports range (15 products with an adjustable height from 25 to 392 mm) and it suitable both for stone and for tile. It is designed to suits easily to every surface and can be used together with the slope correctors for supports, to increase the slope correction range. Discover more about BALANCE and the new supports for external raised floorings: PRIMEUP, the adjustable supports of only 10 mm; MINIBALANCE the only adjustable and self-levelling support of only 25 mm and CLIPS, accessories to create joints and vertical lines. Visit the Brand New section of Impertek’s web site: www.impertek.com/Floorings/Brand-new

Special

Damp and hygrometers

MEASURING DAMP IS ALWAYS A MUST IT’S BEST NOT TO TAKE RISKS WITH WOODEN FLOORS

Photo – Tramex

There are several conceivable reasons or occasions which could result in parquet floor fitters not measuring damp before fitting parquet. For example, if the deadline is tight, they might consider taking this risk due to a lack of time. Whatever the case may be, there isn’t even a single good reason for not checking the various sources of damp. In other words, you must always measure damp! That includes atmospheric damp, residual damp, and, preferably, the damp in the floorboards themselves. The resources which the industry provides for doing that are becoming increasingly refined.

plank pulls against another one and the only thing to do is to uproot the floor. And so, prevention is always better than cure.

Damp content to be measured

Residual moisture

As a rule, three types of damp can play tricks on parquet or a wooden floor: humidity, residual building moisture, and damp in the wood. We now know that an ‘overdose’ of moisture can easily destroy an entire floor. Indeed, the swelling of wood as it absorbs damp unleashes enormous power so that the floor tears itself loose from the screed. One

Whether we are talking about new construction or renovation, every building project will include certain construction materials made on site by mixing products with water. That water is intended merely to make those construction materials ‘pliable’ and it is assumed that a large part of that water will evaporate later. We call the part which

Humidity First and foremost, floor fitters check the humidity in the room where the floor will be fitted. The ideal humidity for fitting a wooden floor is between 55 and 65%. The ideal temperature is between 18 and 21°C. Humidity is an important aspect for fitting parquet, but keeping the humidity under control is a concern which will be important throughout the entire lifespan of the floor. Advising clients to purchase a hygrometer is certainly not a bad idea.

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Special

Damp and hygrometers

is left residual building moisture. Obviously, the concrete plate and cement covering floor on top of it are the most important parts of the construction for fitting parquet. It is also important to mention the concrete floor plate here since it is not impossible for a screed to show a positive damp reading whilst the concrete plate still contains too much damp, which has to disappear. As far as the screed is concerned, we now know that this must not exceed a residual moisture percentage of 2% for cement-bound covering floors and 0.5% for anhydrite floors.

Smartfone. The DNS G-832 measures non-destructive up to 10% residual moisture content in barely two seconds.

Tramex

Wood moisture Wood also contains moisture. Obviously, wood is dried and in most cases the wood will not be too damp. Manufacturers keep a close eye on the moisture content of the wood throughout the entire production process until the time of delivery to the client. It is still advisable to let the wood acclimatise for a few days in the room where it will be fitted. Some wooden objects are supplied with a level of moisture geared to the expected conditions in which they will be used. For example, parquet floors in the Netherlands and Belgium are often delivered with a moisture level of 10%, a figure between the expected degree of moisture in the wood in the summer (13%) and winter (8%).

Technical solutions To measure damp we can identify various measuring devices which are all based on different scientific principles. We let players from the sector have their say.

Two specialists DNS Denzel

Hidden residual moisture is the main cause of moisture-related floor damage. It is interesting to know that 45% of the water used to make cement or gypsum-bound building materials is retained in the mixture crystals. The other 55% of water ceases to have a function once the material has set, so it has to be discharged to the edges where it evaporates. If any coating is applied before the water has disappeared, we get damage as a result of excess pressure from the steam between the material and the coating. To measure the residual moisture content, you have to know the damp profile specific to the material and the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of the material at 20Â°C. DNS Denzel swears by non-destructive, capacitive measuring technology. The company presents various electronic moisture detectors, which measure moisture in wood and in the screed with an accuracy of over 99%. For example, the G-822 measures the moisture in 120 sorts of subfloors, 15 different sorts of parquet, 10 different wood sorts, various sorts of building materials, and no fewer than eight different types of concrete. It measures the air humidity and the air temperature, calculates the dew point, and measures the surface temperature. The tool can store data and transport it (cable-free) to a PC or

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The Tramex CME4 and CMEX2 are non-destructive moisture meters used for instant testing of concrete slabs and screeds. The MRH3 is a moisture meter for non-destructive testing of wood. Both the CMEX2 and MRH3 incorporate optional plug-in, pin-type wood probe and relative humidity probes. The Professional PTM2.0 is a digital, pin-type resistance moisture meter designed to take precise measurements of moisture content in wood. The new Tramex Professional PTM 2.0 marks a significant enhancement in digital pin-meter moisture testing for Wood flooring: - With built-in calibration for 500+ individual species and international standard calibration selection, moisture measurement has never been more precise. - Temperature correction adjustment means the user no longer has to work with temperature correction charts, avoiding inaccurate readings caused by the large effect that temperature differences have on moisture measurements. - Save up to 100 readings for max, min, average and standard deviation statistics that you can visualize on the screen. - Internal calibration checks confirm the accuracy of your meter instantly and anytime. Email: sales@tramexmeters.com / Tel: +35316814450 / Web: www.tramexmeters.com

Special

Producers of profiles specifically for LVT, PVC, and vinyl floors

THRESHOLD PROFILES GRAB THE ATTENTION THINNER FLOOR TYPES FORM THE BASIS FOR BIGGER THRESHOLDS

Photo – Küberit

Floor coverings account for a good proportion of the habitable surface area of a building, whether it is a private dwelling, commercial property, school or office block, or a hospital and/or old people’s home. That also means a hefty turnover of materials where the floor covering itself accounts for the lion’s share. Nevertheless, the ‘peripherals’, call them accessories, should not be underestimated. They are necessary from a technical point of view, but obviously they also generate income.

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Parquet floor fitters combine floor types The role of the parquet floor fitter has changed considerably in recent decades. In the last few years, the ‘trade’ has made giant strides. We used to speak of the ‘floor fitter of the future’, but it would be more accurate now to speak of the ‘ today’s floor fitter’. Two wise maxims accurately typify the development of the floor fitting trade. The first one more or less expresses the view that ‘whoever never looks into the past has no perception whatsoever of the future’. That other maxim is equally striking: ‘Whoever looks only to the past carries a heavy

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Producers of profiles specifically for LVT, PVC, and vinyl floors

baggage into the future.’ As always, the truth will lie somewhere in the middle. The hoary floor fitter, a specialist like no other, has become a specialist in floor coverings. A mastery of fitting wooden floors is an outstanding ‘master key’ for all the rest. Apart from fitting all types of floor coverings, there is, if possible, an even more important role set aside for that floor fitter. The floor fitter ‘combines’ floor coverings. The trend towards ‘open living rooms’ obliges floor fitters to combine different types of floor coverings which therefore have to be fitted together ‘seamlessly’ and aesthetically. Profile producers are also given the assignment of taking up the ‘paradox’, which has been created by the producers of floor coverings.

in the case of the latest generation of profiles. ‘Marketing’ plays a crucial part here. Last year, we heard from a leading specialist on the skirting board and profile market that the sales arguments for certain accessories such as profiles are provided by the type of floor covering to which they are bound. Each floor has its own characteristics. The accessories which you develop for that floor have to suit that floor. You can’t make profiles for vinyl which aren’t waterproof, since that is one of the assets of this type of floor. And so, the bearing materials determine the properties; with laminate it is the price, with wooden floors the quality and stability.

The great paradox

Everyone remembers the furore which so called multifunctional profiles made within the industry about 10 years ago. The reason was perfectly simple: The large number of floor types just cried out for ‘simplification’ in the area of profiles. In particular, the ‘boost’ given by the renovation market set all this in motion. Just think of the number of ‘new situations’: walls were demolished, rooms were joined together to form a greater whole, dining room, sitting room, and kitchen have become one, and stairs have come into the living room, scores of new situations which demand specific technical solutions. For the retailer (and wholesaler) the number of profiles became too great, so makers launched solutions à la ‘two-in-one’ or even ‘several-in-one’. Nowadays, due to the vast increase in the number of combinations of different floor types, that same development is taking place again. Once again, multifunctional profiles are appearing. Nevertheless, some producers are finding that, in a time of exclusivity and personalisation, these multifunctional elements often undermine the aesthetic aspect. That’s one more point of view to go with all the others.

We’ve said it often enough in the past. The wooden flooring market exerts a unique domination on current flooring trends and ‘dictates’, as it were, current and emerging developments. What is the effect? Producers of all those other types of floors look on with interest, see that wooden floors are doing well, and, yes, they all copy those trends. They all bring ‘wood’ into the living room. Nowadays, we particularly note that there aren’t even any exceptions to that movement any more. Flexible floor coverings such as vinyl, PVC, linoleum, cork, and such like offer an endless range of wood decors, just as laminate producers always have done since the very start. It was their raison d’être from the very beginning. Now, even the makers of ceramic floors are jumping onto the gravy train. Certainly a lot of them are! Then, there’s the great paradox. If the combinability of all those floors from a decorative point of view is precisely a top class sales argument, the technical features of all those floor types and, moreover, their technical assets clearly mean that they cannot be combined. Unless, that is, that other group of producers work out the ‘technical solutions’ so that these combinations are possible. And that’s precisely what they’re doing! Here, the parquet floor fitter plays the part of the ‘pianist’, who drives all those keys into a harmonious whole.

The floor type determines the properties It seems quite obvious at first sight, yet it is in some respects a ‘daring feat’. Usually, the technical properties of technical solutions are directed by, yes, technical challenges. This seems to be much less the case

Specialised or multifunctional?

What’s on the market? Carl Prinz Profiles for parquet and laminate are thicker and heavier than those for flexible floor coverings because the floors are simply thicker. In the case of expansion joints it is necessary to leave more room. In those cases the profile often becomes a discreet, but visible design element such as the Profi-Tec Master, which is available in different colours.

PROFILE FINDER kueberit.com

STAIR NOSING PROFILE 845 · easy to install · insertion for floors and carpets up to 3 mm · decor matching or contrast on stair nosings with the same or different coverings · suitable for advertisement or indications on stairs with our digital-printing technology

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decor foil, a PVC instead of a paper foil. Decruy N.V. has been working for over five years on a concept to produce skirting boards and profiles from LVT, cushion vinyl, DPL, CPL, veneer, and HPL panel material. This creates numerous benefits. It means there is no need to fit a separate supply of paper or CPL foil. Moreover, the profiles have exactly the same structure, decor, and scratch-resistance as the floor covering and, therefore, also the same lifespan. There’s no longer any need to spend time designing or printing foils, which, in many cases, still don’t match the relevant floor panel perfectly. Finally, the floor manufacturer has perfect access and control of the store of raw materials.

Küberit

Profiles for design floors are slimmer and more delicate. They try to remain invisible. Carl Prinz swears by the qualities of aluminium. The greatest quality is the manageability combined with the stability. Moreover, anodisation allows an extensive range of colours. A perceptible trend is that of stainless steel. Prinz sees itself as a specialist problem-solver. The company presents intelligent, userfriendly, and reliable systems. Today, they have about 3500 references. Multifunctional profiles are not really a trend here, but the transition from purely functional to design certainly is. The top product from Carl Prinz is the PS 400 screw profile for parquet and laminate.

Decruy

Especially as far as the fitting is concerned, there is an essential difference between profiles for flexible floor coverings and others, and also between floating and glued floors. They recommend mainly aluminium profiles because the material facilitates various

www.progressprofiles.com

Exteriors finishing details Protects, enhances

PROTERRACE SYSTEM Just like wooden and laminate floors, vinyl, linoleum, and PVC floors also need to be finished. Certainly if we are talking about thick vinyl or LVT material which needs to be shortened using an electric saw, it is desirable to supply a finish in matching skirting boards and profiles, as also happens with laminate. Just like laminate, vinyl and LVT swell and shrink, so an expansion joint should be fitted. To finish this expansion joint, you need skirting boards and profiles in suitable decors. Vinyl and LVT are waterproof. That’s why fitters look for skirting boards and finish frames in a waterproof bearer material such as PVC or WPC and, as a

Profile Systems for terraces and balconies, that protects the edges of the tiles and guarantees the flow of water. A full range of multi-functional perimeter profiles, in aluminum and stainless steel, to replace the “L” element in ceramic and the marble thresholds. Proterrace profiles have a vertical section that finishes the edge detail and a built in lower flap that sheds water away from the structure. These profiles have a punched flange to facilitate its bonding to the substrate and optional water draining holes to remove any water that may have infiltrate the coverings and need to be elinated. (Drain Version Only)

P ROFILES & SY STEMS

Floor Forum International 88 PROFILES & SYSTEMS

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Producers of profiles specifically for LVT, PVC, and vinyl floors

dimensioning in a cost-conscious manner. Moreover, the material allows different colours (such as bronze) or a brushed effect. Another possibility is bronze, which is stronger but also more expensive as regards colouring. Finally, the extremely strong stainless steel offers lots of possibilities. The most important profiles are still expansion profiles. Multifunctional profiles, which are more applicable for DIY than for professionals, are sometimes used, depending on the region.

Sondro Sondermann Profile offers solutions for all types of floorings SONDRO® stands for 1st profile choice

Neuhofer Holz

The major difference between profiles for laminate and parquet and those for vinyl and linoleum lies in the height of the floors. Therefore, Neuhofer Holz has developed different profiles for these floors (and for all problem definitions) with due regard for the limited thickness of these floors (about 2mm for glued floors and about 5mm for floating floors). As regards materials, the stress is on HDF and aluminium, whilst as regards designs the choice is endless (anodised or printed decors). The circumstances in which there is a need for profiles are so varied and extensive that there is still a really big demand for multifunctional profiles. Multifunctional profiles also ensure that end users don’t make any mistakes. For example, there is the FN Sixpack with which you can convert a reduction profile to a T-profile or an end profile. That is also the best-selling profile at Neuhofer Holz and is designed in aluminium.

You want to process a modern designer flooring? Whatever you decide SONDRO® offers you the right floor profile. The experienced company based in Drolshagen which was founded in 2015 has established itself on the market with Aluminium profiles from the SONVIN line, a multi-piece floor profile for a flooring thickness of 2,5 to 7 mm. The cover profiles, adapting profiles and border profiles with base profiles in different wide designs are available in the colours silver, stainless steel, sand, gold and bronze. For a thickness of 6,5 to 23 mm there are used the profile systems SONWOOD and the brand-new world innovation SONWOOD-Flexo. Furthermore, the product portfolio includes also the one-part profiles from the lines SONBRIDGE (cover profiles, compensation profiles and ramps), SONTEX (border profiles, edge trims and double insertion profiles), SONWAVE (bendable profiles) and SONSTAIR (stair nosings, stair nosing interior angles and angle edges) which, thanks of longtime professional experience, is tailored precisely to the needs of the flooring trade. In addition to the aluminium profiles SONDRO® also offers floor profiles in brass and in stainless steel, whereby the recognized profile systems SONWOOD and SONVIN pertain to the most important sales articles.

Progress Profiles

Plinten & Profielen Centrale

Progress Profiles supplies profile solutions for all situations for the most demanding clients and ranging from decorative strips to solutions for all technical problems. For limited thicknesses Progress Profiles has an extensive range. Differences in height from 4 to 19mm are possible. Aesthetic goals are still kept at the forefront (aluminium, bronze, steel, real wood, and such like). Moreover, there is an extended range of colours and finishes, including 30 wood shades. All profiles are tested in accordance with the highest standards. Non-toxic and high-quality raw materials are part of the secret. The profiles most in demand are ‘threshold profiles’ between different floor types. Whilst they recognise that multifunctional profiles are certainly practicable, they pay more attention here to elegance and design. Progress Profiles offers no fewer than 12,500 references.

Profiles for vinyl, linoleum, and PVC are geared to smaller floor thicknesses and, in the case of stair profiles, are sometimes also fitted with a special recess whereby a section of PVC can be slid into the profile. This makes the profile visibly more united with the staircase. All profiles at PPC are made of aluminium because that is the strongest and most durable material. The most important profiles are those for the dilation of floors, finishing edges with landings and matt edges, and finishing staircase stairs. PPC also offers all types: threshold profiles, dilatation profiles, end profiles, and stair nosing profiles. At PPC they have seen an increase in variants, but not in universal profiles. Products from Küberit are the best-sellers here.

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Producers of oil for parquet

OIL AND LACQUER SHARE THE PARQUET MARKET THE NATURAL LOOK IS STILL OIL’S BIGGEST ASSET If there’s one finish which enables floor fitters to establish long-term relations with clients, it is oil. Clients will find it perfectly reasonable that an oiled floor is best nourished with the same oil or at least with maintenance products of the same trademark. After all, a lack of compatibility is not unthinkable with oil and the related maintenance products. And so, from time to time, floor fitters can contact their clients to supply them with oil and/or maintenance products. This maintains their contact. As regards trends, ‘colour’ is celebrating high tide.

Oil still has the same assets When we carry out surveys among producers and suppliers, some of whom offer all finishes, we see time and again those same strong assets of oil as compared to other finishes. Let’s summarise them.

Easy to apply An oil finish is easy to apply without streaks. The oil is usually applied with a spatula and surplus oil is removed. With some oils (certainly colour oils) the floor has to be polished afterwards. Lots of producers claim that their oil should be applied in just one coat to provide sufficient protection. Another big advantage is the fact that most oils dry quickly. It is possible to walk on some oiled surfaces within just a few hours, something which is out of the question with a lacquered floor.

The natural look In terms of look and visual perception, beeswax and hard wax oil are somewhat comparable to parquet oil, since they don’t leave a film on the wood. That’s also important as regards feel. Lacquer has often put people off due to that film formation which yielded a look which was too shiny and a feel comparable to plastic. Today’s matt and ultra-matt lacquers are a lot different as regards the visual aspect. However, an oil finish preserves the colour and feel of the wood like no other. After all, an oil finish doesn’t leave a film ‘on top of’ the wood. You can still feel the pores and grains. There is still ‘direct’ contact with the wood.

Maintenance and renovation An oil floor is easy to maintain. Oil makers provide a matching maintenance oil (some also have a universal maintenance oil) to make floor maintenance a quick and easy job. The maintenance oil has the additional advantage that it feeds the wood with each application. The fact that oil doesn’t leave a film also makes it possible to maintain and repair the surface in patches. There is no need to sandpaper the floor for a total renovation, something which is necessary with a lacquer.

The finish for ‘distressed’ floors The growing success of distressed designs has certainly given oil finishes a considerable boost. Clients have few options at this point. Wax and hard wax oil are possible, but natural oil obviously gets the preference. A lacquer cannot be deployed here, once again due to the fact that it leaves a covering layer of film. The application of a lacquer would mean that when

the floor is due for renewal or renovation, the sandpapering of the lacquer would also remove the distressing effects at once.

Then the ecological aspect Just as wooden floors are being stimulated by a growing preference for natural and durable materials, that aspect also seems to move clients to opt for oil. Parquet oils certainly are based on natural products such as tung oil, castor oil, soya oil, and linseed oil, albeit in a modified end product. Obviously, the environmental legislation also applies to oil finishes, and that means that water-based oils have established a definitive place in the range for a number of years. These water-based oils are usually created by means of emulsion in which an emulsifier ensures that unmixable liquids (such as oil and water) can nevertheless be mixed to form a homogeneous and stable product.

The trend is ‘colour’ Whilst white, grey, and even black shades are celebrating high tide in lots of decoration elements, the urge for some colourful joy in the interior stubbornly continues to emerge. Moreover, it’s not just a phenomenon in the playroom where youthful, often frivolous colours have to stress the ‘childlike’ element. We also see this in home offices, the living room, and the kitchen. Colouring wood is no problem. There are several techniques such as smoking, staining, treating with lye, and such like. Usually, after being coloured, the floor still has to be finished with a protective finish. As another article in this edition describes at length, it is perfectly possible to colour and finish with a colour oil in a single work session. And so, it’s no surprise that oil makers offer an extensive range of ‘colour’ with an ever increasing number of shades. And so, colour is king!

What’s on the market? Adesiv Adesiv presents WB Oil, a colouring agent with modified vegetable oils for impregnating wooden floors indoors. Paviolio WB 2 can be painted over with a water-based dual-component varnish. The product itself is a single-component product with outstanding colour properties and high penetration capacity. The finish can be applied in one work session. The product is suitable for all types of wood. Obviously, the floor has to be clean and dry (between 8 and 12%) and sandpapered with a maximum grain of 150. The sandpapering needs to be done perfectly because the smallest imperfection gets highlighted even more by Paviolio 25 WB. And so, the product can be used on all types of wood, but it comes into its own best of all on types such as oak, larch, and cherry.

Bona Bona Craft Oil soaks deeply into wooden floors and improves resistance to wear and tear, chemicals, and damp. BONA CRAFT OIL 1-component is available in six different colours. Apart from that, more colours can be obtained by adding effects with Bona Nordic Tone, Bona Rich Tone Grey, and Bona Mix Colour. Bona Craft Oil is a single-coat system. With superior wood saturation properties, Bona Craft Oil offers deep protection

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Producers of oil for parquet

against wear and tear, chemicals, and damp. It is a natural vegetable oil with virtually no odour and a significantly low VOC content. This means that it is safe to work with and supply. The oil gives a reduced ageing effect. The formula is ecological with a high oil content and a low quantity of solvents (<4%), something which also means that the wood can be saturated with a limited quantity of oil. Bona Craft Oil 2K (2 components) is available in 11 different colours, which can be mixed with each other to create a legion of colours. The 2K version can even be lacquered with the strong parquet lacquer Bona Traffic for the best possible protection. Bona Craft Oil 2K’s unique formula, which is based on vegetable oils, ensures rapid drying and the very best protection. It is the ideal finish for sometimes troublesome types of wood such as kambala, afzelia, and walnut. It is also suitable for use on smoked oak and steamed beech. Bona Craft Oil 2K ensures a particularly fresh and water and stain-proof surface and is ready for use after a drying time of between just 8 hours (Neutral) and up to 12 hours (Colour Oil).

Blanchon The Blanchon range comprises four oils based on traditional compounds (the oxidative drying of which has improved considerably) and two water-based oils with certified ecological properties. Parquet Oil from Blanchon is an extremely hard oil due to the fact that it is urethane-modified. This oil is ideal for very high-traffic rooms such as shopping malls, theatre stages, shops, multipurpose rooms, and all rooms open to the public. It is hydrofuge and anti-dust. The ease with which the oil is applied is appreciated just as much as the exceptional matt look. As for maintenance, Parquet Oil from Blanchon scores very well. Apart from Parquet Oil, Blanchon also offers a number of products or systems with

HS Industry Oil New product 2017 · Based on renewables. · Resilient Highsolid formulation. · For industrial application on rollercoaters. · Natural and white are standard. · Can be tinted in many colors.

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Floor Forum International 88

oil such as Wax Oil and Solid Oil. ‘Environment’ Parquet Oil is a water-based oil (it uses emulsion technology) which enables you to impregnate a parquet or wooden floor rapidly without a primer. A drying time of barely two hours! This oil bears the European Eco label. New in the Blanchon assortment since 2015 is Cimethane® UV Oil, a UV-drying oil for application on site.

Bichemie Bichemie, too, still regards oil as a current trend. One of the big assets is that it is much easier to repair an oiled floor in patches. The drawback is that it is more sensitive to stains and damage. According to Bichemie, almost all classic oil for parquet has now been replaced by hard wax oil. The company’s range consists of parquet oil, hard wax oil in various colours, and water-based oil. The best-seller is Hard Wax Pro Mat, a matt and pale hard wax oil.

Chimiver UV OIL ONE 1317 has been formulated with top quality raw materials in order to meet the market requirements which are every day more demanding towards natural and environmentally friendly products. This UV oil treatment has a very high dry residue (99%), therefore free of any kind of solvent, it can be applied on both non absorbent and very porous woods. Its application gives to the wood a very uniform aspect leaving the surface with a natural look and a soft touch.

Ciranova Hard Wax Oil Magic is the star product from Ciranova, but the trademark also offers a range of impregnation oils which are designed to saturate the wood. Another highly successful product is UN1CO, a 1-coat oil of the new generation which uses renewable natural oils. Only one coat is necessary due to the special technology. The combination of oil and hardener ensures fast drying and outstanding chemical resistance. Another big hit is OCULTO, an ecological and water-based PU impregnation oil for parquet and wooden furniture. The wood retains its original untreated look. This oil is suitable only for indoor use. It contains a UV absorber and has anti-slip properties. ECOFIX is also an ecological and water-based impregnation oil for parquet and wooden furniture whereby the wood retains its original untreated look. ECOFIX is only for indoor use. Finally, ECOFIX WOODLOOK ensures that the wood turns a little pale so that it retains its original appearance longer. This, too, is suitable only for indoor use.

DevoNatural® The DevoNatural® product range includes both a series of different oils and a series of varnishes. Devomat specialises in both areas and can offer clients the most suitable product for the relevant application. For years there has been a certain balance between the numbers of lacquers and oils sold, and that balance is still more or less the same up to the present time. This is because both finish systems have specific advantages and drawbacks. And so, the extensive DevoNatural® assortment always has the right product. Amongst other things, Devomat offers DevoNatural® Hard Wax Oil and DevoNatural® High Solid Oil. This is a matt setting single-coat oil with a high coverage capacity and based on natural oils. It is for all sorts of parquet, wooden floors, and other wood, both in and outdoors. DevoNatural® High Solid Oil can be used for both commercial and domestic floors with intensive use. The product is easy to apply and spreads well into open wood pores. DevoNatural® High Solid Oil can be applied to all types of wood. Recently, they have added two new colours to the range. Devo Natural® Extra Hardener is unique. This additive inserted into DevoNatural® High Solid Oil triggers the oxidative drying process to ensure better and faster drying. Parquet floors treated with DevoNatural® High Solid Oil + Extra Hardener can normally be walked on and used 12

hours later. This makes the combination highly suitable for finishing parquet floors on building projects, public buildings, catering businesses, reception rooms, industrial finish companies, etc.

Faxe As far as Faxe is concerned, oil is certainly a trend once again and this is in keeping with the demand for exclusive floors and ecological products. An oil treatment has the big advantage that the floor can absorb damp from the atmosphere and release it again, something which is better for the indoor climate. Moreover, an oiled floor is nourished with each application. Furthermore, Faxe also regards the fact that an oiled floor can be repaired in patches as an asset. Oil is ideal for distressed floors because it penetrates into the wood fibres and brightens them up. Faxe offers oils which are based on renewable raw materials and dry in the air. For projects Faxe offers Prestige Oil and for industrial applications HS Micro oil and HS Industry Oil.

Floorservice Floorservice offers oils for parquet and wooden floors, for both manual and industrial use. Suitable for manual use is the Floorservice Hardwax-oil Classic, and the Floorservice Color Hardwax-oil Classic. The 1-layer system, especially developed for the professional parquet layer, Floorservice Hardwax-oil Pro and Color Pro is a solvent-free product that meets the VOC EU-regulation. Floorservice UV-Oil This VOC-free finishing product from Floorservice is fully cured directly after exposure to UV-lamps and therefore immediately stackable, packable and sandable. Highly suitable for fully automated production lines. Floorservice Hardwax-oil This VOC-free finishing product cures very fast; ensuring the floor to be fully operational in no time. It can be applied as a one-coat or as a two-coat system, depending on the application method of choice. Also available as Color Hardwax-oil 2K in 12 different colours. Easy cleaning and maintenance Floorservice parquet cleaner and maintenance oil perfectly suit the basic treatment of the wooden floor.

Glimtrex Oil isn’t a trend, but rather a permanent fixture amongst finishes. The gently burning flame look is highly appealing. The fact that you can repair the floor in patches almost imperceptibly is a plus. Glimtrex, too, prefers to recommend Hard Wax Oil for high-traffic floors. Moreover, due to the hardness of the top coat, it requires less maintenance than natural oil, which is also more vulnerable to stains from wine or coffee, for instance. Glimtrex offers both. The best-seller is the hard wax oil. This can be used as a single or dual component product. What is unusual is that the more

hard wax oil you apply, the stronger the finish. Moreover, by adding a hardener, you can get an anti-slip of R10. This hardener also speeds up the drying process. You can get R12 anti-slip through the addition of a brandnew powder discovered by Glimtrex. Glimtrex products do not contain any cobalt and are antibacterial. The company is certified as a sustainable enterprise.

Hesse Hesse sees oil as a trend which has never gone away, but it is certainly a growing trend at present. The big advantage of oil as compared to varnish is the natural aspect which comes more into its own with oil. Varnish applies a layer on top of the wood, whilst oil penetrates more into the wood so that the wood grain is more visible and perceptible. Furthermore, an oil finish is easier to repair. There’s no need for sandpapering and local repairs can be carried out. There’s no need to repair or treat the whole floor. Unfortunately, the names oil and hard wax oil get mixed up too much. A genuinely hard wax oil should be more durable. In practice, we don’t always find those differences. The durability of an oil doesn’t depend solely on the addition of hard wax. The type of oil and the components in the oil together determine the properties. Oil and ‘distressed’ make a good couple. After all, distressed floors (floors which have been given an aged appearance artificially) are often made with products which react to wood content substances. Varnishes are sensitive to those chemical substances, but oil has less of a problem here. That’s why there is a link between oil and distressed floors. Hesse has an assortment of oils, hard wax oils, natural oils, and UV oils for both manual and industrial use. The oil which is used most manually is the OE 83-2 Natural Oil.

Lecol Oil is still a trend for Lecol. An oiled floor is easier to repair and finish in patches than a lacquered floor. An oiled floor looks more natural than a lacquered floor. Only one finishing coat is needed with their impregnation oils Lobasol® HS Akzent 100 Oil and Lobasol® HS 2K Impact Oil. With lacquer, you generally need three coats. Obviously, that makes a difference in both time and money. Moreover, almost all distressed floors are offered with an oil finish. This is because you can get a much more natural effect with an oil and there are a lot more colour options than with lacquer systems. Lecol offers two types of oil systems, both of which contain no solvents. Hard wax oil with a strong solvent content is prohibited by law within our target group and Lecol quite deliberately does not sell that product. Lecol does offer the following types of impregnation oil: Lobasol® HS Akzent 100 Oil (1-component impregnation oil/ideal for floors subjected to normal use) and Lobasol® HS 2K Impact Oil (2-component impregnation oil, which dries quickly/ideal if the floor gets wet very quickly). Lobasol HS 2K Impact Oil is also the best-seller. Both oils are available in the same 19 contemporary colours.

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Producers of oil for parquet

Loba At Loba they have seen an increase in the use of oil for parquet. Oil is based on natural ingredients and penetrates into the wood. Oil allows the wood to breath. Loba has various oils. The best-seller is Lobasol HS 2K Impact Oil. Whilst, in the past, you could obtain deep and colour refinement effects on wood only with hard oils, Loba has developed an oil primer which yields the same result, namely the Lobadur HS 2K Intensive. This primer reinforces the natural colour of the wood, just as an oil finish does. The Lobadur HS 2K Intensive can be finished with different lacquers. This primer offers 12 colours. The Lobadur HS 2K Intensive primers can be combined with each other, but, better still, also with the Lobasol® PreTone dyes. Lobasol® Pre-Tone is a water-based and dyed colouring. The colours are more uniform and clear. This product counteracts ageing and discolouration. Both products can be finished with colour oils. If you use the Lobadur HS 2K Intensive A.T. as an interim layer, it is also possible to finish the Lobasol® Pre-Tone with lacquer.

Mapei According to Mapei, oil is most definitely a trend, especially in Northern Europe. The fact that oil is easy to apply is presented as an asset, but also the fact that an oiled floor is quite easy to maintain. For public rooms Mapei recommends hard wax oil. The look of oil makes it suitable for distressed floors. Mapei sells solventless oil, colour oil, and hard wax oil, and the best-seller here is hard wax oil.

Osmo Wooden flooring, furniture surfaces and stairs can be coloured with Oil Stain from Osmo. Through the use of plant ingredients, an even colouration as well as a harmonious, seamless appearance is achieved. One thin coat of Oil Stain creates a transparent colouration; a second coat provides an intensive colouration. The advantage: the oil penetrates deeply into the wood and thus enables an optimal colouration. To protect the colour pigments optimally, Osmo still recommends a top coat with a clear Polyx®-Oil. The product offers a wide range of colour tones – the customer can choose from classic brown and trendy grey tones. Oil Stain can be easily applied with a scraper, a microfiber roller, a brush or a single-disc machine. The coloured primer is resistant to dirt, repels water and smoothens the surface.

Plastor As far as Plastor is concerned, oil is still a trend because it provides natural protection, which respects the wood, the warmth of the wood, and the feel. Oil offers a nice yield, is easy to use, and can be renovated with no problem at all. For distressed floors there is the advantage of the colour options of oil. Plastor presents Aquanat Oil® and Decoprotect Oil. Aquanat is an invisible protective oil which preserves and even highlights the natural aspect of the wood. Parquet can be oiled in one day with a drying time of one to two hours between coats. The oil is available in matt and flamed effect. Decoprotect oil is made on a base of natural oils and protects the wood against stains and dirt. This oil is available in eight stylish shades. Decoprotect gives parquet a natural warmth. Aquanat is the best-seller at the moment.

Rubio Monocoat Rubio Monocoat offers a full range of hard wax oils for both manual and industrial applications. For applications on site they recommend Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C, which is available in 40 standard colours. In 2017, they are adding seven new trend colours in three Chic collections, based on interior trends. This oil can also be used for an industrial finish. For specific finishes with a UV unit there is Rubio Monocoat Oil UV. The introduction of RMC LED Oil has once again stressed Rubio Monocoat’s role as a pioneer. This oil is dried instantly using LED light, and that means a

Floor Forum International 88

huge time saving. This oil is suitable for both on-site application and for giving wood an industrial finish. For projects which have to meet specific fire safety requirements one option is the revolutionary Rubio Monocoat FR Oil System. This is the only oil system with a European classification Bfl-s1 (floors) according to standards EN13501-1, EN ISO 9239-1, and ISO. Apart from RMC Oil Plus 2C, the new RMC LED Oil will be a product which will help determine the future of wood treatment. It is also made according to the unique signature technology of molecular binding, with all the positive features outlined above. LED technology has scores of benefits, but especially the fact that the applied LED Oil can be dried instantly by LED light represents a huge time saving in the completion of projects.

Stauf STAUF OIL IN ONE Naturally drying oil for wood floors in residential and commercial areas, this is a vegetal based oil. . Multifunctional oil which opened a pore surface and enhances the natural wood color, it can be sealed. The oil must be stirred well before use. Quickly and evenly, apply the oil using a stainless steel trowel avoiding puddles. STAUF HARDWAXOIL One component colorless coat based on natural oils and waxes for wood flooring and planks with moderate to average traffic, tables and worktops. STAUF Hardwaxoil is dirt resistant, water repellent and enhances the natural wood color with a velvet surface. The oil should be applied with a suitable roller crosswise (first apply across and then spread lengthwise) in a quick and even motion. STAUF COLORATUM OIL Is a single component, colored finish based on natural oils and wax. It is used for parquet, cork and wood floors in living areas with normal or moderately heavy use. The product contains no lead-based or cobalt based dryers and is pigmented. Colors: white, dark walnut, wenge, teak, grey, black.

Tover In the past years the market went towards colored floors to get highly customized “unique” effects. An easy way to achieve on site a colored finish is to use an oil: Tover offers a solvent free natural hardwax oil, strong, suitable for food contact applicable in a sole coat, easy to maintain and repair, available in more than 30 trendy shades: L’Olio 100%. In order to improve its resistance properties to spots and wear, it is possible to add a cross-linker or hardener (Oil-Linker) and even to overcoat the oil with a water-based single or bi-component lacquer: for a extremely natural and long-lasting finish.

Timberex Timberex doesn’t see oil as a trend, but a worthy alternative to lacquers or other means of protection. This also applies to high-traffic and intensively used locations. Over 70% of Timberex products worldwide are used in project applications, including a number of renowned airports. Apart from the aesthetic value, the fact that repairs can be carried out in patches is an important plus point (certainly in business premises!). For repairs Timberex also offers a specially developed oil foam, Satin Oil Gold Mousse, which dries in a few minutes. For high-traffic rooms Timberex recommends a classic oil, which is better than a hard wax oil because the gloss of hard wax oil fades in high-traffic rooms. For such applications there is, amongst other things, the Heavy Duty UV Plus oil. They are certainly aware here that there is a link with ‘distressed’ floors. Oil allows the wood to age naturally. The oils from Timberex are subdivided into four groups: those for the first treatment on rough wood; secondly, oils which contain wax; thirdly, the maintenance oils; and, finally, there is the Special Project group (including Active Stain and Aqua Plus).

Special

Parquet & laminate in the hotel sector

PARQUET AND LAMINATE TAKE OVER HOTELS THE LOOK CERTAINLY ISN’T THE TOP SALES ARGUMENT Just because a particular floor covering is popular in private homes doesn’t mean it will automatically enjoy success in places such as hospitals, schools, office, or even hotels. In the case of the latter the expectations are highly typical and specific. Be that as it may, parquet and laminate are proving extremely popular in hotels. That is partly due to their decorative benefits, but also due to a series of functional and structural assets. From the client’s point of view hygiene is still a major parameter.

Farewell to carpet? Time was when wall-to-wall carpet was the main floor covering in hotels. Once you left the marble or ceramic design floor in the lobby, you set foot on a soft and silky wall-to-wall carpet. The corridors to the rooms, the stairs, even the insides of lifts, the rooms, bar, and sometimes even the restaurant were silky and, especially, silent. The tranquillity which a hotel needed was respected perfectly by carpet. In some countries carpet is still ‘number 1’ in hotels. However, in an age when everyone talks about allergies, asthma, or simply nosophobia, more and more people are flinching instinctively away from carpet. Whether it is short or long-haired, synthetic or pure wool, the very idea of dust, hairs, or house dust mites makes some people recoil in horror. We’ve already seen this development in private homes where in Western countries countless square metres of wall-to-wall carpet have had to make way for more ‘cleanable’ floor coverings such as wood, laminate, vinyl, etc. The same development is ‘threatening’ the world of hotels. The very ‘fear’ of dust creates a barrier here. Hotel managers may be able to demonstrate in black and white that their hotel carpets are dirt-proof and cleaned daily, but it makes no difference. ‘Perception’ is often stronger than the reality. Nonetheless, wall-to-wall carpets have clearly made some technological strides. Here, too, there is talk of special fibres which have an antibacterial effect. However, clients are not easily convinced.

Wood as a ‘decor’ An aesthetic-looking interior is vitally important for a hotel. The interiors of the lobby, reception, bar, and restaurant are the first things to catch the eye. The lifts, corridors, and rooms follow on at once. Hotel managers strive to ‘charm’ visitors with an attractive and welcoming interior. Welcoming and ‘homely’ are closely related. Hotel guests must feel they are getting something ‘different’, but they also want to feel at home. Wood is an ideal resource for that purpose. It not only offers an infinite choice of sorts, but also each sort has the ‘natural’ ability to charm a large group of people as regards design, colour, and look. And so, choosing wood is a safe option for hotel managers. Moreover, wood makes it possible to ‘personalise’. In the case of solid wood floors or multi-layer parquet it is possible to incorporate the hotel logo into the floor by means of laser cutting and inlay work. This is usually done by combining different sorts of wood. With laminate

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you can achieve the same goal, but by means of digital print technology. What is also noticeable is that when emerging design floors such as LVT and PVC appear in hotels, they, too, usually take on the form of wood.

The benefits in short Wood, laminate, and lots of more flexible floor coverings have properties which are much coveted and sometimes even indispensable for the design and management of a hotel. Let’s summarise the most important ones.

Great strength Lots of people walk on a hotel floor. And so, hotel floors have to be strong enough to withstand cracks and scratches, stains from normal use (e.g. from spilt coffee or wine), chemical influences (e.g. cosmetics), and such like. With most floors the strength is generated by the quality of the finish layer. In recent years, most finishes have got stronger and stronger. The density of the floor plays an important part in its resistance to mechanical impacts. Hard wood sorts, veneer floors, and laminate certainly score good marks here. It should be noted here that the floors in the rooms don’t have to be as strong as those in the corridors and lobby. Laminate in class 33 will often be used in the corridors, whilst a lower class is used for the (lower traffic) rooms.

Maintenance and renovation Maintaining floors in a hotel is an expensive task. As a hotel gets busier, maintenance costs rise. We often see the same communal rooms cleaned several times a day. This means it must be possible to clean/dry/maintain the floor quickly (cost price) so as not to inconvenience hotel guests. Strictly speaking, we can say that just about all floors which can be ‘dry-cleaned’ (e.g. with a swiffer or vacuum cleaner) are one step ahead. That certainly applies to parquet, laminate, LVT, linoleum, bamboo, and cork. Moreover, it is essential that a hotel floor can be renovated ‘quickly’. Floating floors have the advantage here since they can be removed and replaced with little dust, no demolition, and not much noise. We think here of floating parquet, laminate, LVT, PVC, click linoleum, and all other floors with a click system (e.g. cork, bamboo, and coconut).

Silence is golden Designers strive for a certain acoustic serenity in communal rooms such as the lobby, bar, restaurant, corridors, and landings. As far as the rooms are concerned insulation (against external sound) and contact sound insulation (against noise from the room downstairs) are absolutely essential. In this area fully glued parquet scores better than floating parquet, unless it is possible to achieve a satisfactory result with the requisite subfloors. The same applies to the proportion of glued vinyl/floating LVT. At this point laminate depends entirely on the acoustic properties of the subfloor.

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Parquet & laminate in the hotel sector

What’s on the market? EGGER Design+ Flooring

With EGGER Design+ Flooring, the producer of wood-based materials, Egger, has launched a high-tech product which combines the qualities of wood-based floors with those of synthetic floors. This new floor category is ideal due to its waterproof character and extreme scratch-resistance for rooms where floors are subjected to high technical and aesthetic demands. With a thickness of just 5mm, this floor offers a range of decors, great strength, and the SelfRepair effect. That makes this floor ideal for commercial and public rooms. The core has a very great density, so it is highly stable. And so, Design+ Flooring is suitable for bathrooms and shops, offices, hotels, bars, doctors’ surgeries, and such like. The floor is based on wood and contains no PVC and no plasticisers. It is available in 20 contemporary wood and stone decors.

Parcolys Flooring Parcolys floors are ideal for hotels. They can be used in bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens, restaurants, and entrances or foyers. The floors are not only 100% waterproof, but also they are more resistant to stains. Furthermore, suitcase wheels and such like are not a problem for these floors. Moreover, the Parcolux and Parcostone floors also have an anti-slip layer and are in class 34 according to standard 16511 and in durability class AC5/ AC4 according to standard 15468. And so, they are ideal for hotels. Since the floors can be cleaned with soap and water and are impenetrable, they are much more hygienic than carpet. With carpet there is a much greater risk of residual dirt sticking to the carpet and you also need special apparatus or products to clean it. With Parcolux and Parcostone floors, stains are easy to remove, even ink or Betadine stains. Parcolys Flooring products meet all the necessary demands. Their products do not contain wood, but are produced from solid PVC. This ensures that there is no swelling at all and that the floors are impenetrable. As for price, they are in the same category as a high-quality laminate floor and somewhat cheaper than high-quality parquet.

Meister

NEW

• Special for humid places in both commercial and residential use • Anti-slip floor R10 • Anti-stain treatment At MEISTER they have noticed mainly an increase in Lindura wooden floors in the hotel sector. Lindura wooden floors are available in extremely large sizes: 26 x 220cm and 32 x 2600cm. This is aesthetically suitable in large rooms such as in hotels, and, furthermore, Lindura floors can cope with the knocks and can easily be installed in rooms where a lot of people pass by. Lindura floors are easy to maintain, dust doesn’t penetrate as it does with carpet, and so the floor is extremely convenient. Lindura wooden floors don’t have a particular (durability) class, but they are extremely strong as a result of the technology of wood powder, which is mixed in (wood powder and mineral stone particles). Major projects are being carried out increasingly by major fitting companies because speed of delivery is usually the priority here. Here, too, Lindura floors score well.

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• Easy to clean • High wear resistant AC5/IC3 • Eco-friendly: 100% recyclable • Residential use: 20 years warranty • Commercial use: 5 years warranty • Compatible with underfloor heating and cooling systems

T H E U N I Q U E 1 0 0 % WAT E R PR O O F A N D A N T I - SL I P F L O O R I N G SO L U T I O N

∂ Industry news Wicanders Hydrocork is waterproof and is taking over several markets Amorim Revestimentos invests 10 Million Euros to increase Hydrocork production Hydrocork is definitely the flooring solution that markets were waiting for and this is proven by its incredible sales success throughout all geographical markets. After only two years of its launch Amorim Revestimentos takes a very significant step and invests 10 million Euros in its production infrastructure and procedures. This new production unit will increase the response to a growing and more enlightened demand, increasing Amorim's throughput capacity in over 4 million square meters of flooring per year. Launched by Amorim only as recently as 2015, the unparalleled success of Hydrocork, relays on its competitive advantages that has been extremely well perceived by customers, such as its water proof performance that extends the use of flooring with Wicanders’ Corktech technology benefits (e,g, walking comfort, sound; thermal insulation, etc.) to new areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, as well as its low thickness and its revolutionary Pressfit installation systems that makes the product ideal for the fast growing market of renovations. Markets throughout the world have shown a growing preference for products that can be applied in any area of the house/office, are suitable for renovations projects and are as ecologically sustainable as possible. Being a perfect example of that combination, it is with no surprise that Hydrocork is the fastest growing product ever in Wicander´s history, and, picking up on that, the Portuguese company decided it was time to reach even farther. Technology never used before "This investment aims to increase capacity to produce Hydrocork but also to create a range of new agglomerated cork composites with features that don't exist in the market yet", states Antonio Cruz, CEO of Amorim Revestimentos. "These products will be truly unique in the market, not only because it will be waterproof but also free from PVC. That performance will be accomplished thanks to technology "which was never been used before in the industry" and that will provide a wider range of thicknesses, densities and widths. Those possibilities, in turn, will assure the company an annual installed production capacity of about 4 million square meters. Still, Antonio Cruz assures there will be plenty of room for adaptation: "The production procedures we're implementing in this new unit are organized in such a way that it will be possible to combine the best technologies with optimum flexibility, in order to customize any agglomerate we occasionally need with the requirements we see most fit". Significant sale results expected by 2020 Present in more than 70 countries, Amorim Revestimentos closed 2016 with a turnover of around 124 million euros. The CEO of the company admits he is extremely confident that the investment “represents a game changing in the company and a paradigm shift on how it operates in the market”, which will take the company to the next level, being the engine behind the aggressive growth goals Amorim´s set up for its flooring division.

Basin CREATE A VINTAGE PARQUET WITH THE ANTICO SYSTEM The ANTICO SYSTEEM is a water-based professional distressing system with no ammonia, dyes, and/or colouring agents. The final shades can be obtained solely through a reaction with wood, so this product is suitable for professional use only. This system gives clients the opportunity to create their own personal colours and put together their own vintage parquet. After this treatment, the wood can be protected effectively with lots of possible finishes from BASIN. Professional users can contact BASIN at any time for more details about this system.

Bewood® Testimony of a professional Jean Francois Leclerc has been a carpenter for 27 years. His vast experience means he is capable of assessing materials critically and making the right choices to help his business to grow in line with his own expectations and those of his clients. Seven years ago, Jean-François entered into partnership with Bewood® eand he has absolutely no regrets about that. ‘Various clients contacted me again for extensions or other finishes with the same product. It gives great satisfaction to know you’ve helped a client make the right choice. I’ve also been able to go to various sites to check how the product ages. There’s no doubt that this is a durable product.’ To supply professional work, you have to check the quality of all building elements carefully. You also need to pay attention to fastening systems. That’s why Bewood® has developed Beclip®.Beclip® is a new fastening system in stainless steel and it requires no screws. It has been developed to improve three parameters: the technical qualities (durability & fire resistance), the speed of installation, and universality (wood structure or aluminium & terrace or frontage).

Floor Forum International 88

Special

Hungary

THE STRANGE ‘COURSE’ OF HUNGARY LAND WITH NO COAST BUT WITH A ‘SEA’ OF POTENTIAL

Talk about change. Hungary is most certainly a maverick in the ‘new’ Europe. Politically, it has made giant strides. Economically, it continued to make progress until 2012 when the engine, everywhere for that matter, began to splutter seriously. At present, the country stands out time and again for its heavy-handed approach towards refugees as reported in the news. It is certainly a cause for concern that there is a growing interest amongst ‘ordinary’ citizens from several European Union member states to emigrate to that country precisely because of its protectionist touch.

The National Assembly

From people’s republic to democracy

Political structure

From 1949 to October 1989 inclusive, Hungary was a socialist people’s republic. The country then became an independent democratic state with a multi-party system (30 parties contested the first elections), with values of civil democracy and democratic socialism equally shared. Hungary is a fairly stable country politically and has never removed a democratically elected government prematurely.

Hungary is divided up into 19 provinces or regions (‘megyék’), 128 districts, and 3199 towns and cities. They are governed by elected councils elected for a period of four years; daily administration is in the hands of executive committees, which are chosen and controlled by the administrative councils. There are also five urban districts, also provincial capital cities, at the administrative level of the ‘megyék’.

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The 21-member presidential council has been replaced by a national president. He or she is elected for four years by parliament and may be re-elected once for four more years. In fact, the president has only a ceremonial function. The top legislative power is the National Assembly (‘Országgyülé’), whose 386 members are elected directly for five years. Executive power lies with the cabinet, which is controlled by parliament. The premier chooses the other members of the government. All Hungarians aged at least 18 may vote and the electoral threshold for political parties is 5%.

Budapest has a separate position with 22 ‘megyék’ councils and a central city council.

An obstinate federal state In April 2010, the conservative opposition party (‘Fidesz’) won the elections and its leader Viktor Orban became the new premier. The extreme right-wing party (‘Jobbik’) came into parliament with 47 seats. From 1 January 2011, Hungary held the EU presidency for six months.

Media law There has been a lot of criticism from other EU countries over the contentious media law, which the country passed on 20 December. The new media law appoints a media authority chosen by the government to assess whether or not journalists work ‘morally’ and ‘objectively’. Moreover, news broadcasters are allowed to spend only 20% of broadcasting time on crime so as not to scare people.

Civil rights In May 2012, Janos Adler became president of Hungary. In the years 2013 and 2014, Hungary and the EU clashed frequently over the fifth amendment, which, amongst other things, should give expression to civil rights. In April 2014, Fidesz won the parliamentary elections for the second time.

Refugee crisis In 2015 and 2016, Hungary played a strongly preventive role in the reception of refugees; actually, premier Orban of Hungary doesn’t want to accept any refugees at all, but the EU has threatened sanctions for countries which do not respect the proposed distribution.

Economy and Europe The Hungarian economic growth always depended mainly on exports, especially exports to Germany, which accounts for 25% of all Hungarian exports. In 2012, the Hungarian economy was hit by a severe economic crisis caused by a loss of trust on the part of consumers and company managers, the sharpening of terms and conditions for finance and credit, the reduction of corporate and family debt, a major reorganisation of the budget, and, further, the general situation in the euro zone.

Strong growth When Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic committed themselves to membership of the European Union in 2004 with regard to European law and legislation, Western European and other foreign companies found a stable investment climate. There was political stability and it was possible with the help of finance from Brussels to improve the infrastructure. Conversely, Western Europe, and especially Germany, became an important market for the new EU member states. After 2004, the economies in those countries grew more strongly than the EU average.

7.1% worked in agriculture, 29.7% in industry, and 63.2% in the services sector. In 2013, unemployment was 10.5%. Due to the influence of the credit crisis there has hardly been any economic growth at all in recent years. The percentages in 2011,2012, and 2013 were 1.5, -1.7, and 0.2% respectively.

Storms brewing in Europe In the meantime, a new political wind is also blowing in Poland and Hungary. In Poland the nationalist-conservative party Right and Righteousness (PiS) of Jaroslaw Kaczynski is sounding a eurosceptic and populist tone. In Hungary the comparable Hungarian People’s Party Fidesz of Viktor Orbán is singing the same tune. With legislation which undermines the democratic constitutional state and restricts the independence of the central bank, plus their reluctant stance on the reception of refugees, Poland and Hungary in particular are throwing spanners in the EU works. They are no longer progressive and stable countries and their investment climate has suffered.

Wood and parquet Robinia takes the crown (Source: Belgian Wood Forum) Robinia is the commercial name for the botanical sort robinia pseudoacacia and is part of the leguminosae family. Robinia comes originally from the East of the United States. The French garden botanist Jean Robin introduced it in Europe in 1601. The tree soon spread all over Central Europe. Robinia flourishes best in a moderate climate, at a modest height, and in a light and well ventilated soil. Today, it is the third most planted hardwood sort in the world, after the eucalyptus and the hybrid poplar. Hungary has an intensive forestry operation based on robinia. Approximately 340,000 hectares of forest or one fifth of the total forest area consists of robinia. With one million cubic metres, the Hungarian robinia accounts for 18% of all wood production. Robinia is used for various applications, including staircase steps, high-traffic floors (e.g. sports floors), and terraces.

Hungarian parquet production In 2011, Hungary produced 2.5% of all European parquet. That represented a figure of 1,781,967m² of wooden floors. In 2012, its share of production fell to 2.34%. And so, in 2012, Hungary produced 1,597,427m² of parquet. The country has fallen to the fourth last place, but is still ahead of Belgium, Czech Republic, and Switzerland.

Hungarian parquet consumption In terms of consumption Hungary’s shares in the total European consumption and the number of square metres are comparable with what the country produces. In 2011, Hungarians consumed 420,785m² i.e. 0.46% of all European consumption. In 2012, Hungary’s share of consumption fell by 0.32% to 280,028m².

When the ‘growth’ splutters Nevertheless, the crisis affected companies in Western Europe very badly and only modest economic growth followed in the period afterwards. Investment in Central and Eastern Europe dried up and exports from Eastern to Western Europe fell. Russia, for which high raw material income was the mainstay, appeared to be developing into an alternative market for emerging European countries. However, the fall in oil prices in the summer of 2014 put an end to that.

No more growth The GDP achieved in 2013 was 3.4% in agriculture, 28% in industry, and 68.7% in services. Of the economically active population in 2013,

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Floor Forum International 88

∂ Product news NEW: RUBIO MONOCOAT LED OIL, THE NEW STANDARD FOR INSTANT CURING WITH LED LIGHT In 2005, we introduced our RMC Oil Plus 2C on the market; a true revolution at the time, because of the unique technology of molecular binding, applied in just one coat, with a wide selection of colours and with 0% VOC. In 2017, we are once again taking on the role of pioneer by launching RMC LED Oil. The advantages of LED speak for themselves: considerably less energy consumption, longer service life of the lightbulbs, no ozone emission, no unpleasant odour. But particularly the fact that wood, treated with LED oil, is cured instantly with LED light and can therefore also be instantly used and/or packaged, means a gigantic time-saving for the project market, for stairs- and furniture-makers, as well as for industrial finishers. In addition to the RMC LED Oil, we also offer professional LED dryers for both on-site and industrial applications.

CSP ENGINEERING Also on the field of the wood filler CSP Engineering keeps taking care of innovation and developments. CosmetiWood® is available at CSP in a new, in the meanwhile already 7th colour in the range: CRD = Crème Doré. The ecological product on water base and wood pulp is available in buckets of 9.6 kg and particularly suited for manual application. Visit the renewed website for more information on CosmetiWood®: http://www.csp-engineering.com/en/product/cosmetiwood/

ECOPROTECTOR

OUTDOOR

NATURAL 6222

LIGHT GREY 6206

RUSTIC GREY 6358

OLD GREY 6207

EXOTIC 6202

TEAK 6205

EBONY 6203

GREEN 6359

CIRANOVA - ECOPROTECTOR Ecoprotector is a waterbased protection for the exterior wood, such a exotic wood and European hardwoods. Ecoprotector is excellent and very well adapted for treating vertical and horizontal surfaces. Does not form a film, but penetrates into the wood. Ecoprotector provides a nourishing protection that does not flake off and is easy to maintain. The grey colours are especially adapted for aging new wood.

PRO-DECK – THE LONG-LASTING WATER-BASED IMPREGNATION AGENT FROM TOVER Tover offers a water-based innovative impregnation treatment for wooden flooring in exterior (terraces, decking, …) and garden furniture. It preserves the wood from climatic agents, UV rays, moss and lichens, it does not turn yellow or crack. Very easy to apply and refresh Pro-Deck represents a really new concept on the market and an excellent alternative to oils: indeed it lasts much longer. Pro-Deck exists in neutral and coloured version.

PARQUET OILS FROM PLASTOR A FINISH WHICH UNVEILS THE NATURAL QUALITY OF THE WOOD BY PROTECTING IT To provide natural and effective protection with a trendy finish for old parquet, a damaged floor, or a raw wood staircase, Plastor includes Aquanat and Decoprotect in its range of oils. Aquanat oil retains the rawness of the wood or parquet. It also saves time, since this finish coat (with no gloss) means you can apply three coats in a single day. It is available in two variants, namely 'Colourless Matt', which will heat up the wood slightly, and the 'invisible effect' for a completely invisible finish. Decoprotect hard wax oil nourishes the wood deep down and protects parquet permanently against the strains of daily use. The oil-wax combination has the advantage of protecting parquet against stains and it simplifies maintenance. It passes the chemical 'inertia' test; the hard wax oil may be applied to a kitchen worktop. The hard wax oil is available either in Colourless Matt variant or in eight different trendy colours.

Floor Forum International 88

Everything you need for brighter wood, always.

Mapei

Spray Mop

Keep your wooden floor looking its best with the Mapei range of special parquet maintenence products: Spray Mop, for daily cleaning operations and for the occasional, more thorough cleaning cycles, such as removing old floor wax or applying new wax, and our special Ultracoat products for cleaning and protecting parquet.

Learn more on www.mapei.com

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