March 2007 Archives

Here are some ads for some brands that are sold internationally. I just thought it was interesting to see who was advertising and what the brands that were being developed around the world. There were lots more ads, but I just selected a few that caught my attention.

I am going to leave a few more photos online here.

I am behind on posting, my schedule is tight here.

But in my quest to post some photos from the show continues. Below I have pasted some interesting looks that are being produced by a very innovative supplier. They are smart to try and make a different market approach.

Whew, my feet hurt.

I saw many many companies today. Some folks we have dealt with for years and years and I even met some new companies today.

I also some some interesting things in the bamboo category which should find their way to the US in the future.

For now I will upload some photos since I have more meetings to goto and I am going to be late! Some interesting things to see for sure!

Well I landed in Shanghai about 10 hours ago, got a quick nap and now it's almost time to goto work.

I am here attending the Domotex China show to meet with flooring professionals from around the world. This flooring show is in the Shanghai area and I will snap some photos from time to time to keep you in the loop.

Here are a couple photos from my other trips to Shanghai. (plus a blurry one from 6:00am on Wednesday the 28th).

A quick note:

Always use walk off mats at your doorways. Both the outside the door and inside the door should have little walk off mats to make sure that you protect and preserve your floors!

This is a simple tip - but I can tell you it is SO critical to help maintain your floors.

There are so many wannabes in the flooring business. One recent failure is the group known as Floors Today (orginally started as Laminate Kingdom.)

Very smart guys running it, but they lost their focus I guess. They were so successful in the UK and I think overall had a brilliant vision.

The operation went from zero to 60 stores in about 18 months and from 60 stores to zero stores in about 6-9 months after that.

There are alot of great people that worked there, but the model was broken.

We took a look to see if the stores were worth acquiring, but at the end of the day the baggage was far too onerous. Plus the product that was in stock didn't pass our minimum needs in terms of quality.

DON'T GET LIQUIDATED!

Recently the stores have reopened to liquidate their remaining stock for whatever price. I would be sure that you are using anything you get from them in an area that you need a low price, but don't need to worry about long term aspects of durability.

Additionally we noticed a liquidation place started selling a bunch of stuff from this chain including cheap bamboo etc... Cheap yes, quality - not so much. When we evaluated the product about 2 months ago it was not something I was willing to risk at any price. As always - BUYER BEWARE!

Some of the news about this:

Customers Getting Ticked
Staff Getting Even
Courts Getting it through Bankruptcy

From The Miami Herald:

Floors Today stumbles over growth, ends up in bankruptcy

A Miami flooring product retailer's plan to go nationwide hit a road bump, leaving a trail of creditors. The company has landed in bankruptcy court.

BY PATRICK DANNER

HYPERLINK "mailto:pdanner@MiamiHerald.com"pdanner@MiamiHerald.com

Two years ago, a European investor group launched Floors Today from Miami with the goal of creating a nationwide retailer of hardwood and laminate flooring.

Floors Today opened about 60 stores before it ran into trouble.

Last month Floors Today turned over its assets in Miami-Dade Circuit Court to a representative, Byron Smyl, who said he planned to sell the company as a going concern.

Last week, Smyl temporarily closed Floors Today's remaining 23 stores, including eight in South Florida, to save cash. A day later, three creditors initiated an involuntary bankruptcy against the chain, putting the state court on hold.

When they closed, the stores employed fewer than 200 people.

Floors Today was started in early 2005 by the management team that built Floors-2-Go into the largest retailer of hardwood and laminate flooring in Britain. They sold that business, then 102 stores, for about $65 million, Smyl said.

It has 140 stores today, according to its website.

A supplier later approached the team -- led by Robert Hodges and sons Robert and Richard -- about launching a similar retail chain in the United States.

Floors Today planned to follow Floors-2-Go's growth model and open as many as 300 stores, all in rapid succession, in the United States, according to an outline filed with a 2005 lawsuit against Floors Today by a consultant firm. The case was later dismissed.

According to court documents in a 2006 lawsuit against Floors Today filed by a former employee, it opened about 60 stores with estimated annual sales of $70 million. That lawsuit also was dismissed.

Smyl said Floors Today got pinched by the downturn in the housing industry, though he added he hasn't analyzed what was behind the company's problems.

Creditors' lawyer Gary Freedman said it appears Floors Today overexpanded and ran into cash-flow problems.

Lawsuits filed by suppliers and others against Floors Today, whose parent company is Laminate Kingdom, began piling up early last year.

Some even took the step of filing writs of garnishment, seeking money in Floors Today's bank accounts.

With the number of creditors mounting, Floors Today filed the assignment for the benefit of creditors. The filing lists more than 650 creditors -- owed at least $19 million.

At the time of the filing, Floors Today had 37 stores remaining in four states. Fourteen stores were immediately closed before the decision was made to temporarily close the remaining 23 stores.

Freedman filed the involuntary bankruptcy to maneuver the case into U.S. Bankruptcy Court where, he said, creditors have greater say.

He said before the state court action, the Hodges were provided a security interest valued at $320,000. Creditors can seek to void any garnishments and other transactions in the 90 days leading up to the bankruptcy, he said.

The involuntary bankruptcy was filed by three media companies, including The Miami Herald Media Co. Freedman said he will ask the court to appoint a trustee to oversee the business while it is in bankruptcy. A hearing on that request is set for Wednesday.

In the meantime, Smyl said everyone is in a wait-and-see position.

''Everybody's hoping the stores can come back and the company can be restructured,'' Smyl said

copyright Miami Herald

After the sales team beat me down to offer the financing this week the marketing group has decided to take a page from their book and compelled me to do a radio spot.

We'll see if it actually makes it to air. If it does I will paste it up on the blog here for fun.

I am not sure what most people think of when they hear the phrase harmonized tariff, but it will mean higher prices to US consumers.

For whatever reason the new duty system that has recently been introduced by US Customs is aimed at collecting more money from imported products. In flooring many items in the past have been exempt from duty, but some have had duties imposed in the range of 3%-15% depending on their classification.

Many items like bamboo flooring have been duty free, but the current view is that bamboo will now face an import duty under the new tariff. Actually it is not really clear what the position about bamboo is, but the direction appears to be towards adding a duty.

So although this topic may seem irrelevant to you now, as you watch prices increase in the next 3-9 months on flooring you will know that your government is collecting more duty than ever before.

(I don't even know where the duty $$ goes!)

Just saw some new introductions coming in shortly. It is going to be a very busy spring.

Keep you eyes peeled for some new items coming in over the next 2-4 weeks. Very cool stuff.

I got a recent email from a customer who we dropped the ball on. Although rare, when we fail to meet our customer's expectations it always bothers me.

It is like getting punched in the gut. Some friends in other businesses tell me I take it too personally, but I ask them how can I NOT take it personally? It doesn't matter that I only get one of these for about every 800 orders we get or that the effusively happy customer emails typically out number the butt kicking email by 100 to 1. It still hurts.

As I often say during training: "Even if we maintain our 0.5% fail ratio which is VASTYLY superior to the rest of the industry; for the folks that fall into that tiny ratio it feels like 100% to them." It is personal to them. Working with people's homes is a very big responsiblity.

The good news is once we get the wake up call we need we have a superlative group that I refer to as our "Customer Rescue Club." They are brilliant! True empathy is the hallmark of this extraordinary group. Empathy combined with absolute commitment to rescuing our customers is the way the CRC lives everyday.

The CRC is such a core part of our commitment that I can't imagine my life without them.

Wide planks in any format flooring are cool.

The wide plank look in laminate, hybrids and vinyl are fine, but the really cool stuff is the wide plank handscraped bamboo or the stunning hand crafted looks in Woodstock Hardwood.

In the next couple days and weeks we will be receiving some special wide plank exotics in brazilian cherry, tigerwood, brazilian walnut and amendiom. Thay are going to fly out the door. Keep your eyes peeled! This super secret product comes from sustainable forest sources and is really awesome stuff.

The demand just keeps going up!

We have one of our largest days in history recently and the bandwidth graph is a good illustration of that. Notice that we were maxing out at more than 10Mbts per second which is about 7 - T1 lines running full blast!

I am happy to announce that since we were hitting our head on the 10Mega bits we have now increased that ceiling to 100Mega Bits to make sure your surfing experience is not compromised!

Ceramic Tile is especially nice to use in bathrooms & other wet areas.

We have a great line at iFLOOR called Casa Tile.

I think the Porcelain tile is particularly nice and at such a great price. 18"x18" Porcelain is often sold in the 5.00-6.00 range so this line is very attractive from a price perspective, but also from a quality and style perspective!

My store folks also tell me that we have this in stock at the following locations:

Los Angeles,CA - 4821 South Eastern Ave. - Bell, CA 90201
Melbourne,FL - 3030 West New Haven Ave. W. - Melbourne, FL 32904
Oakland Park,FL - 3300 NW 9th Ave - Oakland Park, FL 33309
Orlando,FL - 7210 W. Colonial Dr - Orlando, FL 32818
Dalton,GA - 3010 Parquet Rd - Dalton, GA 30720
Houston,TX - 6306 Fairbanks North Houston Road Suite 500 - Houston, TX 77040

Ceramic Tile is beautiful, tough and priced to fit your budget!

If you are like a lot of homeowners you spend a significant part of your day in the kitchen. I find myself usually opening and closing the refrigerator door 10 times per evening. I don’t even know what I am looking for most of the time. The point is that because we spend a lot of time in the kitchen as a people we should have appropriate floor covering for this special area. It is rumored that some actually cook in a kitchen; however, I can’t verify that as fact.

What can you use in a kitchen for your flooring? Well as usual there are a number of situational answers to this question, but I will be general in my response.

You can use hardwood, vinyl, cork, bamboo, laminate, tile, stone, linoleum and other resilient floors.

I hate carpet in a kitchen. Yes hate. Please don’t put carpet in your kitchen. For those laughing at the very notion of this, trust me, it happens. It shouldn’t happen, but it does.

Now you should know that while you can use hardwood and other wooden based products in a kitchen that doesn’t mean they are magically water proof. The general rule for kitchens is that if you get spills or splatters from one source or another go ahead and just wipe them up as they happen.

If you get a slow leak from a sink, dishwasher or ice maker line running to the refrigerator it’s time to call your insurance company. Even vinyl and tile can sustain significant damage related to prolonged exposure to moisture. The hidden moisture is the most dangerous.

The general common sense rules apply to a kitchen. If you have 5 kids, 8 dogs and partridge in a pear tree I suggest you look at tile, vinyl or laminate for your kitchen floor. (I double this recommendation if you are not the best at maintenance: you know who you are.)

Wood, Bamboo, Cork and wooden materials can be very durable in a kitchen especially with proper maintenance.

Ok – those are some basics! I hope it helps.

Well the sales department finally beat me down to offer a Wells Fargo financing plan for 15 months with 0% interest and no payments! DETAILS

That costs alot, which is why I asked them to keep it to just one week! Wells Fargo has an easy online application with a very quick and high approval ratio. They have been a great partner and it is really a great chance to buy now and pay later.

There is always one caveat with these types of great promotional finance offers: PAY IT WITHIN THE TERMS! If you let any part of the bill go past the 15 month term you will get a giant bill for interest on the amounts from the first day of the contract! This is very normal and I think most of us who like these delayed payment options already know this, but I thought it was worth repeating.

I buy most of my big ticket items with this kind of promotional financing. It just feels better to get the big screen now and pay later without paying interest. Maybe it is just me?

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 07:03:05 -0700, Rose wrote
> Hi,
>
> Just wanted you to know that Hannah Carlson went above and beyond the ordinary in helping me get my order delivered on time. By the time it was finished, I felt like we were old friends. What a gem. Your whole operation is first rate in my opinion, very user-friendly, informative, and dependable. Hannah made my whole experience as pain-free as humanly possible.
>
> Thanks to you all.
> Rose

=================================

Rose,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write to us about you experience, especially for your kind words for Hannah.

I must say you're right on the money when you said she was a gem because, in fact, SHE IS!

We're glad that her expertise has created an exceptional experience for you, as she's done for hundreds of our customers. Hannah LOVES customer feedback, and that's why I'm making sure everyone in the company knows about her good deed!

Please let your friends know about the level of service Hannah provided you with on iFLOOR and don't hesitate to drop her name and send people her way.

Thank you very much for your trusting Hannah with your flooring purchase, we appreciate your business

Thank You,
Bernard San Juan III
Training & Workforce Manager
iFLOOR

James,

Thanks for everything! We love the cork flooring. We haven't put it down yet, because we're renovating the area it's going in and don't want to ruin it during the demo/build phase. I did leave a positive review on the site, and already ordered an area rug from iFloor that we love. If we're ever in the market again, your store is the first place we'll look, and we are recommending iFloor to our friends.

Thanks,
Rachel

James,

Thanks a million for the installation photos, it does help to see how it looks in a real setting.

I have to hand it to your sales & marketing dept., I'm in the marketing business myself and iFloor's follow through and follow up is excellent. I visited the local distribution center (Wilmington, DE) as well and the people there were absolutely wonderful to talk to, very knowledgeable and helpful in guiding me in the decision process.

I'm not quite ready to make the purchase, but I know when I do, I'll be
doing business with iFloor.

Thanks!

Pat

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jimmy
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 9:39 AM
Subject: My Experience with iFloor.com

I just wanted to let you know that I am 100% satisfied with my purchase and the way my order was handled by iFloor.com. The Account Manager, Gabriel Alvarez, was very knowledgeable and worked hard to ensure that my order was correct and cost-effective.

I will definitely use iFloor.com again in a few months when I re-do another room in my house.

Regards,

Jimmy

==============================================
Jimmy thanks a lot for your business. We appreciate it and sending your comments about Gabriel as well. The dedication to service excellence from Gabriel is a wonderful thing!

We look forward to serving you again in the future AND all of those referrals you’re going to send our way. J

ss

Some folks have been asking about Glitza recently which is a brand name of finish that has been extraordinaily Some folks have been asking about Glitsa (most spell it Glitza) recently which is a brand name of finish that has been extraordinarily successful for many many years.

Often referred to as a “Swedish” finish this top coating is old school. It is applied onsite typically by flooring professionals.

Make sure you have appropriate ventilation! This stuff is brutal on those that breath oxygen. (like you, your pets, your plants, your fish tank too!)

I am not going to get into it in HUGE detail, but if you select a site finished flooring this is a great finish and stain brand.

From: Hugh
Date: Mar 15, 2007 4:24 PM
Subject: Cork Flooring Odor

I am trying to get this message to the CEO-Steve S.. I visited the iFloor outlet in S. Seattle and they suggested I contact Steve. My issue is, do have knowledge of odors being off gassed by the Lunenburg style of floating floor? I recently purchased a condo that has this flooring installed by the previous over concrete and we believe there is an odor coming off of the cork that is causing allergic reaction in my wife.

Do you have any suggestions as we are at a loss. We believe we have eliminated all other possible sources of odor and keep coming back to the flooring. While at the store, we noted a stronger smell coming off the back of the Lunenburg tiles than other cork tiles-was this an anomaly or is it a fact?

Appreciate any knowledge you can impart.

Hugh

===========================================

Hi Hugh,

Lunenburg and cork in general is very much considered hypo-allergenic. Some floors have “odor”, but cork is very low emission. There should not really by any difference between cork of any color from a laboratory perspective.

All chemical sensitivity is a relative bar in my humble opinion. Some folks are blessed with an extra receptive set of sensors so it’s hard to say with any degree of certainty what is causing your wife’s reaction.

However I can say we hold sold millions of feet of cork over the years and this would be the first time I ever had a situation where an allergic reaction has been reported. That is definitely not the case in other flooring like carpet, even wool carpet, carpet padding (even felt padding), laminate, wood floors, even tile and stone. I’ve seen it all.

So I guess the summary is that I am puzzled. I would highly doubt that the cork is producing anything that would create a reaction, but I can’t rule it or anything else out.

Good luck on solving this mystery. Our hope is that your wife finds relief!

ss

Anna Llovit,

Got the samples, and they were for my mother-inlaw. She liked one of them.

We bought Harris Tarkett flooring twice from you a few years ago, and were very impressed with the quality and the speedy service. I recommend you to all my friends. Your the BEST !!!

Ron

I have seen several emails recently from folks who have seen a newer kind of flooring referred to as hybrid or veneers, but it can be confusing to folks on exactly what kind of flooring this is.

A basic veneer as the name implies uses a very thin (paper thin) slice of real hardwood and applies that to an HDF core and then adds a laminate flooring type of aluminum oxide finish on the surface. (sounds like making a Frankenstein a bit to me.)

These floors have an identity crisis. What exactly are they? Hardwood? Laminate? Something new?

Well in the purest sense it would be considered an engineered hardwood floor. It uses a real wood veneer therefore the surface look is usually very rich and has a realistic depth in the hardwood species that looks ALOT better than a typical laminate floor.

On the other hand, despite having a aluminum oxide surface coating like a laminate the wood species will still act in many ways like a wood species.

One of the most common complaints I hear is about American Cherry veneer floors (from Kahrs, Tarkett, Sherwood Forest, and others) is that the floor dents or changes color tone over time. That is normal. It is American Cherry which is in general a softer species and the veneer will still take abuse including dents. It actually resists dents more than a solid hardwood due to the HDF core being more dense, but no hardwood species is impervious to dents. So that real part of hardwood is the real part of a veneer. Equally real, and on the plus side, is that a veneer due to the surface coating is much easier to clean, far less likely to stain, etc... than a normal hardwood.

Confused yet?

Ok the next question is what is the point of even having this hybrid between a laminate and a hardwood?

Answer: You can get really realistic looking hardwood for a lower than hardwood price generally speaking. It is typically more expensive than laminate and less expensive than hardwood making it a hybrid on price as well as physical components.

Ok to summarize:

You can get the realistic look of wood, the maintenance and easy click installation of laminate, for a price between wood and laminate.

Hopefully that helps.

A great customer named Andy who is 77 years young submitted the following story and photos. He is a inspiration to us all!

===========================

Six pictures depicting the work I performed alone, installing woodloc flooring manufactured by Karh's are available for your viewing.

The fiirst set you will see are of my bedroom. The second set is of my sunroom.

The pleasure I had in making this installation is beyond my expectations. I diligently worked to interlock each row single handedly. It was very tedious and time consuming, but all in all the flooring went down very fast. Not so easily, however. I suggest two people in place of one. I had no one available to assist me. As I am 77 years okld, and still able to kneel down, with the assistance of knee pads, and swing a mallet, I accomplished my goal I set out for myself.

Essentially, without any training, or instruction, I plunged in and tackled a job with confidence that I could end up with installing a product of beauty. The end result proved me corret.. In both rooms the flooring is exceptionally beautiful.

I am thankful Joan Castillo for all your cooperation and patience with me. Once the orders were placed, shipments were timely, and done simply for me. The convenece of a distribution point in Jaxcksonville, Fl enabled me to receive my material quickly.

The handling of my orders was done efficiently. Joan is a quite an asset to Ifloors. without her help I would not have attempted the two projects.

Karh's left me bewildered when they state in their policy within their website they will not honor their products warranty if the product is purchased over the internet.

I personally challenge that policy, as their product is not blackmarketed nor pirated. They must uphold their warranties, regardless. They certainly are not a household name in these Unbited States.

I believe what I have done will provide them asgreater oportunity for marketing. Tthey must open their eyes to how the internet is a very viable method of procurement. Because of my faith in Joan Castillo and confidence that Ifloors stands behind what they market and sell to the public vias the internet through their nationwide marketing program, I made a decision to purchase a from Karh's Builder's Ciollection Pecan Oak interloc wood flooring, for a floating floor.

Karh's produces a quality product, bar none,. After researching them over the internet and reading about their history, I became more convinced that purchasing Karh's flooring was the correct decsion for my home.

Thank you Ifloors for helping me. I am most pleased and have received numerous compliments on the quality of the product in appearance and construction. Compare the Karh's flooring product to others and you immediately see the diference in quality.

Ifloors is effcient and dedicated to satisfying a customer. I am a customer who makes that statement honestly and truthfully.

I have yet another bedroom to convert over to floating hardwood, going from carpeting to wood is absolutely the way to go. I will do so gladly another day, when I am able to save the mioney tio make my purchase.

I thank you Joan Castillio and your firm for all your cooperation and assistance to me.

Sincerely,

Andy

==================================

Andy,

First thanks for your business. I thank you on behalf of the entire iFLOOR team. Second, thanks for sending Kudos to Joan. She is a fireball of customer service and loves to win.

And I love the write up and pictorial! Great job installing the flooring and I am thrilled with your results.

Nothing like getting the job done yourself. You are an inspiration to all installing this floor at 77 years young. I am only 36 and my back hurts just from typing this message. ;)

Some manufacturers are a bit dense and they try to confuse customers about warranty coverage, but I can assure you anything you buy from iFLOOR is FULLY warranted for the normal duration. Any of those manufacturers that think they can artificially scare customers with illegal exclusions can take another look at the Magnuson-Moss Act which forbids this kind of nonsense.

Furthermore after you are done reading that if you find yourself in continued denial just think of your customers like Andy. You are simply annoying him and thousands of others like him. Will that serve your interests in the end? I doubt it. And to Andy and any other customer, if you ever have a covered claim on your floor that you buy from us, never fear, we'll make sure you are covered and we'll even pay to sue any manufacturer that refuses to do the right thing if it comes down to it.

I am very proud of you Andy. Kudos to you!

Great work,

ss

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:45 AM
Subject: Mannington Floor - Magellan Oak

Steve:

I am wondering if you have had any experience with Mannington Magellan Oak “engineered” floors – 7-ply.

I had same installed in my house about 7-8 months ago. I recently had a guest over who wore spiked heels and left lots of “divots”.

I filed a claim and the flooring company that we bought the floor from sent out an inspector, and then denied the claim. They attached a “hardwood” floor Warranty that excludes coverage for such damage, to their letter. However, I am not convinced that this 7-ply “engineered” floor is truly “hardwood”, or simply a laminate. Their laminate warranty is silent on spiked heel marks.

Interestingly, the floor that we chose was being used on the store’s own floor, and it certainly stood to wear and tear very nicely. I can’t imagine that they would put down a floor that would not stand to spiked heels in a commercial setting. This makes me think that the floor they showed was either a different grade than the one we bought, or there is a product defect in my floor.

To complicate things, I was never given a warranty at the time of purchase, or installation, but I guess that’s another issue.

The whole job cost about $3K, including installation.

Any comments, suggestions, leads, etc., would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ed

================================
Well to be honest, all hardwood will likely dent when subjected to high heels (especially spiked stiletto type heels). Laminate is less likely to dent, but spiked heels are not great on any floor. I don’t think you have laminate – I think you have engineered wood. Anybody who tells you it won't dent needs to have their head examined, in other words, when you bought the hardwood it is something that any good flooring person should know this as a fact.

The 7 ply floor is ok overall, but oak is oak and will compress (aka dent) under about 1200-1300 pounds of pressure per square inch. I don’t have my engineering hat on at the moment, but the quick and dirty math on a 125 pound woman (or man I guess) wearing 5-6” stiletto heels exerts about 2000 pounds of pressure on that tip of the heel which is more than enough to dent 90% of wood floors. That spiked heel is generally about 1/20 of a square inch causing massive compounding of the weight into a very small area. (just as a fun comparison typically a full grown elephant with it's nice big feet only exerts about 25-30 pounds of pressure per inch, therefore an elephant would not dent your floor, but your friend in the heels will.)

I have seen this in many museums that have lots of wood installed. Tons of heel marks everywhere, but after awhile it all starts to blend together as just part of the look. I have seen this in many places actually so you’re situation is not that unique, although I can understand your frustration.

The moral of the story is that nature made the floor and it can’t stand up to man made spiked heels under almost any plausible condition.

I do think it is a shame that they wasted all of your time getting your hopes up about a claim when there was 0% chance it would be approved. No wooden floor in the world will warrant against denting or scratching.

Good luck, I still think it is a nice floor. Maybe it’s time for a rug?

ss

On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:23:01 -0400, Bill wrote
> I purchased an installation kit, 2 end caps, 1 T-molding, and 7 boxes of Jatoba laminate at the West Colonial Drive store in Orlando, FL on March 6, 2007. The assistant manager, Ally Mohamed, was very professional, extremely informative, and answered my questions with expertise. This was my first attempt to install laminate flooring. All went well.
>
> I returned unused items on March 12, 2007 without any problems.
>
> My search for laminate flooring started at Home Depot. I then went to IFloor which is in the same business area. I was impressed with Ally Mohamed and with the large inventory available to me. I went home and searched your Internet site. I was impressed with what I saw so I returned to the store and made my purchase.
>
> I took several IFloor business cards, and will give them to friends. I have another room that needs laminate flooring. I will definitely return to IFloor.
>
>
> Bill J
>

Hi Bill,

Thank You for the kind words you had for Ally.
We love it when everything we work hard to do results in an exceptional experience for the most important people in our business - YOU.

I'll make sure to spread the word about him to all our colleagues so that he gets a much deserved pat on the back.
Thank you for your referrals, and we truly appreciate your business.

Best Regards,
Bernard San Juan III
Training & Workforce Manager
Smooth Corporation
bernardosanjuan@smoothcorp.com

================

Great job Ali and great job Berns for following up with our customer!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 11:13 AM
Subject: Re:Andrew Hanson

I recently purchased flooring and some other project material from one of your stores. The store location is at the corner of Wickham and 192 in West Melbourne, Fl.

The young man who worked with me was Andrew Hanson. It was a very pleasant experience. I felt he went out of his way to be sure my products were at my disposal in a timely manner. He is a real asset to your company.

I appreciated the honesty from him and it seemed so with the people he works with. Being in Florida for many years and a little leery of who I do business with, especially after the 2004 hurricanes and the rip off people who seem to take advantage.

I will gladly pass on my business dealings with Andrew and ifloors.

Joyce

==============

Kudos to Andrew for delivering a pleasant experience to a very worried Florida customer. And goodness knows that folks in Hurricaine raveged areas are prayed on routinely! Honesty is rewarded! Another win for the iFLOOR team.

Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:48 PM
Subject: Tommy Shobert

Dear Sir,

I would like to acknowledge the exceptional service that I received from
Tommy Shobert, Store Manager at the Peachtree Industrial location. It was
refreshing to get quality service from a true professional who could
provide immeasurable product knowledge. On several occasions, Tommy has
made himself accessible to answer any questions regarding your product offering , installation and has even gone as far as printing information from the company's website. It was evident that Tommy enjoys interacting with customers to ensure a delightful, yet informative experience at iFloor.

I am telling everyone that I know about iFloor as a result of the superb service that Tommy provided.

Johnette
========================
Kudos to Tommy for delivering "exceptional service."

This is what makes iFLOOR successful.

ss

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: Purchase with iFloor.com

Good Morning,

Dropping you a line to let you know I had a very good experience with the purchase of 'Alloc' flooring through your co.

My salesman, Lee Manikan, was curtious, and answered all my questions professionally.

The product arrived on time, and in great condition.

Thank you,

Bruce
================================================

Thanks Bruce,

Sorry my email took so long to come back to you, but we wanted to say thanks for your business firstly! And second, thanks for sending your Kudos to Lee. We appreciate knowing how we are doing for you!

Thanks

ss

> Steve,
>
> I love the fact that you are passionate about your job - you are
> inspirational!
>
> First - Feedback on flooring: I had Pergo and Wilsonart in my last
> home and preferred Pergo - the Wilsonart seemed to move too much.
> Depending upon the weather it would gap or buckle. Interestingly
> enough, I lived in Arizona, where the humidity doesn't deviate that much.
>
> Next - a question: I now have a new home in South Carolina and am
> researching laminate for the study, dining room, and bedrooms. I have
> read good things about Balterio from Belgium and wonder what you
> know/think about it. There are probably more brands out there than you
> can evaluate, but if you have anything to share on Balterio I would
> love to hear it.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Wendy
> Chapin, SC

=================================

Hi Wendy,

First thanks for the feedback on the flooring. It is very surprising the in AZ you had problems with the wilsonart's movement, but that is why we always ask for actual customer feedback!

In terms of your second question the Balterio line did not do well in lab testing. Check out the article: http://www.ifloor.com/articles/lam/lamwars2.html

Balterio failed the moisture test a couple times. That is a bad thing! I would steer clear.

Well here I am typing about flooring maintenance. Not the most sexy topic obviously, but it is so critical to overall satisfaction with flooring of ANY kind.

Modern floors are tough and there are some aspects of certain floors that really add extra dimensions of durability, but I don't care where you're from or what is in your house - YOUR FLOOR REQUIRES maintenance.

For carpet a very good vacuum along with proper steam cleaning (every 12-18 months) is essential to the long term lifespan of your carpeting.

For vinyl & tile there are some very good products from Armstrong called Armstrong Once-N-Done along with some other things in the same cleaning system that do a great job.

For wood floors, cork flooring, bamboo floors and laminate flooring it is important that you use something that will not over wet the floor yet will still sanitize it. Sweeping is also very critical since it is the dust and grit that gets under your shoes that acts just like sandpaper. That kind of grit under even tennis shoes can tear right through a finish or put scratches on the toughest floor made. (including concrete and porcelain tiles). So keeping the floor swept and making sure that how you sweep or vacuum the floor is not adding to the problem.

I recommend the BONA cleaning systems for any hard surface flooring. It is compatible with mainstream hardwood finishes and will not leave a nasty build up. They also sell a SUPER soft microfiber sweeper that is very good indeed.

Maintenance. Not the funniest thing in the world, but one of the most important things you can do to make sure your floor stays in tip top shape.

One final note: no flooring is bullet proof. If it was you would see police wearing a suit of flooring armor instead of body armor. (this tip courtesy of Ryan who has a way of illustrating the point!)

________________________________________
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 2:14 PM
Subject: do vinyl planks expand?

HI there.
We just had vinyl planks installed in our house. We were told that they had to leave gaps by the walls for expansion, and we would have to use quarter round to cover the gaps. I personally don't like quarter round. Vinyl doesn't expand, does it?
Laura

===============================
Laura

It depends on the type of product and the actual composition of the floor. Some vinyl is not really 100% vinyl, it may have rubber, composites, cork or other fillers which are more prone to movement than pure vinyl. It also depends on the installation system used for the vinyl and the type of backing on the vinyl.

Some of the newer vinyl planks really have a cool look to them. Some are very hard to tell they are not real wood until you are standing on it.

Wow it is really amazing how much floor buying behavior changes at the start of March. We have had a very strong winter in general, but the very noticeable increase in demand started almost exactly on March 1st! Amazing.

The good news is for those that get in early they capture some of the lower prices that are still available and they get first crack at the inventory.

Very often we have people who start the process in March, but decide to move forward in mid April or early May, but are forced to wait on backorders because the March demand eats through alot of the inventory.

Some of the hot movers at the moment include:

Handscraped Bamboo

Philharmoniker (wierd name, but cool floor)

Natural Collection Hardwood (pre-finished solid from 2.49 per foot!)

Lots of cool stuff coming. I will post more photos of some of the products in development shortly!

We have seen alot of increasing prices in hardwood recently. New duties and customs fees are impacting prices of imports, making the US and Canada that much more competitive. The new harmoized tariff seems to be bad for flooring consumers.

I would expect prices to continue to increase for the rest of this year as the Chinese government reduces export VAT credits (which increases prices) and tariffs continue to increase (which increases prices) as product hits the US and shipping surcharges are hitting again (whcih increases prices). You get the gist.

The good news is short term at least consumers can buy flooring at lower prices than those that I would expect to see in the fall.

So at least this message gives folks fair warning.

Going back to China

Here is a quick view of some past China pictures via my iBLOKS video:

Comment:

Do you guys sell this as a solid hardwood floor? I couldn't find it on your website. Also, how common is prefinished mesquite? We live in Texas and are interested in getting a new floor for the downstairs of our house!
Thanks,
Geo.

============

We are still working on developing this floor to be used as a pre-finished option for homeowners around the world.

I would estimate about 60 days before Mesquite flooring will be available online in 1/2" solid and 3/4" solid.

We'll be attending the Built Green 2007 expo and even showing a couple product concepts there for builders, architects and designers to take a peek at.

For more info: http://www.builtgreen.net/conference.html

More and more spyware continues to be pervasive in the PC world. People often install games or other "FREE" programs which then also seceretly add software in the background of your computer to steal from you. The spyware will do anything from showing you ads to stealing your personal information and often they do both and several things in between. One particular method of this theft is called key logging.

Everything you type in your computer is transferred their computer automatically and then they have all of your credit cards, passwords, banks, 401Ks - anything you did online. This can include files, documents and other things that are on your hard drive.

So for those of you who have been to iFLOOR and notice another flooring website pop up your COMPUTER IS INFECTED WITH SPYWARE. RED ALERT!

Anybody who would use such sinister tactics should be punished since only those who are not aware of what spyware is are the ones who get it on their computer. As usual criminals prey on those who are most vunerable.

Is it real? Ask the FTC: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/spywarealrt.htm

Spyware is the #1 risk to bad people getting your personal identification and ruining your credit.

Last year close to 20 million people had their personal indentification compromised.

How do you put a stop to it? GO HERE:

http://www.stopzilla.com/purchase/dl_nonav.aspx?AID=10136&S=66&type=DOWNLOAD_NONAV&topic=&source=&AAID=&cid=SCAN%20SPYWARE

I have also used SPYBOT: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html - donate if you use it. It is good stuff.

Not alot of action here over the last several days. My little kids did me the favor of "sharing" with daddy and so I now am combating some form of average flu or perhaps, and I believe this is more likely, some variant of the black plague and Ebola combined. I'll keep you posted when I find out which it is. (yes, ladies - I realize when men are sick we are so weak.)

In the mean time I will try to post snippets over the next couple days to keep the information train chugging along.

For most people when you start the floor buying process it can be very exciting. For others there is some natural anxiety. Most have a taste of both excitment and anxiety.

There are 3 basic questions that if you know the answer to these before you start shopping for floors your process will be alot easier:

1. How large is the area? (To flooring folks this is the same as how many square feet.)
2. What is the subfloor made of in the area that needs new flooring? (wood or concrete or other?)
3. When do you want the project to be completed.

A flooring professional armed with the answers to those questions will be in a great position to offer insight and advice that closely matches your projects needs.

Every day we get many many sample requests. I asked the great guys who operate our sample department and we did nearly 250 in just 1 day last week.

Samples are ordered by customers who want to see and touch a piece of floor to make sure the color, share, texture, style and other tangible elements fit their needs.

Often we upgrade samples to next day air at no extra cost to the customer. Therefore you get to see samples at your door often the day after ordering. So when you are looking at the order sample button, now you can see a couple things that goes into it.

Above you can see the sample picking area of a warehouse with something like 1500 styles to pick from. Then you can see a small stack a samples ready to roll with UPS.

The final shot and the video below star Junior getting it done on an example sample box. He's quick!

It's been a busy day - but I wanted to take a moment to discuss the quality work that our professional photographer and studio have been producing for years.

When we started trying to get the online flooring business going in 1996-1998 we went to suppliers and said, "Hey, give us your photos and we'll add you to our online catalog." At that time there were almost no flooring websites including manufacturers. The answer back was - what is a website?

So we struck out getting content from the industry. So we set out to create our own content. We started with scanning, then turned to highend cameras with digital scanbacks.

Today the studio churns out quality work everyday. The camera actually takes pictures that are extraordinary and are huge as well (around 90 megabytes for an average front shot of a flooring sample.

So when you are surfing around and see most photos on iFLOOR.com they are being shot by our own talent in house and that is why you can zoom into them with incredible detail. To see some examples check out these cork flooring room scenes that you can zoom in on:

Westhollow Cork Room Vignettes

Below here are a couple quick shots with my cheap camera of Jim and one of our quick shot setups for close profiles.

So as you click around on iFLOOR looking at lots of cool flooring photos of hardwood, cork, bamboo, laminate, carpet and ceramic tile you will know know that ALOT goes into the production of those images. More than 40,000 photos have been completed in the last couple years and the quality is no accident.

I have a floating Linnea hardwood floor. One of my cleaning people used a wax on the surface which said it was safe for all polyurethane sealed floors. I have been trying to clean it with the traditional floor cleaners that I got at the time of installation but am getting gobs of goo. How in the world do I strip of this wax? I cannot afford to have it professionally done myself.

- Lori

Gail:

Hello. I've just learned that the Traffic Master Uni-clik Brazilian Cherry we purchased (still unopened)for a bedroom installation is a Home Depot exclusive product. Do you have any experience with this product? It has a 25 year warranty and 1/8" "top" layer. Thank you very much for any info you have. Best regards, Gail

Hi Gail,

THx for your question. Since it is a Home Deport exlusive it is not something that I have worked with directly, although we have seen many similiar offerings recently from all kinds of suppliers.

And to be honest Home Depot is splashing the name of Traffic Master on so many things these days I can't keep track of all of them. I have seen it on laminate, vinyl, tile and hardwood.

Warranty doesn't mean much, but I really don't have enough information to give you an objective in depth response. Sorry about that. I will try to study up on it next time I am buying a hammer over there. If you are happy with your purchase then GO FOR IT!
------------------------------

Now on a similiar topic - but not specifically referring to Traffic Master:

ok - I must admit that category of "engineered wood" that is applied to an HDF core is still a new territory and not something that I am a fan of yet. Some of those products have experienced delamination. I have seen a bunch of this stuff in china and it is VERY varied in terms of quality. The thickness of the top surface I think is VERY relevant. Some people think you can refinish this several times, but that is not the case.)

*One of these images is Brazilian Cherry and the other is Tigerwood


This applicaiton of technology does make it cheaper to build the product and maybe better to apply a click system to it, but I always hate being the test audience. So I will continue to keep my eye on this category for the next couple months. (When I got your message I went over to our product development area and snapped a couple low quality photos to illustrate what I am talking about for those that may not know.)

Steve,

I was wondering your opinion of the Pergo American Cottage product. Thanks in advance.

Eric.

Hi Eric,

Thanks for your question. Pergo American Cottage is a Lowes exclusive, so you have to take my comments with a grain of salt. I haven't sold a stick of it, although I have seen it, touched it and done limited "testing" on it. (no lab tests.)

As I recall there are about 20 colors in this series with most being classic north american based species with a strip kind of look. I believe it is rated AC3 which is ok - but depending on how active your household is, you may want more?

The texture of it is not something that I am a fan of, but if you like it that is ok with me. :)

The added underlayment IMHO is not the best and doesn't really do much in terms of sound deading.

Overall I think it is an OK product, but i think Pergo SELECT is FAR superior in terms of total value. Signature American Cottage is going for like 3.36 per foot in NJ, ID, WA and most other Lowes areas and that is their "sale price."

Select has an AC5 - Lustergard and 10mm thickness. I think you take Select at about the same price add some cork underlayment and you have built a VERY tough floor certainly worth a buck a foot more. If you prefer to take the middle ground you can find many AC3 products in the 1.50-2.50 range and then add some nice underlayment to it.

That's about all I know.

p.s. - Here is some feedback from a customer that I noticed a few months ago: DIY