At Overmat Industries, those pre-treatment products come in three sorts, namely non-reactive, medium reactive, and reactive products. For more information about this (and much more) we called on managing director Jeroen van Oversteeg.

‘The non-reactive products are stain-like products which we sell on the market under the Prime Stain label,’ he explains. ‘The difference with medium reactive products is that here there’s also a reaction with the components in the wood, but there’s also some colouring as well. I don’t really need to say very much about reactive substances. What these three have in common is that you can use them all to create distressing and ageing effects. You can bring about lots of ranges and colours in combination with our finish products, including UV oil and UV lacquer.’

Prime (and more)
Mr van Oversteeg then tells us more about a number of components from the Prime Design line. Here he points out that there are some variants. Amongst other things, he talks about the fact that there is now an alternative to the classic smoking with ammonia: ‘Increasingly, all of us want to see the back of smoking with ammonia. It’s not only the smell, but also there’s a rapid blurring of the smoking effect. That’s why we’ve developed the product Prime Smoke, and this in three variants: 1, 5, and 10. Which variant is used depends on the tannic acid content of the wood and the effect that you want to achieve. The advantage of this Prime Smoke is the even look which emerges, whilst the floor still looks smoked. Moreover, there’s no blurring because this is a highly stable reaction. We launched this product during the pandemic and promoted it more recently during the BAU trade fair. The market reacted very well indeed, despite the fact that in Munich you can’t deny that wood is more and more explicitly becoming a niche product.’
He then tells us more about Prime Old Brown, which is also available in a number of variants. These include Prime Old Black and Prime Weathered Grey.

Importance of their own test area
Mr van Oversteeg continues: ‘As is the case with the other products, we are developing and producing these staining products inhouse. We’re quite proud of the fact that we have our own test area, which includes an oiling line for oxidative testing and UV testing. There’s also a spray unit where we can apply and test all pre-treatment products in combination with finish products. This is how we put our collections together to launch them on the market. That often includes inviting clients to try our products on their own wood. This helps them to transfer what they see here to their production.’

When you talk about pre-treatment products, you obviously have to say something about the application thereof. According to Overmat Industries this is best done with a spray unit or a spray machine: ‘We also have clients who apply a finish manually, but we don’t think that’s ideal, if only because you need a lot of experience to finish a floor and, moreover, it takes up a lot of time. If you do it in the factory, the whole process is a lot faster.’

New maintenance oil: Pura
‘Finally, I’d like to point out how important we think it is to test our products in consultation with the clients. You need those people to help you make colours and create combinations of pre-treatments and finish systems. May I just also add briefly that we’ve just completed a new maintenance oil ready for the market? We’ll be launching this maintenance oil on the market soon under the name Pura. It’s a product which is designed for all lightly shaded or transparently finished floors. It prevents a clash or therefore a colour deepening of the product. We’re expecting great things from this newcomer, certainly because we’re responding to a clear need from the work field.’

Launch of a new web site
Ever since 1981, Overmat has been a professional partner for products and machines for the treatment, finish, maintenance, and cleaning of floors. As with any company, development takes on a new direction during growth over the years, and that has happened with Overmat Industries as well.
To keep everything manageable for clients and the outside world, the company has decided to tackle its external communication and launch a new web site. In particular, this new web site must make it clear how the company is split up: products and machines for wooden floors, machines and products for concrete and various hard floors, and industrial applications for parquet producers.

Jeroen van Oversteeg comments: ‘Producing a new web site was a highly intricate, but necessary job. We’ve been in existence for over 40 years and over that time we’ve worked on both products and machines. In particular, making it clear what the difference is between everything related to wood and the industrial machines proved no easy task. Making the difference clear between the wooden floors and the industrial finish and pre-treatment, which comes under Floorservice, and on the other hand all sorts of machines, which are classified under Overmat, proved a hard slog.’

‘After lots of consultation with the web site builder, I think we’ve managed to develop a handy site. We’ve made various choice menus which make the difference between the various branches of sport (he laughs). And so, on the one hand it’s clear how you can contact us for all wooden floors, with the accompanying machines for polishing, sanding, and so on, and on the other hand the concrete grinding machines, milling machines, machines for removing tiles and wood, and such like.’