Are these products first quality products? My local retailer says they are not because your pricing is so low.

Yes! This is definitely one of our most common questions we receive on a daily basis. The answer is quite simple, YES. Why wouldn’t they be?

Why would stores tell us that?

For some reason this is a scare tactic that some local flooring stores LOVE to use to scare you, the consumer, away from buying online. I’m sure that is works well on some consumers but the majority just don’t fall for it. When I was looking to buy a flat screen TV last year, the BEST BUY salesperson did NOT say that if I purchased it online it would be inferior quality or second grade. I just don’t understand this tactic by local stores, it’s just so obvious. I guess when selling products some business owners throw ethics out the door to keep the lights on.

So why is FloorMall.com cheaper?

As far as our pricing goes, I hope that is obvious also. If not then ask yourself this. Why is Wal-Mart so much cheaper than their competitors? Volume. The sheer volume of flooring that we sell can be staggering for a local retailer. In some cases we sell more flooring in our first hour of business than some retailers sell all month.

Why do you not display pricing on some of your products? Some of your online competitors do!

This has to do with Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP). Some manufacturers are starting to request and require that online dealers advertise a minimum price. Let’s not get this confused with Manufacturers Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP). They are worlds apart. MAP pricing is required where MSRP is suggested. Online sales, whether flooring or electronics, are so massive compared to any one local market it is hard to compete with companies like Floormall.com.

How does it affect Floormall.com to decline to advertise pricing on these products?

It’s simple, we WILL NOT gouge the customer with pricing. To be honest with you, from an industry insider, MAP pricing forces a retailer, local or online to mark up products, in my opinion, in excess of market value. In my opinion it is pure price gouging. We will not partake in overpricing products, EVER. Pricing has to be fair to the consumer. So, when you are shopping on our sites and see this “To accommodate Manufacturers and Local Vendors, we are withholding MAP Pricing for certain Product Lines. Call 888-932-3566 or click here for a custom quote on this product”, you will now know that we are protecting YOU, the consumer from overpaying on your next purchase.

Will I receive a Manufacturer’s Warranty if I buy online?

YES, why wouldn’t you? We hear hundreds of consumers weekly say, “I just left Manufacturer X’s website and they say they will not warranty a product that is bought online”. The real question is, is it legal for manufacturers to limit their warranties based on whom you buy from.

When put that way, it would make some consumers mad.

And rightly so! Will you get a warranty? Yes! Here is why. In 1975 the Federal Government enacted a law called the MAGNUSON-MOSS Warranty ACT. Section 108 of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act addresses this question directly by indicating that:

“Generally, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty.”

Essentially, this means that the provision on your warranty which requires you to buy ONLY from a particular company or a type of company (i.e. online store or brick-and-mortar) as a condition to the use of the warranty is not allowed. Whether your point of purchase was from an online store or a retail establishment, the warranty can be used and applied as intended. You can find it here also: business.ftc.gov/documents/bus01-businesspersons-guide-federal-warranty-law.

Rest assured, we won’t sell you floors without reasonable warranty terms, this is part of our commitment to each and every customer.

Why is there a minimum order requirement?

This question can be a tricky one to be honest with you. It has to do with Shipping damages. Flooring, even though durable once installed can be very fragile during shipping. A great example is Ceramic and Porcelain tiles. Once laid down are virtually indestructible but on a pallet in the back of a semi-truck traveling 2500 miles can break like glass. This is usually NOT the case in orders above 200 sq ft.

Why is that?

When a customer orders 200 sq ft or more of product then the flooring must be banded and strapped to the pallet making the flooring more secure in transit. Anything under 5 boxes is usually shipped via UPS, DHL or FedEx, in single box format. What happens to these I’m sure I do not have to explain. With our volume and number of orders that are possibly under 200 sq ft, we would struggle to handle the damage claims that will definitely occur. We are always looking for new and improved ways to ship our products to our customers and this could possibly change in the future.

Why does my business have to be in a commercially zoned location? I.E. I run my eBay business out of my home. OR I’m a contractor and work out of my truck, can you bring it to my house?

These two question are quite common for us but both have the same answer. It is all about the freight companies. You see, when a freight company picks up your order from one of our warehouses or from the manufacturer they are usually picked up with a 53 foot long semi-truck. This truck will then travel the distance to your home with numerous stops along the way. These same trucks are NOT allowed in residential neighborhoods because of the length and weight of the trucks. Therefore the semi-truck must go to the nearest terminal and freight must be put on a smaller truck that is allowed into your neighborhood.

So this is really about money-saving techniques only possible for certain destinations?

That’s right! With this one extra step you now have extra man hours, fuel and time. With our FREE SHIPPING offer you can see how you must be in a commercially zoned location for us to keep your shipping process simple enough save you thousands on your order.

I just got off the phone with a sale representative and they offered me a special price. They said I have to buy within a certain time frame, like today. Why?

Another great question with an honest answer coming. A lot of our consumers are dumbfounded when we ask them “Are you in the market to purchase today?”. This might be the first time you have heard this and might even think it is an unorthodox way of doing business but we must do this simply to see if you are a serious buyer or in the beginning stages of buying.

How does my buying readiness help save money?

One way this helps us keep low overhead is by saving time. An example is when a customer calls to buy part number CB1211. Our site pricing currently is $4.07 per sq ft. If the customer is in the market to buy 2000 sq ft then we would like to extend a discount and do not mind it if YOU, the consumer ask for a special deal. Its OK!! Here’s where the tricky part comes in. This particular product is NOT a stocking item for us. It is actually sitting in the warehouse of the Manufacturer, essentially making this order a drop shipped order. For us to offer you a deeper discount we now have to make a phone call to request cheaper pricing for your order. As you can imagine we are asked the exact same question from the manufacturers sales rep. “Is the customer going to be purchasing today?”. This is why you may hear “are you in the market to purchase today?”

This whole issue may seem like glorified penny pinching but did you know that debit card swipe fees provide banks with 20 billion dollars annually? And now with the new cap it has been estimated that store owners and consumers will be spared $7 billion. The fee on a $100 transaction will be about 27 cents, which is a far cry from the $1.50 currently being collected. Establishing the new debit card swipe fees has taken more than five years and it looks as if the process will be well worth it.

If you’re looking for a retailer which doesn’t have any swipe fees to speak of, whatsoever, you should turn to FloorMall.com. You can find great hardwood flooring at incredibly low prices, without any of those pesky hidden fees!

This wasn’t a great concern in the good old days of the American frontier, when Nature’s bounty was there for the taking, and there were endless tracts of trees to use for dwellings and sustenance. However, rapid industrialization and explosive population growth have taken their toll – 400 years ago, half of the territory of the lower 48 states was covered in old-growth (also known as primary-growth), virgin forests. Today, only a tenth of those remain, and even they are threatened – 4 out of 5 acres of old forest in the Pacific Northwest are cleared for logging activities. Most of America’s remaining primary-growth forests are in national reserves and on public lands; while this provides a measure of protection, there are many business interests that constantly lobby for access to these resources, both the trees themselves and the minerals underneath; nature conservancy groups are engaged in a constant battle for preservation. Furthermore, protected forest enclaves are often cut off by man-made infrastructure, making it often very difficult or impossible for wildlife to cross from one patch of forest to the other, disrupting natural migration patterns, as well as reproduction.

Fortunately, deforestation both in the United States and other developed countries has stabilized, and even reversed in some cases. Second-growth forests that have risen in place of cleared-out primary forests don’t have the same soil profile and ecological complexity, but they do help fight climate change by sequestering atmospheric carbon, and provide shelter for many species of birds, animals and insects.

The most severe deforestation today occurs in the developing world, such as South America, central Africa and South-East Asia, where large tracts of forest are cleared out to make way for agriculture, or to provide consumers in developed countries with cheap and abundant exotic woods. Indonesia, Brazil and the Congo are particularly afflicted by this problem, with tens of millions of acres of trees felled annually; weak and corrupt governments make it difficult to enact and enforce protections. In total, over 2 billion tons of carbon are added to the atmosphere due to deforestation – more than the combined contribution of all forms of transportation put together.

This is why flooring manufacturers and environmentalists alike have come together to find sustainable solutions for flooring. Recycled particle-board and laminate floors are one way to avoid an impact on forests, but most people don’t find this type of cover nearly as appealing as real wood. For customers who insist on actual hardwood flooring, logging companies have selected and bred species of trees that make for a long-lasting and visually-appealing product, while also growing quickly and being easy to harvest.

Bamboo flooring is a champion in this regard – while technically a grass, bamboo is a very tough and fibrous material, and has been used in East Asia for thousands of years, in housing construction, furniture, everyday items, and even writing implements. Bamboo grows thin and hollow, and can’t be made into a solid plank, but with current technologies, it can be glued together in strips to create engineered floors that last for a very long time. The best-known advantage of bamboo is that it’s also probably the fastest-growing flooring material in existence – up to an astonishing 2 inches an hour, under the right conditions. Compare that with an oak tree, which can take over a century to reach maturity, and bamboo turns out to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Another fast-growing source for flooring is eucalyptus. In truth, “Eucalyptus” is a rather large and diverse genus of trees in the Myrtaceae family, with most people being familiar with only a couple of species. The most widely-used eucalyptus product – the fragrant essential oil – is mostly produced from the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus; while used for timber, this species has poor lumber qualities and is difficult to process. However, logging companies have, in recent years, developed Lyptus – a hybrid of two eucalyptus species (E. grandis and E. urophylla) – which is a flooring manufacturer’s dream. It grows extremely fast, for a tree – in the right conditions, a Lyptus plantation turns over in 5-6 years. The wood is dense, uniform and close-grained; it’s versatile, easy to process and is, in many ways, superior to mahogany. Lyptus is a great innovation that can satisfy customer demand for low-cost, quality hardwood floors, while helping preserve rainforests.

There are many second-growth forests that can be safely harvested for flooring in the United States, as well – Appalachia boasts large swaths of hardwood forest, with a prevalence of relatively fast-growing Red Oak (Quercus rubra); many flooring companies are based in states such as Kentucky, and control both the logging aspect and manufacture of flooring, in order to make the process easy and cost-effective. The website Wikiflooring.com goes into great detail about the various wood species used to make hardwood floors, their properties, ease of care and sustainability rating.

There is a number of non-governmental organizations that help track logging to make sure that old-growth, unsustainably harvested wood isn’t being passed off as environmentally-friendly. The most prominent of these groups is the Forest Stewardship Council; founded in 1993, the group incorporates both environmental advocates and industry representatives, and attempts to use market-friendly methods in order to promote sustainable logging. FSC runs a certification program for organizations that conduct inspections; FSC floors are guaranteed to be grown, logged and sourced without causing loss of primary-growth forests worldwide.

After the wood is logged, it is then shipped to be processed at a plant. This is another area where the customer can research their impact on the environment. Most fast-growing wood is raised on plantations in warm climates, with South America being one of the leading producers. Wood sourced in North America typically comes from slower-growing species. However, costs and carbon emissions incurred during transportation are also an important factor. Many American flooring companies, such as Somerset, also control the entire chain of production – they’re headquartered near forests where timber is logged, and have manufacturing and milling facilities nearby, so the logs only need to be transported a short distance before they can be processed. Since timber is mostly processed as close to the logging site as possible, in order to avoid shipping material that will be sawed off and discarded anyway, domestically-sourced wood indirectly provides jobs for American mill workers.

Modern technology has made it possible to saw a log extremely efficiently, using every part of the round to make various construction materials. The photo that accompanies this article is a sculpture by Swiss artist Vincent Kohler, showing all the different profiles and thicknesses of boards that are obtained by sawing a typical round log. The boards can then either be machined down to a solid hardwood plank, or be cut into strips to make engineered floorboards. One of the advantages of engineered boards is that the multi-layered construction varies the direction of the wood grain, which in turn makes the boards more resilient and resistant to deformation from the effects of heat or water.

The flooring market has recently seen another revolution – the advent of Internet marketing. Previously, the customer would need to go to a brick-and-mortar store to buy flooring, but today, they can browse much larger selections online without leaving their home. Online retailers can also provide great deals on engineered and solid hardwood floors, due to their lack of overhead costs associated with maintaining a physical store. On the Internet, it’s also much easier to instantly find information about the provenance of any given hardwood flooring line, its sustainability and environmental credentials. For example, Floormall.com has an entire section, Floormall University, which explains the difference between hardwood engineered and solid flooring, as well as a primer on “green flooring” and some of the alternatives to hardwood.

With myriad options available to today’s consumer, it’s possible to buy hardwood floors that are cheaper and more environmentally-friendly than ever before.

With many Floormall facilities based in Virginia, the company is trying to make sure that orders and deliveries on hardwood flooring and other types of floors are processed as speedily as possible under the circumstances.

You can receive FloorMall’s newsletter via the sign-up at the bottom of every page of their site.

Also, in celebration of the holiday FloorMall has added 8 special products to the top selling section of their homepage.

The writers here at Flooring Now wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Hand-scraped floors have gained a following in recent years, and it’s not difficult to see why – the texture of a hand-processed floor plank is much more expressive and interesting than that of a flat, machined one. Sunlight plays on the delicate grooves, adding a sophisticated roughness and unpredictability to the floor. It’s a texture that you just want to feel with your bare feet.

In addition to the hand-made aesthetic, Virginia Vintage floors also incorporate 50 years’ worth of Anderson technological know-how, including their exclusive Luster-Lock® Ultra finish, which preserves the organic and warm surface of the wood while offering serious protection against erosion, moisture and other damage – there’s a reason these floors are covered by a 25-year warranty.

If you want a home that breathes with individuality and a personal touch, Virginia Vintage floors from Floormall are at your disposal.

We’re going to use the flooring for our living/dining room and possibly into the hallway too.

Was the delivery of your flooring smooth and satisfactory?

Yes, the delivery was so easy. They were fast, and I was notified of the time of delivery. Then the driver called when he was near my house to let me know.

What did you do to secure your win in the contest?

I enter lots of contests and giveaways. I find that doing the extra entries that most people offer pays off.

Would you order more of this kind of flooring?

I might consider buying more in the future. For now we have enough to do the main area of our home, which is just what we needed.

Do you have any plans of installing more flooring in your home?

Yes, we are hoping to replace our kitchen flooring in the next year or so.

Would you be interested in purchasing more products from FloorMall in the future?

Yes, I had a great experience with FloorMall, and I will definitely check them out when we’re ready to make more flooring purchases.

Have you found an installer for the flooring yet? If so, did you find one on FloorMall.com?

We’re going to install the flooring ourselves.

Do you think by closely following DearCrissy.com that you had an advantage?

Yes, I think that already following DearCrissy.com helped. Her blog is one of the many I have in my Google Reader, and every few days I go through and sign up for giveaways that I’m interested in. 

Lastly, could you tell us a bit more about yourself and the blog you run?

I am a stay at home mom to a lovable 4 year old boy. I have been blogging for over 3 years, and I’ve been running a review blog for over a year now. I do reviews and giveaways at http://psmomreviews.blogspot.com. I feature family friendly products. It’s a fun hobby and something that I love doing. I’ve also made some great friends through the blogging community.

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

Are you sliding on your floors, even though you don’t want to?   Some floors become tilted due to earthquakes and settling.   Test your floors by carefully placing a tennis ball in several parts of the room.   If the ball rolls, there’s a tilt, and you can call in an expert to give you an evaluation.  They may have to level off your floors by jacking them up with concrete pylons.  This may sound horrendous but it’s not usually that bad.  Watch your roof though — some timbers become bowed up do the pressure.  Once your floor is level you will probably have to put some new flooring in.  Take a look at the floormall.com website and it can show you the wide variety that’s available.

Your subfloors need to be smooth and glue and nail free if you’re putting in some flooring.  Scrape off any old bumpy products and sweep them up.  Test the level of it by using the old tennis ball again.  Make sure that you have the proper adhesive or nails and the proper underlayment if required.  There’s new bamboo flooring out that snaps together and it already has attached cork backing to cushion your steps.  That’s one easy floor to lay down for the do-it-yourselfer.  Bamboo flooring is a great and very renewable flooring because it grows so fast and it’s not a tree.  Be careful of using a small office chair with hard wheels on it, because you can dent it.  A chair mat is a very easy solution.  There are all kinds of bamboo flooring options at floormall.com.

Old houses often settle quite a bit due to age.  Most of the time there’s not a problem but if you feel like it’s happening a lot you can get a professional to come out and evaluate your “tilt factor”.  Flooring choices depend on several factors.  If you want a cushiony feel then you may not want tiles.   If you want carpet, make sure that no-one in the family is allergic, as well as knowing how to clean it.  How many people walk around on which room’s floor every day, and how often.  It’s not easy to pass by the general versatility of real hardwood floors.   Take a look at some of the gorgeous colors and types of woods they show on floormall.com’s site.

Today, we can choose whatever we fancy in the way of flooring.  Materials can be imported from most any area of the world.  There’s exotics like Tigerwood or Mahogany, renewable resources like bamboo, beautiful marble and granite and manmade linoleum (part of which is often recycled), plus almost anything else you can think of. Some floors are made from polished concrete or glass.  Now, the latter is enough to make you dizzy because it seems like you are walking on air!  If you want to keep your feet on the ground, take a look at the floormall.com website and choose from some of the hundreds of different kinds of flooring they list for your shopping pleasure.

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Real antique hardwood can also be reclaimed.  There are barns in the country and even reclaimed or recycled lumber and hardware stores and lots.  People here take old wood that has a lot of life left in it and make it smooth and even and of a fairly consistent size, then sell it to people wanting the genuine article.  There are even companies that recycle timber which has been sunken at the bottom of a lake or river for a hundred years or more.  This is in logging areas that have usually been abandoned.  This wood has a beautiful sheen and texture to it because it’s been underwater.  A homeowner can install this wood into their homes and know that it is really old, and that it will add a fantastic look to their modern or period home.  At floormall.com they have a body of knowledge which anyone can access, and it has many tips on flooring and related products.

If you are refinishing your own hardwood floors, it’s good to see what thickness remains so you don’t find yourself buffing through to the back of the planks, and maybe even see daylight coming through!  If there’s enough thickness left for buffing and if you don’t own a floor buffer, then renting one is a great option.  After buffing and smoothing then you can seal and apply stain in the proper sequence and then finish as appropriate.  You may have a damaged section of flooring that needs replacing and this can be a little trickier.  Perhaps you have some saved sections of the flooring and then you can replace the damaged part, buff off and then re-stain the entire floor etc.  Check out what stain you want at floormall.com, as well as a huge selection of different hardwoods if you need to redo your entire floor.

Any which way you look at it, old floors, whether real or created, add ambience to any type of home.  Of course, you may decide on an entirely new type of floor for a brand new look.  See what floormall.com has to offer — and they have professional installers as well as all of the materials you could ever need!

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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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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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 If your floor or floors are in disrepair then Summer fun plans may have to be put on hold.  Starting your renovation or floor repair now will get it done in plenty of time for barbecues and outdoor parties.  Hardwood flooring repairs can be as simple as renting a sander, buffing the old finish and scratches out of your floor, and then resealing.  Your flooring has to have a few years of life left in it for this to happen, though.  You can’t refinish what’s not there.  Floors must be made from solid hardwood and not be engineered, for you to be able to sand them.  Good hardwood flooring can be refinished several times.  Poor quality maybe only once.  If you have a period home then the floors are probably quite thick and you’ll do just fine refinishing them.  Grab some free advice from floormall.com and you can see what you may need to buy for your project.

Perhaps there are a few planks that have become damaged in your hardwood floors.  When hardwood flooring is first installed it’s always a good idea to save some pieces of the wood.  Of course, if your house was built a couple of centuries ago, that’s not going to happen.  If you have had your home built, or put in a hardwood floor recently, then  replacing those few planks is pretty easy.  Basically, you have to pry up the damaged ones, cut the new ones to size and then glue and nail them down.  All old glue and nails or staples have to be removed.  Refinishing with a stain and sealer can be a little tricky because it has to be matched and integrated into the old floor.  Some stores can color match stains and paint, because computers are used, so check that concept out if you don’t have a can of the old stain in your garage or shed. 

If you are going to be installing or have installed, an entire room of hardwood flooring, then the choices are many.   Do you have hardwood floors throughout your home or just in this one room?  If you have other rooms with floors like this and if there’s a room separation (perhaps this room has tiles etc.) then there shouldn’t be any problems.  If this room where you are installing or replacing the hardwood in butts up against another hardwood floor, then you may want to get as close to that one’s color and type of wood as you can.  If you have to match hardwoods with another floor, then look online at floormall.com and you can find hardwood flooring of all types.  You’ll be able to match up your old floors that way. 

Whatever way you go, hardwood flooring is an enduring, warm, durable and extremely attractive flooring choice.  Along with stone and ceramic tiles, it’s been around for a very long time.

Shaw Floors Brushed Suede Parchment is a lovely color and it’s done in an engineered hickory real wood.  Installation is by floating (snap it together) or nail or staple gun and/or glue.  If you need any installation tips, floormall.com has a ton of great info on just about anything to do with flooring.  The finish on these planks is ScufResist and the name says it all.  This is a great flooring for a family room or perhaps a breakfast area that leads out to the patio.  Keep your floors looking great throughout many Summers of backyard activity!  The width is a sturdy 4.5″ and it’s .5″ thick and there’s 18.30 square feet per box.

Shaw Floors Brushed Suede Buckskin is a gorgeous color.  As the name suggests, it evokes memories of Westerns and soft leather and cowboy boots.  Of course, it would look great in any style of home.  The planks are made from engineered hickory and they will install via a floating method (click and lock) or with a nail gun, staple gun and/or glue.  If you need any info on installation or about any other flooring topic, check out floormall.com and their “university” section.  You can get a real education there.  The finish on this flooring is ScufResist so it’s wonderful for those high traffic areas of your home, and the width of the planks is 4.5″, with a .5″ thickness and there’s 18.30 square feet per box.

Shaw Floors Brushed Suede Fedora is the most wonderful shade of soft grey.  It does remind you of those old films with detectives, in their fedora hats, taking on the case of a beautiful woman.  The color and style would really suit your home, no matter what era it’s from.  The planks are engineered Hickory and the finish is ScufResist.  You can use this flooring in a which traffic area such as a busy library or perhaps the family or media room.  Installation is by floating method (snap in) or via nail gun, stapler, and/or glue.  The planks are a hefty 4.25″ wide by .5″ thick and there’s 18.30 square feet per box.  Check out floormall.com if you need any help with installation or just have some questions.  Rent an old Humphrey Bogart movie and give an occasional glance to your new Brushed Suede Fedora floors as you sit on the coach, eat popcorn, and watch the movie!

Shaw Floors Brushed Suede Bison is a wonderful color for your new floor.  It’s made from engineered Hickory and the installation is by floating floor (snap it in) or by nail gun, stapler, and/or glue.  The finish is ScufResist so it will take the wear and tear of a family room.  The width is a nice 4.25″ and the thickness is a solid .5″.  These are not flimsy planks.  There’s 18.30 square feet in a box.   Seek out any help you need, or ask any questions you’d like, from floormall.com.

View more Shaw Flooring Products Here

Mohawk Rivermont Cherry Oak Strip is the most beautiful cherry color you’ll find in flooring.  This one is oak, and applied by means of nails or staples.  The finish is Aluminum Oxide and the planks are 2.25″ wide by .75″ thick.  There’s 18.25 square feet per box.  This would make an absolutely beautiful floor in your period or contemporary home.  If you’re library or den or dining room needs a new floor, then this could be the one.  If you need any advice on installation or finding a professional installer, then take a look at floormall.com.  They will be able to answer any of your questions, especially if you look through their university section.  It’ll be a great, instant education!

Mohawk Maple Ridge Ginger 2 ¼” is a superior flooring plank that’s made from solid maple and applied by means of a nail gun.  If you aren’t experienced at using nail guns then you can seek advice, or round up a professional installer at floormall.com.  The finish on these planks is Aluminum Oxide and the color is just gorgeous.  This type of flooring was used back in Colonial days so if you have a period home, then this would be the flooring to look at.  It’s 2.25″ wide by ¾” thick, so there’s plenty enough would for several rounds of sanding and buffing and re-staining.  This floor will last for generations.  There’s 18.25 square feet in a box and they do have matching accessories which you may purchase, such as baseboards an molding.

Mohawk Pastiche Uniclic Cherry Oak is as its name suggests — one click and it’s installed!   What could be easier?  It’s an engineered real wood product and the finish is Aluminum Oxide.  If you are looking for an easy install, then this one is absolutely worth a look.  If there’s more advice you need or just a few facts, then floormall.com’s university section will be able to answer any of your questions or concerns.  The width of these planks is 3.25″ and the thickness is 3/8″.  There’s plenty in a box at 29.25 square feet per.

Mohawk Hand-Sculpted Santa Barbara Saddle Oak evokes that beautiful small Spanish-themed city of Santa Barbara, right on the Pacific ocean.  This city has a huge range of homes from luxurious mansions to charming craftsman-style cottages and period Victorians.  Merchant seamen used to bring cargo loads of flooring into the harbor of Santa Barbara, and many large homes at the time overlooked the sea.   If you’d like to redo a few floors in your own home, then this engineered hickory flooring may be just the ticket.  You can install it by way of a nail or staple gun, and glue may also be used along with that.  Any advice needed on any kind of flooring topic, may be easily gotten from floormall.com.  The finish on these planks is Aluminum Oxide and they are a hefty (and very period looking ) 5″ wide by .5″ thick and there’s 19.69 square feet per box.  This flooring will last for many generations.

     If you are looking for some exotic flooring but don’t know quite what to go for, or what the prices and availability might be, then check out floormall.com.  They have a wide variety of flooring that will suit just about anyone.  Armstrong has a fantastic (and exotic) Global Exotic Brazilia Tigerwood floor, which is an engineered floor that’s 4-3/4″ wide.  As you may know, Brazilia is the capital of Brazil and this title certainly suits the color and style of these planks.  This flooring is dark and rich looking, and made from striped Tigerwood and it requires glue, staples and nail installation, depending on your subfloor of course.  The finish is Dura-Luster Plus and the width is 4.75″.  Thickness is 3/8″ and there 27.9 square feet per box.  If you have any questions  about flooring installation, be sure and look at floormall.com’s university section, where you’ll find a wealth of info on most any subject to do with flooring. 

On the other hand, if you like a lighter kind of flooring, there’s always Armstrong’s Global Exotic Brazilia Taupe engineered planks, which are also 4.75″ wide so the look is nice and sturdy.  You can compare colors and styles at floormall.com on this, and the other Armstrong floor types.  This taupe color is somewhat lighter than the other Tigerwood species, but it also has a Dura-Luster Plus finish for durability and the installation is the same — glue, nails and staples, depending on your subfloor.  There’s also 27.9 square feet to a box so it’ll cover a nice portion of your floor.

If you are looking for Mahogany, then floormall.com has that too, in the usual high quality of Armstrong.  Their Global Exotic Natural African Mahogany, in the 4.75″ wide engineered planks, is fantastic and would be superior looking in a library or den or period home.  The species of tree is an African Mahogany  and installation is glue, nail and staple, or a combo.  The thickness is hefty at 3/8″ and there’s the Dura-Luster Plus finish to protect your floors and keep them looking great for many years.  At 27.9 square feet in a box, you’ll be able to finish up your floors in no time. 

Armstrong’s Grecian Series American Cherry is deep and rich and warm looking.  The finish is Aluminum Oxide and at 36.62 square feet per box you’ll be able to complete your floors with just a few boxes.  This engineered flooring is installed by means of glue. Nail, staples or just clicked together, because it can be a floating floor as well.  The width is 3-9/16″ and the thickness is 13/32″.  If you need help in installing this lovely flooring, or just have a few questions, then check out floormall.com and their interesting and comprehensive section and the university pages.

Today’s bamboo flooring, for instance, is both attractive, very “green”, and wears well. If you have a pathway in your room, with newly laid down bamboo, it doesn’t hurt to protect against some of the “hard knocks” of life, such as children running inside with their sport shoes on, or large dogs playing, etc. If you have bamboo in a new office, and are using a small-wheeled office chair, for instance, protecting the area behind your desk protects the floor from dent marks if your large uncle Charlie visits and sits in that chair. Even the very sturdy hardwood or tile floors are protected from moisture after Summer pool parties, and some of the smaller area rugs are very easy to both air and dry out, and keep clean. They are also an anti-slip agent for the wet feet of little ones. If you are considering putting down a good quality of wood but are unsure about how to do it, free information can be found at the floormall.com university.

Choosing an area rug is really about two things — do you like it, and does it compliment your flooring and home? As there are so many floor colors, so are there colors of carpeting and rugs. Bamboo flooring, for instance, especially if it’s that lovely darker caramelized color (check out the many variations of bamboo flooring at floormall.com), takes well to a lighter tan carpeting with a nice border. Something in a natural pattern would be great and would suit the theme and airiness of bamboo. If you have a darker hardwood or laminate floor, a richer-toned color for your area rug will suit you. If there’s just a pathway through the room or an area in front of a sofa, for instance, then a carpet runner will be perfect. Many runners are regular area rugs, that is, no more of that indoor/outdoor weave in a solid bright blue or dark green. You can get that still, but it would probably not be for your living room.

All in all, pick out what type and color of flooring you need to install and take a look at floormall.com for inspiration, knowledge and supplies, then after it’s been laid down, grab an area rug or two and your new room or rooms will be finished off perfectly!

Independence Day is coming up in just a few months and you may want to start planning those parties and celebrations.  Besides the usual decorations and food, invitations and such, take a quick look at the floors in your home that may need renewal, refurbishing, or renovation.  Family rooms, certainly kitchens, patios and dens, basements and great rooms — all could be involved in the big July bash.  A site that can help you plan, or just learn about new innovations in flooring, is at floormall.com.  They also, besides the free advice, have a lot of information on ordering flooring materials and getting hold of a professional flooring installer, if you need one of those to help you out.

Because July is a big barbecue month, how does your patio look?  Are the stone or ceramic tiles chipped or cracked or faded?  Natural flagstones and other stone flooring, or even patterned or colored concrete, looks great as the decking for a patio.  It does need some maintenance and often, a few repairs are all that’s needed.  Perhaps the carpeting in your family room is past the point of no return and your kids can see themselves in the shiny linoleum underneath it.  Maybe a good flooring of real hardwood, engineered hardwood or a high quality laminate would serve you well in that area.  At floormall.com they have so many types of wood planks and also bamboo (a great flooring that can be easy to install) that the only choice could be what color and when can I get it installed?

Your kitchen may be in good shape or poor, but there are lots of things you can do to either refresh, or replace it.  If the real wood is scarred or dull, then stripping, buffing and then re-staining would make it look wonderful again.  Perhaps a new piece of the modern and eco-friendly linoleum would be a simple and durable solution?  Have you considered ceramic tiles or even porcelain tiles in there?  If you go to floormall.com and see what they have for your kitchen, then check out the handy info on their floormall.com university.  It’s free, and extremely informative.

Finally, don’t forget the guest bathroom!  It may be a small area, but all of the people at your party will be taking a look at the floor at one time or another.  Natural stone tiles look great in a bathroom and using larger ones, usually 18 inches by 18 inches, and laying them diagonally, will increase the space visually.  Take a quick look at floormall.com and perhaps a manufacturer has a small run of tiles which can be bought a little cheaper.  You won’t need many for a normal-sized bathroom.  Subway (ceramic) tiles can be used, plus even vinyl tiles (some look like real stone tiles).  Vinyl tiles could be a quick and easy fix and along with a vase of fresh floors, and some new towels and a shower curtain, the bathroom will be spa-like and ready for all of your guests. 

Hardwood Flooring

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

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’.

 It could be your innermost desire to get a literally green floor by St. Patrick’s Day (thin green paint or stain over an old hardwood floor, for instance), but by green we mean a new floor that is environmentally friendly and renewable.  These days, getting a wonderful new floor installed or perhaps making it a DIY project, is easier than ever.  Floormall.com has great resources like a university (full of knowledge about flooring), a blog, and an online mall where there are hundreds of flooring options available.  Spring is  the season of renewal.  Why not let it apply to the flooring, or even one room, of your home?

Green Flooring at Floormall.com

A hot and very green flooring resource these days is bamboo.  This is a fantastic product in the looks department, and knowing that it is made from an extremely fast growing variety of grass, and produced by farmers on land in China (therefore enabling many people to get jobs), is a real A plus in the flooring material arena.  Floormall.com can show you photos of the planks and installations, in the several colors that bamboo flooring comes in.  The natural light color is super in an urban loft type of room and the caramelized variations offer a warmer and yet somewhat darker option.  There are even types of bamboo planks that have strip variations and these may offer a designer touch, and an exotic one as well.  Bamboo needs a certain type of glue to stick it down on concrete and although it does snap together, there are more complicated installation methods than laminate, with this flooring.  You can do it yourself but it takes elbow grease and flooring pros may be called for.  It depends on what you’d like to do. 

Green Floors at Floormall.com

Any type of recycled flooring is a green option of course.  Barn wood makes superior and antique looking flooring.  If you are so lucky as to be close to or friends with a farmer who has an aged barn that needs removing, then that’s a good source for these beautiful planks.  It all needs planing down, sanding then sealing to a uniform thickness and length.  Some places specialize in this if you don’t have the expertise or time to do it.  Floormall.com can give you more info on recycled lumber and also some places to look for it, and possible installers as well.  Real hardwood flooring is a bit harder to install than laminate, but it lasts a long time and depending on thickness, can be re-sanded and refinished several times.

Perhaps the best thing about shopping online at Floormall.com for your “green” flooring needs is the fact that you are not polluting the environment by driving all over town (or even the next city) to look at samples of flooring in various retail outlets.  You can compare looks and use and prices online.  No gas usage, no wearing out of shoe soles, no stress and no need to buy a disappointing lunch at a food court somewhere.  This mall will only help you, not hurt your wallet or waistline.

 Buy Flooring Online at Floormall.com

Spring will soon be upon us and often, besides the usual thoughts on Spring, homeowners may be considering a Spring cleaning of their own for one or several floors of their home.  If your knowledge about flooring is, shall we be kind, poor at best, then there’s a solution for that at the floormall.com university.  In the comfort of your own home you can browse through many useful categories.  How do you install a bamboo floor?  Is your budget low and you need to get a few bargains in the flooring area?  Their 5% discount will surely help with that.  What the heck is colored grout, and where do you use it?  Can I lay down some nice floors myself?  What if I need a professional floor installer to do it?  How do I know they will do a good job?  All of these answers and more will be found at Floormall.com and the university they have online.

When I get the hardwood floors installed or do them myself, what if the dog tracks in that sticky Spring mud?  Do I get the mop and soap out and lather detergent all over the hardwood?  No!  Do you want your real woods floors to end up looking like a roller coaster?   Once you get hold of your flooring, you need to find out how to take care of it.  There are so many methods for the various types, that taking a few notes and giving the floormall.com website and their university of knowledge a good looking over, is well worth it.  How do you lay those gorgeous, but teeny colored glass mosaic tiles on your backsplash?  Don’t they take forever to put on behind your counters?  These types of tiles come on a net-backed sheet and they are actually quite easy to  get up there.  You can even pop a few off the backing and replace them with other colors, to give your backsplash a custom look.

For your floors, tiles have to be studied as to their usage and wear, and size and color and direction of placement.  What about natural stone tiles, or ceramic, or unglazed, or carpet tiles?  Some of us may have been unaware of the latter.  These are exceptionally useful kinds of floor coverings for a family room.  Spill some finger paint or coffee on one?  Whip it up and replace it in ten seconds.  No problemo.  Your money is hard earned these days.  Check out some fantastic tips and bargains and varieties of flooring at floormall.com.  They won’t charge you to look and browse to your heart’s content..

Buy Flooring today at Floormall.com

BR-111 floors consistnely stand at the apex of the industry. BR-111 specializes in producing high quality, prefinished, BR111 exotic flooring. And in only fifteen years the company has become a leader in that area. BR111’s exotic floors is the largest flooring operation in South America and the largest supplier of exotic hardwood flooring to the United States. BR111 floor company has risen to this prominent spot in the flooring industry by not resting on its laurels and always finding an innovative approach to produce flooring. This is an aspect that FloorMall shares with BR111 because they realize it’s not enough to offer great products at low prices but that it is also necessary to provide great BR111 hardwood floor information with each purchase.

FloorMall has always offered the very best in flooring and in product lines. They carry product lines from many of the most respected brands in the industry. What sets them apart however, is the way that they work with their customers to educate them about every purchase. FloorMall realizes how intimidating the search for hardwood flooring can be and they’ve positioned themselves to do everything they can to help. FloorMall encourages everyone who is interested in learning more about the hardness and durability of wood to visit one of their Janka hardness rating themed sites.

It is with great excitement that Floormall.com announces it will now be offering BuildDirect.com flooring products to customers in the residential and commercial markets. Currently, BuildDirect.com deals primarily in pallet and truck load orders.  Floormall.com will now be listing those products at affordable prices and fulfilling all under-pallet orders.  This strategic alliance between two of the most successful online floor covering businesses illustrates the commitment by both companies to provide consumers more choices in an ever changing market.

  “The market is just changing. Customers don’t want to spend a month driving to twenty different shops to see who has what. We simplify it for them. Put all the products in one place, give them knowledgeable customer service to answer their questions, and save them money. It only makes sense for the two biggest Internet Flooring Retailers to communicate and be of like minds.” – Marc Henderson CEO and founder Floormall.com

The addition of lines like BuildDirect’s Yanchi Bamboo and Lamton and Toklo laminates which offer customers an affordable, premium quality laminate flooring  add  to Floormall.coms’ already impressive catalog of products. 

“We are very excited about this arrangement with Floormall because consumers who are not able to meet BuildDirect’s minimum order requirement now have a place to buy our quality, proprietary brands in smaller quantities.” – Jeff Booth President and CEO, BuildDirect.com

In these trying economic times you shouldn’t have to sacrifice quality for savings.  Visit Floormall.com today to see how you can have both quality and savings on your new floor.

Tigerwood is an excellent choice for the environment as well. With certification from the FSC – the Forest Stewardship Council – Tigerwood has a record of being less strenuous on the Brazilian neotropical forests it is harvested from. This moderation, of course, means preservation of the Earth’s natural resources.

As appealing to the eye as Tigerwood may be, in truth it may be the durability that leads the customer to decorate their home with this remarkable wood. Tigerwood is incredibly durable, with a Janka rating ranging between 1700 and 1900. It also boasts a natural resistance to both decay and insects, making it preferable for outdoor use. Even before preservation methods, the lifespan extends well past twenty years. This only reinforces the sense that this is a perfect choice for long-lasting beauty, inside and out.