Vinyl flooring, by supplier
The most water tolerant floor we install, and the one we recommend most often for bathrooms, kitchens, laundries and holiday houses. It is also the workhorse of commercial flooring.
Below are the ranges we actually carry, grouped by supplier. Where we have laid a colour ourselves there is a link to photographs of the finished floor — which tells you far more than a swatch does.
Azura Distributors
Our most-used residential vinyl. The Dezign Series 200 covers a wide spread of oak tones from a pale grey wash through to a rich rustic brown, all in the same product — so the specification, the thickness and the warranty stay the same whichever colour you choose.
Dezign Series 200
Wood-look vinyl planks. This is the range in three of the houses on our projects page, and the reason it is worth looking at all three is that they look nothing like each other.
Chalked Oak
Pale, grey-washed. Makes a room read larger and brighter, and does not fight a grey or white interior.
See it installed
Pecanwood
Rustic brown with strong grain and knot detail. Warm and full of character, and it hides marks and dust better than a pale floor.
See it installedLinen Oak
A soft neutral oak. We have a walkthrough video of this one, laid with no skirtings, so you can see the whole house rather than one corner.
Watch the walkthroughThe Series 200 runs to more colours than these three. Ask us and we will bring the sample book out, or page through it at the showroom in Gansbaai.
Aspen Flooring
Two residential ranges we use regularly. Wide planks in warm oak tones, and the ranges behind two of the houses on our projects page.
Aspen Living
The everyday range. Wide planks in warm oak tones that hold up in a room with a lot of light.
Aspen Premium
A step up from Living. Same idea, better specification.
Como Flooring
Where to go when a standard plank is not what the room wants. Six design collections — herringbone patterns, rustic and clean wood looks, and concrete and stone finishes for interiors that are not after a wood floor at all.
All of these are worth seeing in person, because a screen flattens texture.
Colour names and full specifications on request — we bring the sample folders out with us.
Bonsai — herringbone
Laid in a herringbone pattern rather than straight planks. It uses noticeably more material and takes longer to fit, so allow for that in the budget — but nothing else changes a room as much.
River — planks
The widest choice of the six, from bleached greys through to near-black. If you have a specific tone in mind, start here.
Fire — planks
Rustic wood looks with heavy grain and character marking. The two darkest are the warmest floors in the whole Aspen offering.
Mountain — planks
Cleaner and calmer than Fire, with less character marking. A good choice where you want the floor to sit quietly under the furniture.
Desert — concrete look
Large-format concrete finishes. Suits a modern interior, and it is a genuine alternative to a screed floor without the cost or the cracking.
Mineral — stone look
Stone finishes with real depth of texture. Warmer underfoot than actual stone and considerably cheaper to lay.
Kalahari quartz vinyl tiles
What we specify for commercial floors. Quartz vinyl tiles are squares rather than planks, usually laid in a basketweave, and the reason institutions have used them for decades is that a single damaged tile can be lifted and replaced without touching the rest of the floor.
Kalahari 2.5 mm
Manufactured in South Africa, tested to SANS standards, with a fire rating and an ISO 9001 quality certification behind it. Approved for public sector work.
We laid these through the classrooms at Hermanus Primary School — hundreds of children, chairs dragged twice a day, cleaned every night. That is the test that matters.
We have also laid them through the frail care corridors at Huis Lettie Theron, where the floor had to be even underfoot for residents on walking frames and repairable one tile at a time without closing the corridor.
Specifying a floor for a school, office or public building? We hold the full technical file — SANS test certificates, fire rating, ISO certification, fitting and maintenance specifications, and the warranty. Ask and we will send it through.
Choosing vinyl, and living with it
Why vinyl over laminate
Vinyl has no core to swell, so water at the joints does not lift the edges. In a bathroom, a kitchen, a laundry or a holiday house that stands closed for months, it is the safer floor by a wide margin.
It needs a screed
Vinyl is thin and flexible, so it copies the subfloor faithfully. Our self-levelling screed is 2 to 3 mm and dries overnight, so we fit the following day. Skipping it is the commonest reason a vinyl floor looks wrong afterwards.
Colour behaves differently at home
Every one of our projects shows the same floor reading warmer or cooler from room to room. Take samples home and look at them in your own light before you commit. There is no charge for that.
Cleaning
Sweep or vacuum, then a microfibre mop and a spray bottle of water. Never a mop and bucket, however water tolerant the floor is. Full care notes →
Planks or tiles
Planks for homes, tiles for commercial. A tile floor can be repaired one square at a time, which is why schools and hospitals still choose them.
Herringbone costs more
More material for the cuts and more labour to lay. Worth knowing before you fall for the Bonsai range, not after we quote it.