Following on from the ‘Colours of Today’ post the of last week, I have now got my hands on a full set of new Polystyl vinyl samples. Here is how they look:
Display Stand
Origin:This is Polystyl’s entry level product and is the only one of the ranges of theirs I’ve seen that does not feature their RMAX surface coating. That being said, it does still carry R10 slip-resistance, which is fine for domestic vinyl and will definitely mean less possibility of slipping.
On top of that the other point worth noting is that its warranty from Polystyl is significantly less than the others, coming in at ‘just’ 5 years. The vinyl itself is 2.6mm thick, so respectable enough from that point of view and the wear layer is 0.2mm, which seems now to be about standard at budget level.
Designs are typical fare- several wood planks, some tiles and so on – nothing to write home about here and it’s not winning any design awards, but it does a job at a price.
Elegant:Going up the tree quite a few branches, we see Elegant, which does feature Polystyl’s RMAX coating, which they claim is tougher and stands up to heavier wear. Hence you see the 15 year warranty on this product. Again this is R10 slip-resistant, which you would certainly expect from a high-end vinyl.
Gibraltar Black
It is beefed up to a chunky-ish 3mm total thickness and the wear layer here is a pretty impressive 0.3mm. This may not sound much better than Origin’s 0.2mm, but it does make a significant difference in the long run.
Designs are again pretty disappointing – just the usual suspects prevail again here and the only mildly interesting design is a large intricate parquet wood design. As Roy Walker would say, “It’s good but it’s not right!” It seems to me as if Polystyl’s creative juices were all sapped by Colours of Today and that’s a shame.
Elite:This one is very similar to Elegant and features both RMAX and R10 slip-resistance, yet somehow manages just a 10 year warranty (don’t ask me why. The gauge is again 3.0mm and 0.3mm wear layer.
Stromboli Bronze
Design is a lot better here though. We see some gorgeous plain metallic designs – the bronze being particularly nice and even the wood plank designs seem to incorporate this metallic theme pleasingly. It reminds me of some of Rhinofloor’s metallic stuff from a year or two back, but it looks more impressive to my eyes. Intriguingly some of the wood plank designs in my sample book run the wrong way and before I sell any of this I need to make sure which way the planks run. I have never seen a vinyl sample book like this before – most run the ‘right’ way, but a couple run the wrong way – why would they do that?
Agora:Jumps on the felt-backed vinyl bandwagon, which Leolan and Gerflor have exploited so well recently. Felt back vinyls seem to go to well with customers and you can definitely get away with some minor subfloor imperfections with them – it’s not a panacea, but it can get you out of a fix I think.
Agora has a 15 year warranty, RMAX and R10 and comes in at 2.8mm thick and has a wear layer 0.35mm thick – the highest within this range. It’s a good option, but once again the designs are somewhat bland.
Felt Back Vinyl (Better images to follow)
UK Flooring Blog 