The Benefits of Hardened Wood Flooring – Learn More At Clerkenwell Design Week

Bjelin will be revealing its latest Scandinavian-designed flooring on stand PB4 at the UK’s leading design event, Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW). The London-based event takes place next week from May 20^th to 22^nd.

In a wood flooring market which is not known for innovation, the pioneering approach of Välinge Innovation, sister company of Bjelin, stand outs strongly. Darko Pervan, founder of Välinge, developed the world’s first mechanical locking system which enabled wood and laminate flooring to be locked together for a secure and durable fixing. Indeed, the company has been primarily a technology and innovation company, rather than a manufacturer, for the following 30 years.

Patented Woodura^® technology from Välinge is critical to the manufacture of hardened wood flooring, known as Woodura Planks. The unique manufacturing process involves fusing a thin sheet of real wood veneer with a Compositek™ wood fibre core through a powder mix layer. The powder mix completely fills the natural gaps within the wood, while also enhancing the wood’s appearance. It eliminates the need for a wood-filler and creates a significantly stronger surface with a hardness three times greater than a traditional solid wood floor – more solid than a plank! Compared to traditional wood flooring, the durability of the wood wear layer is massively increased.

In addition to Woodura to give outstanding durability and sustainability, the Bjelin range of hardened wood flooring includes 5G Dry^® technology, also developed by Välinge. This is a water-resistant fold-down system unique among hard wood flooring products because of its ease of installation. These are the next generation of highly innovative hardened wood floors.

In fact, the Välinge technology for locking floorboards mechanically has become the world standard. The company has pioneered a technological revolution for the flooring industry and led the transition from traditional glued tongue-and-grooved flooring to today’s modern adhesive-free click technology.

Bjelin has production facilities at Viken in Sweden and also several factories in Croatia, including the most modern Ogulin 2 factory near to the FSC^®-certified Spačva forest, from where a lot of its timber is sourced. This facility will be the world’s largest wood flooring factory. The Swedish and Croatian factories together will have a production of millions of square metres annually when completed in 2027.

Bjelin hardened wood floors are made with oak, ash and walnut from sustainable sources of timber with FSC certification. Woodura technology makes the manufacturing process much more efficient and environmentally friendly in terms of timber usage than traditional processes. Only a tenth of the material normally used in hardwood flooring is required for the timber used in Woodura planks.

The technique used by other companies to produce the surface layers for wooden floors is done by sawing about 4.5mm thick layers which are then sanded to a top lamella. This technology is used by many manufacturers to produce parquet floors, and the process creates a lot of waste, mainly in the form of sawdust.

Bjelin on the other hand uses a knife cutting process instead of sawing when manufacturing hardened wood floors. The surface layers end up being approximately 0.6 mm thick, which is how it can manufacture ten times more flooring from a single log than traditional parquet flooring.

In this way hardened wood flooring meets the multiple objectives set by Bjelin for the technology – first and foremost to be highly sustainable and economical with resources, something which is increasingly demanded by clients and specifiers.

Secondly it is highly durable, hard-wearing and long-lasting, while finally allowing for the creation of a stunning aesthetic, where every plank is different and the beauty of the natural woodgrain is maximised.

Bjelin hardened wood flooring meets all the aspirations of specifiers, who want to use environmentally friendly wood flooring products. They can choose a wood-based click floor that can be reused, is locally produced and where the raw wood comes from FSC-certified forests. The hardwood surface layer of the floor is thin at 0.6mm and reinforced, so that large amounts of flooring can be manufactured from one log, but it is also sure to be highly durable.

In order to test the durability of its new floors, the company operates the world’s largest testing facility for wooden floors, containing advanced laboratories with large climate chambers and instruments to test floors for impact resistance, durability and noise levels.

Bjelin can be sure that its floors are durable and longlasting, which is a key factor in eliminating disposability and enhancing sustainability.

It can be seen that, by focusing on innovation, it is possible to develop products in the hardened wood flooring sector, which meet all the aesthetic requirements of a timber floor, as well as being much more durable and also meeting sustainability goals.

Tel: 07500 758364
Richard.banham@valinge.co.uk
www.bjelin.co.uk