Your 4th of July festivities may have fizzled, but cue the fireworks once again, because FloorMall.com, the leader in quality flooring online, has announced its Step Into Summer Flooring Sweepstakes!

FloorMall.com has partnered with Brand Ambassador and mom blogger Crissy Page, of DearCrissy.com, to bring you an incredible opportunity to enter and win 500 square feet of beautiful Mohawk Engineered Hardwood Flooring, at over $1,200 in value, with free shipping to one qualifying winner!

“As a long-standing customer of FloorMall.com, I am beyond thrilled to have been selected as a FloorMall Brand Ambassador, and to be hosting the Step Into Summer Flooring Sweepstakes on my blog. My family and I adore the laminate flooring that we purchased from FloorMall in 2008, and I would recommend FloorMall.com to anyone seeking great flooring and a wonderful online shopping experience.”
—Crissy Page of DearCrissy.com

FloorMall.com offers a wide variety of trusted brand names in traditional flooring materials, as well as the latest trends and innovations in popular eco-friendly flooring options including cork and bamboo. Pair this unmatched selection with great prices, and FloorMall.com sparkles, clearly standing out as your best choice when buying flooring.

Summer is the season for home improvement, so whether you are a weekend warrior with a knack for DIY flooring projects, or plan to hire a local flooring installer, the FloorMall Step Into Summer Sweepstakes is a great way to enjoy premium hardwood flooring this summer, and for years to come.

Best,
Crissy

Crissy Page

http://dearcrissy.com

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      Who, in their right mind at least, would enjoy paying, for instance, two dollars for a cork tile, when they can pay one dollar?  This is what Marc Henderson, founder of Floormall.com thought of, when he first conceived of this great online company.  Floormall.com has been in existence for over seven years.  They strive to achieve the lowest possible prices for their customers by working closely with manufacturers both large and small, in order to obtain those generous discounts.

Floormall.com has had some extremely interesting requests from customers.  One of the most memorable was a request put in by the South Eastern Railway Museum in Duluth Georgia.  They wanted to restore the Warren G. Harding train, and needed fine tile along the lines of that which had been used in a few Pullman rail cars from the 1920s.  Floormall.com is proud to be able to help the museum restore a prized piece of our American history. This will make the Pullman car available for future generations to see, and admire.

As of June 15th, 2010, Floormall.com has joined forces with simpleFLOORS and they can now offer the latter company’s flooring to residential and commercial markets and others.  Floormall.com is also able to showcase Kathy Ireland’s area rugs, which come from manufacturer Shaw Industries.  Another website, Unfinishedflooring.com, was launched on May 13, 2009 and it focuses on unfinished wood species.  They also provide tips and advice on how to best work with the different kinds of woods. This site is geared towards DIY enthusiasts in particular.

With 483 store locations, Ann Taylor Loft chose 12″ x 12″ onyx black floor tiles from Mohawk Colorations, for their floors.  The world’s largest museum complex, the Smithsonian Institution, purchased unfinished White Oak 4″ x 0.75″.  ZPizza, which is a rapidly growing chain of gourmet health-conscious pizza stores, chose Marazzi I Sigilli , Roghe Cotto 12″x12″.  Floormall.com prides itself on saving homeowners time and money with their flooring projects, and they are also proud of the fact of being able to serve major retailers and institutions as well.

Another such retailer is Banana Republic, and they purchased three-inch prefinished Brazilian Teak.  Jessica McClintock used her skills learned at an early age from her grandmother to become a fashion icon to an entire generation. McClintock purchased engineered wood called Ash Polar and it was stained white, for a lovely romantic look.  Planet Fitness, an extraordinary gym, chose hard-wearing flooring in Pergo Elegant Expressions, an 8″ plank with underlayment, in a Berkshire Oak finish.  Stone Lodge, which creates single-family homes built as mountain homestead lodges, is located in Southern Vermont. They brought prefinished Red Oak Antique Honey into their homes to create just the right, exquisite touch.

On February 25, 2009, Floormall and BuildDirect formed an alliance. They will be offering some of the companies hard surface products such as Yanchi Bamboo, Lamton and Toklo laminates.  BuildDirect usually sells large pallets and container loads to the public, but Floormall will now sell smaller quantities, so that anyone may put this wonderful product in their homes.   At Floormall.com’s site you can explore and discover and ask questions about hundreds of flooring products.  This site, and company has it all there for you to view at your leisure, whether at midnight, or noon. 

Floor Covering Weekly articles with Floormall.com

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As we move into Summer, thoughts of the holidays may already be looming in the back of your mind.  If there’s always a large crowd over at your house for Thanksgiving or Hannukah or Christmas and New Year’s, consider re-doing your dining room.  The floors may need replacing, and the walls repainting, and perhaps you need a new dining table.    What type of flooring is best for a dining area?  A solid and non-porous surface is easier to clean.  It could be hardwood, laminate, tiles, linoleum, or something else.  If you have no idea what you’d like then looking through a virtual catalog, such as the ones they have at floormall.com, may inspire you.

Some flooring is easier to install than others.  Click and lock or floating floors are the easiest.  A piece of linoleum would be okay and it’s super-easy to put down, and there isn’t any worry that it’ll look old-fashioned, these days.  That would be good for an informal dining room but if you have a more formal one as well, then hardwood flooring or stone or ceramic tiles may work better.  They can be a little harder to install but a pro could be hired as well as getting more info on the process through floormall.com.  Spacers should be used and there are different placement patterns for ceramic or stone tiles. 

Sealing the floor that’s in a dining room is crucial because of spills.  Tiles and their grout can be sealed, as well as hardwood flooring.  Linoleum is already sealed and vinyl is as well. After you install your new dining room floor, or have it installed, get some advice on what type of cleaning products to use.   When the dining room has been refreshed you can decide on whether you want to use your old dining table and chairs, or get some new ones.   Whatever choice you make you’ll want your new floor to be showcased!  A homeowner may also want a rug (cleanable) under the dining table.  After everything is done you can work on the extra-fun part — a centerpiece.

Centerpieces can be seasonal and changed, or year round and an eclectic grouping of your favorite things.  If you have candles in your centerpiece and plan on burning them, then be aware of what’s touching their bases, as well as the fact that unscented candles need to be used around food.  Guests want to smell your good cooking and not orange blossom or another strong scent.  You can create a centerpiece from found natural objects or a few interesting flea market finds.  Don’t overpower the table and leave room for the dinner plates!  Themes around holiday time work wonderfully, but be sure that the decorations are in keeping with the rest of your house, and subdued rather than flamboyant.  For flooring tips about the rest of your house, check out the pages at floormall.com

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       Ever wanted a real man-cave — perhaps a cozy pub or media room?  Many homeowners want to make a dedicated “man cave” but don’t really know how to go about it.  Think of the flooring first.  If you want the real cave look, then dark hardwood is the way to go.  This also works for the darkened aspects of a media room.  You can’t have all of those big games reflecting off a light wood floor!  Real rock or pebbles can be added for that genuine cave feel, and perhaps they could be on an accent wall or around a fireplace.  These can be hard to stick to a vertical surface so get a bit of advice if you aren’t too confident in this aspect of your room creation.  There’s also an option of painting your walls, and an accent color on one of them always draws attention to the TV or fireplace, or behind the bar.   Take a look at all of the engineered hardwood in darker shades that they have at floormall.com.

After you figure out your floors, and always be sure and calculate for a little extra in case of damage a few years down the road, and you’ve decided on how you want your walls to look, then determine what type of furniture you want, and if there’s room for a nice wet bar over in a corner.  If you have a larger room or basement you can put the bar against a back wall for that real pub look.  There has to be room for a big-screen TV so figure out where that’s going and if you have the right satellite or cable connections.   Allow space in case you want a bigger TV down the road, and look to make some built-in storage for the satellite receiver, PVR etc.  A rug is always nice on the floor and it can help define the seating area.   For some great alternative floor coverings, check out floormall.com.

If your home is a bit tight on space for guests, for instance, there’s furniture out there that can make you man cave into a guest room/office/media room, so it will be truly multi-purpose.  Murphy beds come in modern configurations and there’s one that, when it’s folded up, has a desk that you can use.  Bookshelves are available and putting one on either side could counterbalance your TV wall at the other end of the man-cave. Think about your sofas and chairs.  Arranging them on the floor in a shape that enables everyone to see the TV will create the right atmosphere.  Consider buying some carpet tiles from floormall.com and use them under your coffee table.  If you buy a few extras, there will be no worry about stains on the carpet, because you can just replace that piece. 

You can sketch you man-cave concept out first and then rearrange (in your head) anything that doesn’t work out.  If you reach a stumbling block then a visit to the “university” at floormall.com may help you over it.  Because your man-cave may be subjected to several parties, always be sure that your flooring and furniture are durable, attractive, and easy to keep clean!

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Have you gotten tired of those funny sounds that floors sometimes make when you walk on them?  Old floors can get really waxy and gummy and look really, really dingy.  Perhaps it’s time to check out some new types of floors that are becoming popular.  Cork flooring is becoming an excellent choice for flooring.  It’s environmentally friendly (cork oak trees re-grow this inner bark in a few years) so it’s renewable, like giant bamboo is.  Although giant bamboo is cut down, it’s just a grass and it does get big really fast so that’s the feature that makes it very “green”.  Cork flooring usually comes in tile form and these do vary in quality and coloration, so checking out some samples online at floormall.com will steer you in the right direction.

One advantage to cork flooring is that you will not be sticking to it.  Cork can be sealed quite nicely so you won’t worry about the porosity very much.  Cork provides warmth and insulation and a certain “bounciness” to your floors.  It’s a new and quite in vogue flooring product for offices, especially.  There are some sound insulating qualities which make it a great choice for the home office.  Libraries, if you are so fortunate to have one of these book repositories in your home, or a den, also are good candidates for cork flooring.  A lot of homeowners can install cork floors themselves but the product may not be available in all home improvement stores.  You can look online at the various types, availability, and installation tips.  Visiting a good site like floormall.com will get you on the right track.

Cork is used for many other things in homes, and not just for the floors.  There’s every college student’s dream of a giant bulletin board where they can stick schedules and photos from home.  In the home office you can also make a section of cork on the wall in front of a desk.  To make this bulletin area more home-like, wrapping a few diagonals of ribbon so that it crisscrosses a bulletin board enables you to slip in photos and notes without having to use pushpins etc.  In fact, if you have a few cork tiles left over from your cork flooring project, you can make one of these as a unique gift.  Always save a few pieces or sections of any flooring you install, for repairs at a later date.  Store them where you’ll be able to get them out if needed!

If you want some information on any types of flooring products, cork flooring included, or any advice or tips for buying or installation, then take a look at floormall.com.  There’s a ton of info on this site that will help you.

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Why walk around on dingy old floors, when it’s almost Spring?  Some flooring installations take a little longer than others.  Many are super easy and others are a bit harder.  If you visit a site like floormall.com you can see what’s involved with each type of flooring installation, and make an informed choice.  The easiest flooring installation would probably be a nice new piece of “green” linoleum.  The next would be peel and stick vinyl tiles.  Don’t think of the old school vinyl tiles.  There are so many new varieties these days that some floors look exactly like natural stone or high quality patterned laminate.  You really can’t tell the difference and would have to get a magnifying glass out to be sure.

The next easiest would be a floating floor, or laminate.  These are snap together planks and only require cutting to fit, then interlocking like a jigsaw puzzle.  Underlayment (foam sheet for cement or paper for wood) is all that’s required, plus a small standing jigsaw.  You don’t need glue or anything else, but kneepads are a wise choice plus a small mallet and an extra piece of wood to tap the planks in place.  I’d say that hardwood planks would be the next type to consider.  Check out the variety and woods at floormall.com and see if this kind of flooring is for you.  Nails are required if your subfloor is wood and glue if it’s cement.  You can rent a nailer or get a professional flooring installer to do the job for you.  Consider lighter wood for those new Spring days or get ready for a cozy Fall and Winter with gorgeous darker woods such as mahogany or walnut.  Hardwood floors can be composed of only a certain type of wood, or engineered wood (top layer of the wood then other woods for the rest).  Engineered woods can be in many different stains and colors and types, such as the antique look. 

Tiling is perhaps a little harder than most other floor installations.  If you study a few details as to what type of materials to use for sticking the tiles to your floor, how to space the tiles and what pattern to use for which type of tile, how to grout when they are dry, what types of tiles wear better than others, etc., then the job will be made much easier.  There’s a storehouse of knowledge on flooring at the floormall.com university online.  See what suits you to DIY or perhaps hire a professional flooring installer.  Look at what’s available in tiles, which would be good for your space, and go from there.

Looking through the online varieties of tiles at floormall.com and seeing what appeals to you, is fun and saves a lot on gas and wear and tear on your shoes.  Patience may be a virtue but if you have to traipse all over town in order to see what’s out there, then it can wear a little thin!  Save your precious free time and do other Spring things, like stopping to smell the roses. 

Cork Flooring

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No — not unless you want them to look really old, really, really fast.  But, there are special dance floors you may buy, especially if you take a look at floormall.com.  Professionals use them — they are like a very sturdy linoleum.  But, if you only feel the urge occasionally, and can restrain yourself from tapping on your hardwood, thcn perhaps you can utilize an outdoor space with an old piece of linoleum down on it, or the basement.   Even so, Rockette on over to that site right away and see what they have.  Spring is soon upon us and your floors may be all worn out from the regular dancing that your guests enjoyed during the fantastic New Year’s Eve party you threw for them.  Perhaps you’ve sanded and buffed until there’s barely any wood left in your hardwood floors.  Ah, but what about laminate flooring, you may sigh.  No good for tap dancing either.  You’d be bouncing up and down like you were on a trampoline.  They don’t call laminate a floating floor for nothing. 

Hardwood floors can last a very long time, sometimes a hundred years or more.  Careful cleaning and the

occasional sanding and buffing or staining, or both, will keep them fresh for generations.  Clean them with a damp mop dipped in warm water and vinegar If you want the antique look, then recycled hardwood is the answer.  Of course, holding a tap dance party would do the trick in no time at all.  The wood used for hardwood floors can come from most anywhere on the planet.  We have to be a little cautious these days so that the rain forests are not denuded, or a species of tree goes extinct because someone wants a one of a kind floor in their mansion.  There are certainly varieties of exotic woods, such as zebra wood, that will lend an international air to your room, without denuding the planet of the species.  These rarer woods do cost more, but that’s probably to be expected.  Check out a few exotic species of wood flooring at floormall.com.  They have a lot more substance than a “regular” mall with its corn dogs on a stick, or major appliances in electric blue.

One solution for your tap dancing tendencies, if you don’t have  a basement, money for a dance studio, or it rains all the time, is to make yourself a portable section of flooring that you can practice on.  Perhaps a company has a scrap left over from a dance floor installation and you can buy it at half price.  All you need to do is frame up a couple of sheets of plywood, attach the floor, and voila!  You’ll be Ginger Rodgers or Fred Astaire in no time.  Play a CD of Singing In The Rain and perhaps Gene Kelly will be your inspiration.  Just tap on over to floormall.com (virtually of course) and see what they have.  Spring will soon be upon us and it’s time to get those toes a tappin’.

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History

Cork flooring is made from the bark harvested from the cork oak, which grows primarily in Western Mediterranean countries. Cork has been used since the ancient Egyptian empire, where it was used primarily used for fishing nets, allowing them to float and insulation. It wasn’t actively manufactured until the early part of the 20^th century and became quite popular when it debuted. Cork is highly durable, with many original cork floors installed almost eighty years ago still in use today.

Buy Natural Cork Flooring

Advantages of Cork

Cork is more than 50 percent air which makes it lightweight as well as a natural sound absorber, and it is also because of those properties that cork is as resilient and durable as it is. Cork has excellent insulating properties, making it quite warm underfoot, and the cork itself doesn’t dent, scratch or show grooves easily. Since the bark is harvested every nine years, which yields a large batch of cork, and the trees are not damaged in the process allowing trees to yield multiple crops during their lifetime.

Buy Wicanders Cork Floors

Cork Tile Installation

Cork comes readily available from a variety of manufacturers, and even people with a decent modicum of floor installation knowledge can handle cork and install it with a minimum of complaints. It is always recommended to follow the manufacturer’s instructions if you decide to install it yourself, though we can help by providing a rough outline.

*Read the manufacturer’s installation instructions carefully

*Prep the floor properly. It must be smooth, clean, dry, without bumps, dirt, oil or paint, which could damage the flooring. You can lay cork on a number of different surfaces, including concrete and hardwood. If you have questions, contact the manufacturer for more details.

*Make sure that the cork has had the chance to acclimate to the ambient temperature in the room – we suggest leaving the wood in the room it will be installed in for several days prior to installing it.

*Cork flooring mainly comes in tile form, so you can customize how the tiles look by mixing the types of cork used. Ask your manufacturer if you have questions about the cork tiles you are using.

Removing Cork Floors

Cork is difficult to uninstall, no matter what shortcuts you may take to make the job easier. There are a few things you may want to think about before tearing out your old cork flooring:

*If the tile is firmly attached to the floor and is not coming out easily, you may just want to lay down a new floor over the cork. All you need to do is screw down some masonite or cement board, mud the seams, and install the new flooring on top. This is helpful if you are reflooring your entire house, as the differences in height won’t be apparent.

*When uninstalling cork flooring heat is your best friend. Remove the tile, then scrape any adhesive off the underlay and apply plenty of heat so it will come off easier. If you’re having trouble you can always call your local hardware store and see what tools and materials you need to safely remove your cork flooring.

Maintenance

Cork flooring doesn’t require much in the way of maintenance. The only major upkeep you need to do is sweep it, mop it occasionally, and every year or so resealing it. The best advice we can give for maintenance is to read the manufacturer’s instructions for maintaining your cork.

WHERE TO BUY?

Buy Cork Flooring at Floormall.com

FlooringNow.com recommends that you look at Floormall.com for your cork flooring needs.

They have a monstrous selection and the customer service is superb.

From Wicanders to APC cork floors, they definitely have what you are looking for.

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