Which Type of Hickory Flooring Meets Your Needs ?

Prefinished is, perhaps, the most efficient approach to installing this hardwood. All planks are finished and installation involves simply adding them to your floors. Although convenient, prefinished products, hickory included, have significant drawbacks. First, a manufacturer only has a set amount of stains, and one may match your space closely not but exactly. Second, prefinished hardwood does not blend as well with existing materials, although it is ideal for replacing a full floor.

Unfinished hickory provides an opportunity for exactness: You choose your own stain and can blend the flooring better in with the rest of your home. Installation, however, is arduous. If you plan to install hickory on your own, be prepared with the right tools. A belt sander is a crucial component. In order to get an even surface from hickory's closed and rough grain, you must start with an 80-grit belt and sand in the same direction as the grain. Then, to smooth out the surface, change to a 120-grit belt. All finishing touches should be done with a 220-grit belt.

The grain additionally complicates staining. Opening it through water popping makes hickory more receptive to stains. To do this, you should rub down the unfinished hardwood with a damp rag after it has been secured to the floor and, just when it dries, add the stain. Going in the other direction, wood conditioner fully closes the grain. After wood conditioner is spread over the floor, a finish can be added. Multiple coats of a finish may be necessary, and in order to create a smooth appearance, you should go over the dried surface with a floor polisher to reduce the roughness resulting from the grain's texture.

Swisstrax Garage Flooring Corporation

The Swisstrax BizBox will be outfitted with numerous products including the interlocking garage flooring tiles Swisstrax manufactures. Its first appearance will be at the 3rd Annual Greystone Mansion Concours D' Elegance May 6, 2012. The Swisstrax BizBox will then tour throughout the year, making stops at various events including: Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction events, Goodguys events, RM Auctions, Hot August Nights, SEMA Show, NADA and PRI.End Grain Wood Block Flooring From Reclaimed Wood.

Swisstrax President Randy Nelson says it was love at first sight when he saw BizBox at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale earlier this year and couldn't wait to get his own Swisstrax branded BizBox on the road."Creating a road show for Swisstrax has been a dream of mine for years," said Nelson. "BizBox was able to get Swisstrax into a custom, mobile showroom quickly, which enables us to get our road show going. Having a state-of-the-art, high-profile showcase for our garage flooring products will create new sales opportunities and save us valuable time with set up and tear down."

"And I know this BizBox will pay for itself in no time," added Nelson. "We will be ready for business in under an hour which will save us on hotel bills, frustration and increase sales time at every event. I'm looking forward to when the show ends at 4 p.m. and we are on the road ready for the next garage flooring event at 5 p.m. Time is money and the BizBox will save us a lot of it.""We are thrilled to partner with Swisstrax," said Rick Sikorski, BizBox CEO. "Swisstrax is known for its high quality garage flooring products and recognizes that same level of quality in BizBox. This is a great fit."

End Grain Wood Block Flooring From Reclaimed Wood

Wood cut across the grain as opposed to with it, displays the grain of wood in new ways. For example, White Oak displays an incredible ray pattern that emanates from the center of the tree rings.  Douglas Fir offers distinct concentric circles of light and dark (growth and sap wood) wood providing a beautiful contrast of colors and pattern.Installation is basically done similar to ceramic tile with a certain type of adhesive and finished as any hard wood floor would be. If you can install a hardwood floor (or know someone who can), you can install can end grain wood floor.

Second, it is very durable. Wood is very tough on its cross cut face. For the last century, end grain wood block floors have remained a common flooring choice for industrial factories – believe it or not. Some of the automobile plants in Detroit MI and many other manufacturing facilities across the country have end grain wood block as flooring because of its durability. Even more amazing, wood block flooring has been, and is still in use to pave roads in a few American cities.

There is another type of hardwood flooring, with a long history that most people would be surprised to hear about. It is called end grain wood block flooring. To get a sense of what it looks like, picture wood tiles made from cross cut squares of wood that show off the wood grain as a cross section and not sawn with the grain like plank flooring.A great choice for hardwood flooring is to use reclaimed wood. Old growth woods (that only come from reclaimed sources) offer better graining and a harder surface. Better yet, it is a good eco-friendly flooring choice.

Rubber Flooring, Inc. Expands Flooring Adhesive Line to Include New "Green"Solutions.

Rubber Flooring Inc. announces the introduction of several new lines of flooring adhesives including some revolutionary new "green"flooring adhesives. The expanding product offerings are designed to meet the needs of Rubber Flooring, Inc.’s growing market base and to provide more environmentally friendly flooring adhesive solutions."The flooring adhesive market has been fairly stagnant for a number of years”, states Rubber Flooring Inc. COO Kurt Leitinger. "New advancements in the industry were few and far between. However with more and more people becoming eco conscious, the demand for green flooring adhesives has definitely grown.A.J. Rose Carpets & Flooring Named an Armstrong Elite Partner.

Consumers today take an interest in educating themselves about what is good for the environment and what is good for their families."Mr. Leitinger continues, "Years ago we focused on making sure many of our flooring products were safe and eco-friendly. Now we are taking it to the next level with the help of DriTac Adhesives to start offering green flooring adhesive solutions.”Multiple "green"flooring adhesives are available now.

Polyurethane adhesives are available for wood, cork, and rubber flooring. Pressure sensitive adhesives are also available for luxury vinyl tile and vinyl plank flooring."We are excited to have partnered up with the great people at DriTac Flooring Products to offer a full line of flooring adhesives"states RubberFlooringInc.com CMO Anthony Schmidt. "DriTac has made top quality adhesive products for many years and now we are excited to work with them to begin offering adhesives that are earth friendly. The new "green"adhesives have no VOC’s or solvents. They are also odor free and certified "green"by the CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute).”

A.J. Rose Carpets & Flooring Named an Armstrong Elite Partner

The next time Bay State home or business owners look to revamp their rooms with new wall-to-wall carpet or laminate, they will find a larger selection of flooring options at local retailer A.J. Rose Carpets & Flooring. The Natick- and Burlington-based Massachusetts carpet dealer was recently named an Elite Partner by flooring manufacturer Armstrong, giving its customers a number of new partner-exclusive services for a more comprehensive floor-buying experience.

To become an Armstrong Elite Partner, staff at A.J. Rose Carpets & Flooring underwent extensive training to help them better serve customers interested in Armstrong flooring products and installation services. A.J. Rose now offers their shoppers one of the largest selections of Armstrong flooring samples in the region, and each sample is showcased in a premier display system. The retailer also has larger display areas throughout its showrooms to help customers better visualize how products will look in their home or office.

"Earning status as an Armstrong Elite Showroom means that we can offer more personalized services and a wider selection of high-quality products to our customers," said Barry Greenberg, sales manager at A.J. Rose Carpets & Flooring. "We’re also able to give customers benefits that other retailers can’t or won’t, like an extended warranty and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. When you make a large investment in your flooring, that extra peace of mind goes a long way."

Residents Donate their Own Trees for Rec Center Sport Floor

Commercial Flooring - Wholesale or Retail ?Residents of White Lake, Wis., have banded together to donate their own trees—totaling 90 cords of maple logs—for a gymnasium floor at the town's new $3.5 million community recreation center, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Resident Tom Lambert thought of the idea while sitting in his tree stand on the opening day of deer hunting season. To save some money and get other locals involved in the project, Lambert thought community members could donate wood from their own back yard. After all, given that the town served as the birthplace to sport flooring manufacturer Robbins Inc., the town has a rich timberland history.

Donations ranged from "just a few trees" to truckloads. Robbins cut the community a deal on milling the flooring, and it will also give the community a break on the subflooring."It's another example of community pride and spirit that makes White Lake such a special place," School District Administrator Bill Fisher told the Press Gazette. "I've never experienced anything like this."