Flooring News

Vinyl flooring firm in merger

19/03/2010

Vinyl flooring firm Gerflor has merged branding with healthcare protection solutions provider SPM International, it has been revealed.

The move sees SPM being incorporated into Gerflor, which Caringbusiness.co.uk noted "offers a uniquely comprehensive range which provides for both new build and refurbishment projects".

SPM makes corner protection and handrail items and alongside Gerflor's vinyl floor products enables the company to offer healthcare providers a range of items to meet their needs.

Such brand amalgamation follows the takeover of SPM by Gerflor at a corporate level in 2007.

The article went on to note that Gerflor makes durable, easy to maintain, slip-resistant vinyl floors, with many of these products having anti-fungicidal qualities.

Another example of vinyl flooring providing enhanced safety arose in a church in the US earlier this month.

The First Presbyterian Church of Skaneateles has the material laid in tiles over an old floor that contained asbestos, sealing in the dangerous substance below, auburnpub.com reported.

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Wood flooring firm in new appointment

19/03/2010

A hardwood flooring firm in the US has made a new appointment as it seeks to expand its market share after the recession.

Horizon Forest Products and its trading partner Long Floor have announced that it has appointed a new manager, Chris Williams, to head up its branch in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Company vice president David Williams commented of the move that Chris Williams has a great knowledge of the firm.

He added: "He has great leadership skills and possesses the work ethic and positive attitude that will allow us to take our Virginia branch to the next level."

The new manager said his ten years of working with the company would help him in his new role.

Horizon makes both pre-finished and unfinished hardwood flooring products.

Earlier this week, it was noted that a home for sale in the US has hardwood flooring as one of its key features.

The Gazette.net reported that the home in Olney, Maryland, has the material in both its kitchen and foyer.

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Cork flooring a feature of hotel family rooms

19/03/2010

Cork flooring is one of the notable features of special family rooms installed in a hotel in Japan.

Oriental Hotel Tokyo Bay has opened 48 Kiddy Sweet rooms on the 12th floor of its hotel in the Japanese capital, with the design aimed at making things comfortable for families with young children, the Japan Times reports.

Alongside the soft cork flooring, the rooms have wide and low beds, bright lighting, colourful furniture with soft, rounded edges and more space than conventional hotel rooms.

The rooms take their colour schemes from the theme of a candy shop in Paris, with these coming in four varieties: Mille-feuille, Chocolat, Eclair and Chiffon.

Earlier this week, Kingston EMC noted in a feature on cork: "It's so comfortable that studies have shown children spend significantly more time playing on it than other hard surfaces."

It commented that the material is warmer than other woods because it has more air pockets in it to trap warmth.

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Carpet firm pledges continued heritage centre support

19/03/2010

Axminster Carpets has said it will continue to offer support to a plan to turn one of its buildings into a heritage centre in the Devon town.

The bid by Axminster Heritage to turn a building in the town into a heritage centre is in question after a request for £200,000 of lottery funding was turned down, while Devon County Council has set a time limit on the £200,000 it has pledged.

With Axminster Heritage seeking to raise £1.5 million the project may face an uphill struggle to get off the ground, but the carpet firm's spokesman said its support will continue to ensure the town's heritage is celebrated, Devon 24 reports.

He said that this particularly includes "the link to the production of famous and world class quality carpet".

Earlier this month, the company revealed it had just completed the re-carpeting of the corridors and lift lobbies at the 100-room Bridgewood Manor hotel in Kent.

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Laminate flooring a feature of home for sale

18/03/2010

A home for sale in Berkshire boasts laminate flooring among its features, it has been noted.

The house - a five-bedroom semi-detached property in Southcote on the outskirts of Reading - has wood laminate flooring in its living room, Get Reading reports.

Exactly the same material is also present in the largest of the bedrooms in the house, while there is wood tile vinyl flooring in the dining room.

The presence of laminate flooring and vinyl flooring with a wood effect may indicate how many householders can create a wood effect in their floors without having to meet the cost of paying for real wood.

Located near the River Kennet, it is for sale at £289,950.

Last month, the Aberdeen Press and Journal noted that laminate flooring was a major feature of a home for sale in the village of Alness.

The material is located in the front lounge area.

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Hardwood flooring a part of home for sale

18/03/2010

Hardwood flooring is a key feature of a home for sale in the US, it has been revealed.

The material is used in a home in Olney in the state of Maryland, in which the foyer and kitchen both have such a floor, the Gazette.net reports.

It also has carpet in the living room and the adjacent dining room, plus the family room.

Other flooring materials are present in a second kitchen, which used to be a family room that has been updated.

The home also has wood-burning fires and a bathroom with a soaking tub for two people.

Equipped with four bedrooms, the home is up for sale at $639,000 (£418,000).

In a separate feature by the same paper, a home for sale in the town of Ijamsville is noted as having hardwood flooring in its dining room.

The family room in the five-bedroom house also has hardwood flooring.

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Long-term investment prospects may prompt laminate flooring choice

18/03/2010

There has never been a better time than the present to be a long-term investor in private residential property, it has been claimed.

Managing director at investor website LettingZone Mark Garner acknowledged that many people in the buy-to-let sector have been struggling since the onset of the credit crunch, having bought at the top of the market expecting capital growth that never materialised.

However, he added: "For existing professional landlords, it has never been better because interest rates are at an all-time low so with the property you bought a while ago, the cash flow is looking really good."

Those investing for many years may wish to install tough laminate flooring, as this will last for a long time and not need to be replaced quickly.

Laminate flooring may form an attractive element of a property when it is sold.

Such a floor was noted as a feature of an apartment for sale in the town of Ballybrit in the Republic of Ireland, the Galway Advertiser Reported earlier this month.

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Cork flooring 'great for kids'

18/03/2010

One of the best qualities of cork flooring is that it is an attractive surface for children to spend time on, it has been stated.

In a feature on the material, Kingston EMC stated: "It's so comfortable that studies have shown children spend significantly more time playing on it than other hard surfaces."

The news provider commented that cork is warmer because it contains twice as much air as other woods, enabling it to adapt to room temperature and retain heat.

It also noted that the softness of the substance is good for feet and joints, while it is resistant to mould and mildew and easy to clean, as well as being eco-friendly because it comes from the sustainably and renewably harvested bark of the cork tree.

One building that has adopted cork as its flooring material of choice because of its green qualities is the City Flats Hotel in Holland, Michigan, the Holland Sentinel reported earlier this month.

The venue contains a number of eco-friendly elements that also include energy-saving devices and organic cleaning substances.

For more information on cork floor tiles click here

Laminate flooring firm showcases products in new warehouse

18/03/2010

Laminate flooring is now being showcased in a new 17,000 square foot office, it has been revealed.

Manufacturer Abet Laminati is able to display its products in the vast warehouse and showroom space in the Bay City area of Richmond, California, Interior Design magazine reports.

The new showroom is an addition to the company's existing offices in Toronto, New Jersey and Englewood.

As well as housing the manufacturer's flooring collections, the new office is an environmentally friendly space, with large skylights eradicating the need for 80 per cent of standard electrical usage.

Tom Sullivan, founder of Lumber Liquidators, recently told NorthJersey.com that adding a laminate flooring to a home can help breathe new life into a property.

He said while laminate flooring gives the same appearance as solid hardwoods, it delivers it at the fraction of the price, allowing budget-conscious homeowners to transform their homes in an aesthetically-pleasing but affordable way.

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Bamboo flooring part of eco-home

17/03/2010

Bamboo flooring is a key feature of an eco-home, it has been revealed.

Located in Evans, Colorado, the home has a range of green features, of which the sustainable flooring material is one, 9 News reports.

The news provider described the material as being "easily renewable".

In addition to the floors, the home is designed with maximum energy efficiency in mind, with minimal heating costs if it is fitted with solar panels.

The home has a tankless water heater and a v-shaped roof designed to catch and harvest rainwater.

In addition to this, the property is available for a low price, being up for sale at $123,000 (£80,000), with builder Clayton Homes having constructed a number of other such houses around the country.

Last week, Jetson Green reported on a mobile home that had been made with bamboo flooring.

The green home in upstate New York had been constructed with a number of eco-friendly features, which also included wood certified as being from sustainable forests.

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Tibetan carpet featured in Kuwait show

17/03/2010

A carpet event in Kuwait has featured Tibetan-style carpets as part of its displays.

Tibetan carpet firm Rug Star showed off its wares at the Samovar Carpets & Antiques show, which displayed products that were designed in Berlin but made in the Nepalese region, Arab Times Online reports.

Employees at the firm work in teams of four on each of the carpets for between 3,000 and 4,000 hours over a period of ten weeks.

Commenting on the carpets, head of the firm's workshop in Berlin Jurgen Dahlmanns said: "A carpet from Rug Star is something alive, with a soul, not an uninspired industrial product."

Mr Dahlmanns, who lives in Nepal for part of the year, has contacts in 15 countries around the world where his carpets are sold.

Earlier this month, the Himalayan Times reported that Nepal's government had drawn up a blueprint of measures aimed at increasing carpet exports from the country.

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Wooden floor replacement on the way

17/03/2010

A long-serving basketball court is set to be replaced with a pristine new wood floor, it has been revealed.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is to have its Kachel Gymnasium hardwood floor replaced and a new one put in its stead by early June, Royal Purple News reports.

Commenting on the change, the university's athletic director Paul Plinske said: "It's much needed."

"We haven't had any injuries, but we have a lot of sore athletes. When the floor is ready, it's going to be state-of-the-art. It will really be first class," he added.

The old floor had been in place for 44 years and according to recreation sports and facilities director Gray Harms the new one will have more spring, reducing wear and tear on legs.

Another basketball court undergoing a re-flooring was Marquette University's Bradley Centre facility, which had a new hardwood surface put in by local Milwaukee company Jason Thomas Flooring just weeks ago in time for a national college basketball tournament.

For more information on hardwood flooring click here

Soundproof carpet developed

17/03/2010

A carpet maker has produced a new product that has exceptional sound-resistance qualities.

Manufacturer Desso has revealed that it has created SoundMaster, which it states offers 60 per cent greater soundproofing than other carpets, Presswire.com reports.

It said this is useful for environments such as offices and public places where a large amount of noise can be a distraction to others.

The sound reduction of the carpet - made from 100 per cent recycled polyester - is more than ten decibels greater than the 20-30 decibel reduction most carpets offer, it claimed.

Regional sales and marketing manger for the firm Andrew Sibley predicted that the product will be "welcomed across a wide range of markets internationally".

The use of recycled material in the carpet may be of interest, with recent advances being claimed in the possibilities of re-using plastic material.

Last week, a team made up of experts from Stanford University and computing firm IBM said they had found a way of breaking down plastic molecules more efficiently, so that a product made from the material could be recycled more than once.

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Legal wood logo created

16/03/2010

A new logo has been created in the US to certify that imported material for wood flooring has been legally harvested.

The National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) has announced the launch of the NWFA Wood Procurement programme, which applies its legally forested logo to imported wood that has been felled by licensed foresters.

It said this practice is intended to help curb the import into the US of illegally-logged timber, which it noted is "rare" in the US but an "epidemic" problem elsewhere in the world.

The body stated: "The U.S. Lacey Act, which the NWFA supported, now bans the import of wood that is illegally harvested according to the laws of the country of origin."

Several labels and marks now exist to certify the origin of wood used in the US.

In January, Horizon Forest Products Long Floor announced that it had gained Forest Stewardship Council chain of custody certification, which accredits it with sourcing its material in a sustainable way.

For more information on wooden flooring click here

Restaurants turn to bamboo flooring

15/03/2010

Bamboo flooring has been introduced as part of the theme in a series of virtual restaurants.

Players of Restaurant City have been presented with a new Hawaiian theme, complete with a bamboo-themed decor, Friskymongoose.com reports.

The bamboo flooring has been created alongside bamboo snorkels and bamboo mirrors, all of which may help to highlight the use of the material as a hardwood flooring type in the real world.

In addition to this, the Hawaiian theme is expressed with tropical art, flower bushes, a shark's fin and starfish.

Players can buy component parts of their restaurant, which includes the floor tiles.

One place where a real food outlet is using bamboo flooring is in Elevation Burger's new outlet in Coral Springs, Florida.

The sun-sentinel blog noted that the firm has installed the floors as part of its drive to be reener and healthier including the use of beef from organically-farmed cattle and the use of olive oil to cook the fries.

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New carpet matches old

15/03/2010

A replica carpet has been installed at a National Trust property that closely matches the previous one.

Tyntesfield House in Wraxhall near Bristol has had the new carpet created as a replacement for the 1890 original, which had been worn out, the BBC reports.

It was made by Linney Cooper – a firm that has also produced carpets for the Royal Albert Hall – and according to spokesperson for the firm Gareth Hughes, the process has broken new ground for the company.

The broadcaster quoted him as saying: "As far as we can tell this is the first time that a Wilton weaving machine has been used to replicate the distinctive look that an old chenille carpet has."

Mr Hughes said a loom had been specially designed to create the Victorian-style carpet.

The hall, which was given to the National Trust in 2002, includes features such as a viewing tower in the roof, a working kitchen and extensive gardens.

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Wood flooring a key highlight of home

15/03/2010

A home in Canada that was sold after being on the market for less than a week has hardwood flooring among its features, it has been noted.

The floors are part of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom detached brick house located near restaurants and a hospital in the Danforth area of Toronto, the National Post reports.

Alongside this were elements such as pot lights and stainless steel fittings, while other rooms in the home included an open-concept living room, a sitting room with a fireplace and a recreation room.

The property exceeded its asking price, being sold for CAD$581,750 (£379,650) after being put on the market for $499,900.

Other homes sold recently that have hardwood flooring include a townhouse in another part of the city, the same paper reported last week.

Sales agent Katie Young described the flooring as one of the highlights of the property near the heart of the city, which was sold for CAD$390,000.

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Carpet maker 'to buy textiles firm'

15/03/2010

One of the largest carpet making firms in the world is about to bid for a textile firm that is setting up a factory next door to its own.

Egyptian company Oriental Weavers revealed to Fibre2Fashion that it is looking to buy into Rosetex, which is building its factory on land adjacent to its own plant.

Investment relations manager at Oriental Haitham Moneim told the news provider: “This planned acquisition of the Rosetex facility, which is located next door, is part of Oriental Weavers' expansion strategy."

He added that the plan to buy Rosetex will be discussed at the company's annual general meeting on March 21st, with the acquisition likely to add "further enhancements in [the] production process".

Many carpet firms could be set for better times ahead as wall-to-wall carpet has been described as becoming fashionable again.

Director of Adrienne Chinn Design Company Limited Adrienne Chinn said recently that such flooring has been out of vogue for the past 15 years but is coming back into favour now.

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