Flooring
The vinyl record
An incredibly versatile flooring, vinyl offers remarkable performance, durability and ease of maintenance, yet its most noticeable asset is its appearance. Richard Hackett, Gerflor’s Retail and Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) Manager, documents the past,
present and future of vinyl. Vinyl flooring first became popular in the 1930s. ‘Crunchy’, homogeneous floor tiles offered marbleised or speckled designs but there was little chance to enhance the look other than by using the tiles to create marble-effect patterns. It was only later that manufacturers developed multilayer products with reinforcement, a carrier and a design using ink rollers.
The real innovation came in the late sixties and early seventies with the introduction of print film applied to the carrier. This has allowed virtually any design to be photographed and then printed onto vinyl. As a result, natural materials, such as wood and stone, can be reproduced and enhanced and oak designs can be changed in both appearance and colour to achieve the desired effect. These elements are embraced today in LVT and plank formats, while the look is even more realistic due to the use of high quality texturing to provide graining and embossing.
In recent years, innovation and technology has further expanded the possibilities for realism and versatile design. This is likely to improve in
48
the future as the clarity of the design on the print film itself becomes ever sharper, with the addition of improved embossing techniques. Vinyl flooring will appear ever more natural, with high-quality renderings that exactly mirror the materials they replicate.
“Innovation and technology has further expanded the possibilities for realism and versatile design.”
Importantly, clients are increasingly able to work with manufacturers to enhance or create their own designs. At its simplest, this may involve minor adjustments to colour and lightening or darkening the appearance of the printed image. At a more advanced level, customers are able to pick from a palette of designs and create their own colour. This is currently limited to larger orders but, as technology advances, the limitations of large product runs will diminish and even smaller requests will be possible.
Already taking the market by storm is the availability of LVTs and
planks in a loose lay format. These products do not necessarily need to be adhered to the floor and, in some cases, there is minimal subfloor preparation, speeding up installation and saving valuable downtime for retail and other establishments. Further product development has seen the availability of multi-width planks and a variety of tile sizes with, in some cases, tiles getting bigger and planks longer and wider. To allow the full design potential of these products to be realised, LVT and planks are being supplied in boxes containing a variety of sizes, patterns and colours.
While much of this innovation has occurred in the last five years, the next five years seem almost certain to see a revolution in the aesthetic potential offered by luxury vinyl products, bringing huge benefits for the designer, installer and, most importantly, the end client.
www.gerflor.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66
