The transition is the hardest part
In every interior there are a few places where materials meet and where it is immediately visible if something is not right. The connection between a floor and a staircase is one of them. You stand on it close up, you literally look down on it, and there is no skirting or profile to soften the picture.
In this home in Merksplas a light, almost white PSL 5450 floor comes together with wooden stair treads and a walnut cabinet wall. The connection is flat and clean: the floor runs right up to the wood, without a build-up, without a pull-back and without a visible transition strip.
Why that detail counts
A resin floor is poured out and then finished. In the open surface gravity produces an even result; at an edge or an obstacle the installer determines how the material runs up. With a staircase there is the added fact that the first step is often not perfectly square or level in relation to the floor — so the connection has to be right in both directions.
That is workmanship, not a product choice. What the product can do is make that work predictable. Our primers, scraping coats, resin flooring compounds and top coats are developed and produced in house, as matched systems. That way an applicator knows how the build-up behaves in the places where it gets tricky.
The founders of Cuore come from installing resin systems themselves. That practical experience is why we can also support our partners on site — not as an installer, but as a manufacturer who knows where the difficulties lie.
This project was made with our products by the installer on site.
Cool and warm side by side
The contrast between the almost white floor and the warm wood is what makes the photo interesting. Both materials become stronger for it: the white looks brighter next to the wood, the wood looks warmer next to the white.
A light floor has an additional effect. It reflects daylight upwards and thereby lights the underside of the stair treads and the lower zone of the cabinet wall. In a stairwell — often the darkest place in a home — that is a gain you cannot achieve with colour alone.
What a white floor demands
Light and white are demanding colours for a floor. They show wear sooner, they react more strongly to soiling, and they reveal discolouration at once.
PSL 5450 was developed for that:
- UV-resistant, so colourfast where daylight falls — important in a stairwell with a window
- Wear-resistant, able to withstand intensive use in a circulation zone
- Water-repellent and seamless, so easy to clean with no joints in which dirt settles
- Soft to the touch and suitable for underfloor heating
That first point counts above all with light shades: on a white surface any yellowing is immediately visible, while on a dark floor it is hardly noticeable.
Want to know more?
Do you have a project in which the floor has to connect to wood, natural stone or bespoke joinery? We are happy to look at which build-up and which finish suit it. Feel free to get in touch with us.