Category Archives: Floors

Flooring Should Be Chosen Based on Lifestyle

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Before picking out your new floor, you will want to take into consider your lifestyle while looking at styles and designs so you make the right choice for you and your family.

Many people are opting for hard wood floors these days, giving that crisp clean look throughout the house. Once just wooden planks to choose from, wood flooring options have evolved into a catalogue of choices for the home owner. Some people still choose to go with the traditional wood floor boards in oak, pine or even cherry. All wood floors will have their choice of sealants as well and your flooring professional can recommend the best one for the style you choose.

Some other people are more environmentally conscience with their flooring choice and want to go with a renewable resource such as cork or bamboo. These renewable sources pose a bit of a challenge when installed into homes with large dogs, for example, as both cork and bamboo are softer materials than oak or mahogany. A large dog and it’s claws easily leave marks on a new floor, as opposed to a harder wood like mahogany for instance that can withstand almost anything due to its strength. However, for small dog owners cork or bamboo would be a fine choice as once it is sealed it can typically withstand light use and wear and tear.

A good compromise for the environmentally concerned home owner is to go with a reclaimed wood source. Many older building like tobacco barns and older homes have had their wood floor boards, overhead beams and staircases reclaimed and repurposed for flooring in someone’s home. This avenue gives the home owner the peace of mind that no new trees or forests are being destroyed or disrupted by them getting a new floor installed, while they still get the harder wood that they may desire. Reclaimed wood tends to be more expensive than manufactured wood flooring, but the uniqueness of it makes it all worth it.

Carpeting is another route altogether for the home owner to consider. Carpet is still a great choice for many people, especially preferred for families with small children. Carpet, just like wood flooring, comes in a wide variety of grades and styles and the price will adjust according to what you end up choosing.

Whichever path you choose for your next flooring option, make sure to fully consider your home’s and family’s needs and use patterns to ensure you make the right choice for your lifestyle.

Bamboo Flooring

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When it comes to selecting a bamboo floor, you need to consider the application and the product.
Bamboo flooring is available in Strand, Vertical and Horizontal. Originally, bamboo flooring was primarily natural or bleached and carmel or carbonized. Now, you can find bamboo floors in just about any color you wish.

When searching for Bamboo Flooring, be sure to locate a reputable source. Many companies are importing junk and promising the moon for a warranty.

DON’T BUY BECAUSE OF THE WARRANTY!
My advice is to throw out the warranty. If something does go wrong with the product, you’ll quickly learn why the manufacturer or dealer will not be honoring the warranty. It has been stated that 92% of flooring problems are installer related, meaning that the seller has determined they are not at fault, the installer is at fault.

Why do I dislike the warranty? Quite simply, customers routinely fall prey to sellers promoting their product by touting a long warranty instead of promoting quality and brand name.

Here’s the number one thing you must do before buying any flooring (especially bamboo)
Find the same identical product in another store. That will prove that it’s not a cheap store brand.
Also you can search online for the brand and most likely it doesn’t exist.

Many home improvement stores, liquidators, eco stores can’t compete with their huge overhead and poor knowledge. These chains or larger stores turn to oversea’s factories to get lower cost material and have it packaged and label as they wish. These are referred to as private label store brands.

Store brands typically (for legal reasons I must state, not always) are products that are purchased on the very low cost side or cheap. But the packaging and statements, warranites and information are top shelf, creating a false image.

Just for your own information, quality companies like Sony or Nike would never allow their products to be sold under a false or private label. The reason we buy these brands is because it’s how we determine quality.

Make sure the store you are buying from does installations themselves.
Stores that sell junk tend to only refer installers or give out lists of installers.
My experience is if you have to install it for your customer, be sure to only buy decent product.

If I have to be legally responsible in a court of law for the installation, I am not going to sell private labeled or no brand flooring. I am going to sell proven brand name products.

Think about that, I install $1,000 of flooring and the installation goes bad, I don’t just eat the $1,000, I eat the costs to tear out the junk and pay to have the new reinstalled. In addition to that, other expenses I may incur now that you have a house full of furniture, include moving your furniture, fish tanks, piano and so on. Smart business owners don’t sell junk, it’s to expensive.

When you purchase a brand name product like, Teragren Bamboo Flooring and have the seller actually do the installation, theirs no finger pointing, you simply tell the seller I don’t care if the flooring you sold me is bad or the installer you used is bad. It was sold by you and you hired the subcontractor, Fix it!

To learn more about bamboo flooring itself read my articles on [http://www.gatewayfloors.com].
Note: I don’t sell flooring on the site, it’s a consumer friendly website with helpful articles on products, installation and how to care for your new flooring.