Archive Sanding and Refinishing
Gapping and Finish Issues
Q: We purchased a new home in August 2006. The builder installed pine flooring throughout out house. We realize that pine is quite soft and expected to…
Archive Floor du Jour
June 2007
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Portugal Cork photo round up
I am traveling for the next 10 days roughly so I am adding some pictures from Portugal just to keep things interesting. This is a quick photo a of a map…
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Carpet on Stairs
This is a follow up comment that came for our article with Tim in Cambridge, NY. Q: We are doing the opposite. Our steps are set for hardwood but the…
- Flooring
Flooring Expert – some things never change – Beware of builder flooring upgrades
While I was over reading the Flooring Expert Blog I read this story about a Mannington laminate floor issue. I have seen this problem a number of times…
- Flooring
Pergo Flooring – Still a Leader
Recently Pergo was sold to a new company here in North America after a few years of difficult times. The Swedish based company had a series of challenges…
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Mannington Floor Issue
Q: We have a Mannington m-lock 8mm Canterbury oak floor installed 2-1/2 years ago in Venice, FL (not by you). The panels are raising at the seams (not…
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Vinyl on Stairs?
Q: We are looking to replace most of our carpet downstairs with laminate. While doing research I saw the Congoleum forum plank product. Correct me if I’m…
- Flooring
6000 Feet brazilian cherry hardwood 3/4″ solid x 5″ wide x rl- First Come First Served
Last I checked the really nice special from Woodstock which is a 5″ wide Brazilian cherry only had around 6,000 square feet left. This clear grade…
- Flooring
Price Fixing
Supreme Court Expected to Overturn Century-old Price-Fixing Ruling
- Flooring
Hardwood
Recently I have received alot of mail asking me about hardwood. Sometime folks ask me why I like hardwood instead of carpet. Well the truth is I like…
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Laminate Flooring Question – Transition Pieces
Q: We installed laminate flooring over old vinyl flooring in our kitchen and have run into a problem when trying to install the transition pieces…
- Flooring
Exotic Floating Hardwood – Priced so low it is too good to be true or is it?
Buying flooring is not fun. It is in fact frustrating. So many customers (about 40%) enter the process and then just give up before getting over the…
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Floor Finishes
Q: Enjoy reading the new blog. Here’s a question for your consideration… I’m currently in the process of getting quotes for having our floors refinished…
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Cork vs Carpet STC ratings
Q: We are going to replace the flooring in our condo apartment in the near future. A floating cork floor system is our preferred choice but the condo’s…
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Bookcases on Wood Floors
Q: After the laminate flooring is installed, I plan to move the large (8′ tall) bookcases that are currently in a small hard-wood-floored bedroom to the…
- Flooring
Transitions
Q: I love your column. My husband and I are looking to re-floor our home. Neither of us are “Do It Yourself” people. We had two professional installers…
- Flooring
iFLOOR, HGTV, International Builder Show, IBS
Back in January iFLOOR presented some of our cool and unique products and perspectives to the world’s largest trade show in Orlando, Florida called the…
- Flooring
Exotic Hardwood Flooring will darken with time and exposure to light
I am in between meetings, but I wanted to make a quick comment about how wood flooring (or other wood products like cabinets) can change color over time…
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Mullican Caramel Nature Installation
Q: I’m looking at your Maple Caramel Nature 3″ by Mullican. I want to do a floating installation. Other than an underlayment, is there anything else…
- Flooring
Avis – We try harder…
I was thinking the other day about the Avis slogan “We try harder.” as I waited in a very long Avis line in the Atlanta airport after a late flight in…
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Cork Flooring for an Outdoor Porch
Q: We are considering using a cork or bamboo flooring for our three season porch. Being from Minnesota where temps often get below 0 degrees, is this a…
- Flooring
iFLOOR on TV again
iFLOOR and products sold by iFLOOR have been on TV a number of times, including Monster House, Debbie Travis, Christopher Lowell and mentions on countless…
- Flooring
Hardwood Flooring that is Stunning!
I had the pleasure of seeing some great customer photos of a red maple flooring in the 5/16″ series the other day. A tough install – but with really…
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What is Carbonized Bamboo?
This question comes from John C. over at iFLOOR.com’s Tacoma, WA location. He mentioned many of his customers ask about carbonized bamboo and how its…
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Waterproof Flooring
Q: I’ve been Googling in a search for waterproof flooring that’s not tile. I found one company, Foresta Waterproof Flooring, which makes fake wood out of…
- Flooring
Did you know? – Sweeping your Hardwood is the key to happiness.
Did you know that sweeping your wood floors is the most effective cleaning you can do? Without sweeping you can not get the sand and debris off the floor…
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Carpet Over Concrete Outdoors
Q: I have a screened in porch with a 5/4″ cedar floor. The cedar floor boards are spaced about 1/8″ apart and nailed directly into the 2×10 PT joists. We…
- Flooring
Refinishing Old Parquet Floors
Q: We recently pulled up carpet due to a leak and found parquet flooring in great condition under the carpet that we decided to keep. A company suggested…
- Flooring
Cork – There is a big difference
I wanted to share some photos of cork and the process a bit with some basic details, but I want to reinforce that the difference I see in the cork made in…
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Mold and Mildew with Cork
This extra post comes from a member of iFLOOR.com’s great Sales team, Aaron C. After noticing a co-worker helping a customer with some info about mold and…
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Laminate Over a Concrete Garage Floor
Q: I am remodeling the garage into a family room. The laminate that has the backing on it already, does it still require the moisture barrier first? The…
- Flooring
Will Play for Floors…
Recently the California Capital Air Show was in Sacramento, California. The Sacramento iFLOOR store was showing off their spirit by inviting folks in with…
- Flooring
Stanton California is open
While I was away I received a photo of the new Stanton California iFLOOR location. It is very close to Disneyland in the Aneheim, LongBeach area of…
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Flooring Recommendation – Confused
Q: I have read all the great articles on your site comparing solid and engineered wood floors and laminates. Great articles. I have read the…
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Cork in a Wine Room
Here is another special boost of information from Ryan W. helping folks out with a flooring question for their upcoming wine room. Q: Ryan, We are…
- Flooring
Bamboo Floors Over Radiant Heat
Q: I have old radiant heat (pipes laid in concrete slab) that works great. We love it. However, I want to remove my carpet (2 kids, 2 dogs – need I say…
- Flooring
Portugal to Seattle
Ok – I am now at the airport which is nice. I thought I would share a couple more pictures just to prepare for my flight. We stayed at a quaint hotel on…
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Strand Woven Bamboo Emissions
Here’s a little extra post with a bit of handy info I received from Steve earlier today about Strand Woven Bamboo which I wanted to share. Steve took the…
- Flooring
Working – just no internet
In Europe it is harder to gain net access with any degree of consistency without paying huge fees. Anyway I will be heading back to the states soon and…
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Marble Tile over a Slate Slab
Q: Can I lay marble tile on a slate slab that is fairly flat? Rick A: You can install marble tile over a slate slab, but you will need to use an…
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Cleaning Pergo® Floors
Q: How do I bring the Pergo flooring back to a shine. My wife took care of them and she passed away 5 years ago. The cleaning lady mops them, but is there…
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Installing Hardwood Stairs
Q: I want to remove the carpet on my stairs and install hardwood planks. Is there a way to install them without leaving nail indentations on the planks. I…
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Bruce Kennedale Strip Cracking Issue
Q: We had over 2300 square feet of hardwood installed by our builder in December of 2003. We have been fighting with our builder since then due to…
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Laminate Floors with Pets and Kids
Q: We are looking at putting hardwood floor / laminate in our home. Just wondered what you would recommend for a high traffic area, plus we have 2 kids…
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Glue Down Installation and Felt Paper
Q: Gluing wide boards makes sense, but is it effective if you have a layer of felt between the sub-floor and finished floor? Jason S. A: When gluing a…
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Laminate Floor Acclimation
Q: Does the padding for floating floor have to lay on floor for 48 hrs before u can lay the laminate floors? Margie A: For floating floors there is no…
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Carpet, Tile and Hardwood Floors
Q: My husband and I cannot settle on flooring for our house. currently there is about 4×4 tile in the entry way and it continues with carpet the rest of…
- Flooring
I’m hitting the friendly skies
Off in a couple hours to fly to see some of our key suppliers in Europe. I will try to keep the blog rolling if I can from the road. Laminate flooring…
- Flooring
Pets and Floors Extra
This morning I received an email from one of our great store managers over in Charlotte, Nathan, and I thought it would be great to share his experience…
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Pianos on Laminate Floors
Q: I’m a professional builder. I’ve installed a number of laminate floors for clients. 5 (?) years ago I used Wilsonart’s Classic line in a couple of…