March 2021 — Floor Variety Dot Com

Maybe you’ve decided it’s time to leave your condo in New York City for a more spacious house in Dallas now that you can work from home. Or, maybe your family is growing and you’re looking for a house with a larger yard or in a different school district. Whatever your reason is, you’ve decided it’s time to sell your current home. Whether this is your first time or you have experience, selling your home can be a big task. So, unless you’re in a major time-crunch or on a tight budget, it’s best to put a little work into your home before listing it for sale so you can sell your home quickly, and possibly for more money.

From installing new flooring to making eco-friendly upgrades, there’s a lot of home improvements you can – and should – do to make your home stand out when it hits the market. But with so many potential home upgrades, it may feel overwhelming to know where to start. Luckily, we’ve listed out the top 7 home projects to consider if you’re selling your home this year.

1) Update your flooring

If the floors in your home are worn out or outdated, it can be a huge turnoff to potential buyers. Even if you’ve grown used to the stains on the carpet or you no longer notice the divet in the kitchen floor, you’ll want to have your flooring updated before listing your home for sale.

There are many types of flooring and the right choice will depend on your home. However, you can never go wrong with hardwood. In fact, hardwood is the most popular and valuable type of flooring to potential homebuyers in the US. Laminate and ceramic are also great flooring options to consider. To be sure you’re choosing the right type and style for your home, it’s best to talk with a flooring professional in your area.

2) Freshen up your paint

Are your walls scuffed, scraped, or just an unappealing color? A fresh coat of paint is a simple yet effective home update, allowing you to maximize the look and feel of your space in next to no time. As people tour your home, online or virtually, they’ll notice the small details. You won’t want a poor paint job or an outdated, dark orange kitchen wall to be an influencing factor on their decision. Instead, opt for neutral paint colors to appeal to a wide range of buyers.

Keep in mind that painting isn’t just for the inside, either. A fresh coat of exterior paint can do wonders for your home’s appearance and curb appeal. If you’re crunched for time or this home project is too big of an undertaking, hire a professional painter so that your home is looking its best when it hits the housing market.

3) Give your kitchen a face-lift

The kitchen is the heart of the home and it’s often one of the top priorities for buyers. So a kitchen in need of a lot of work can be all it takes to turn a buyer off for good. With stylish, designer kitchens as one of the major home design trends this year, you’ll want to prioritize this home project to help your house stand out against the competition.

If a complete remodel doesn’t fit within your budget, don’t worry. Upgrading your kitchen doesn’t mean you need to go all out and buy brand new appliances – a few little cosmetic touches can go a long way. Things like new cabinet faces, drawer pulls or, if necessary, a new counter, can completely turn a kitchen around. Even adding a new backsplash or going bold with contrast cabinetry can make all the difference. If you’re not sure which upgrades are necessary, consider speaking with a contractor or real estate professional about current trends in your area.

4) Enhance your landscaping: curb appeal is key

Many homebuyers want the complete package – inside and out. A beautiful home is only made better by a beautiful yard, so if your property is a little bland on the outside, the right finishing touches can spark buyer interest. That’s why landscaping is one of the most important home projects to complete before you sell your house.

Landscaping can be comprehensive – things like koi ponds and expansive patios – but can also be straightforward and simple. Planting shrubs along a sidewalk, adding a small flower garden, or even putting fresh mulch around trees can be affordable and easy ways to create eye-catching curb appeal. Whether you want to completely upgrade your outdoor space with an intricate landscape design, or your front yard just needs a well-manicured lawn with some fresh flowers, a landscaper can help you tackle this home project.

5) Replace your windows

Depending on the age and condition of your home, it might be time to replace your windows. Even if you’ve only lived in your home for 5 years, you should ask yourself how long the previous owners were living there and if they ever had them replaced? If your windows have minor damages, then they may just need a simple repair. But if the frames are worn, there’s leaking when it rains, it’s difficult to open or close, or there’s just visible damage – you’ll want to hire a professional to replace them.

6) Repair your garage door

Does your garage door squeak and squeal, or is it full of dings and scrapes? Then this is one of the home projects you’ll want to stop pushing off. If your garage door no longer looks or acts up to par, then a replacement is probably necessary – especially if it’s seen years of use with little to no maintenance. Potential homebuyers will notice these issues and may request that you repair them as part of the purchase agreement. That’s why it’s a good idea to get ahead of home projects like this before listing your home. And even if your garage door is functioning as it should, this can be a great cosmetic update to freshen up your home’s exterior.

7) “Green” home projects for an eco-friendly home

These days many buyers are looking for homes with eco-friendly features so taking the time to add some “green” upgrades to your home can be well worth it. And, luckily, there’s a handful of ways you can make your home more green. If your budget allows, then installing solar panels is the ultimate eco-friendly upgrade you could make. Solar panels can reduce the overall cost of electricity and energy bills, are a more environmentally-friendly energy solution, and can even increase the value of your home. And if you live in a city like San Diego or Honolulu where it’s become a popular home feature, you’ll want to invest in this eco-friendly upgrade.

If you’re unable to take on a larger home project like this, consider investing in other eco-friendly and energy-saving features like a smart thermostat, an ENERGY STAR certified washer and dryer, or installing a high-efficiency faucet aerator in your shower and on your taps.

Originally published by Redfin

TREES ARE THE ANSWER

By Patrick Moore, Ph. D.

Why Using More Wood is the Answer to Saving Our Forests

I believe that trees are the answer to a lot of questions about our future. These include: How can we advance to a more sustainable economy based on renewable fuels and materials? How can we improve literacy and sanitation in developing countries while reversing deforestation and protecting wildlife at the same time? How can we pull carbon out of the atmosphere and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide in particular? How can we increase the amount of land that will support a greater diversity of species? How can we help prevent soil erosion and provide clean air and water? How can we make this world more beautiful and green? The answer is, by growing more trees and then using more wood, both as a substitute for non-renewable fossil fuels and materials such as steel, concrete and plastic, and as paper products for printing, packaging and sanitation. The forest industry stands accused of some very serious crimes against the environment. It is charged with the extinction of tens of thousands of species, the deforestation of vast areas of the Earth, and the total and irreversible destruction of the ecosystem. If I were one of the urban majority and thought the forest industry was causing the irreversible destruction of the environment, I wouldn’t care how many jobs it created or how many communities depended on it; I would be against it.

I have spent the last 15 years trying to understand the relationship between forestry and the environment, to separate fact from fiction, myth from reality. Since 1991, I have chaired the Sustainable Forestry Committee of the Forest Alliance of British Columbia. This has provided me with an ideal opportunity to explore all aspects of the subject. This article is the synthesis of what I have learned. But first, let me give you a little background.

I was born and raised in the tiny fishing and logging village of Winter Harbour on the northwest tip of Vancouver Island, in the rainforest by the Pacific. I eventually attended the University of British Columbia studying life sciences. It was when I discovered ecology that I realized that through science I could gain an insight into the mystery of the rainforest I had known as a child. I became a born-again ecologist, and in the late 1960s, was soon transformed into a radical environmental activist. I found myself in a church basement in Vancouver with a like-minded group of people, planning a protest campaign against U.S. hydrogen bomb testing in Alaska. We proved that a somewhat rag-tag looking group of activists could sail a leaky old halibut boat across the northern Pacific Ocean and change the course of history. By creating a focal point for opposition to the tests, we got on national TV news in Canada and the United States, building a ground swell of opposition to nuclear testing in both countries. When that bomb went off in November 1971, it was the last hydrogen bomb ever detonated on planet Earth. Even though there were four more tests planned in the series, President Nixon canceled them due to the public opposition. This was the birth of Greenpeace.

I spent 15 years on the front lines of the eco-movement as we evolved from that church basement into the world’s largest environmental activist organization, taking on French atmospheric nuclear testing in the South Pacific, Soviet factory whaling, baby seal slaughter, and the dumping of nuclear waste into the Atlantic Ocean. By the mid-1980s Greenpeace had grown into an organization with an income of more than $100 million per year, offices in 21 countries and more than 100 campaigns around the world, tackling toxic waste, acid rain, uranium mining and drift net fishing, as well as the original issues. We had won over a majority of the public in the industrialized democracies. Presidents and prime ministers were talking about the environment on a daily basis.

For me, it was time to make a change. I had been against at least three or four things every day of my life for 15 years; I decided I’d like to be in favor of something for a change. I made the transition from the politics of confrontation to the politics of building consensus.

All social movements evolve from an earlier period of polarization and confrontation during which a minority struggles to convince society that its cause it is true and just, eventually followed by a time of reconciliation if a majority of the population accepts the values of the new movement. For the environmental movement, this transition began to occur in the mid-1980s. The term sustainable development was adopted to describe the challenge of taking the new environmental values we had popularized and incorporating them into the traditional social and economic values. We cannot simply switch to basing all our actions on purely environmental values. Every day, 6 billion people wake up with real needs for food, energy and materials. The challenge for sustainability is to provide for those needs in ways that reduce the negative impact on the environment. Compromise and cooperation, with the involvement of government, industry, academia and the environmental movement, is required to achieve sustainability. It is this effort to find consensus that has occupied my time for the past 15 years

The Challenge of Sustainable Forestry

Coming from British Columbia, born into a third generation forest industry family, and educated in forestry and ecology, it made sense that I would focus on the challenge of defining sustainable forestry. After all, forests are by far the most important environment in British Columbia, and they are also by far the most important basis of economic wealth for families and communities there.

I soon discovered that trees are just large plants that have evolved the ability to grow long wooden stems. They didn’t do that so we could cut them up into lumber and grind them into pulp; they actually had only one purpose in mind, and that was to get their needles or leaves higher up above the other plants where the tree could then monopolize the sun’s energy for photosynthesis.

Forests are home to the majority of living species; not the oceans, nor the grasslands, nor the alpine areas, but ecosystems that are dominated by trees. There is a fairly simple reason for this. The living bodies of the trees create a new environment that would not be there in their absence. The canopy is home to millions of birds and insects, and beneath the canopy, the environment is protected from frost, sun and wind. This, in combination with the food provided by the trees, creates thousands of new habitats.

This gives rise to the obvious concern that if the trees are cut down, the habitats will be lost and the species that live in them will die. But, there is a reason why forestry seldom, if ever, causes species to become extinct. We tend to think that forests need our help to recover after destruction, whether by fire or logging. Of course, this is not the case. Forests have been recovering by themselves from fires, volcanoes, landslides, floods and ice ages ever since forests began more than 350 million years ago.

It follows from this that every species that lives in the forest must be capable of recolonizing areas of land that are recovering from destruction. In ecology, this is known as dispersal, the ability to move from where you are and to inhabit new territory as it becomes available. Dispersal is an absolute requirement for natural selection and the survival of species. No species could exist if it were not capable of dispersal. Therefore, so long as the land is left alone after the forest is destroyed, the forest will recover and all the species that were in it will return.

Fire has always been the main cause of forest destruction, , or disturbance, as ecologists like to call it. But fire is natural, we are told, and does not destroy the forest ecosystem like logging, which is unnatural. Nature never comes with logging trucks and takes the trees away. All kinds of rhetoric is used to give the impression that logging is somehow fundamentally different from other forms of forest disturbance. There is no truth to this. Forests are just as capable of recovering from destruction by logging as they are from any other form of disturbance. All that is necessary for renewal is that the disturbance ends, that the fire goes out, that the volcano stops erupting, that the ice retreats, or that the loggers go back down the road and allow the forest to begin growing back, which it will begin to do almost immediately.

The Eye of the Beholder

We all have been taught since we were children that you should not judge a book by its cover- in other words that beauty is only skin deep. Yet, we are still easily tricked into thinking that if we like what we see with our eyes, it must be good, and if we don’t like what we see with our eyes, it must be bad. We tend to link our visual impression with our moral judgment of what is right and wrong.

“Deforestation” is a difficult subject for the forest industry because an area certainly looks deforested when all the trees are cut down. But cutting the trees down is not sufficient in itself to cause deforestation. What really matters is whether the forest is removed permanently, or is reforested with new trees. But the unsightly nature of a recently harvested forest, even if it is going to grow back eventually, can easily give the impression of environmental destruction.

On the other hand, a rural scene of farmlands and pasture looks pleasant to the eye and is neat and tidy compared with the jumble of woody debris in a clearcut. Yet, it is the farm and pasture land that truly represents deforestation. It has been cleared of forest long ago, and the forest has been permanently replaced by food crops and fodder. More important, if we stopped plowing the farmland for just 5 years in a row, seeds from the surrounding trees would blow in and the whole area would be blanketed in new tree seedlings. Within 80 years you would never know there had been a farm there. The entire area would be reforested again, just by leaving it alone. That’s because deforestation is not an event that just happens and then is over forever. Deforestation is actually an ongoing process of human interference. That’s why deforestation is seldom caused by forestry, the whole intention of which is to cause reforestation. Deforestation is nearly always caused by friendly farmers growing our food and by our nice carpenters building our houses. Deforestation is not an evil plot, it is something we do on purpose in order to feed and house the 6-billion-and-growing human population.

How to Save the Forest

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against farming. We all have to eat. But it is interesting to note that the three things we can do to prevent further loss of the world’s forests have nothing to do with forestry. These three things are:

Population management. The more people there are in this world, the more forest we must clear to feed and house them. This is a simple fact of arithmetic.
Intensive agricultural production. Over the last 50 years in North America, due to advances in genetics, technology and pest control, we have learned to grow five times as much food on the same area of land. If we had not made these advances, we would either have to clear away five times as much forest, which is not available anyway or, more likely, we simply could not grow as much food.
Urban densification. There is actually only one significant cause of continuing forest loss in the United States: 200 cities sprawling out over the landscape and permanently converting forest and farm to pavement. If we would design our cities for a higher density, more livable environment, we would not only save forests, we also would use less energy and materials.
Wood is Good

You would think that since forestry is the most sustainable of all the primary industries, and that wood is without a doubt the most renewable material used to build and maintain our civilization, to build and maintain our civilization, that this would give wood a lot of green eco-points in the environmental movement’s ledger. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Greenpeace has gone before the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Forests, calling on countries to reduce the amount of wood they use and to adopt “environmentally appropriate substitutes” instead. No list of substitutes is provided. The Sierra Club is calling for “zero cut” and an end to all commercial forestry on federal public lands in the United States. The Rainforest Action Network wants a 75 percent reduction in wood use in North America by the year 2015. I think it is fair to summarize this approach as “cut fewer trees, use less wood.” It is my firm belief, as a lifelong environmentalist and ecologist, that this is an anti-environmental policy. Putting aside, for a moment, the importance of forestry for our economy and communities; on purely environmental grounds the policy of “use less wood” is anti-environmental. In particular, it is logically inconsistent with, and diametrically opposed to, policies that would bring about positive results for both climate change and biodiversity conservation. I will explain my reasoning for this belief:

First, it is important to recognize that we do use a tremendous amount of wood. On a daily basis, on average, each of the 6 billion people on Earth uses 3.5 pounds or 1.6 kilos of wood every day, for a total of 3.5 billion tons per year. So, why don’t we just cut that in half and save vast areas of forest from harvesting? In order to demonstrate the superficial nature of this apparent logic, it is necessary to look at what we are doing with all this wood.

It comes as a surprise to many people that over half the wood used every year is not for building things but for burning as energy. More than 60 percent of all wood use is for energy, mainly for cooking and heating in the tropical developing countries where 2.5 billion people depend on wood as their primary source of energy. They cannot afford substitutes because most of them make less than $1,000 per year. But, even if they could afford substitute fuels, they would nearly always have to turn to coal, oil or natural gas; in other words, non-renewable fossil fuels. How are we going to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions from excessive use of fossil fuels under the Climate Change Convention if 2.5 billion people switch from a renewable wood energy to non-renewable fossil fuels? Even in cases where fuelwood supplies are not sustainable at present levels of consumption, the answer is not to use less wood and switch to non-renewables. The answer is to grow more trees.

About 20 percent of the wood used in the world is for building things such as houses and furniture. Every available substitute is non-renewable and requires a great deal more energy consumption to produce. That is because wood is produced in a factory called the forest by renewable solar energy. Wood is essentially the material embodiment of solar energy. Non-renewable building materials such as steel, cement and plastic must be produced in real factories such as steel mills, cement works and oil refineries. This usually requires large inputs of fossil fuels, which inevitably results in high carbon dioxide emissions. So, for 70 percent of the wood used each year for energy and building, switching to substitutes nearly always results in increased carbon dioxide emissions, contrary to climate change policy.

Twenty percent of the wood harvested is used to manufacture pulp and paper, mainly for printing, packaging, and sanitary purposes. Half of this wood is derived from the wastes from the sawmills that produce the solid wood products for building. Most of the remaining supply is from tree plantations, many of which are established on land that previously was cleared for agriculture. So, even if we did stop using wood to make pulp and paper, it would not have the effect of “saving” many forests.

Saving the Trees Through Wood Use

It is therefore clear to me that the policy of “use less wood” is anti-environmental because it would result in increased carbon dioxide emissions and a reduction in forested land. I believe the correct policy is a positive rather than a negative one. From an environmental perspective, the correct policy is “grow more trees, and use more wood.” This can be accomplished in a number of ways.

First, it is important to place some of the world’s forest into permanently protected parks and wilderness reserves where no industrial development occurs. The World Wildlife Fund recommends that 10 percent of the world’s forests should be set aside for this purpose. Perhaps it should even be 15 percent. Then the question becomes how we should manage the remaining 85-90 percent of the forest. I believe we should manage it more intensively for higher timber production, keeping in mind the needs of other species in the landscape. Through the better management of our existing forests, we could dramatically increase the world’s supply of wood. In addition, we should expand the geographic extent of our forests, largely by reforesting areas of land that previously were cleared for agriculture. In particular, huge areas of forest have been cleared for domestic animal production. A modest reduction in meat consumption would open up large areas of land for reforestation. This would be good for our health as well as for the health of the environment.

In tropical developing countries, there is a pressing need for sustainable fuelwood plantations, as well as for forest plantations to provide timber. We should direct more of our international aid programs toward this end. Relatively modest changes in fiscal and taxation policy could bring about a doubling of global wood supply within 40 years. All that is required is the political will to put these policies in place. The general public and our political leaders, however, have been confused by the misguided approach towards forestry taken by much of the environmental movement. So long as people think it is inherently wrong to cut down trees, we will continue to behave in a logically inconsistent and dysfunctional manner.

I believe that trees are the answer to many questions about our future on this earth. These include:

How can we advance to a more sustainable economy based on renewable fuels and materials?
How can we improve literacy and sanitation in developing countries while reversing deforestation and protecting wildlife?
How can we reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, carbon dioxide in particular?
How can we increase the amount of land that will support a greater diversity of species?
How can we help prevent soil erosion and provide clean air and water? How can we make this world more beautiful and green?
The answer is, by growing more trees and using more wood both as a substitute for non-renewable fossil fuels and materials such as steel, concrete and plastic, and as paper products for printing, packaging and sanitation.

By far the most powerful tool at our disposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption is the growing of trees and the use of wood. Most environmentalists recognize the positive benefits of growing trees to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But, then they say, “Don’t cut them down, or you will undo the good that’s been done.” This would be true if you simply piled the trees in a heap and lit them on fire. If, however, the wood is used as a substitute for fossil fuels and for building materials that require fossil fuel consumption, we can dramatically reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions. For example, consider a large coal-burning power plant. If we grow trees and use the wood as a substitute for the coal, we are able to offset nearly 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from the power plant. That is because sustainable use of wood results in a zero net release of carbon dioxide, whereas coal combustion counts for the full 100 percent. If environmentalists recognized this fact, it would inevitably lead them to believe that the answer is in growing more trees and using more wood rather than in reducing our use of this most renewable resource.

A Final Example

To conclude, let me take you back to the rainforest of the West Coast of North America. About 300 feet from my house in downtown Vancouver is Pacific Spirit Park, 2,000 acres of beautiful native forest, right in the heart of the city. It is not a botanical garden where people come and prune the bushes and plant tulip bulbs, it is the real thing, a wild West Coast rainforest full of Douglas fir, western red cedar, hemlock, maple, alder and cherry. But people who come by the hundreds each day to walk on the many trails in Pacific Spirit Park would find it hard to believe that all 2,000 acres were completely clearcut logged around the turn of the century to feed the sawmills that helped build Vancouver.

The loggers who clearcut Pacific Spirit Park with double-bitted axes and crosscut saws didn’t know the words ecology or biodiversity any more than my grandfather did on the north end of Vancouver Island. They just cut the timber and moved on to cut more somewhere else. Nothing was done to help restore the land, but it was left alone. It became part of the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands, and it was not developed into housing like the rest of Vancouver. It all grew back into a beautiful new forest and in 1989 was declared a regional park.

In Pacific Spirit Park, there are Douglas firs more than 4 feet in diameter and more than 120 feet tall. All of the beauty has returned to Pacific Spirit Park. The fertility has returned to the soil. And the biodiversity has recovered- the mosses, ferns, fungi, liverworts, and all the other small things that are part of a natural forest. There are pileated woodpeckers, barred owls, ravens, hawks, eagles, coyotes and a colony of great blue herons nesting in the second-growth cedar trees. It is a forest reborn from what is routinely described in the media as the “total and irreversible destruction of the environment.” I don’t buy that. I believe that if forests can recover by themselves from total and complete destruction, we can-with our growing knowledge of forest science in silviculture, biodiversity conservation, soils and genetics- ensure that the forests of this world continue to provide an abundant, and hopefully growing, supply of renewable wood to help build and maintain our civilization, while at the same time providing an abundant, and hopefully growing supply of habitat for the thousands of other species that depend on the forest for their survival every day. The fact is, a world without forests is as unthinkable as a day without wood. And it’s time that politicians, environmentalists, foresters, teachers, journalists and the general public got that balance right. We must get it right if we are going to achieve sustainability in the 21st century.

*Patrick Moore, Ph.D., is chairman of Greenspirit, an environmental consulting firm based in Vancouver, B.C. This article was adapted from Moore’s general session address at the 2004 NWFA Convention in Charlotte, N.C., last April. For more information, visit www.greenspirit.com

GENERAL WOOD FLOORING INFORMATION

Wood flooring is beautiful, timeless and natural. When buying a floor from Floor Variety, you can rest assured that your floor was processed in an environmentally conscientious and efficient manner. NMH performs the entire process from the forest to your home (harvesting, milling, kiln drying, flooring manufacturing), ensuring you the best Quality control

FACTS ABOUT YOUR FLOOR SOLUTION HARDWOODS FLOORING

Wood flooring is very sensitive to its environment, expanding or contracting according to the relative humidity of the room it is in. Narrow width floors show the least amount of movement, whereas wider width flooring will show the most movement. In order to keep your wood floor as stable as possible, the relative humidity of the house should ideally stay at 50%. If the relative humidity drops below 50%, the floor will shrink, causing cracks between each board in the floor. This is not a milling defect, but rather the result of low relative humidity. Over a period of time the wood floor will correct itself and expand to fit together tightly again if the relative humidity returns to and stays constant at 50%.

Cupping, or "washboard," is another problem that can occur from unregulated humidity. The cause of this is moisture imbalance throughout the thickness of the wood. Cupping occurs only if the moisture is greater underneath the flooring than on top. To correct cupping, find the source of the moisture and eliminate it. Given time, the floor should correct itself once the relative humidity is stabilized. If the damage done was extensive, the floor might need to be re-sanded and refinished after the relative humidity is stabilized. Expansion, or buckling, is also a result of high humidity and may cause the flooring to push tight against vertical surfaces. To relieve, allow up to 3/4" expansion space along walls.

To get the best wear out of your flooring finish, sweep and vacuum the floor regularly. Do not use strong soaps when mopping. Other preventative measures to keep from excessive wear is to put felt pads on the bottom of all furniture and make sure dog toenails are clipped. Vacuum all area rugs and the floor space underneath the rugs frequently.

All woods will darken during the six to twelve months after installation. Flooring under area rugs and furniture will not change at the same rate as the exposed flooring as long as it is covered. Moving rugs and furniture will correct any variations. All wood dents. High heels, dropped heavy objects, pointed furniture legs and the unprotected rolling of appliances can dent or gouge your floor.

SUGGESTIONS FOR INSTALLATION

1. Flooring should be installed on grade or above. Do not install below grade.
2. To avoid damage, make sure the floor is installed after all other construction is completed.
3. Before installation, check the moisture content of the sub-floor. The moisture of the sub-floor should be within 2% of the moisture content of the flooring to be installed.
4. A moisture barrier should be applied between concrete and the sub-floor.
5. Make sure the sub-floor is clean, flat and dry. Sand all areas that are not smooth and nail any loose boards. It is recommended that flooring acclimate to the environment of where it will be installed for approximately two weeks prior to installation.

CARPET AS ONE OF THE MOST ALLERGY CAUSE

Subtle shades

The difference between the two categories of bamboo flooring colors exists on a spectrum. Within the natural and carbonized subsets, there are further shade variances that might make one batch of bamboo lighter or darker than another. When seeking to color match your bamboo flooring, talk with your sales rep about how variance is managed. Distributors often arrange batches of bamboo according to color in this respect, depending on the grade of bamboo flooring. However, some people like to have such variance available to them as an option for their design sensibilities. It really depends on the effect you want to achieve with your bamboo flooring. Once again, your sales rep is a good resource for you to address the issue of color variance.

Strand-Woven Bamboo Flooring

In the continuing spirit of“green” flooring option for which bamboo has come to be associated, strand-woven bamboo flooring is the product of a process that leaves very little waste. The excess material left over from the filleting process which goes into making natural and carbonized bamboo flooring are intertwined, compressed, and bound. The binding agent is a safe, UV resistant and scratch-resistant resin which also makes the bamboo even more resistant to moisture. The process of compression results in a very hard, very durable type of bamboo flooring typified by grain patterns that are more like those of a hardwood floor. The strand-woven bamboo is then cut into planks and is ready to be shipped – no further compression is needed in this case, unlike regularly manufactured bamboo flooring.
Bamboo flooring can in turn renew any interior for attractiveness as well as practicality. As such, you will gain both the time it would take to maintain many other types of flooring, as well as the many compliments you’ll receive from visitors!

by: Rob Jones

Just like anything else in today's times, if you can't find it on the internet, then it can't be had. That being said, if you have spent the money to buy a good hardwood floor, then you are going to want to learn good hardwood floor care to protect your investment, and it is an investment since it can bring the resale value up on your house by at least 10% if not more. Hardwood floors are beautiful and depending on what type of hardwood used, how much of an up keep and maintenance on your hardwood floors. Here are some general tips on hardwood floor care.

Solid hardwood flooring, like all solid wood, is a natural insulator. The cleaners used in your hardwood floor care will also help keep the natural insulation in the wood. It's made of microscopic hollow cells and these air spaces produce high insulating values. It would take 15 inches of concrete to equal the insulating qualities of just one inch of wood. Appearance alone can often determine the grade of each hardwood flooring piece. All grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application. Flooring generally free of eye catching blemishes is known as "Clear", though it still may contain burls, streaks and pinworm holes. "Select" is almost clear, but this grade contains more of the natural color variations and characteristics such as knots and other marks.

The "Common" grades, No. 1 and No. 2, have more markings than either of the other two grades and are often specified because of these widely varied natural features and the "strong" character they bring to floors. Grades are sometimes combined (i.e., "Select & Better"). Product combinations, such as short pieces or specific grain direction, Quartered and/or Rift, may also be separated by the manufacturer. When you purchase your hardwood floor, be sure to ask them about this specific hardwood floor care, for the type of floor you are getting.

It's the surface finishes that are very popular since they protect hardwood floors, their durable, water-resistant and require minimum maintenance, a good finish will determine how tough or easy your hardwood floor care will be. Most are made of synthetic resins and are often referred to as urethanes or polyurethanes and give hardwood surfaces a protective coating. These resins come in high-gloss, semi-gloss, and satin finishes. In order to keep your hardwood floors looking beautiful for years, your floor needs to be dust mopped, swept, or vacuumed regularly. Only use a manufacturer's recommended cleaner and sand, buff, and recoat your floor when the surface no longer shines after cleaning. Depending on the amount of traffic your floor gets will decide how often it will need to be refinished. As long as you use good hardwood floor care techniques your hardwood floors should last a few good years before you need to refinish.

By: LeeAnna

Hardwood Flooring Basics to Beautify Your Home, Hardwood can beautify a home like almost nothing else. By following a few simple rules you can install and maintain hardwood flooring that will look magnificent for decades to come.

With all of the many different types, styles and colors of flooring available today it can be a monumental task in choosing the right flooring for your home. Hardwood floors, laminate, vinyl, linoleum, bamboo, antique, prefinished, which one is right for you? Oak, maple, cherry and birch are popular types of hardwood flooring, but there are many others.

Cheap flooring or the wrong style or design of hard wood floor can clash with other home interior design features. But a well-chosen hardwood floor can accentuate and beautify almost any style or design of a home.

Carpeting has a few advantages over wood floors, the main one being softness when walked upon. But hardwood flooring can be accented with durable and beautiful rugs that have that same cushy feeling. So if it's a soft comfy feel you're after don't think that hardwood flooring is not an option. It's possible to combine the functionality of a carpet with the beauty, durability and shine of a hardwood floor.

Hard wood floors come in all different sizes and colors. And there are also many different types of wood grains that you have available to you. When deciding on the type of hardwood floor to install in your home you must first choose the color and type of wood. This is usually the most important consideration.

The color must be complimentary to the furniture, wall hangings, plants and other items that you intend to furnish your home with. But choosing a color of wood is not necessarily a straight forward and easy task. Different types of wood stain differently. Some wood flooring will stain darker than others, some lighter than others. So when choosing color you must consider the stain in combination with the type of wood floor you want. Do your homework and you will lessen the chance of installing a floor that has a different color and look than you expected.

Another major factor concerns functionality. A pine floor may look great, but pine is a soft wood that will dent very easily. This would certainly be a poor choice in a high-traffic area. When considering woods for flooring you want to install a floor that is long-lasting. Your flooring should last a lifetime and that means choosing a floor that will be durable, easy to keep clean and will continue to look new without a lot of labor on your part. If you are uncertain go with flooring that will be harder than you think is necessary. Hardness rankings according to the Janka scale can help you decide on which type of wood you need for the amount of traffic you expect to have.

The most popular styles of hardwood flooring are parquet, strip and plank. Parquet flooring is a series of wood flooring pieces that create a geometric design. Strip flooring is linear and is usually between 1' inches to 3' inches in width. Strip flooring often gives the room the appearance of being larger than it actually is. Plank hardwood flooring is usually wider and is typically 3 to 6 inches in width. Wider planks may be used, but often have issues with moisture.

You must choose the style and size that you think looks most attractive. Take your time and view all styles, designs, sizes and colors of wood floors before making your selection. Once it's installed it is not a cheap job to tear out and replace. It's also a good idea to get different samples and lay them out in your home. Without actually seeing the floor next to your own furnishings and wall colors it's near impossible to make a smart choice.

If you are interested in installing your own hardwood floor be sure you have enough knowledge and experience before attempting to do so. You must know what type of subflooring to install, whether it's wood or concrete. You should learn about humidity and temperature and what affect they have on floors. To prevent warping it is important to keep your floors well-ventilated with regulated temperatures throughout the year. When the weather gets too cold it can cause the floor boards to separate. Before installing it yourself talk to some professionals in your area and find out what precautions you need to take that will help ensure a lifetime of satisfaction with your new wood flooring.

By: Larry A. Johnson

Changing the old carpet with new flooring by yourself sometimes can be difficult, well not with laminate flooring – Laminate flooring maybe the only floor you don’t need to spend so much money on contractors and Home improvement companies.

As a matter of fact if you are a little bit handy person you can do it, it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a women.

There are a few steps you need to do and take care before you install your new Laminate flooring.

The Tools you will need for the installation are:

A rubber mallet, laminate flooring pull bar, tape measure, coping saw, utility knife, hammer, nails, laminate flooring, and underlayment.

In order to do it right when the material arrives read all the instruction on the box and remove the plastic wrapping from the boxes and let them flat on the floor so they can acclimate for at least 48 Hr.

After that check what type of subfloor you have, there are only two options:

1.       Concrete

2.       Plywood

Installation of Laminate flooring over a concrete takes a few steps:

First you will need to lay down a vapor barrier to keep your moisture factor to a minimum and you should join all the edges together with a moisture resistant tape.

Before you install any laminate on concrete do a concrete test:

The moisture resistant tape should be 2’ x 2’pieces of 6 mil or similar poly film to the slab in several areas of the layout. Make sure all the edges together and sealed and leave it for 24-48 Hr.

If the color change you have a moisture problem and you will need to take care of it before installing the Laminate flooring.

Moisture problem can evolve into health and safety issues caused by mold, mildew and floors lifting.

Consider surface-applied vapor retarders to block moisture emission from the concrete.

After you put a sealer on the slab and you let it dry well you are ready to install your laminate floors.

Since this is a floating floor it is better to use spacers around the room for an expansion gap  so your flooring will be able to expand and contract when humidity changes.

There are a few different underlayments’ you can use:

1.       Blue /green regular foam with moisture barrier protector – cost around $0.15 per sq/ft.

2.       Quiet Step, Non-woven, padded felt underlayment with moisture beerier – cost around $0.35 sq/ft.

3.     Green Foam, silent green underlayment 3 mm, High density, thick green foam with moisture barrier – cost around $0.39 per sq/ft.

4.       High density blue foam with aluminum, backing of 3 mm for moisture barrier – cost around $0.39 per sq/ft.

5.     Black EVA Foam Underlayment with aluminum back 2mm ,High density black EVA Foam with aluminum backing for moisture barrier – cost around $0.39 per sq/ft.

6.       Flat rubber underlayment with aluminum backing of 2mm for moisture barrier – cost around $0.55 per sq/ft.

The underlayment’s usually covers 100-200 sq/ft per roll.

First floor will be either concrete or plywood as far as second floor in most of the cases it will be plywood.

In a plywood case you will need only underlayment and the flooring, there will be no need of any moisture tests or sealer to apply on the plywood.

As far as the second story if you have high traffic area in order to have better sound control you can have cork instead of the underlayment.

Cork are available in two thickness options ¼” and ½”.

Now that you are ready to install after you lay down the underlayment/cork ,you will hold each board for  about 45 degree angle and because it is a floating floor and has a click system all you need to do is just attach one board to the previews one and press stand on it just snapped and place.

While you installing to prevent gaps just attach one piece of wood to the other side and with a hammer just tap on it until the gap is closed.

After you finish lying down the planks you are ready to take of the spacers and install any trims or moldings you have chosen.

You can choose either quarter round or baseboard to put against the wall.

The last part is to put the transitions each one in his place.

There are 3 transitions:

End mold – known also as threshold use for sliding doors and entrance doors.

Reducer –use if you have different heights between the old floor and the new floor.  

T-mold – use if both of the flooring is the same heights.

That’s it for now I hope this will be helpful and you will not be afraid of a D-I-Y projects.

Changing your flooring at home used to be very frustrating and expensive, well not any more.

Laminate flooring is the perfect solution for changing your old flooring without spending so much money.

People are more aware today to a lot of diseases that caused by carpets, it could be from allergies and up to even worst an asthma. 

Nowadays with the look of laminate flooring wood look alike you can have your flooring done with a minimum cost and time.

With the comfortable click system of any laminate flooring, you can save a lot of money on installation and do it by yourself, it is so simple that even if you are not a handy person with a simple of few steps you can have your flooring done.

If you decided to go with a contractor to install your laminate flooring you will see the saving compare to wood flooring.

Installation for laminate flooring can start on a price of $3.00 per Sq/Ft not like wood flooring that the prices running from $5.00 and up per Sq /Ft.

Laminate flooring which also known as floating floor because of the option of glue less installation become more and more popular in each and every house and apartment.

You don’t need to glue-down, staple down, or nail-down laminate flooring.

Instead of buying a few buckets of glue you can have a padding solution in a minimum cost of $0.14 cent per sq/ft and save even more.

With the beautiful selection of colors and wood look alike options laminate flooring today rated on the same level as hardwood flooring.

When you have come to select laminate flooring you need to consider the AC rate, which AC-1 is the lowest rate for laminate flooring and it is used for low traffic areas, AC-5 is usually for a high traffic areas and commercial needs, and the most popular and common among the people is the AC-3 rate which good for residential solution with a heavy traffic areas.

Just like hardwood flooring you can install laminate flooring almost in any part of the house, but just make sure that areas like kitchen and bathroom should be with more care and will be used with waterproof glue.

Molding and trims for laminate flooring are cheaper then molding for hardwood flooring and instead of paying an average cost of $49 for wood flooring quarter round piece, you can have quarter round for laminate for as low as $19.99.

Laminate flooring cost can start as low as $0.39 cent per sq/ft and you might want to check if it is odd lots or discontinued product that will be very difficult for you if you will need to continue the same project at the same area in the future, not all the click systems are the same, and you can find yourself stacking with two different colors and two different click systems.

Laminate flooring thickness usually start at 6mm and go up to 12mm,which most common is 8mm and 12mm for an average house or apartment.

The cost for 8mm could start at $0.99 cent and can go up to $3.00 depends on the surface type and the brand.

If you want your flooring to look classy you might want to consider the piano finish which is the high glossy type of laminate flooring and will makes your house looks very modern.

If you decided to go with the vintage look and put a distressed or a hand scraped look your house will looks more contemporary style.

Laminate floors are extremely impact, scratch, sunlight fade and stain resistant.

Any laminate flooring surface type will be with a minimum of maintenance care, you don’t need any wax or polish to keep your laminate looks fresh and new.

You can use a brushless vacuum and a very lightly wet cloth and your laminate floors will looks great.