About Kahrs
Kahrs wood flooring is situated in the heart of the forest of Smaland in Sweden on exactly the same location it has been for the past 150 years.
Kahrs wood flooring was started by Johan Kahr in 1857 with a small wood turning workshop producing wooded implements for the local farming community.
Today, Kahrs is Europe’s largest wood flooring manufacturer and one of the worlds most innovative with its high tec methods of processing wood.
Kahrs have had a healthy respect for what nature has provided and it is something that everyone at Kahrs holds in trust. Their attitude towards the ecological and environmental issues with regard to managed forestry so as to ensure a balance is always maintained. Kahrs also expect a respectful use of its timber products and wood flooring from the choice of agents to the supply of its products worldwide.
Kahrs so appreciates its not just about processing the raw timber material its also about appreciation of the natural inherent beauty of timber and the appraisal of every piece of timber to determine its individual features to ensure that the finished wood flooring material has character and its natural beauty is encapsulated in the finished product for all to enjoy.
Wood Floors - Ecology & Kahrs
Kahrs manage some of the most beautiful forests in the world. Kahrs policy of environmental management and awareness makes it one of the worlds custodians of the Earth’s natural resource. Kahrs only use timber from countries who are members of the International Tropical Timber Organisation [ITTO] All of the member countries are pledged to work towards ecological forestation.
Kahrs endeavour to purchase tropical timber from responsibly managed forests, suppliers are chosen who hold a FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] or a member of the PEFC [ Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification] such countries must demonstrate that they are operating an environmental policy of timber procurement and management.
Facts about Kahrs
Kahrs is one of Europe’s leading parquet and wood flooring products.
Kahrs mainly supply the markets in Europe and the US but is active in more than 40 countries worldwide. Kahrs mainly supply professional wood flooring agents and contractors.
Kahrs wood flooring adorn many prestigious buildings around the world including the National Opera House in Prague, The performing arts centre at St Swithens School in Winchester UK and the recent Installation in the Van Palace in Beijing China.
Kahrs wood flooring is recognised to be of great quality and mainly produced in three ply material and have been produced with the woodbloc® jointing system since 2001 and is a market leader in wood block panel lock systems.
Environment and Quality
Kahrs plants have both environmental and quality certification according to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 and are EMAS-registered.
Wood species
Our range includes many of the world's most beautiful species from the most exciting parts of the globe. From light, calm Birch or Maple, through Oak and Beech, to dark and vibrant Walnut or Jarrah.
Strip
1-strip:
The surface of the board is sawn in one piece, this emphasises the feeling of nature and will show the full character of the species chosen.
2-strip:
The wear layer is two strips wide. The strips are arranged to give different floors individual character.
3-strip:
The wear layer is three strips wide. The strips have different lengths and are positioned randomly, this creates a floor with an individual character
Surface treatment
Silk matt lacquer:
Our silk matt lacquer complements the wood's character by accentuating its natural living structure. This makes the floor more hardwearing and easier to clean. At the same time, the lacquer is one of the very thinnest available and does not conceal the beautiful floor surface.
Matt lacquer:
Our matt lacquer almost gives the impression that the floor is completely untreated bare wood, or treated with natural oil. You can clearly feel the soft, natural surface with your fingers or when you walk barefoot on the floor. Matt lacquer is as hardwearing and easy to maintain as silk matt lacquer.
Nature oil:
Kährs Nature oil gives your floor a wonderfully natural and beautiful feel. The oil brings out the wood's wonderful texture and graining, and enriches the natural wood colour. While easy to maintain, you must remember that floors treated with Nature oil need a little more care and need to be treated with Kährs wax-oil regularly.
Joint system
Woodloc®:
The Woodloc® joint is the most advanced interlocking system on the market. The System tightens the joint as it is installed and then locks the boards in place. This ensures that gaps are minimised throughout the installation and for the lifetime of the floor.
Traditional joint:
For certain purposes there are also some Kährs floors that have a traditional joint system.
Collection
We have divided our product range into a number of collections. This will help you to quickly understand the interior feel, look and colour of the floors in the collections.
Grading
City Selection:
These floors are stylishly understated; they're created from a uniform and regular timber grade with small variations in tone and pattern. They can be light or dark depending on the wood species, but the tone and overall effect is uniform. If you like tranquillity, look for a floor in the City selections.
Town Selection:
Dark or light, these floors are characterized by subtle variations in tone and pattern, but without knots. They form a classic backdrop, which sets the focus on the rest of the decoration. If you are looking for a floor with minimal variations, take a look at our Town selections.
Country Selection:
If you are striving for a more rustic look you will probably like a floor in our Country selection. Here you will find dramatic graining and knotted wood, greater colour variation, unmistakably natural and bold.
For pattern installation
Dutch pattern:
An old classic board in a new way. The wear layer, the part of the board that you see and walk on, is made of 3 strips in the width and one across. When the boards has been laid it will be a beautiful "cable stitch pattern".
Hungarian stitch:
A Hungarian stitch floor gives its very own stamp to the room. The floor can be installed in several variations.
Shipsdecking
A floor with maritime feel. With a decorative strip and wood plugs in each end of the board to give the image of a real Ships Deck. The pattern is pre-made and the floor is delivered in whole boards as all our parquet floors are.
Brinell value
By their very nature, different wood species have different levels of hardness. The hardness of parquet is measured using the Brinell method. This involves pressing a 10mm diameter steel ball against the parquet surface with prescribed force and duration. The indentation this leaves is then measured, and the Brinell value is calculated. The harder the wood, the higher the Brinell value. (The structure of wood means there can be variations, but the specified value is the average, taken from a large number of measurements.) The hardness of Linnea is defined by the core material.
Colour change
All wood changes colour over time. Some species darken rapidly, while others change less dramatically and more slowly when exposed to normal sunlight. Nature never stands still, that is the charm of a natural material. (Please find further information on how various wood species change colour under Colour Change.)
Board dimension
Our floor sizes:
Length x Width x Thickness
Package
Information about our packages. The number of boards, m2 and kg per package.
Thickness
Kährs wood floors are available in a range of thicknesses. The most popular for the home are 15 mm and 7 mm.
Colour
Natural light, the size of the windows, other lighting and orientation are some of the points that can influence the choice of floor colour. A dark floor "swallows" a lot of light, and also affects the feeling of space. At the same time, a dark floor can create a warm and comfortable feel in large rooms. A light wood floor reflects the light and increases the feeling of space within the room, and can create a dramatic contrast to dark design details.
Distressed
Vintage look achieved through special wood processing method.
Bevelled
Bevelling the edges on 1-strip floor boards accentuates each individual plank. This year we are introducing several floors with edges that are bevelled to varying degrees. Everything from floors with micro-bevelling (a slight accentuation of the edge using sandpaper) to more dramatic, stronger bevels on all edges that give the floor a more rustic and robust look.
Brushed
Brushing the surface highlights the natural structure of the grain creating additional texture. We can vary the effect depending on the species, and type of bristle. Brushing is usually accompanied by other surface treatments such as bevelling the edges and applying a coloured stain or glaze.
Natural or stained
We can use stains to further enhance the colour that nature provided. From light, white lacquered or white oiled to dark, deep and exotic colours.
Wooden Flooring in the Home
Why Choose Wood?
Apart from building an extension or getting a new roof, one of the major home improvements people make is to change or upgrade their floors. A good-looking floor can add a great deal of value to a home, quite apart from giving it a chic new feel. Even just tearing up old carpeting and refinishing existing wood floors is usually less expensive than buying and installing new carpeting. In addition, hardwood floors last a lot longer than carpets. Granted that you may need to refinish them from time to time, but carpets start to look worn and faded after just a few years, and might even become a health hazard.
The biggest downside of carpeting is that they aren't very friendly for allergy sufferers or anyone who is concerned about indoor pollution, which can include things such as pollen, dust, pet dander, mould, and mildew. Carpets can be breeding grounds for all of these. Even if you vacuum and wash your carpets on a regular basis, it is impossible to really get them clean, because dust and grime sift through the backing of the carpet and get between it and the pad beneath.
The actual process of cleaning the carpet can lead to worsening the problem, residual dampness from a carpet shampooing can actually encourage more things to grow within the fibres of the carpet making it a bacterial nest and a perfect place for the growth of mould and other unsuitable pollutants
A hardwood floor, on the other hand, never goes out of style and does not mutate into a breeding ground for germs as it forms a durable surface which is not easily permeated. Hardwood floors don't hide dust, dirt, mildew or any other unpleasantness, and the finish that's applied to the floorboards protects them from penetration. That is why hardwood floors are a superior choice, not only for aesthetic reasons but because they simply allow for a healthier living environment than carpets do.
Over the past decade we have seen a dramatic increase in the incidence of breathing Inner city living has led to a dramatic increase in asthma and breathing related conditions particularly amongst children and the rest of the population. The route cause of this can probably be attributed to inner city pollutants but it must also be aggravated by dust harbouring situations and Carpets and soft furnishings are most likely to be a major contributing factor.
Western cultures in Europe and in particular in the UK were used to fibre floor coverings which became very popular in the post war Britain as a means to cover bare floor boards and to make the rooms feel warmer against the wet and cold British climate. Whereas many European countries prefer hardwood, tiled or marble flooring for its cooling affect in the warmer climates.
Southern Europe enjoys a more temperate climate and due to lower cost and availability it is more likely to see stone, granite, marble floor covering to homes as opposed to carpeting. It is customary to have loose rugs over the flooring.
Scandinavia is generally colder than the UK yet it also prefers to have hardwood or timber flooring this is due to the abundance of timber in Scandinavia and the lifestyle preferences of those countries that are used to wood flooring as part of their cultural heritage.
It is from Scandinavia that the influence of hardwood flooring has mainly impacted upon British living with Swedish and Danish stores opening in the UK back in the late 60’s such as Habitat and more recently IKEA the room settings were all based around hardwood flooring as standard and this naturally impacted and left an indelible impression upon the home makers visiting the stores who simply wanted what they had seen within the flooring and liked what was seen and this started a desire to purchase wood flooring and created a wood flooring culture and a dramatic change of flooring shops from selling conventional carpets to offering wood flooring alternatives.
The initial problems of wood flooring was the cost and this led to a desire for consumers to DIY the laying of wood flooring and encouraged manufacturers to produce easier to lay wood flooring systems as opposed to the raw boards that needed highly experienced wood flooring installation people. The advent of click board systems and laminated packs enable the consumer with a degree of DIY experience to lay a wood floor with a degree of competence and finish that enabled the consumers to cut costs and further led to a torrent of suppliers producing wood floor systems that began to flood the market.
Within the past 10 years all of the leading DIY stores now offer Wood flooring as standard and rarely offer any alternative. Wood flooring is as common today as carpets were in the 60’s and 70’s in fact more wood flooring is laid today than traditional carpets so Britain has truly become a more European country in terms of lifestyle change and general living conditions.
