Interfloor are focusing in on six underlay segments to help drive growth. Steve Woodhead, Interfloor’s marketing director explains, “There is growing demand in 6 key segments. I define these as Premium Comfort, Premium Durability, Underfloor Heating, Heat Insulation, Sound Insulation and Wood & Laminate”
Premium comfort is when the consumer wants outstanding levels of comfort, well above the standard levels of “luxury” as defined by British Standard BS5808. A growing number of Tredaire underlays are up to 65% higher than the conventional standard for Luxury. These products include Tredaire Sensation, Tredaire Dreamwalk and Tredaire Colours Red. Together they offer unparalleled levels of underfoot comfort.
Premium durability applies to those underlays that offer 100% recovery from pressure indentations. Only crumb rubber underlays (with densities over 400 kg/m3) provide this and are ideal for dining rooms and staircases. Duralay System 10, Treadmore and Durafit are tried and tested solutions.
Underfloor heating underlays enable heat to pass through the flooring efficiently from below so tog values of less than 1.0 are required. Duralay pioneered this niche with a range of low tog underlays from 0.3 to 0.8. These include Duralay Heatflow Carpet, Duralay Heatflow Wood & Laminate and Duralay King. These products are specially made from sponge rubber as PU foam is not suitable and should not be used.
Heat insulation underlays reflect the growing interest in products that help to keep living rooms insulated and minimise heating bills. Some of the latest Tredaire PU underlays have tog values between 2.4 and 3.1; up to 50% better than the traditional products. The highest tog underlays include Tredaire Dreamwalk, Tredaire Sensation and Tredaire Softwalk.
Sound insulation underlays for carpets are useful in addressing noise reduction underlays to combat noisy neighbours! Some Tredaire PU foam and sponge rubber products have decibel ratings of over 40. These include Tredaire Dreamwalk, Tredaire Sensation and Tredaire Colours Red.
Duralay was the first manufacturer to develop special noise reduction underlays for wood and laminate floors. Offering up to 30% noise reduction these high density (700 kg/m3) sponge rubber underlays include Duralay Silentfloor Gold and Timbermate Excel.
“It doesn’t take long to find out if one of these segments is of interest to a consumer. If they are then it’s possible to recommend a product with real added value to the consumer which will provide a great selling and profit opportunity for the retailer. A real win-win situation,” says Steve Woodhead.
