New products, new projects and no less than two brand new showrooms; for Schlüter-Systems, the tiling systems?? specialists, 2017 did not disappoint.
Application Gallery
The latest addition to the Schlüter-Systems Education Centre (SSEC), the Application Gallery welcomed its first visitors in February 2017. An in-house showcase at Schlüter??s UK offices in Coalville, this educational space was produced in collaboration with leading bathroom specialists, Roca. The Application Gallery features a series of specially designed ??pods?? demonstrating the key uses of solutions, with cut away areas exposing layers of product in situ. The various pods include a walk-in wetroom, barrier-free bathroom, wellness space, lifetime home, luxury wetroom and kitchen diner, along with a preparation pod that exposes the full underlay of a Schlüter bathroom.
Leather Lane
Spring 2017 saw the launch of 49 Leather Lane, the highly anticipated London showroom collaboration between Pentagon Tiles, Schlüter-Systems and Ardex. Based in Clerkenwell, the space aims to be a source of inspiration for the architectural community and allows products to be experienced in both sample and installed formats.
Electric Underfloor Heating
Mid-way through the year, impact sound reduction testing upon Schlüter-Systems?? electric underfloor heating membrane with 2mm anchoring fleece yielded positive results. The product received a ceremonial renaming to Schlüter®-DITRA-HEAT-DUO, in recognition of the fact that the matting now offers two officially verified features over its parent product DITRA-HEAT??thermal breaking, as well as impact sound reduction of up to 13dB (perceived as a 50 per cent reduction by the human ear).
Profiles
The options available for architects and specifiers to finish tile and stone installations continued to expand, with new profile products to satisfy popular demand. In Autumn 2017, Schlüter-Systems was delighted to introduce Schlüter®-FINEC, a revolutionary new slim-line profile to provide near-seamless finishing for mosaics and thin porcelain tiles. At the same time, the Schlüter®-TRENDLINE range extended its reach to the wall to floor connection profile Schlüter®-DILEX-AHK, with ivory, stone grey and dark anthracite finishes becoming available.
Wetrooms
At CERSAIE 2017, alongside the profile developments, Schlüter introduced three new drain grate designs, Floral, Curve and Pure. The new designs are available in both point and linear drain variants, in Schlüter??s ever-popular brushed stainless steel finish, and have been developed with current bathroom trends in mind, yet are versatile and neutral enough to stand the test of time. Schlüter??s waterproofing range also welcomed a very useful product to target the tricky meets between bath/shower tray edges and tiling: Schlüter®-KERDI-TS provides an extra line of defence in the event of silicone seal failure and can even be used with the maintenance-free connection profile Schlüter®-DILEX-AS to remove the need for silicone entirely.
