Wood Floor Blog

Bona has been awarded a licence to label eight of its waterborne finishes with the EMICODE EC1 trademark which classifies them as ‘very low emission’ products. Bona’s lacquers are the first in the industry to receive the EMICODE EC1 licence from GEV, the German based association for the control of emissions in products for flooring installation, adhesives and building materials. Several of the company’s adhesives received the classification in 1997.

Bona introduced waterborne finishes in 1979 pioneering the move away from solvent based products. Today Bona’s waterborne finishes contain 100g/1 or less non-hazardous solvents. All Bona formulations are designed to avoid unnecessary emissions and to contribute to a healthier environment for contractors and floor owners.

“We’ve been working continuously over several decades to improve the ‘green’ aspects of our products,” said Nils Erik Persson, senior vice president R&D at Bona. “this has always been the key focus of Bona’s research and development. The air quality in rooms where the floor is finished with our products is very important to us. With the EMICODE EC1 trademark on our finishes we can clearly demonstrate the health advantages for both the home or building owner as well as for the contractors installing the product. All Bona EC1 certified products contain below 8% solvents.”

GEV was established to safeguard and promote the general economic and idealistic interests of producers of chemical flooring installation products and building materials in the field of occupational, environmental and consumer protection. It carries out measures to control, classify and label such products in respect of their emission behaviour. The EMICODE classification was initially developed to classify adhesives but has developed to classify adhesives but has developed over the years to classify the emission properties of a range of building products. Today the trademark can be applied to adhesives, primers, levelling compounds, tile and joint mortars, flat underlays, sealants and – since July 2009 – wood floor finishes.

Thomas Brokamp, VP and director of Bona’s fastenings division has more than 10 years of experience with adhesive emission measurements. He was chairman of the working group that led to the inclusion of finishes in the EMICODE system. He said: “After a year of meetings and discussions, the EMICODE for parquet finishes was established. This will be a trigger for further development of the total industry, as the defined requirements are demanding (less than 10% solvents in the finish, for EC1 emission after 28 days). And further demands are in the pipeline – as from July 2011 the total allowed solvent content will be just 8%. All Bona products which are licensed to use the EMICODE EC1 trademark already fulfil the 2011 requirements.”

The Bona products which are EMICODE EC1 or ECIR licensed as very low emission formulations are set out in the table below. The ‘R’ classification applies to products that are very low in emissions but require safety provisions during their application, in other words products which are labelled as hazardous substances or on which special conditions for safe use are imposed

Real Oak Floors is proud to be an official retailer of Bona products

Popularity: 8% [?]

We are proud to announce our new and exclusive sole distributorship for the Vannesaice parquet tiles.

Vannesaice tiles are all engineered parquet floors.  They are made using the finest marquetry technology and hand crafted to give the finest appearance ever seen on a parquet floor.  The beauty of these tiles is that they come ready made on panels – either prefinished in a satin lacquer or sanded and unfinished ready to oil or lacquer once installed.

Vannesaice tiles are made using the finest marquetry technology and hand crafted to give the finest appearance ever seen on a parquet floor

The panels fit together perfectly and come with 4 sides grooved.  This ensures that you can fit the tiles any direction and the loose tongues for the boards are supplied with the flooring.

The construction of the panel is made up of the hardwood top layer (5mm) and a softwood core construction base of 10mm (Hardwood base is available on request – usually Kwila hardwood used).  Each panel is 15mm thick x 400mm x 400mm so they can be laid with any other pattern.  There are matching borders and corner squares – the blending borders are 15mm thick x 150mm x 1.2m long and the corner squares are 15mm thick x 150mm x 150mm – both the borders are made of the same construction of a 5mm wear layer and 10mm base.

The style of patterns is not exhaustive – bespoke styles can be made on request and the wood species can also be specified if required.

All the parquet tiles, borders and corner blocks come with our 20 year construction guarantee.

Use with underfloor heating is permitted when using the panels with a hardwood base only.

As we are the sole distributor in the UK for this product we are looking for agents around the UK who can retail the parquet tiles in partnership with us.

Fitting Instructions:

1. Sub floor must be flat, clean and dry – concrete must be dried to the correct moisture levels before fitting and a layer of PE damp proof membrane needs to be laid over the concrete floor
2. Install plywood over the floor throughout to get an even base – we recommend between 12 – 18mm thick.  This should be fixed down and a 10mm expansion gap needs to be left around the edges.
3. The flooring tiles should be nailed or screwed down to the ply wood using either a secret nailer or screw through the grooves, a 10mm expansion gap also needs to be left around the perimeter for expansion.

The product is manufactured with natural wood.  It is perfectly normal to have a slight variation of tone and different characteristics of grain.

Maintenance:

Always use felt pads on chairs / tables and castor cups over wheels of chairs etc.  Never wet mop during cleaning – wipe using a well drained  cloth or mop in conjunction with the Woca lacquer care soap.

If you have any enquiries about the Vannesaice range, or any other types of flooring please visit our website or contact one of our friendly sales staff on 0844 848 6840

Popularity: 7% [?]

As well as the Art Select range, Real Oak Floors now stock the following ranges of vinyl wood flooring:

• Van Gough
• Renoir
• Knight Tile

Within each of these ranges there are a wide variety of styles and colours to suite every taste. The great thing about vinyl flooring is that it is laid in strips just like real wood flooring but with the ease of simply gluing and laying. Enjoy a high quality vinyl floor with a 2.5-3mm layer of thickness.

Popularity: 5% [?]