Tarkett Gooble Up Rhinofloor

We just received this letter from Armstrong:

It’s pretty clear from it that Tarkett, the huge vinyl manufacturer have decided, in their wisdom, to take on the Rhinofloor brand. Is it a risk? Well, Tarkett are huge and seemingly very successful, although the impending cuts might see a reduction in their commercial vinyl sales throughout Europe and that is an area of strength for them. They are surely counting on the brand awareness and hoping to use their size and strength to propel the Rhinofloor brand towards profit in the domestic market….easier said than done.

One rep told me not to dispose of my Rhinofloor sampling – whoops – too late. We do get so very many useless, unsuitable and redundant pattern books that a whole lot of them have to be skipped as soon as we work out that they are not useful. I had heard rumours of this move a couple of weeks ago, but I chose not to post it on here just in case somebody got upset at my posting of unsubstantiated rumours. I’m going soft.

Certainly Tarkett would do well to follow the lead of Armstrong, Leoline and so forth and produce a decent up to date website. That’s the minimum requirement these days – so very many of our customers come in armed with info from the internet and any manufacturer who fails to use it to their advantage is being extremely shortsighted.

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Lifestyle Floors: Hardwood, Laminate & Vinyl?

I’ve heard that Headlam Group’s interest in their new ‘Lifestyle Floors’ brand is set to intensify in the new year with the addition of hardwood, vinyl and laminate to the range.

There is talk of some 5 metre long stands being made available to show the products off and we will be very interested to see what they come up with. If we add this stand to the ones we have just had installed then we are talking about giving up a large amount of wallspace to one company.

We’ll have to consider it carefully once we’ve seen how it looks and most importantly, what products are going to be on it.

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Endangered Species: Rhinofloor & Armstrong To Close

Save the rhino! No, this is not a sudden departure into protecting those mighty beasts……sadly it is to post about the impending demise of Armstrong’s domestic vinyl production on Teesside. Note that this closure affects the domestic side of their business only.

It really will be a hammer blow to a part of the country that can ill-afford the loss of 163 jobs. It’s pretty clear that Armstrong have struggled to cope with the new generation of vinyl competition from Europe, of which Leoline has been the spearhead.

It does not surprise me to hear this news, though it does sadden me. To think that what is by far the most recognised vinyl brand, Rhinofloor, will no longer be available is quite shocking. Realistically it is pretty much the only brand people ever seem to ask for in this shop – in recent times however, they often come in talking about Rhinofloor and leave the shop having bought Leoline – sad but true.

A lack of true innovatition and creativity, as well as some very strange pricing structures have contributed to their demise as much as anything else in my book. I actually dismantled one of their stands today (coincidentally) to make way for something else that will sell a lot more than that and the significance of what I had been planning for a couple of weeks sunk in. If I’m not getting results from their stand, then I’m sure I’m not alone.

The end of an era and another British manufacturer goes to the wall. No bail outs from the goevernment to the flooring trade though, we  save those for reckless bankers……

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Are You Going To Harrogate Fair?

This year’s Harrogate Flooring Show is almost upon us – it is being held between the 5th and 7th of September this year. In a move to persuade hard-working shop owners to make the journey, the operators have decided to begin on a Sunday this year.

I’m not sure whether to pop along there or not at the moment. Anyway, you can pre-regisiter by clicking the link above and if you do go then have fun.

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Agrippa by Gerflor: Vinyl Flooring

I must say how impressed I am with a new(ish) couple of ranges released by vinyl manufacturer, Gerflor.

Their Agrippa range has just had two new ranges added: Agrippa Woods and Agrippa Minerals. It’s what our rep called ‘unaplogetically expensive’ – he exaggerates, it’s not that expensive and you should be able to pick it up for around £16-£21 per metre.

So why do I like it? Here’s the rub…….

A lot of the new generation of ‘slip resistant’ domestic vinyls are a bit of a bugger to clean – dirt seems to become trapped within the ‘ridges’ of the surface texture. I know this first hand after fitting one of the first ones to be launched in my own bathroom several years ago. Well Agrippa sorts this out.

Their ‘Pureclean’ finish is nothing like its competitors and is a simple matter to keep clean. Now bearing in mind that this will be fitted pimarily into kitchens and bathrooms, hygiene is a key issue. The surface coating helps to prevent the spread of dirt and bacteria.

On top of that, the compact foam backing feels great in your hand and they claim it is warm and comfortable. All you need do is handle it and a piece of a competitors’ vinyl at the same time and I think you will prefer the construction of the Agrippa.

The designs are all on the money too, though there is a lack of anything to blow you away and one good design in a range can make the range I always think, but there’s  a good array of current popular stuff. It’s 3.0mm thick with a 0.25mm wearlayer, which is not quite up to Leoline’s top of the line 0.30mm wearlayer on products like Wondergrain and Stonemarks, but it is fine for most domestic installations. Remember, you are gaining on the maintenance side of things and relinquishing a little wear – swings and roundabouts.

Overall I have to say that I’m more impressed with the features of the product rather than the designs, but if you can find something here that works for you then it’s definitely a good choice for an easy life with the mop!

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Altro Invent Retailer’s Dream Safety Floor

Sometimes sales reps will wind we retailers up a little with an amusing anecdote, a joke straight out of a 1978 edition of ‘The Comedians’ or even a tie that their wife bought them for their birthday. However, every now and then they will try to pull your leg about a product.

When I saw Altro’s new safety floor, Xpresslay TM, I was definitely suspecting the worst…..

Very briefly, if you don’t already know, commercial safety floor has to be fully adhered to a prepared subfloor. Damp measurements need to be taken and great care must be taken with the preparatory work. The vast majority of problems on jobs like this seem to occur because of poor, or non-existent preparation.

What Altro have come with here is a new safety floor that does not have to be fully adhered in the traditional way. Instead the idea is that you use Altro’s double sided tape around the seams and perimeter to stick it down….and it works! You would still need to fully stick it if very heavy items were to be rolled across it for example, but generally speaking, taping will work on the majority of applications.

More intriguingly though, Altro have developed a product here that can be fitted on top of old vinyl floors, so you don’t need to hack up the old flooring. This is because there can of course be no ‘plasticiser migration’ as they call it. There is no adhesive used that will interact with the surface of the old tiles – genius!

Also you can fit it on top of underfloor heating without even turning it off and also you can begin to weld it immediately. Add to that the fact that you can fit this product on fresh concrete that has a RH (relative humidity) of up to 97% and you have a wonderfully flexible solution that will solve a lot of problems quickly and easily.

Let’s step back from the technical stuff for a moment though and think about what this means. To me personally, it is a great addition because we aren’t specialist safety floor/commercial contractors – we get a handful of these jobs every now and then and this product will now be our first choice to show customers.

It means we don’t have to worry about costly and time-consuming preparation, moisture testing and it is quicker for us to install, so our fitters are tied up for less time. All this will translate into a better experience for our customer and a more competitive finished price. Sure, there are many cheaper safety floors around, but Xpresslay TM is not especially expensive by industry standards and its features and benefits make up for any price differential. If a comparable safety floor is £3 per square metre less, then that is going to be easily eaten up (and a lot more) in prep work. Xpresslay TM wins hands down for me.

For the specialists, it will be one of many solutions they offer, but to the many many retailers who do the odd job in safety floor, this is a dream product. Full marks to Altro.

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Yourfloors Fitting And Accessories Active: Be Careful Though…

Finally Yourfloors has activated the fitting and accessories part of the website. If you have a Yourfloors site then please read this very carefully before you activate the fitting and underlay.

Firstly, a screenshot of it working:

It works! However be careful for a couple of reasons.

Firstly your fitting charges need to include gripper/adhesives. They have emailed us all to remind us of that, but it’s something to bear in mind when adding your fitting prices to the site.

Also there does not appear to be any way to set a minimum fitting charge. That can be scary. Imagine selling a 2m x 2m bathroom carpet and getting the princely sum of £10 or £12 to fit it! That must be changed and I’m certain it will be. People can knock the website all they like, but it will work successfully in the years ahead, I have no doubt.

Aside from that there is a minor problem with carpet tile fitting where 4 tiles, according to Yourfloors, means 16 square metres of fitting – oops.

I do like it though. You can decide what accessories to sell and add any underlays you like, regardless of who you buy them from. There are not enough fields for door bars (only 6?!?! – you need more like 20+), whereas you can add up to 6 types of scotia (?).

You can add uplift of old, removal of furniture and door cutting (or not if you don’t do it), so it does have a lot of the bases covered (though not all, obviously). Yourfloors is very much a case of ‘swings and roundabouts’ for the retailers who have signed up. Some things will seem a bit of a headache – “oh no I have to deliver a 2m x 2m for free”, but remember you might just get a big order off the back of it, so grin and bear it!

To consumers, Yourfloors now offers a complete service and I recommend you use it. You can compare all of your local independent retailers who are specialists and have every reason to provide you with a much better and more personal service than the big shops. They will also have every chance of winning on price.

Remember, the price per square metre and the final fitted price are not the same thing! Big carpet chains will often lead with prices that appear to be lower, but the on the floor price will end up being much higher than your local retailer.

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Write For The UK Flooring Blog!

If anyone out there in the world of flooring would like to write for this blog then please send me an email on ukflooringblog@yahoo.co.uk. I am happy to hear from anyone from any background and anywhere in the world.

Please understand that no payment will be forthcoming as the blog does not make a penny!

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Armstrong Popular Choice Vinyl

A parcel arrived this morning. A pleasantly logo-ed golden box containing new sample swatches of Armstrong’s relaunched ‘Popular Choice’ vinyl range. It’s branded as being ‘From the home of Rhinofloor’, which of cause it is, but many shops to erroneously claim that it is Rhinofloor. It”s not, you have to pay more money for Rhinofloor, but this range does have its plus points.

Popular Choice is broken down into three ranges: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each range comes 2m, 3m and 4m wide and features R10 slip-resistance rating. Gold is guaranteed for 7 years, Silver and Bronze for 5 years each. Sadly I do not have the technical specs of them yet, but they do look there or thereabouts to their nearest Leolan/Domo etc competitors to the naked eye.

Ah, but what are the designs like I hear you ask. Well, I don’t think they’ve strayed too far from the norm with these. These ranges are intended to be a ‘middle of the road’ collection to cover all the popular bases. I really like one design in the Silver range, namely ‘Feinstein Metal Oxide’ which is a lovely sharp bronze shade tile – really stands out and should sell, as bronze really seems popular right now.

I’d reckon that all three ranges will go out for £12-£17 per square metre and it’s got to be pretty decent value at that price. Armstrong should do okay with them, but there is nothing different or interesting about them really – just standard vinyl fodder. Stockists will be given the usual advantage in taking rolls in I’m sure, so if you’re looking to cut a deal on these ranges as a customer, if you can find someone who actually stocks some of the ranges then you may be able to chop a few quid per metre from the price.

The samples we have received are small, but there is some logic in this as they are intended to complement Armstrong’s very nice in store stands rather than replace them. Swatches this size work well when you are out measuring for customers and you can’t exactly take a whole stand with you!

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Domotex 2010: Hannover

Once again the huge flooring show has come around and once again I am not there! I’m a long way down the chain and nobody would pay my way, so I remain here in the sleet for another weekend.

I know a fair number of the Headlam head honchos are in attendance and fingers crossed that we will begin to see some innovative, bold and creative products filter through from this show.

I do have high hopes: surely the recession will motivate stronger companies to innovate and come up with products to drive our trade forward. What is is they say, necessity is the mother of invention? Something like that.

Until I hear back from those who were in attendance or get some feedback, then I’m as much in the dark as anyone else. I’d expect a good showing from Balta/Balterio and an increasing Chinese and Turkish presence will be as intriguing as ever.

I know what I want to see and that’s a lot more products around to provide the wow factor with customers. Recent products like Beach Hut, Splash and Polyflor’s wonderful collection of LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile), Expona and Bevel Line.

Should anyone feel the need to invite me to any future trade shows then I’d be happy to accept, although my impartiality is not negotiable! Las Vegas would be nice, but I can probably live without Birmingham 😉

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