I couldn't find much in the way of hard facts on these, but decided to go ahead and have my kitchen done with them anyway.
This is the official company blurb:
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picked these for a number of reasons, but primarily because they were described as warm to the touch, unlike porcelain tiles, non-slip (R10 apparently?) and relatively easy to work with.
Anyway:
Advantages:
- They *are* warm to the touch, probably about as warm as the oak floor we had there in the first place. However it's difficult to give a like-for-like comparison as I also had 50mm marmox laid first, so the characteristics of the floor have changed.
- They *are* relatively easy to work with according to the tiler (but see disadvantages below). This was borne out by the fact that we used almost none of the 10% allowed for wastage.
- Subjective, but they look good, and they also seem very resistant to staining etc. (but early days)
- Quieter to walk on than the wooden floor or porcelain tiles revealed underneath.
Disadvantages:
- As they are so new, they aren't well supported and relatively few people have experience with them. In addition, it was difficult to get information on installation from Gerflor themselves, and the printed instructions differed when discussing the same subject according to whether you read those supplied with the tiles, adhesive or grout.
- Finishing such as skirting boards is very expensive IMO, and it was difficult to find *any* samples anywhere. In the end we managed to find one place in Chesterfield, and they had a sample in one colour (not the one we opted for), but very kindly let us borrow it for a few days (thanks King Carpets!)
- They absolutely demand a flat surface. Although I'd user my tiler again, despite doing a great job levelling the marmox, he underestimated how level the surface had to be. He got the job done with a few problems, but I wish I'd insisted on self-levelling over the marmox so it was billiard table smooth.
- The printed colours don't match the leaflet colours particularly well, so you absolutely have to see them in person. I ours turned out a bit "safe"
Anyway, I'm pleased with the result, but I'd do things differently next time. I felt as if Gerflor haven't really geared up to support this in a retail channel yet, so if you fancy them, I'd advise waiting a while to see if they get their act together.