Posts Tagged ‘flooring’

USA Hard Wood Flooring – Five Of The Top Choices

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Here in the US, as we face an ever-changing world economy, there’s a growing faction of folk dedicated to bringing back the ‘Made in America’ moniker. American made, or in the case of hard wood flooring, American grown, emotes a sense of pride among people who make and/or fabricate U.S.-born products as well as those that install them in place of carpet in their houses.

And so, in accordance with this trend, this list of five of the top American-grown hard wood flooring species commences. 5 of the top American-grown hard wood flooring species are:

1) American Cherry: One of the best hard woods used in furniture for a very good reason, American cherry, AKA Black Cherry, is also an amazing flooring wood due to its fine, tight grain and warm, maroon-like tone; which develops over time after adequate exposure to daylight. A floor laid with Black Cherry and accented with a beautiful area rugs is a real show stopper!

2) North American Walnut: Another actually wonderful hard wood commonly found in quality furniture, Black Walnut, as it is commonly known, is a natural deep-hued brown that does wonders in warming up any room; especially as a complimentary wood with lighter variations.

3) Red Oak: A true American classic, North American Red Oak is the most popular hard wood flooring choice in several American houses due to its ever-lasting beauty, extraordinary durability, and acceptable supply; which pretty frequently keeps the cost down. Red Oak looks great in almost every application you would choose it for.

4) White Oak: Less in supply than other Oak varieties, White Oak still remains an extremely well-liked flooring choice due to its unique grain that many times appears to be ’speckled’. This marble-like quality of White Oak is actually attracting. Visitors to your house will certainly be impressed!

5) American Hard Maple: One of the most well liked decisions for American flooring is definitely Hard Maple. Renowned for its classic durability (as witnessed on masses of basketball courts) and its creamy beige to brown tone, American Hard Maple is a winning floor choice for any one that selects it.

And there you have it. If you are one of those discriminating householders who is building a new home or just remodeling an existing home, you cannot get it wrong with any of the above 5, hard wood, American-grown, flooring choices.

Each flooring is a one off. Each one is beautiful. And each one would look impressive in your home. Select wisely!

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Flooring Choices: Area Rugs, Hardwood, and Vinyl vs Ceramic

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

When decorating or re-decorating a home, flooring is one of the most important choices to be made.  Flooring is one of the costliest facets of any decorating, re-decorating, and building project.  It is designed to last ages, so it’s imperative to make good decisions the 1st time around.  What are some available flooring options, and what are the pros and cons of those choices?  Keep reading for some valuable information which will aid anyone in making smart choices about their floors. 

One extremely popular choice these days is hardwood flooring.  Hardwood is lovely and durable, lasting generations if it’s’s correctly cared for.  With a wide variety of styles and finishes, hardwood can be a perfect choice for nearly any room.  On the negative side, it is pricey.  Exotic hardwoods are maybe the costliest flooring selections on the market.  Installation is labor intensive, which adds to the already high cost.  Additionally, hardwood must be correctly cared for in order to be actually enjoyed as intended.  Moisture is the enemy of hardwood, and most hardwood surfaces also must be refinished every so often.  It’s best to have a professional take care of this.

Adding to the cost of hardwood is the indisputable fact that most people use it in association with area rugs.  However, this combo is a tested winner, for plenty of reasons.  Area rugs provide the heat and comfort of carpet, which hardwood lacks, and they can be comparatively inexpensive compared to carpeting an entire room.  Area rugs provide the chance to make a statement with flooring that carpet doesn’t allow, because they are smaller and can simply be changed.  Area rugs are quite helpful ; even in a carpeted room, they work to add color and define separate areas of the room such as conversation areas and television areas, as an example. 

In rooms where hardwood and carpet are not options,eg bogs and washing rooms, a popular debate goes on between two choices, vinyl and ceramic tile.  Each has it’s negative and positive qualities.  Ceramic is costlier, but is also more sturdy.  Vinyl, while significantly less pricey, has a tendency to stain easily, and if not installed properly, it can roll at the perimeters, leaving a very disheveled appearance.  Ceramic can also feel very cold underfoot, especially during winter.  Technology has come a good distance in making vinyl flooring look more like ceramic tile, and in a number of cases, the difference isn’t instantly obvious without a closer inspection. 

 

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Basic Rules for Choosing Ideal Flooring

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

Decorating a home is a big job, but for most, it is a pleasurable task.  Of course , home is where to heart is, and folk are prepared to go thru great expense and great effort to embellish their abode in that perfect style.  As hardwood flooring makes a comeback in renown ( vs most rooms being covered with carpet as in recent decades ), area rugs are also enlarging in renown.  With this demand increase comes a rise in supply, and in the selections available on the market today.  How do you decide on the perfect rug?  Here are some simple guidelines. 

Perhaps the most important consideration is size.  Area rugs come in all sorts of styles and sizes, from small accent rugs to room-size coverings.  Glaringly, the room will have to be measured to gauge the right size.  Room size isn’t the only consideration, however.  The function of both the room and the rug must be taken accounted for when deciding the appropriate rug size.  Is the rug meant to anchor a specific furniture grouping?  In this example, the suitable size will be way smaller then if the rug is supposed to cover an entire room.  It’s useful to use a tape to visualize different sizes in the room before going shopping, because the size will always look different in the shop than it’ll in the home. 

Also needing to be considered are shape, color, and pattern.  Oblong rugs appear to be the most popular, but square, circle, and oval are all making strides in appreciation.  As far as color is anxious, area rugs are integral to a room’s color scheme.  They can function as an accent, that may stand out ; as an anchor, which is less noticeable ; or they can tie the entire decorating scheme together.  to get the best match, take a fabric swatch or paint chip with for the shopping trip.  Patterns vary widely these days, from normal floral and oriental designs that repeat a specific motif repeatedly, to large, single-shape patterns that are only featured once, to geometric designs of varying scales.  All of these points to consider have a massive effect on a room and must be thought about carefully in order to buy the perfect area rug! 

 

 

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Hardwood Flooring – How To Clean It

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Maintaining a hardwood floor in prime condition doesn’t take much skill or effort, but it requires consistency and good care on a daily basis.Especially for rooms that experience heavy traffic or are exposed to additional “treatment” from kids and pets, it’s essential that you keep an eye for suspicious stains, marks and spilled or sticky substances.

Floors can be categorized in two: wax finished and surface finished and each needs to be treated in a different manner. More than the regular cleaning by way of dust-mopping, sweeping and appropriate vacuuming, you should be well equipped to deal with minor damages that may be caused accidently, for those are likely to happen at some time or the other. So you have to take Bissell wood cleaner seriously.

Starting with the regular cleaning routine itself, never use water to clean the surface. Unless the floor manufacturer (if you have a prefinished floor) or the floor finish manufacturer (for floors finished on site) allows the use of damp mops, you’re only going to cause a lot of grief to the protective coating and in no time, to the wood underneath it. On reacting with water a treated floor may lose its color and shine and get buckled or crowned. Rather than using the common household cleaners, use only the cleaners as recommended by the manufacturer of floor. If the latter is unknown, use a generic hardwood floor cleaner that’s designed for the type of floor finish you have.

You should not delay taking action against any stains caused by ink or pets. Once the surface gets stained, you will be required to use fine or very fine steel wool to scrap the upper crest for approaching the contaminant and its subsequent removal.

It’s good idea to use Oreck vacuum cleaner besides regular equipment. Use the specified wood floor cleaner along with a bit of mineral spirits to get rid of the stain, give sometime for the area to get dried up and then apply wax before finally buffing it.

Learn How To Stain Concrete Floors

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Do it yourself concrete staining is the cheapest and easiest way to enhance the appearance of your concrete surfaces. The other options of achieving similar looks of your concrete floor, like epoxy floor, are rather expensive and may not fall in the category of DIY project as they involve tearing of the existing floor to be covered with new or decorative overlays.But before you begin your staining project there are a few things you need to know.

There are two types of concrete stains to choose from, acid stains and acrylic stains. Acid stains are caused by the chemical reaction with free lime on the surface and give a translucent floor with natural looks. Acid staining gives spotted, multicolored and multi-hued coloring.Every concrete surface reacts differently to acids stains making each job unique. Acrylic stains on the other hand are water borne pigments that seep thru the pores and adhere to the surface of the floor, thus producing a more consistent semi translucent color as if obtained from a dye. A very positive aspect of acrylic stains is that they help to conceal some of the defects or discoloration, but acid stains on the contrary, tend to highlight such limitations.

Acid and acrylic stains work equally good on many of the floors and you have to choose one, depending on the kind of looks you wish to have.

Nevertheless, under certain conditions one may deliver better results than the other. For instance, exterior concrete older than ten to fifteen years may not be to hold acid stains as it has already lost most of the free lime on its surface.Acrylic stains are great for old concrete because of its increased porosity over time. You can’t get this with epoxy floor paint. Obviously, acid stains would give very satisfying results on a new concrete that has plenty of free lime. A good feature of acrylic stains is that it will be able to conceal minor repairs like patches and scaling on an old floor. On the other hand acid stains would make such patches to stand out.  Smooth trowel led interior surfaces with less porosity give better results on being treated with acid stains that do not require so much penetration for coloring the concrete.

What you can do to improve your home

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

One of the things people like to do is improve their home. It makes sense since people usually spend most of their time in their houses.And because of that people sometimes get tired of the looks of their houses and will try to change it.Some people who have the money go and remodel their houses completely. Others do some minor tinkering but can still produce a different look than the previous look of their houses.Changing your flooring with a new design is one those things. This can do a lot in changing the look of your house.

My advice to most people I have gained running a San Diego tile business is to do your flooring.Especially if they are not that rich.In other words, they don’t have enough budget for a complete remodeling of their houses.Doing your flooring is the best thing you can do to your house because it provides a good return to your money. The reason for this is maybe because flooring runs through your whole house so its very noticeable. By changing your flooring into hardwood or tiles, it can really beautify your houses.  You can turn a boring room or house and make it look totally new by just changing the floors.

But most people right now, especially during recession times, don’t have the means to change their whole flooring.I at least tell them to just regularly clean their flooring.If their house is carpeted then they should have it cleaned regularly.  If they are really on a budget I suggest they buy some carpet cleaning supplies and do it themselves. But I always see to it that they buy just the quality cleaning products so that their money won’t go to waste and that their cleaning be noticed by others.

But of course the best way is to change your carpets or tile. This option will really give a new look to your house. It can be less costly as compared to a complete remodeling but can still give that new look to your houses.  So when people come into my carpet San Diego business I give them that choice of carpet cleaning or replacing the flooring.I always suggest to them that they just upgrade their floors if they have the means to do it.  But if money is tight cleaning the flooring will do for now.

Positive health effects of carpet cleaning

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Indoor environment is one of the places where illnesses are lurking that can cause health problems to people living in it.Especially the house environment where they live in. Their own homes which is supposedly their comfort place can be transformed into a danger zone and can be bad for their health. The reason for that is maybe because of dirty carpets.Dirty carpets contain a combination of smoke, dust, allergens, molds, and many more pollutants. These things can harm people.The main reason why things like these are found in carpets is because people do not regularly clean them.

So what can homeowners do to make their homes more health-friendly.  Naturally they can have their carpets cleaned.Yes, of course, people naturally want to clean their carpets because cleaning can make it look nice.  But I see more and more people calling my carpet cleaners San Diego business with health concerns.These people that seek help from my cleaning business are suffering from breathing-realted problems.  Or they are suffering from allergies.  They also realize it is mostly due to their dirty carpets. 

There are some cases where people cannot afford to pay a carpet cleaning service.So when I know that they can’t afford it I suggest to them that they clean their carpets on their own.  But I also make sure they find the best carpet cleaners supplies. Most of the time, these carpet cleaning products are the best products that are out there.And these are also not harmful to the family.And of course if you are cleaning to maintain your family’s health then you should want to do it right.

But of course my main suggestion is to let professionals do it for you.Because if not dried properly, most of the time it will cause molds to grow on it.  A professional knows how to do it.And they also have the knowledge in how to dry the carpets right.  In my carpet San Diego service that is our specialty.  Which is knowing how to not only clean the floors.But also knowing the right way to dry the carpets so that molds will not grow on it.

So if you have allergies.Or if you have any breathing difficulties then it could be caused by your carpets. Go see your doctor first if there are other reasons for these problems of yours.If the doctor does not find any causes for these illnesses then your home environment is the real culprit. Cleaning it may help in relieving or stopping your allergies or any breathing-related problems.

Is Floating Floor The Best Basement Solution?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Because of the present economic scenario, the house owners are finding it increasingly difficult to have a customer for their houses. It is therefore prompting them to look for some meaningful economical renovations to add value to the house.One very important feature that many house shoppers, especially families, are looking for is a finished basement. It will therefore be worthwhile for a homeowner with an unfinished basement to improve the prospects of selling it by offering a finished basement. This applies to all basement flooring types.

A finished basement necessarily involves its flooring. With a little information, anyone can choose the right flooring option for their budget.

The cost involved for the renovation is among the most important aspects of this rather expensive project of having a finished basement. Depending on the market and the home owner’s budget constraints, there are many basement flooring options that will fit most budgets. Some of them are floating floor boards.   Some of the least expensive options of flooring a basement include sheet flooring and vinyl tile.

Those on a tight budget will find it a good option because it offers easy installation. Though more expensive than vinyl flooring, carpet is also another option for basements.  Hardwood floors can be a bit more expensive, depending on the material and manufacturer, but one can mimic the look of hardwood with the less expensive and easy to install laminate flooring.

Apart from the cost of the chosen medium for basement flooring, you need to take into account the cost of its installation too.With an easy to install material, a homeowner might be able to install it themselves instead of paying installation costs for the company to do it.  Some of the materials need to be installed by professionals only as their installation necessarily requires special purpose machines and tools, carpet installation being one such example. It is available in the form of kits, needs no expensive or special tools, nor even glue, you just keep snapping the pieces together and you have accomplished a good job !. Lest you should mar the finish of the floor, it will be desirable to hire the services of a professional if you decide to go ahead with a hardwood flooring, which is not easy to install. Vinyl flooring is of course an easy to do project if you know how to handle the glue needed for its installation. As already pointed out, you will be able to cut down on the cost of the project if you can handle the installation part on your own.

Any homeowner would realize that cost of the material chosen for flooring is one of the major considerations. Of course personal tastes play a role in the whole game, but with little effort it would not be difficult to choose a material that adds to the value of your home within a limited budget.

How carpets can make a difference in your house

Monday, October 19th, 2009

You would naturally think it’s natural for a carpet cleaner to say how great clean carpets are.But they definitely are good for many reasons.We are going to discuss and show in this article the reasons how carpets make a difference.

First of all this is from experience working with San Diego carpet cleaner.So what are the differences can it make?  Well it provides a clean environment.People may not know it but there’s a lot of bacteria and dirt lurking in your carpets.It is one cause why people get sick.  By constantly keeping it cleaned you can avoid that.It is shown to be true as I have personally witnessed it.

Second it is great for looks.No person will like a dreary and dirty looking house.  Well if you add dirty carpeting to it, then you really have a bad looking home.  Just by doing some simple cleaning can do wonders.  If you don’t want to hire a company there are a lot of carpet cleaners supplies that can help you clean it yourself.Of course it is not easy as compared to when hiring a carpet cleaner.  But it should be fun.

Finally if you don’t keep it cleaned your carpet wears out faster.  Of course that is a good thing because of my hardwood flooring San Diego business.It would be very fine if people would change their flooring every year.But they are not required to especially if they regularly clean their carpets.By cleaning it regularly it can make the flooring last a long time.But if you don’t maintain it regularly then it will not last long.And also it affects the look of your carpets.

So if you follow these steps you will see that keeping your carpets cleaned is a big deal.And you can also get rid of the dirt and the bacteria thriving in it.  Finally you will also help your carpet and flooring last longer.

How To Polish Your Floor

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

The patronage that polished concrete floors enjoy is no more restricted to business and industry, even the house owners are beginning to develop a preference for these floors. Spectacular looks apart, it is perhaps one of the most long-lasting materials realized in recent times.

A polished granite floor is a finished floor and needs to be treated like one. As they are susceptible to scratches and getting chipped off, they should be treated with a suitable polish to prevent the formation of stains.

It is imperative to maintain absolute cleanliness of such floors and the use of walk off mats at all entrances is a step in the right direction. The use of walk off mats pays for itself by keeping away from the floor harmful dust and salts and thus minimizing maintenance.

Daily cleaning by a dust mop, preferably a micro-fiber mop, is very helpful to having  continually beautiful floors for a long time. When needed a damp mop using a neutral cleaner, which can be purchased from a janitorial supply or home improvement store, is all that is usually needed to clean the polished concrete floors. The floor may lose its gloss on being treated with an improper cleaning agent.

The floors of a large warehouse or an industrial unit can be effectively cleaned by making use of an hoover floor buffer that saves time. We have many companies which produce buffing pads with diamond of varying grits embedded in them. This facilitates a prompt restoration of the original shine of the floor without much effort.

A very positive feature of electric floor scrubbers is that they are very easy to operate and not too heavy to be carried on back. They are easy and comfortable to push, and require little maintenance: you just fill with water and chemcals, and empty it after cleaning.

During normal cleaning only white pads should be used on the auto scrubber or buffer.