New Laminate Flooring From Beaulieu Mills

In my last blog I mentioned that Beaulieu had finally gotten into the hard surface market. I posted some images of Beaulieu's new hardwood flooring line. This week I'm going to show off some of the new laminate floor offerings from Beaulieu.  They really have some stunning visuals in their laminate flooring lines.

Laminate flooring is great in kitchen areas along with entry ways, hallways, bathrooms, living rooms and any other room where a hard surface floor is wanted. The surface of laminate flooring is very hard. Aluminum oxide embedded in the wear layer makes this one tough floor to wear out. Where all flooring surfaces can scratch (and laminate flooring is no different) it is very scratch resistant. And extremely hard which really helps when you drop a can of peas. It is tough to dent!

You can see the whole new laminate flooring line at my website. Laminate Flooring. Okay, nuff said for now, eh?




Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

New Hardwood Flooring Visuals From Beaulieu Mills

Well, it looks like Beaulieu Mills is finally getting into the hard surface market. You knew it was only a matter of time when Mohawk and Shaw Industries entered the market that Beaulieu Mills would come out with their own selection of hard surface products.

I've just gotten all of the new samples of Beaulieu's new engineered hardwood and laminate styles. They are very nice. Some sharp looking styles. European inspired visuals, UV cured hand rubbed synthetic oil finish and random widths make these hardwood flooring styles a spectacular edition to any home.

The UV oiled finish is a low gloss look so no high shine on these hardwood floors! Also, some are hand scraped and some are wire brushed for that unique look. I've added some pictures of room scenes of some of the new floors.

Go to doverfloorcovering.com to see the whole lineup. These are some must see floors in my opinion.




Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Better Service Through A "Shop at Home" Style Floor Covering Store

The shop at home flooring model as opposed to storefronts. Which is better?

Well, when I first started selling flooring back in 1977, there really wasn't any shop at home style of flooring store. We all worked retail hours (long hours, yikes) in a retail store format. Customers came in, picked out the flooring they liked and usually bought it. Sometimes customers would like to see the flooring in their homes (which was a really good idea) so we would take out some of their choices and see how they looked in the home. While we were there, we would measure the areas they wanted covered and inspect the job site.

When I went out on my own in 1997, I asked myself "what would be the best way to serve customers and keep my prices down?" I knew that seeing the flooring samples in the house was absolutely the best way to make the right flooring choice. Especially for colors. Colors can change shade for so many reasons. So, seeing the flooring samples in the home had to be the cornerstone of the service I would provide. Another benefit to a "Shop at Home" style of store would be low overhead. Low overhead allowed me to keep my prices down. This would save my customers money (another good thing, eh?).

One drawback to "shop at home" was the perceived idea that stores could carry a larger selection of flooring. So a "shop at home" store wouldn't be able to offer the selections that a store front could. There is a very well known company that has only 15 styles of carpet that they bring out (I won't mention any names but you know who you are......). Their selection is very limited. We here at Dover Floor Covering carry over 75 different styles of carpet, the whole Mohawk hardwood flooring line, the whole Mohawk laminate flooring line, Congoleum's vinyl and just a few (15 maybe) styles of ceramic tile (the main reason for this is that ceramic weighs so much that it weighs my van down....lol).

Another way to combat the perception that a "Shop at Home" floor covering store doesn't have the selection is to have a couple of flooring distributors on hand. There are very rare times (and it really is very rare) that we don't have a flooring selection that the customer really likes. When this happens we will visit our flooring distributors. They have every flooring selection available under the sun. They will have up to 4 times the selection of a retail flooring store! After ascertaining exactly what style, color and type of flooring our potential customer wants, we will visit our distributor and find a couple of choices that will match their preferences exactly. We will then go back out to our customers house with the new selections. This will invariably do the trick 99.5% of the time. So now we have low overhead, unlimited selections and fantastic customer service. After all, who makes house calls these days?

So if the "Shop at Home" flooring store model has the lowest overhead equating to the lowest prices (95% of the time anyways.....), unlimited selection  and unparalleled service (being in your own home where you will see the flooring in it's natural lighting and not under fluorescent lights) then we think it is the absolute best method of shopping for flooring.

Full disclosure: I worked in retail flooring for the first 20 years of my adult life in a storefront. Now I work in a "Shop at Home" retail style of flooring store. I've been in both so I feel qualified to compare the two. I chose the "Shop at Home" style of flooring store for the above reasons. I feel this type of flooring store has the most benefits to the consumer. Now that I've made that choice I guess I'm probably biased.......lol. But my reasoning is sound non the less.......



Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Laminate Flooring and Formaldehyde

With the recent hub bub surrounding Lumber Liquidators and some of the laminate flooring they sell containing toxic amounts of formaldehyde, we are pleased to announce that the Mohawk laminate flooring that we sell at Dover Floor Covering is Carb 2 compliant.

The recent 60 Minutes expose on Lumber Liquidators exposing the toxic amounts of formaldehyde found in most of their laminate floors has caused concern in the industry regarding the safety of laminate floors. Only the floors made in China failed the Carb 2 tests. The US constructed floors passed the Carb 2 tests. As you can see by the image to the right, some of the laminate flooring has almost 7 times the legal limit of formaldehyde in their flooring.

Not all laminate floors are created equal. The old saying of "You get what you pay for" is appropriate in this situation. Some of the really low low end priced floors have always been of dubious construction. Some of these floors were sold at below our cost and you had to ask yourself "How was this possible?" Now, there are always economies of scale. The larger amounts of flooring you buy on the wholesale level will always produce a slightly lower cost structure. But this never completely explained why Lumber Liquidators prices were always "so low"!

We knew there had to be another reason explaining how they could sell laminate flooring below cost. If the expose by 60 Minutes is accurate (and we have no reason to dispute their findings) then our concerns have been justified.

Not all laminates are created equal but all of the laminate flooring that we sell here at Dover Floor Covering manufactured by Mohawk Flooring is Carb 2 compliant. No toxic amounts of formaldehyde are present in their laminate products and no laminate flooring we sell fails any Carb 2 Compliance test.

It would be safe to ask for a Carb 2 compliant fact sheet from the retail flooring company that you plan to buy your laminate flooring from. This is just smart. Be smart, be safe.

Safe laminate flooring should be a no brainer but some unscrupulous flooring companies obviously don't share this concern. We do! Purchase only Carb 2 compliant laminate flooring and only buy from flooring companies that adhere to this principle. Companies that actually care about the safety of their customers.

No more needs to be said really....








Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://doverfloorcovering.com

Floor Tile and Asbestos

Floor tile is a small segment of the flooring industry these days. Unlike back in the 50's and 60's where everybody put tile down in their kitchens, laundry rooms, bathrooms and basements most people these days will install wood flooring, ceramic tile, vinyl sheet flooring or even carpet depending upon the application.

Back in the day, vinyl tile was used extensively. It came in a different sizes such as: 6"x6", 9"x9" and 12"x12" tiles. Very common back then were the 9"x9" tiles and were probably vinyl asbestos.

If your home was built before 1980 and has the original floor tiles down in any room of the house then they probably contain asbestos. Especially if they were the 9"x9" variety. Most manufacturers stopped making vinyl asbestos tiles in 1978 but some continued until probably 1980. Even after that there was a lot of vinyl asbestos tile floating around in stores back rooms until the stock was finally exhausted.

Vinyl asbestos tile is not inherently dangerous. The asbestos was encapsulated into the vinyl tile itself. It cannot be released into the air (where it becomes a health risk when breathed in) unless something causes it to be released. Anything that can abrasively wear the surface of the vinyl asbestos tile can potentially release the harmful asbestos particles into the air. Normal wear and tear shouldn't be a problem. Never abrade the surface of a vinyl asbestos tile. Never clean it with steel wool or sand it for any reason as this will release the fibers into the air. Cleaning it with vinyl floor cleaners is fine and is the preferred method of cleaning. Be careful even scraping the surface of the tiles.

So if you do have vinyl asbestos tile in your home there really shouldn't be a health risk.

When the time comes to install a new floor in the room containing vinyl asbestos tile there are many options. Most companies, when they find that vinyl asbestos tiles are present on the job, will refuse to do the job until the tiles are removed. This has to do with the liabilities associated with vinyl asbestos tiles. But this is an overblown reaction to the situation. New flooring can be safely installed over vinyl asbestos tiles without any health risks whatsoever.

One option is to remove the asbestos tiles. This can be a very expensive proposition when employing a certified asbestos removal company or using a contractor that is asbestos certified.

Another option is just to go over the existing asbestos flooring. If the tile is installed on a concrete floor, such as you would find in a basement, you would just need to skim coat the surface of the asbestos tile. There are products out there designed to be applied to the surface of the asbestos tile that will allow another floor to be glued down on top. Covering the old asbestos tile is a safe and entirely satisfactory solution.

If you have asbestos tile on top of a wood substrate such as plywood, OSB or any other suitable base layer then you can install a layer of luan over the top and then the new flooring thereby sealing in the asbestos tile underneath. The old tile needn't be removed.

So there you have it. Vinyl asbestos tiles are not inherently dangerous and shouldn't be a cause of concern. Whether you are installing a new floor over the top or still using your current asbestos tile flooring, vinyl asbestos flooring is a safe and durable floor that will last decades. On the other hand, a new floor would look pretty good right about now, eh?  LOL




Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Flooring Installations

A common misconception in the flooring industry is that all floor companies are created equal and the thing that sets them apart is price.

Price is important but is it the most important? Of course not. I've run across people that assume when you are comparing flooring that the price should dictate where they buy their floors. They assume if the floors are the same (same brand) that everything else is equal. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Good installers are hard to find. They need to have 3 traits that will make them good installers.

• They must be reliable and show up when they are supposed to

• They must be great at actually installing the flooring

• They must be good with the customers. After all, they are in their house

You can find plenty of flooring installation contractors that have one or two of those traits but finding installation crews with all three traits is rare indeed. I've been in the floor covering business for over 37 years now and I've probably met 6 carpet installers that I would hire or use in my own home.

Beware the low cost flooring retailers and big box stores. They DO NOT hire the best. They hire by cost structure only. Is that who you really want in your home installing your new flooring. The lowest cost installation crews available?

Just something to think about......



Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
www.doverfloorcovering.com

A Little Something About Vinyl Plank Flooring

Stuff About Vinyl Plank Flooring

Vinyl Plank Flooring is all the rage right now. But why?

Vinyl plank flooring has been around for a long time but just recently seems to have found it's niche. It has become a very popular flooring for basements. But surprisingly is being found even in kitchens.

So why is vinyl plank flooring so popular? In days gone past, people used to put peel and stick vinyl tiles in their kitchens. They were cheap, impervious to water and worked great for a kitchen. But people didn't like the fact that every 12" there was a seam. After the original 9" tiles, 12" tiles became the norm. So for every floor installed, there was a seam every 12" in both directions. People didn't like the fact that dirt would get into the seams and became hard to clean well.

So people started to buy linoleum. One of the main factors was that fact that it came in 6' and 12' widths. Almost no seams at all. So vinyl tile lost most of it's market share to linoleum which morphed into sheet vinyl goods. Sheet vinyl took over the lion's share of the market for years and years. So why now is vinyl plank flooring so popular when there are again seams every 4' long and maybe 6" to 8" wide?

Vinyl plank flooring is impervious to water, comes in individual pieces and is not very cheap. So it seems (no pun intended) like we are reverting back to the days of peel and stick vinyl tile except that it's not a cheap alternative as was old peel and stick vinyl tiles......

So again we ask, why is vinyl plank flooring so popular? Beats me!!  LOL


Jeff Dean
Owner of Dover Floor Covering
www.doverfloorcovering.com
248-889-4253

Polyester VS Nylon Revisited

Polyester yarn versus nylon yarn. What's the true scoop on carpet yarn systems.

Nylon was at one time the king of carpet fibers (of course before that wool was the king but times change, eh?). Now you are seeing more and more polyester yarn being used in the manufacturing process. Why?

Well, price of course, silly! Polyester yarn is cheaper than nylon. So you will get a thicker feeling carpet, more luxurious, for less money than it's nylon counterpart. Of course you do lose performance with polyester but let's not confuse things with facts.

Nylon carpet will hold up better to wear! Period! Nylon is more resilient than polyester so it stands up better to higher wear. Most carpets don't wear out. They ugly out! People think because carpet is matting down that it is wearing out but that simply is not true. All carpet will mat down but nylon carpet will resist matting better and will recover and stand up with a good vacuuming.

Polyester on the other hand will mat faster and will not recover as easily. So potentially polyester carpet will "look" worn out faster than a nylon carpet will (all other things being equal such as construction, pile height, pile density, brand of nylon used etc).

Polyester yarn also can't heatset as well as nylon carpet. What is heatset? That's the process of heating up the yarn so it will retain it's shape. When a carpet fiber is made it will be twisted together with a number of yarns (like a rope is made by twisting together its fibers thereby creating strength). When the required amount of fibers are twisted together to make the carpet yarn, they are set with high heat to "set in" it's shape. This creates it's strength.

Unfortunately, polyester yarn cannot be heated with as high a temperature as nylon yarn can (because if it was it would melt). Because of this fact, the lower temperature used in the heatset of polyester yarn will cause it to be "not as strong" as nylon which can take a higher heatset level. Hence, nylon yarn is "stronger" than polyester yarn and will not unwind with repeated use as polyester can. This is the main factor in nylon's superiority when it pertains to wear and matting.

Remember when I said that carpets don't wear out as much as they ugly out? Because nylon doesn't unwind as much in the pivot points of the wear patterns it will perform better from an appearance standpoint.

So, nylon carpet yarn wins out on the performance scale when it comes to wearability, appearance retention and matting resistance.

To be fair, polyester does have stainability attributes that we will discuss on our next blog. Stay tuned!


Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://doverfloorcovering.com

A Little Something About Carpet Padding

Carpet padding. Carpet cushion. You know, the stuff that goes under your living room carpet. It's not just to make your carpet feel softer and cushier. Padding has a distinct function....

Carpet cushion does make your carpet feel softer and nicer. It is one of it's functions. Another function of carpet cushion is to support the wear and resilience factors of your carpet. I've heard from people for years that the pad is more important than the carpet. That as long as you get a good pad then everything will be great. In my experience, you will get a better overall job if you buy comparable pad to comparable carpet.

What I mean by this is this: if you were to buy a cheap carpet and a great pad then you will still have
carpet that will wear out in 5 years but the pad will still be good. You've overbought on your pad. The job will still only be a 5 year job. On the other hand, if you buy a great 25 year carpet and a cheap pad then the pad will not support the wear characteristics of the carpet. The carpet will wear out prematurely because the pad isn't good enough.

How does pad protect carpet? The pad acts like a shock absorber. It takes the wear off the tips of the carpet yarns. It helps cut down on abrasion from the bottom of your feet/ shoes. It helps the carpet move with each step you take so as to reduce the abrasive rubbing that you would get with no pad or cheap pad.

So a good pad is important but not more important than the quality of carpet you purchase. If you have budgeted $10.00 per sq. yard to spend on carpet and pad, then buying a $5.00 per sq. yard carpet and a $5.00 per sq. yard pad will give you a lousy carpet and a great pad. Not the correct way to spend your $10.00 per sq. yard. You would be better off spending $7.00 per sq. yard on the carpet and $3.00 per sq. yard on the pad. This combination would provide you with the best and longest lasting solution. Your pad's not a great pad but good enough in this case.

A good pad is important and you should buy a good pad with every new carpet you purchase but a good pad is not a substitute for a good quality carpet! A good pad will allow the carpet to perform in the way it was designed to perform. Lousy carpet will still be lousy even over a great carpet pad. A great carpet will be great with a good pad underneath.

Nuff said? I think so.....

Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Laundry Room Flooring Types

Okay. This week we'll talk about which types of flooring will perform best in the laundry room or mud room areas.

Ceramic Tile In Laundry Room

Of course most laundry rooms and mud rooms can be areas of high wear and high moisture. Mud rooms will get the wear and tear of people traipsing in from the garage with all kinds of foreign matter on the bottoms of their shoes. Sand, grit, oily residue and all manner of contaminants. This can cause much damage to any existing floor in this area. So we would need a floor that can stand up to abrasives and high wear. Also, when coming in from outside, we can bring in water or snow depending upon the season. So this floor must be able to accept high moisture without being ruined.

Some of the best types of flooring to be used under these conditions are: ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, laminate flooring (some limitations apply) and even hardwood (probably not the best choice).

Let's take them one at a time shall we?

1. Ceramic tile: Probably the best choice. It's durable, high wearing, extremely long lasting and almost (and I said almost) indestructible. It is impervious to water, hard to scratch, won't gouge and really won't wear down either. Ceramic tile is meant to be a permanent floor. Some ceramic floors in the middle east are thousands of years old! The weakness in a ceramic floor is mainly in the grouted area. With enhancements to the grouting systems this is really no longer a weak link. Epoxy grouts resists stains and water unlike standard grouts. There are also some newer grouting systems that are easier and cheaper to use than epoxy grouts. Also, ceramic tile can chip or crack if something heavy or sharp is dropped on them. Pricing can be prohibitive too. But all in all a great choice for mud rooms.
2. Vinyl flooring: The absolute best flooring for water resistance. Because vinyl sheet

   

   Vinyl Flooring

   flooring is one solid sheet of flooring, no water will penetrate of get through the wear layer on a vinyl floor. So spill all the water on it you like because water is really no issue (now too much water can travel to the outer edges of the room and creep up under the shoe molding and penetrate into the sub flooring below which will cause issues but you would need lots of water standing for a long time for this to happen). Most new vinyl flooring is very scuff, tear and gouge resistant unlike the old vinyl flooring momma used to have. Vinyl flooring is not as tough as ceramic tile but pretty darn tough anyways. Plus, vinyl flooring will not last as long as ceramic tile but will still last for 10, 20,30 and even 40 or more years which is plenty enough for most people. Pricing is better than ceramic tile and lots of new technology in styling will give you great visuals.
3. Laminate flooring: Hard, durable, somewhat water resistant and installer friendly. Laminate

   

   No mud just laminate flooring

   flooring can take a hard hammer blow and not indent (unlike hardwood which will indent or vinyl flooring which will show the dent from the sub floor underneath or ceramic tile for that matter which will crack or shatter) but if you were to drag something sharp over the surface it will scratch. Lots of flooring salespeople will tell you that laminate flooring is almost indestructible but that just isn't the case. Laminate flooring is resistant to scratching but it will still scratch and once scratched it really can't be fixed but must be replaced at that point. The wear layer on good quality laminate flooring will last a long time (unlike cheap grades of laminate flooring). Water can also be an issue with laminate floors. They can take light water but heavy water can start to work through the sides of the boards causing swelling, warping and peaking of seams. Wood and water don't mix and laminates are made with wood byproducts. Laminate floors can be installed easily by most homeowners and easier still by professional flooring contractors.
4. Hardwood flooring: not the best choice for areas with high wear and moisture but can be

   

   See walk off mat

   serviceable if maintained correctly. Walk off mats are essential for this area. Taking off your shoes before entering the wood area itself is best. No water or very low water is also best. So if you take off your shoes, wipe your feet on the mat and keep the floor clean, wood flooring can be used here (in mud rooms not laundry rooms).

Flooring for laundry rooms is similar when it comes to flooring choices. Everything written above will apply to laundry rooms except hardwood flooring. Hardwood floors really should never be used in a laundry room because of the potential for flooding from an over flowing washing machine. This risk is not important for mud rooms but as you can imagine is critical for laundry rooms. An overflowing washing machine or laundry tub will just ruin a hardwood floor (probably a laminate floor too). So, no hardwood or laminate flooring for laundry rooms. Vinyl flooring is probably the best choice followed up with ceramic tile.

The newest hot trend in flooring is vinyl plank flooring which can be used in these areas. While it is impervious to water it does have joints between each individual plank that can allow access for water if left standing long enough. Like peel and stick tiles. They have joints every 12 inches and water can seep into them. Vinyl plank flooring is in essence just vinyl tile that is shaped differently. Instead of 12" squares they are shaped into planks (yes I know the composition of the planking is different but I said "in essence" they are the same).

And leave the rubber flooring for the gym, ok?



Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Some General Facts About Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood flooring is beautiful, durable and long lasting. Most hardwood flooring is designed to last a lifetime in your home if you take care of it correctly. So, how do you take care of a hardwood floor?

First of all, hardwood flooring is a natural wood product with a wear layer on the surface. Some people think with the newer, harder finishes (aluminum oxide infused, UV cured urathanes) that are applied to the wood that they can just walk all over them without a care in the world. I don't know of any flooring (maybe concrete.....lol) that this is true of. Okay, ceramic tile is extremely tough to ruin also but we're talking about wood here.

A pre-finished hardwood floor still needs careful attention to allow it to remain beautiful for years to

Walk Off Mat

come. A walk off mat should be located at every doorway leading to the outside, whether that's a garage door, entry door or a door wall leading to the deck. Wherever dirt, sand or other abrasive materials are located that could potentially lodge into the bottom of footwear (and hence scratch the surface of any hardwood flooring), this would be the place to set a mat. Anybody coming in from the outside should be encouraged to wipe their feet on the mat before entering onto the wood flooring or better yet, to take off their shoes. Anybody who has a hardwood floor and has scratches from shoes will know what I'm talking about. Better to be safe than sorry.

Another fact about hardwood concerns the weather and changing seasons (and thereby changing

Gaps Between Boards

humidity levels). Wood flooring is still a living (kinda....lol) breathing product. It will expand and contract with differing humidity levels. I've written a blog on this in the past so I won't go into detail here but suffice it to say, wood will contract in the winter with dryer air in the home and will show tiny gaps between individual boards. This is not a defect of the flooring but is a natural reaction to lower humidity levels. The wood will expand and close the gaps when the humidity rises. Either add a humidifier to the home or wait till spring!

Swiffers Are Best For Cleaning

Another fact: wood and water don't mix! People like to keep their floors clean and spotless (at least some of us do. lol) but resist the urge to wash your floors as if they were a vinyl floor. Since hardwood flooring is being installed so ofter in kitchens these days (where we cook and drop stuff on the floor. Yikes) people will just grab their mops and have at it. Don't do it. Wood floors are not meant to have that amount of water applied to them. Just spot clean with a damp (not wet) cloth and wipe dry. If you would like to clean the whole floor then a swiffer that cleans with hydrostatic electricity works best for dirt, dust and other dry type particles. Some hardwood flooring manufacturers make a spray cleaner designed specifically for wood and laminate floors which can and should be used (ideally no water). We here at Dover Floor Covering carry Mohawk hardwood flooring and they make their own hardwood flooring cleaner. If you must use water then you would need to squeeze out the excess water from the mop and it should have no more water in it then the clothes in your washing machine after the spin cycle would have.


Another fact: Harder wood flooring will wear similar to softer hardwood flooring. Even though the

urethane finishes applied to most hardwood flooring products these days is the same or similar, differing wood species themselves are vastly different in hardness. So you may buy a Cumaru hardwood floor (which is extremely hard and dense, almost 3 times as hard as red oak) with an aluminum oxide infused, UV cured finish and it will resist surface scratching the same as the afore mentioned red oak floor. So the two hardwood floors will perform about the same when it comes to surface scratching and wear through. What you gain from a harder, denser floor like Cumaru or Brazilian Cherry is dent resistance and deep scratch resistance. The harder wood will be tougher to gouge then it's softer counter parts. Always use floor protectors under any piece of furniture to protect your hardwood flooring from surface scratches.





Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Site Finished Hardwood Flooring VS Prefinished Hardwood Flooring

Pre-finished Hardwood vs Site Finished Hardwood

This week we'll discuss some differences between a site finished hardwood floor and a pre-finished hardwood floor. In general we will be talking about solid 3/4" thick hardwood flooring. This can be of any species because the finish will generally be the same whether it's an oak floor or maple floor or any other species of hardwood.

Pre-finished hardwood flooring in most cases (not all) will have aluminum oxide injected into the finish. Why is that important? Well, aluminum oxide is the second hardest mineral. Only diamonds are harder than aluminum oxide. Putting aluminum oxide into the finish on a hard wood floor will make the finish extremely hard. It's so hard that it is also hard to sand down and refinish the hardwood floor at a later date! Now, ideally, with these new floors with aluminum oxide in the finish, you will not want to sand them down and refinish in the future. If your finish starts to look scratched and worn down (which will be a lot harder to do with these new wood floors) you will want to screen the top layer and apply a new finish. Sanding down through the finish won't be necessary in most cases if you catch it before you have wear through.

Aluminum Oxide is what they use in sand paper!

Aluminum Oxide

Aluminum oxide is added to the urethane in the finishing process and then the wood floors are UV cured. There is no harder finish out there at this time.

Site finished hardwood is the process of sanding down an unfinished hardwood floor, then applying a sealer and a couple coats (or more) of urethane. The urethane is what constitutes the wear layer on a wood floor. This process is the only way to spruce up an existing floor but not near the best way for a new hardwood floor. You don't have aluminum oxide infused into the urethane wear layer and it's not UV cured. You can use some of the best site finishes out there (such as Mega Traffic) but it still will fall far short of the hardness and wearability of a prefinished hardwood floor.

So, when buying a new hardwood floor, the best way to go is to buy and install a pre-finished hardwood floor that has aluminum oxide in the finish.




Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com

Best Carpet Yarn Revisited 3.....

Solution Dyed Carpet Yarn. Simply The Best....

We finish up our discussion on best carpet yarns this week with this blog on solution dyed nylon. The solution dying process is mainly used in commercial grade carpet. You don't see this process used very often in the manufacture of residential carpet but one of the big three carpet mills, Beaulieu, has a new line of carpet using this dying process.

Simply put, solution dying is the process of injecting the dye into the carpet yarn while it is still in liquid (solution) form. When the yarn is extruded the color (dye) is all the way through the yarn. Most carpets are made with greige goods and then dyed to a specific color. In this process the carpet is made with greyish/white colored yarn and then run through a dyer where the yarn is dyed. If you were to cut a carpet yarn in half that is dyed in the conventional method, the inside of the yarn would still be the greyish/white color. If you were to cut  a solution dyed nylon carpet yarn in half, you would see that the yarn is colored completely through. Inside and out.

Because of the way solution dyed yarn is dyed, it is very stain resistant, extremely fade resistant and still wears like a nylon yarn (because it is a nylon yarn). So you get all of the benefits of nylon yarn (wear resistance, resiliency and softness) along with the fantastic stain resistance that you would normally see in olefin yarns or polyester carpet yarns.

Some of the best warranties in the business are attached to this style of carpet (and I mean actual warranties, unlike some of the warranties that mills put on their carpets that have so many restrictions and limits that they will almost never pay off on any of their warranties!!).

You can even clean some of the toughest stains using a mixture of half water and half bleach! Try that with any other type of carpet yarn and see what happens........large whiteish blotches will form on your carpet if you were to try this cleaning solution with just about any other type of carpet.

So in our humble opinion, solution dyed nylon is the best carpet yarn to use for residential carpet. Really no need to say anything else....







Jeff Dean
Dover Floor Covering
http://www.doverfloorcovering.com