From red oxide to laminate flooring
— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
CHANGING TRENDS: Craze is to seek alternatives in wooden and laminate flooring.
Trends in flooring of houses and commercial venues are fast changing. Once upon a time red-oxide was the hot favourite. People then switched over to mosaic flooring. Marble was the tendency in recent times. Granites became a fad for quite some time in the later stages.
The introduction of vitrified tiles saw builders drifting away from ceramic tiles. Many rushed to try rustic titles for flooring when these became a fashion statement in European countries. Now the craze is to seek alternatives in wooden flooring and laminate flooring.
Advantages of engineered wood and laminated panels for flooring are numerous. One of them is getting the job done on time.
“You can avoid the mess during the laying. A couple of days would be enough to floor an entire house. Besides the interlocking feature allows the user to remove and replace the floor at will,” says P.M. Sameer, business development manager of Pergo. Most people prefer the stylish Swedish Pergo today. Homes, offices, restaurants, jewellery showrooms in cities such as Kozhikode Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram have adopted the concept of laminate flooring.
Overnight flooring or floating flooring is the in-thing among the upper and middle-class population. The patented Titan X surface gives Pergo incredible wear resistance and superb scratch resistance helping the floor to maintain its lustre up to three times more than any laminate floor. Its unique multi-layer build-up system and the dense core material give the floors a high-impact resistance. Other features of the brand include resistance against water and fire, sound reduction, easy maintenance and installation.
The panels recreate the warmth of wood. Materials processed in two ways – Direct Pressure Lamination and High Pressure Lamination – are available in the market. “However, we do not recommend them for bathrooms as well as outdoor flooring,” says Mr. Sameer.
Kannur-based Western India Plywood offers an exquisite variety of decorative wooden floor panels for residences and commercial places. These multi-layer engineered wood panels come with a length of four feet and a width ranging from six inches to one foot.
The panels are finished with the state-of-the-art waterborne urethane formulation.
Using an imported plant from Italy the floors are ultra-violet cured, says P.K. Mehboob, director (Marketing) of Western India Plywood.
“Many love to have at least one of the floors either the master bedroom or the living room finished in wood. Since hard wood is expensive the best option would be engineered wood. It is reasonably priced when compared to hardwood,” he says.
The branded “Westind Utra Klik” wooden floor panels are available at prices ranging between Rs.120 and Rs.180 per square feet.
The installation charges will be an additional Rs.10 per square feet.
These highly stable panels are obtainable in teak, cherry, mahogany, beech, ash, khaya, rosewood, padauk and maple,
Mr. Mehboob says. Zynergy at Nadakkavu in Kozhikode, which is the authorised dealer for Pergo in North Kerala, offers laminate floor panels at prices ranging from Rs.100 to Rs.280.
“The cost includes laying and transportation charges. And the materials are available in matt finish, textured finish and glossy finish,” says V.C. Shiyaz, general manager, Zynergy.
Pergo Expression has 10 designs, including Wenge, Thermo-treated Ash and Salted Lapacho.
The Vintage collection include dark oak, country pine, aged elm, vintage chestnut, white pine, antique oak, province oak, mansion maple and Normandy chestnut.
In the case of modifying into laminate flooring, a polyethylene film is laid before installing the panels. No glue or extra underlay is needed.
“The polyethylene film is to absorb moisture from the concrete,” Mr. Sameer says. For normal maintenance of Pergo floors, use a vacuum cleaner without the beater bar, and when necessary, a damp mop with a mild non-soap based detergent. Stubborn stains may be removed with acetone.
BIJU GOVIND
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