Mercerville, NJ, June 6, 2006--Congoleum has broadened its popular DuraCeramic product line with the addition of DuraCeramic Options which gives consumers unlimited opportunities to create custom floors and walls using this new product category.
“Because response to the characteristics of this engineered ceramic product was so overwhelming, Congoleum is introducing the DuraCeramic concept in a clever new format called Options,” says Leonard Ludovico, vice president of product and styling.
Using the same patented process as the original DuraCeramic, DuraCeramic Options is produced as a 16-inch tile, each embossed to create four 8-inch, beveled-tile visuals. DuraCeramic Options tiles can be used as a single tile or separated into four smaller versions. The technique opens new design options for kitchens, entryways, backsplashes, baths, spas and virtually any room in the home.
“The customer’s first option is to use this 16-inch, four-tile visual format by itself for a joint-free installation, or to pair it with the original 16-inch DuraCeramic tile for a stylized look of mixed large and small tiles,” says Ludovico.
“Want more options?“ he asks. “By using the embossed lines of the DuraCeramic Options as a guideline, the 16-inch piece can be easily scored, then snapped apart into four precision 8-inch tiles.”
This simple, yet clever capability is how DuraCeramic opens up a whole new world of design and simplified installation. DuraCeramic Options results in unlimited and highly imaginative custom floor and wall designs -- checkerboards, diagonal and diamond shapes, weaves, insets, random patterns, borders and more. Beveled edges provide for traditional grouted installations or the trendy grout-free look.
Launched in 2003, the DuraCeramic line was first to explore the frontier of engineered ceramic for flooring and walls.
By combining limestone with space-age, cross-linked composite materials for high performance, then creating natural stylings consumers want in slate, marble, porcelain and other stone looks and developing a color palette of acrylic grout to complement or coordinate with each fashion, Congoleum had created a new category it called engineered ceramic with a host of new features and benefits.
Among those are the fact that DuraCeramic has been proven to be warmer to the touch than ceramic, quiet and comfortable underfoot, less likely to shatter fragile items when dropped, like glassware and fast to install--about half the time of conventional ceramic or porcelain tile.
The complete DuraCeramic line features a total of 53 distinctive color variations in 11 collections, Sierra Slate, Heirloom, Earthpath, Pacific Marble, Rapolano, Cambridge Tile, Roman Elegance, Mercer Tile, Dreamscape, Sandalstone and Medallion.
Says Ludovico, “The DuraCeramic Options line is being launched initially in 13 colors from three collections (Sierra Slate, Earthpath and Heirloom) which can be used alone or paired with decors from the original DuraCeramic line to suit the tastes and creativity of the customer.”
DuraCeramic Options is installed using the same guidelines as DuraCeramic--DuraSet Adhesive and Congoleum’s DuraCeramic Premixed Acrylic Grout in 16 designer colors--for even greater possibilities in customization. Congoleum provides suggestions for grout colors to complement each DuraCeramic fashion, yet the final decision is left to the customer’s sense of creativity.
