Everything is cyclic. We were promised ‘no more boom and bust,’ a statement that was followed almost immediately by a recession that’s still affecting us 8 years later. We stopped wearing skinny jeans with the knees out because they weren’t that comfortable, but they’re back in fashion again, failing to keep the knees of a new generation warm again.
Flooring sells in cycles too. Fashions change and what seemed like a good idea a couple of years ago are passé today. When laminate flooring first became popular it was seen as the ideal alternative to real wood flooring; it was strain resistant, warm underfoot, durable, wouldn’t warp or come up if it got wet and wouldn’t rot if it was exposed to damp.
Then, after a few years people wanted their real wood floors back because the laminates were slippery, the patterns wore off leaving big white patches and where it didn’t wear off, you could see the patterns repeating, revealing that the floor wasn’t a real timber. A real wood floor, properly fitted, treated, stained and maintained has all of the advantages that a laminate floor was supposed to provide.
Good For The Home, Good For The Environment
However, because of environmental concerns, you can’t always have the wood floor that you want. Pine and oak might be easy enough to source from within the European Union, wood that is guaranteed to come from sustainable, managed forests, but exotic woods are far harder to come by ethically. This is where companies such as Karndean Flooring find a niche for their flooring products.
Unlike the laminate flooring of yore, Karndean Flooring manufacture an incredibly durable alternative to wood flooring. Their catalogue of colours and textures imitating a huge variety of real woods is second to none and their manufacturing techniques mean that you shouldn’t notice duplication in the texture.
As well as the planks that make the body of the floor, Karndean Flooring also manufacture beading, roundels, and marquetry and parquetry products which can be used to add real richness and authenticity to their floors. Products such as design strips can be added to liven up floors while design borders run around the room, introducing a change in direction of grain, a different colour or texture. Karndean products are also warm and forgiving underfoot. And because they don’t only produce wood finish but stone as well, that can be a real advantage. A stone effect floor that is warm and pliant when you walk on it has distinct advantages over the real alternative.