Ceramitex Vinyl by Gerflor

Gerflor make a lot of their ‘polyester textile backing’ on their range of vinyl flooring. They claim that, among other things, it can be laid on top of virtually any kind of subfloor without the need for the usual preparation. That’s a bold claim and I must confess that we do sell it where the subfloor is a little awry and the customer does not want the hassle and the expense of screeding or plywooding beforehand. However, I do think that it is important to explain to the customer that the job may well not be ‘perfect’.

The latest range I have come across is ‘Ceramitex’. As the name suggests, it is a tile based selection available either 2m, 3m or 4m wide and with GripX slip-resistance, felt-backing and comes 2.0mm thick with a wear layer of 0.20mm.

CEramitex Borie Dark Design

I do think that the designs stand up quite well and as seen below, they offer a good range of contemporary designs. We are certainly selling more tile than wood design now in vinyl and this is probably borne out by the amount of new tile ranges we are seeing.

Ceramitex Designs in Full

This should be a steady seller and while it is not at the top end of vinyl as regards quality, the felt-backing may well get you out of a hole, so it’s worth considering if your subfloor is slightly uneven. If it’s more than slightly dodgy then please rectify that before wasting your money on a vinyl floor.

This should go out at between £12 and £16 per square metre. Sadly not available as of yet on yourfloors, but your local supplier who deals with The Headlam Group will be able to supply it easily enough.

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Allied Carpets In Administration

It was only a matter of time. Hopeless retailer in my opinion. Still, a lot of people lose their jobs, which is never a good thing.

It looks like the best 51 stores and the insurance business have been ‘cherry-picked’ by the new buyers – some form of management buyout headed by the chief executive.

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New Dimension Bedroom/Bathroom Carpet

Ideal Carpets have launched a new range in bedroom and bathroom versions (bathroom version is 2m wide, bedroom is 4m wide).

There has been a real shortage of bathroom carpet in recent times and nothing has come close to Cormar’s old favourite, ‘Four Star’, which sold large amounts for years. Of course nowadays bathroom carpet is well out of fashion and sales have all but died, however in recent months I have been asked more and more regularly for it and if truth be told, my selection to show customers was fairly poor.

In general shops will not put a lot of effort into bathroom carpet as you only ever sell a small amount and cannot sell accessories with it as it is not fitted with underlay.

This one is a ‘shaggy’ range in some excellent colours. The magenta seems bold and vibrant:

New Bathroom Carpet - New Dimension

Aside from that there is a black, a silver and some nice pastel shades in green, blue and lilac. Add the natural colours in and you have a decent colour bank.

It should sell between £13 and £17 per square metre and although it does not have much ‘body’ to it, it is perfectly adequate for the job. Bathroom carpet should not be seen as a long term solution, more usually it is a short term one. If you are looking for something long-lasting then just fit ordinary broadloom stuff on underlay. Bathroom carpet is pretty much disposable.

Having said that, many elderly customers like it and prefer a softer feeling underfoot. You gain comfort and warmth and you lose hygene and long-term wear – swings and roundabouts I guess. Elderly people also often worry about slipping on smooth floors so this can give added peace of mind.

Bathroom Carpet from Ideal

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Sensa Laminate Flooring

There seems to be a lot of fuss being made over a new brand of laminate flooring called Sensa.

Sensa Laminate

Apparently, according to whispers I’ve heard, one of the main men behind this launch was closely connected to Balterio and they have now parted ways. I’ve been told a similar story by multiple reps now.

Anyway, to the product itself. Well I should preface this by saying that so far I have only seen some small sample swatches of the product. As usual these are painfully inadequate to sell the product from , being far too small. Having said that, we are now waiting for our stand to be installed and so I ought to have a better idea very soon.

There are four ranges being launched:

Traditional Vintage:8mm V-Groove with ‘Oiled Texture’ and 15 Year Warranty. This range features 8 Oak and only Oak decors. They do look good, but there is not a lot of variation. Cavallo Oak and Albany Oak seem to stand out to me.

Sensa Traditional Vintage

Urban Loft: 8mm V-Groove with ‘Oiled Texture’ and 15 Year Warranty, but with a narrower plank at 160mm, compared to Traditional Vintage’s 194mm.

This is a much more eye-catching range with an accent on lighter woods in Oslo Pine, Whitewashed Oak and Florida Pine. They have also included a ‘wine box’ look which has lettering stamped across the planks, cal’ed ‘Wine and Pine’ – I’ve seen Parador do a similar thing in the past.

Supreme Senses: 8mm Bevelled Edge Tile Effect with a 15 Year Warranty. Tiles are 605mm x 282mm and they look really impressive.

It is with this range that they really come to the fore. The tiles come in four decors with Faro and Pompeii being the pick of the bunch. They are very well finished and pretty lifelike with a wonderful feel and texture to them.

Natural Prestige:10mm V-Groove with 20 Year Warranty. This is the daddy of the range. It’s a really meaty, heavy product and feels impressive to the touch. Once again it’s all oak, but we have some good ones. Bordeaux Oak is stunning as is Vancouver Oak and compare favourably with most other competitors.

It’s very lifelike for a laminate and the more solid sound underfoot you will get from the 10mm thickness will be another plus. It’s a great product.

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