August 14/21: Volume 32, Issue 5
By Lindsay Baillie
It is no secret moldings, transitions and other accessories provide great add-on opportunities for specialty retailers. As flooring manufacturers continue to innovate the designs and visuals across all flooring categories, molding suppliers are responding with a host of made-to-match product offerings.
Following is a sampling of the latest product offerings and programs designed to coordinate with new and existing flooring patterns and visuals.
Artistic Finishes
Artistic Finishes has the capability to create custom blended products that reference manufacturer flooring samples. With 150-plus profiles, 90-plus wood species and 15,000-plus floors in its system, Artistic Finishes offers a selection of products to assist retailers in completing nearly any flooring project.
“Providing moldings and other flooring accessories to blend to the markets flooring lines is exactly what we do,” said Angie Feldhege, sales and marketing coordinator. “Everything we offer is a coordinated or custom blended product to complete our customers’ floors.”
Artistic Finishes has also launched Enduracor, a new line that addresses growing demand for waterproof floors. Featuring a wood veneer wrapped around a waterproof core, it can be stained and blended to match any visual.
Pedross
The digital print department at Pedross, which was founded in 2010, aims to bring top quality printing to the marketplace. The company’s self-designed, state-of-the-art printing system offers printing on both real wood veneers and paper foil, and produces approximately 90,000 linear feet per day.
“The floor style—regardless if it is wood, stone, vinyl, fumed, oiled, smoked, reactive or individual styles—is digitally scanned and transferred at a ratio of 1:1 onto the veneer creating a three-dimensional look that merges with the floor,” said Joe Albany, national sales manager. “The picture can also be manipulated in order to guarantee the best result possible.”
While Pedross is currently producing digital printing on real wood veneers, it is in the process of developing a new form of printing technology. “The next phase we’re working on—and will introduce in spring 2018—is actually digitally printing on the molding profiles itself, so you can actually feel texture,” Albany explained.
Pennwood
Pennwood currently matches over 6,000 different hardwood floors, ranging in styles, textures and colors with standard boards—all held in the company’s library. If Pennwood does not have a color a customer needs, it will match its products to the standards the customer supplies.
“We offer hardwood prefinished moldings, architectural prefinished moldings, floor and wall vents, and retro treads and risers as well as solid treads and risers—all with the ability to match the 6,000 colors we have in the color library or by having the customers send a sample of what they want matched,” said Kraig Coxon, executive vice president.
Pennwood carries the basics of species and colors in stock for a quick-ship program. In addition, the manufacturer can create custom colors with a typical turnaround of two to three weeks.
Seneca Millwork
Seneca offers a ColorMaster system that gives customers the opportunity to review and approve the accessory’s potential appearance with their floors. After the customer approves the ColorMaster, Seneca begins the matching process. To date, the company has over 11,000 appearance combinations on file for most popular hardwood flooring brands.
“Today’s floors have become very unique and artistic—from hand-scraped designs, to distressed, antiqued or wire brushed,” said Cindy Huff, marketing special projects coordinator. “Very light and very dark stains are trending, as are the gray floor tones. Matte and satin finishes have also gained in popularity. Although matching transitions to these specialty floors can be a challenge, Seneca has embraced this trend and offers custom matching as needed. For example, we offer 10 different versions of hand scraping alone. If we don’t already have the perfect finish in our color lab—we will create it.”
Versatrim
Versatrim offers a variety of programs to flooring dealers including its Distributor Inventory program, Match All Floors (MAF) partnership program and a combination of MAF and a direct ship/stocking program. All of these programs include custom matches for flooring.
“We offer most profiles with no minimums under our standard stock inventory, which has approximately 54 color options,” said Tina Keeton Emery, office and sales manager.
The company also offers custom matching for all industry-standard flooring trims and new-to-market LVT/WPC trims. Some of these profiles include: SlimTrim, a three-in-one molding with PVC core; VersaEdge Xtra Tall, a stair nose with aluminum core; a moisture-proof trim line offered in T-molding, end cap, reducer and quarter round; and SlimCap, a new end cap/baby threshold with PVC core that makes its debut this month.
Versatrim is looking forward to the release of SlimCap to its LVT/WPC line. “This product will give the customers a straight edge option to neatly finish off carpets or sliding glass doors,” Emery explained.
Zamma
Zamma aims to differentiate its made-to-match moldings from others in the market by using a unique manufacturing process, according to the company. When these products are constructed the company uses the actual PVC or laminate from the floor product itself. Through this process Zamma is able to make the transition profiles match the exact flooring design.
Peter Spielman, president, said the company uses this process instead of “digital UV ink systems that do not have the same light refraction as the designs on the floor.” By using the actual PVC or laminate Zamma is able to achieve the same designs being manufactured into the flooring.