The path from Witex laminate floors to DESIGNline® Connect vinyl floating coverings

The days when the material known by the abbreviation PVC, that is polyvinyl chloride, represented the basic raw material in the assortment of flooring primarily for the production of foamed PVC sold in rolls, are long gone. Today's vinyl floor coverings are capable of competing with both foamed PVC and laminate, as well as, in certain respects, with tiles or wood. Thanks to their utility properties and the straightforward installation method, vinyl floors are experiencing a boom both abroad and in our country. The rapidly growing demand, as customers quickly discovered the advantages of these coverings, has propelled them to the forefront of sales.

A certain limiting factor to even greater success in recent years was the necessity to glue vinyl flooring to the substrate across the entire area. However, this essentially only "handicap" has already been overcome. The revolution in the vinyl flooring market began in 2007, when the company Windmöller Flooring GmbH was established in Germany, named after its founder Mr. Matthias Windmöller, who focused specifically on vinyl. Mr. Windmöller’s family was also involved in the founding of the leading German laminate flooring manufacturer Witex. Mr. Matthias Windmöller even served in the management of Witex, which was established in 1978, until he sold his share at the very beginning of the 21st century when he established his own company. The direction of development of vinyl coverings that the newly established Windmöller Flooring company took was clearly defined by the commercial name of its products - "DESIGNline". The DESIGNline® brand brought and continues to bring customers vinyl flooring characterized not only by high durability in heavily trafficked areas but also by a realistic appearance, especially with wood and tile decors. Authentic decors thus transferred the wave of interest from commercial spaces, which the company primarily focused on, into residential areas.

Inspiration for change came from laminate flooring
It has been a long time since laminate flooring underwent its (r)evolution. The installation system transformed from tongue-and-groove to locking joints that require no gluing. Locking joints thus became the standard for laminate flooring, which we can hardly imagine today without. Similarly, vinyl planks were automatically associated with the comparison "vinyl = glue down" for many years. However, Mr. Windmöller stepped into this situation, using his experience from the production of laminate coverings, where individual strips simply snap together without the use of glue. Genius ideas are often simple, as other life stories confirm, so the combination of vinyl flooring with the principle of floating installation led to the creation of a new type of flooring called "vinyl floating floor". The first vinyl floating floor from Windmöller Flooring is named DESIGNline® Connect.

The DESIGNline® Connect Bacana and Laguna Collections
The basis of DESIGNline® Connect vinyl flooring is a rubber carrier, on which one of the decors is applied, protected by a wear layer of vinyl with a polyurethane top layer to ensure truly high durability. The first decorative collection of this new type of floating floor was introduced under the name Bacana. This collection, with a total thickness of 5 mm, is suitable for medium-duty industrial areas (loading class 34/42) due to its 0.5 mm top PU finish. The individual planks are manufactured in the dimensions of 1212 x 185 mm. The collection offers 12 decors with pleasant surfaces that have a real wood structure. In 2010, another collection primarily intended for residential areas was introduced, named Laguna. The design of the planks remained the same as with Bacana, but the wear layer is 0.3 mm thick, resulting in a loading class of 23/31, suitable for use in households.

Floating vinyl coverings simplify installation
The positive properties of vinyl floor coverings have always been assessed in comparison to other types of coverings, and in almost all cases, their advantages over laminate flooring have been pointed out and continue to be highlighted. Among all the positives, let's mention, for example, the flexible surface and resistance to falling objects and damage, quick and easy maintenance by vacuuming or mopping, moisture resistance, very good acoustics without any clattering, and good thermal conductivity from underfloor heating. Naturally, these advantages are retained in DESIGNline® Connect coverings; moreover, they offer additional benefits that go beyond the traditionally glued vinyl floors. The DESIGNline® Connect vinyl planks ensure a much simpler installation, requiring only basic equipment — a flooring knife, a cutting square, and a rubber mallet. Gluing, glue spatulas, and rollers for rolling after installation are eliminated. This speeds up the installation process and prevents any unwanted gaps between the individual pieces.


Unilin locking joint, dimensional stability, and the special ComfortTEC underlay
The DESIGNline® Connect vinyl plank features an Unilin lock on its long side, which locks at an angle of about 30 degrees. On the short side, the planks connect by tapping from above. This allows a single flooring installer to lay the entire floor, thereby eliminating the need for a two-person job. Since this is a floating floor, it is, of course, necessary to maintain expansion gaps. The expansion gap for DESIGNline® Connect flooring can be only 3 mm wide, as the covering has outstanding dimensional stability (0.05%).

The covering must be installed on a completely flat and clean surface without any small stones, cracks, or other debris, which could eventually show through the floor. The covering essentially requires no additional underlayment. However, for improved comfort of use and in selected areas, particularly in large rooms (around 100 m² or more) and in areas with high traffic (e.g., spinning gyms), the manufacturer recommends using the ComfortTEC insulating layer — a specially developed anti-slip and acoustic underlay. The underlay consists of permanently elastic base material made from mineral fillers and a polyurethane binder, and it can be used on all common types of underfloor heating, primarily water-based systems. It is laid directly under the covering, and once laid, the protective film is removed, allowing the actual DESIGNline® Connect vinyl flooring to be installed. The ComfortTEC insulating pad optimizes impact noise and clatter during walking, addresses small irregularities and gaps during flooring installation, especially on tiles (handling gaps of up to 5 mm wide and 2 mm deep), laminate or wooden floors. Old textile floor coverings of all types must be removed from the substrate before the actual installation. The underlay and the new covering can be placed on other types of surfaces, existing linoleum, PVC, tiles, wooden or laminate floors. The covering can also be safely placed in rooms with high humidity (e.g., bathrooms), as the locking joints of the DESIGNline® Connect planks are so strong that they do not allow any moisture to penetrate.

DESIGNline® coverings are available in the Czech market through the 1 FLOOR network
Since 2009, the exclusive direct importer of DESIGNline® and DESIGNline® Connect coverings in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been the importer and distributor of flooring, Kratochvíl parket profi, s.r.o., which further supplies the coverings to its business partners and to the specialized retail network 1 FLOOR. Good relations between KPP and Mr. Windmöller were established even during his time at Witex. KPP has exclusively represented Witex laminate flooring since 1995 when mutual cooperation began. Time confirmed that accepting Mr. Windmöller's offer for collaboration within the newly established Windmöller Flooring company was the right move.

Quiet installation	no saw needed
Clean installation	no dust when cutting
Fast installation	locking system allows installation by one person
No vapor barrier	material that does not require its use
No soundproofing foil	can be laid on ComfortTec if needed
Textured surface	non-slip for dogs and cats
Easy maintenance	thanks to the PU finish
High durability	loading class up to 42
Water resistance	no risk of "cupping" effect
	floor suitable for bathrooms
Quiet floor	pleasant spatial acoustics
Elastic surface	pleasant floor to walk on

More information about DESIGNline® flooring can be found at www.kpp.cz