The Applications Page

Our Home is an extension of our personality, our attitude and our outlook on life itself. Our Home décor will spill over to everyone who visits and will transmit a heartwarming welcome to join the family. It should refresh our spirit and motivate us to enjoy, be happy and be thankful for what we have. It should be the basis for additional creative decorating for the Thanksgiving festivities and the glorious Christmas holidays.

We would hope to include in the décor our family lifestyle for all the rooms coordinated as objects over the canvas we call the flooring. The canvas in the bedrooms provides warmth and soft on the peddling of our feet scurrying around the room with colors and style matching the room’s resident. The children are in the family room meandering on a bright colored stylistic tufted area rug over a White Oak Gunsmoke hardwood flooring, petting and mauling over Daisy-Doo, the Black and White Old English Sheep Dog. Dad is working on a Birdhouse in the woodshop over a Cherrywood Laminated Flooring. The studious teenage is in the laundry room completing the wash and color fading her brand new jeans over a cream colored stylist Linoleum floor. Mother is bathing amongst the bubbles emanating from the warm bath water, incased in a earthy colored ceramic wall tile protruding into the matching ceramic tile floor. Grandma is visiting and is making cookies over the Natural Cork floor in the kitchen. We can’t forget junior moving and jiving with his friends over the granite looking vinyl tile in the game room in the basement.

The family’s planned environment is reviewed above; and doesn’t it portray an excellent picture of a happy family at home. We all wish that the above was really true…and it can be, as we continue to design and create décor in the family home as a masterpiece of what our personality and outlook on life is seeking. It is amazing how a person’s out look on life will change with only modest improvements, such as new flooring in the home. We see this as people return to the store to thank us for the new floor which is not only new, and is a major improvement, but it emphasizes the other furniture in the room. We then see the sparkle in their eyes as they speak, and in addition, a very positive attitude and a motivational outburst of energy.

There are important practical factors in defining the materials for the interior design of your home while considering the colors and styles, emphasizing the lifestyle of the family. We do not want to impress upon you that we are Interior Decorators, we are merely defining the flooring materials based upon practical application considerations such as high traffic, rough use, water, moisture, sub floor, potential stain/soil, allergies, children, pets and special needs. We are really trying to assure our customer that he/she is purchasing the best product to fulfill his/her creative design endeavor.

Carpet has been the flooring of choice in the past and present because it offers almost unlimited colors, styles and is soft and warm on the feet. It can go over most any surface (subfloor) and most important, it has styles and colors for every pocketbook. Manufacturers have set up a performance factor (1 to 5) , representing the carpets ability to withstand extended care…could be called durability. Between 2.5 and 4.0 is considered normal, above 4.0 could be used in high traffic areas, below 2.5 would be for low traffic such as bedrooms. The major factors in this performance rating are the fiber, weight/density of the pile and the twist of the yarn. Nylon and Olefin (Polypropylene) are considered the more durable fibers where nylon has better dyeing characteristics.

Manufactures have made many improvements in carpet characteristics such as soil-resistant treatments, odor-eaters and stain resistant treatments. These practices have enhanced the selection of carpet. Carpet construction is dominated by two main varieties: loop pile and cut pile. The basic difference is that the surface is either a loop or cut at the top, leaving tufts of yarn standing straight up and in some varieties twisted.

A cut pile carpet is generally more durable with combinations of shearing, twisting and heating, creating a variety of textures and styles. Loop pile carpets are easier to clean as the densely packed loops block out the soil and are superior for high traffic areas. Animals can create problems with the loop pile by their nails catching and pulling the strands. Combinations of Cut and Loop piles allow for a variety of textures and sculptured effects which provide improvements in durability and style and color selection.

Carpets have other inherent features over other flooring choices such as acting as insulation (along with the padding) between the floors, provides a non-slip walking surface, sound reduction, will hide floor base problems and trapping potential allergy-causing dust. Vacuuming regularly is also not a major effort.

Hardwood floors add a rich air of elegance and charm to a room, a sense of stability and permanence, and with area rugs, warmth and a homey like feeling. Hardwood flooring comes in two (2) varieties; solid and engineered. Solid hardwood is a single piece of wood, available in both finished and unfinished states; whereas engineered hardwood consists of at least three layers of hardwood cross-plyed to provide dimensionally stable hardwood for major moisture and temperature variations.

Unfinished wood can be very messy by the sanding necessary after nailing the wood to the floor; and very uncomfortable with the staining and varnishing (or other surface material) smell. Prefinished wood has the benefit of controlled conditions for the finishing and a clean environment where the sanding dust has been totally removed from the atmosphere.

Solid hardwood on a cement sub floor means disaster mainly because of the moisture problem, but also with nailing. Engineered flooring wood be OK on cement, but it must be a floating wood floor. Nailing solid hardwood to particle board is questionable due to the fact that the nails do not hold. Solid hardwood expands and contracts and should not be used in places which have a large temperature and moisture variation, such as a summer home which is not occupied the year around.

Solid hardwood is ¾" thick and may cause leveling problems with opening doors, mismatch to other flooring materials and the refrigerator which is now to high to fit under the cabinets. Wood flooring is susceptible to soil/dirt scratching the surface, but sweeping and vacuuming frequently will help to minimize this potential problem. Some say that little nicks and scratches add character to the wood floor.

Several "pros" for wood flooring are the availability of exotic wood species, hand scraped custom woods, custom finishes and various wood combinations.

Laminates are relatively new in flooring and are widely accepted as they duplicate the other popular flooring textures and designs. They are installed as a floating floor and relatively easy to install with the glue already placed on the tongue of the plank. They are exceptionally durable and stain resistant with the aluminum oxide surface. They are not subject to fading or discoloration from the sun and are very easy to maintain.

It is said that laminates have the upscale look…without the upscale cost. Laminates are available in looks such as most of the varieties of wood, textures and designs for ceramic tile, stone and quarry. They have a medium density fiberboard layer for structural integrity and a layer to serve as a sound inhibitor. Laminates would be fine in all areas of high traffic, but are not recommended for areas where there will be standing water, as the water can penetrate between the laminates.

Ceramic Tile is simply natural clays shaped and fired at high temperature with unlimited colors and shapes. They are exceedingly durable, stain proof and used both inside and outside and is graded for use. Ceramic tile has been used almost exclusively in bathrooms, entry ways and kitchens in the home and has a low maintenance and care profile. It should be noted that ceramic tile is a thermal product that absorbs both heat and cold and is warm on the feet in heated bathrooms.

Ceramic tile is graded by the PEI (Porcelain Enamel Institute) guide, which rates the durability of the Tile where Group 1 is the lowest going to the highest Group 5.

Group 1. Residential bathrooms

Group 2. General residential traffic, not kitchens or entrance halls

Group 3. Kitchen and entry ways and light commercial traffic areas

Group 4. Medium Commercial

Group 5. Heavy Commercial and exterior walkways and swimming pools

Almost any tile is suitable for walls, but typically thinner, have a high gloss and are more decorative.

The sub floor, sub wall or subcounter is very important for the proper installation of the tile to insure a lasting installation. In short, they must be even/level and structurally sound and free of any oil, grease, loose paint or loose materials to properly adhere to the substrate.

Linoleum, Vinyl and …, by general appearance, look very much alike; but are substantially different flooring from manufacture, materials and application. Linoleum is an all natural flooring sheet or tile and is very durable and long lasting and is manufactured the same today as in the past. It is water resistant, easy to clean, comes in many designs and colors and can be used in any room or entry way in the home.

Vinyl is a synthetic material made from chlorinated petrochemicals, manufactured by many manufacturers offering varying trade names, quality levels and price variances. The advertised applications are the same as linoleum, but its is wise to check the warranty and what are the claims and limitations. Several pertinent questions should be answered; (1) warranty on the surface for resisting scrapes, scuffs, stains and heel marks, (2) structure break down from indentations and cracks, (3) Peel and stick or floor adhesive.

Resilient flooring is in the same family as Vinyl with the claim of highly engineered combination of polymer materials.