Professional Builder’s Lee Jones explores the Palio Trade by Karndean range of luxury vinyl tiles (LVTs).
It’s probably one of the biggest growth areas in the building industry of the last ten years,” declares Matthew Brown, head of trade at Palio Trade by Karndean, “and it shows no sign of abating”. Indeed, the manufacturer’s Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) range is now ideally placed to service that demand, with a solution suitable for almost every conceivable project.
So just what does account for the popularity of LVT flooring amongst consumers and installers alike? Hard flooring is now virtually de rigueur in interior design circles and LVT enjoys a number of attractive characteristics in comparison to laminate, natural wood, or stone. It’s easy to lay, hardwearing and compatible with high traffic areas. The entire range can be used in kitchens, bathrooms, en suites and utility areas. It’s waterproof, hygienic, and available in a range of finishes, whilst all Palio flooring products are compatible with wet or dry underfloor heating and come with a 20- year residential guarantee.
Matthew explains the evolution of the Karndean brand: “We launched Palio as a separate entity back in 2014 and at that time there were relatively few LVT players in the market. The plan then – as now – was to appeal to an audience beyond traditional floor layers, with a versatile and easy to lay solution that could be undertaken by virtually any competent general builder, carpenter or the kitchen and bathroom trades. When the range moved into builders’ merchant outlets it would find its public, and the product has since developed to meet an everexpanding demand.”
Palio Trade by Karndean luxury vinyl flooring is available in three formats – rigid core, loose lay and gluedown – with the same bank of 10 design choices across that trio of options. “The introduction of a rigid core product in Palio Rigid and Palio Core was a bit of a game changer for us,” continues Matthew. “It makes the product more stable and resilient, particularly in kitchen installations where it may be subject to heat from an AGA, for example, or above underflooring heating (UFH), as well as in front of bi-folds and full glazed windows. Its honeycomb structure eliminates any excessive movement or expansion, but the benefits don’t end there. A 2mm underlay also provides enhanced sound insulation properties, with impact sound reduced by 19db, which makes quite a difference in a bedroom installation, for instance, or multi-occupancy dwellings.”
Palio Core and Palio Rigid also have the added advantage of being far more forgiving on difficult or uneven substrates. Over a 2metre expanse it can, in fact, accommodate up to 5mm of undulation and can be installed over an existing ceramic floor, plywood, chipboard, or floorboards, via a robust click lock mechanism. In addition, because rigid core allows the floor beneath to breathe, it is the ideal solution on what have often proven to be problematic anhydrite, gypsum-based screeds.
Palio Looselay requires a smoother subfloor but, thanks to a friction grip backing that is designed to secure the product in place using a combination of weight and friction, is even faster in installation, again with the advantage of finish that features an acoustic underlay. Moreover, if the project requires access to underfloor services, then Looselay is the flooring of choice. “We have a popular time-lapse video, where one of our trainers fitted a 71m2 office area, complete with columns and pillars, in 48 minutes,” reveals Matthew. “That time included cutting around architraves and so on – and it looked superb.”
The Gluedown fitting option requires more extensive sub-floor preparation, with the right screed or a properly prepared plywood a prerequisite. In addition, correct adhesive selection is imperative, and here there’s a choice of a pressure sensitive solution for high traffic areas, an acrylic adhesive, a high temperature offering where the likes of log burners are in situ, or a universal adhesive. The Universal Adhesive is a fibre reinforced, wet set product, with a temperature tolerance of up to 50ºC. Given the wide range of projects on which it can be used, it is invariably the manufacturer’s specification of choice.
The reward for exercising those additional floor laying skills is the greater potential for bespoke, personalised designs, with results that can be spectacular. “With Gluedown builders can start to incorporate added design features such as borders and design strips,” Matthew continues, “and you really are only limited by your imagination as to the finish you can produce. We have examples on social media of one tradesman who’s created images of Jimmy Hendrix and Elvis Presley, just with black and white LVT, and it can develop into an art form. Having said that, the current trend is minimalist with clean lines, but if a consumer what’s a personalised motif – and has the money to pay for the additional time the job will take – then Gluedown gives an expert installer the opportunity to do just that.”
The Karndean Designflooring Training Academy at Evesham in Worcestershire offers a LVT three-day course that covers sub floor preparation, adhesive selection, and introduces tradespeople to the design potential, including tackling design strips with Gluedown. “The strap line is ‘designed for the trade to fit’ and that very neatly sums up the offering,” Matthew concludes. “A multi-format option with one colour bank allows installers to take on a huge range of jobs within a single range, and it’s that versatility that makes the Palio Trade by Karndean proposition unique.”
To find out more about Palio Trade by Karndean visit https://www.palioflooring.com/en-gb/ or follow @palioflooring on Twitter or Facebook.
