Ok I am back in the office, a bit of catch up to get after, but I expect normal posts for next week.
Keep your eye on the website for some exceptional offers coming over the next couple days. You will be glad you did. ;)
September 2007 Archives
Still going.
Today Orlando, Baltimore - flew into Providence, Drove to Boston and will be done here tonight about midnight.
Tomorrow - NY and then back home!
Some quick photos to keep you in the loop. More posts with actual information next week upon my return...
We are still rocking and rolling on the road.
We have now been to Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando in the last 2 days.
Still going.
Well we have a store tour in full force.
I've met a number of incredible people who are sharing the passion about flooring around the nation.
So far we have completed Seattle, visited Stanton- CA, Los Angeles and checked out 2 new sites in the LA area. We're know in Concord Ca and heading onto the next destination. We're having lots of fun! No time to go into details...but more coming.
Since the high amount of SPAM we have to clean each day from the BLOG - around 200 a day and growing, I decided to remove the comment button.
Of course comments are still welcome at the feedback AT (use the @) ifloor.com.
Thanks for your understanding.
Ceramic tile is a great product because it is so strong against water. It also has beautiful looks and textures and other fashion elements which makes it a great story.
I think it is especially nice in bathrooms.
I can't believe the high quality that is now available at low low prices either. That really makes it a win for everyone. As always it is tough to tell the difference between cheap stuff and high quality low price stuff, but that will be a battle for consumers forever.
To check out some of the high quality low price tile check out:
The Casa Ceramic collection is noteworthy as is the Shaw ceramic and there will be a number of new additions in the future as well.
Happy hunting!
Well it's time to take the flooring show on the road again.
This time a group of us are going to goto a bunch of cities to see some of the people who actually make the flooring dreams come true.
We're excited!
We will be in Seattle, Los Angeles, Stanton (Anaheim), Oakland, Concord, Sacramento, Rocklin - CA, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Baltimore, Boston and Nashua, Danvers and West Roxbury.
We'll be flying southwest airlines most of the way so we can rely on their on time performance to keep up with our 2-a-day city schedule. 2-a-day? Yes - we'll do it all in 6 days! Long days yes, but it will be well worth the schedule to be sure we have a chance to see all of the flooring magic makers up close and personal.
Anyway it will make posting difficult over the next week or so, therefore I send my apologies in advance.
I do reserve the right to go on another Jag about prices or whatever... however like I did yesterday. ;)
If you love exotic hardwood get ready for a shock:
Especially Brazilian cherry, tigerwood (aka Koa), walnut, angelim, amendiom, brazilian hickory, brazilian maple, south American pecans, oaks, maples, rosewood, teak and well let's just say the list goes on and on.
Exotic hardwood of all kinds will be going up in price immediately.
We have been warning of this for some time, but it is happening today and tomorrow and for the next several months.
The solid hardwoods in the wider widths will be especially hard hit.
There are a number of factors involved, but let's just say for the guys who try to us sustainable forests and producers the prices are going to keep going through the roof. For the guys who are dealing in smuggled timber and other practices I would expect them to keep raising prices just to take more $$ yet still under price the legitimate materials.
I did a quick analysis over the weekend at some competitors on tigerwood and jatoba (aka Brazilian Cherry) and saw amazing differences.
We had a number of competitors selling products for $12-$15 per foot for the same products we are selling for $5-$7.
The good news is although I expect our price to go from $5-$7 to $7-$9 I would expect main street retailers to raise their prices to $15-$18.
The affordability of these floors is about to really be impacted.
If you ever wanted Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Brazilian Walnut, Angelim or other exotics I suggest act now or be prepared to pay more in the future.
Although with any commodity prices ebb and flow from time to time I see long term pressures coming for exotic imported species.
As those prices raise, by the way, so will the domestic oak and maples since they don't have to compete as aggressively with the imported "exotic" species (sometimes referred to as tropical timber) as much. So this impacts everyone over the long haul.
Don't believe me? Well Norway has already banned tropical timber from entering their country. New Zealand has a more rigid import policy than they did even 1 year ago. The United States is drafting legislation which I expect will curb a HUGE number of imports. The EU in general is enacting tougher standards that started in 2006 with progressively higher hurdles in the future.
What does this mean? Well the legitimate materials have a higher bar they must jump over to prove they are the good guys. So they raise their price to offset the higher operational costs of compliance.
I am 100% for the right kind of harvesting and I could not support that more! However, I think there will be a bit of chaos for the next 18-36 months which will lead to unnecessary price increases which could impact consumers in a big way.
Anyway - I have ranted long enough. Enough said.
A very insightful customer was discussing their flooring project with me the other day and I recommended cork underlayment for her flooring to help alleviate some of the "tap tap" effect that a floating floor can have.
She was so smart to come back and ask the question: Will this void my warranty? The quick answer is no it will not as long as it is equal to or better than the underlayment that meets the flooring manufacturers requirements.
I can't tell you how often manufacturers will cloud this issue by STRONGLY suggesting that if you don't use their underlayment (or other components) you will void your warranty. In some cases I have called their call centers and asked questions about this topic and I was blatantly told it WOULD void the warranty. Now the nice person answering the phone is just reading what they were told to say. However, I have the facts on my side so I know that nice call center worker is wrong and when I push it up the chain of command virtually all responsible flooring executives freely admit that substitution of equal or better products is a viable option. Often they will admit that they "upgraded" their own house using that same mentality! (Typically this involves me selling them a upgraded underlayment and educating them about the options.)
So what are the facts? Well as I eluded to in a prior Kahrs Blog Entry there are rules, in fact LAWS, about this general policy despite the knee jerk reaction to say, "THIS WILL VOID YOUR FLOORING WARRANTY!"
Here are some things to know:
1. There is a Federal Law called the Magnuson-Moss Act which precludes any manufacturer from dishonoring a warranty for any product based purely on using an alternative component. The key is that the alternative must be equal to or better than what was required to maintain the warranty coverage to begin with. Because this is a federal law this covers ANYONE and ANYTHING in the United States. There are no exceptions. To read more about it check out Wiki-Pedia.
2. In many cases State Laws give even MORE flexibility to consumers that are trying to put together the best situation.
3. I don't fault manufacturers for wanting to sell their own underlayment. No problem at all - I WANT TO SELL UNDERLAYMENT TO - I JUST WANT TO DO WHATEVER IS THE BEST UNDERLAYMENT FOR THE CUSTOMER'S SITUATION. And heck, don't scare people or tell them things that are contrary to Federal Law when they call you to talk about alternatives that may benefit them. That's just plain silly.
So in closing, when I tell you that you should really work with an iFLOOR expert to engineer the best solution for your project both in terms of the flooring AND the components like underlayment, please know that we are armed with facts. When it is right to substitute we will recommend it and you will be fully covered by the warranty!
I don't have enough time to go into the detailed reasons why moisture is so critical when you think about flooring, but I wanted to give a quick note about sealer.
If you have concrete floors - use a concrete sealer.
Did you notice how simple (and if I do say so myself elegant) that statement is?
Use a concrete sealer if you have concrete floors. It is cheap insurance!! (Of course cheap is a relative term.)
Can you imagine spending $5000.00 on a floor including the materials and the high quality adhesive (yes there are MASSIVE differences in adhesive) and trying to scrimp on the last $1000.00 for the sealer which can make or break your investment?
Let me tell you I empathize with the notion that $1000.00 is cheap insurance, but I believe over the lifespan of that floor it is the right thing to do.
Do you think your floors will last 10 years? 20 years? Longer?
For this quick exercise let's assume the lifespan is 10 years which is probably half the real potential of most floors.
That means over 10 years you have only spent $100.00 per year for sealer. That's not bad.
Over 10 years which is 120 months you really are only spending $8.33 cents per month to insure success. This is nothing.
And Yes, while it may seem trite to break this down by the day, 10 years * 365 days = 3650 days and $1000/365 = only 27 cents per day. Are you kidding me? For about 1 quarter you are going to be able to have the benefit of the most premium sealer on the market?
As my friends in New York would say fogedaboutid! (forget about it for you non-native New Yorkers)
This is a no brainer. If you have concrete you need sealer. Don't risk your $5000.00 investment over a quarter per day. Skip 1 lunch during the month and you are even money.
I hope this helps you have a more successful project.
Have you ever wondered how and why a flooring item gets discontinued? If not, that means you probably have not been stung by that situation, but I can assure you that it can really leave a mark to an otherwise positive floor buying experience. My best suggestion is to avoid the problem.
I wanted to briefly talk about why things are discontinued and about how that impacts you.
Firstly after a period of time products are naturally discontinued as colors, styles or other trends change. The average lifespan for floors I would estimate in the 18-24 month range. The constant changing of samples and colors makes it tough for flooring companies to keep up with.
Now here is the insidious part of this whole topic:
When a manufacturer chooses to discontinue an item YOU are the last person to hear about it. And the flooring company that carries the item is the 2nd to last person to hear about it.
What am I talking about?
Well once the choice has been made internally by the manufacturer to discontinue an item the manufacturer doesn't actually tell anyone. They just keep selling their inventory until they run out. Then they tell you it is discontinued!
So when we get an order for a product that we think is available, but we were unlucky enough to be at the end of the inventory cycle we look stupid because they tell us they have none left and it is discontinued. Well then we have to explain the the customers that in fact, it is no longer available and no, we didn't know it until now, and yes, we agree it is arbitrary and capricious, but we are where we are.
Of course the first reaction is denial. Well - just find some of it! We'll call around to the entire country and find none left. We tell you the bad news. You remain in denial. "I'll find it if it is the last thing I do!" you say to yourself.
You then start calling 10-20-30 companies all asking the same question. Each of them call the same places we already tried to no-avail. Finding a recently discontinued flooring item has about a 10-20% success ratio and if anyone can do it our folks can because we have more sources than any company on the planet for product. Finding an item that has been discontinued for 1 or more years if about a 100-1 shot for each year it has been discontinued. (e.g. 5 years discontinued = 500-1 shot that you will find it. - don't waste your effort)
And that is when your search for the perfect floor begins again. And from experience I can tell you that all future options seem to pale in comparison to the first choice. I do believe much of this is purely psychological rather than fact. Don't we always want what we can't have?
Anyway - pursuant to my topic from yesterday about the increasing demand and time pressures to get projects done I will forecast a fall season full of surprise discontinued items. My suggestion to combat this is to have us check stock as you are narrowing your field of choices and then ACT before it is too late assuming inventory is available.
Sorry to bore you with what seems like a mundane topic. But I can assure you if you learn from the thousands of times this has happened over the years to folks that thought they were at the end of the floor buying process only to have to begin again, you will be rewarded with peace of mind and tranquility vs. chaos and flooring frustration!
Cheers.
This is the time of year when everyone puts their home improvement projects a bit higher on their priority list. Flooring is certainly at the top of many lists this year.
Often we find that the "flooring shopping process" is thoughtful and even protracted. However, today I would encourage those in the floor buying category to really think about putting a deadline on themselves to get finished up as soon as it makes sense for them. Why?
The best sources for flooring will start running out of hot sellers, the best installers will be booked up and the best resources available are only available on a first come first served basis.
Ultimately this means the BEST flooring colors, the FINEST flooring installers and the most stock availability are what will really start to feel pressure over the coming weeks.
In terms of the flooring experience there is hardly anything more frustrating than when you have worked to get the decision right and the product is no longer available or only available with an extended delay. This can be very frustrating.
All of us in the business have stocked up to be ready, but the same thing always happens: Those who plan ahead and get through the process first will beat the rush. They will always get done before the holiday rush will ALWAYS take the best stuff & the best installers.
So take your time, do what is right for you and your flooring project, but just know that the peak demand can work against you if you are not prepared!
It is worth reinforcing the Flooring Buyer's Guide. I am pressed today for schedule, but the guide has been really helpful for alot of customers! Check it out.
Well I was saddened to read the story here: http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=media&storyID=nN05209951
It talks about the technology publication Business 2.0 will be closed after October's issue.
It used to be one of my favorite magazines especially in the peak of the Internet "new economy" days.
I still have some of those older issues which were like a 1/2" thick! Lots of ads, but it was a great magazine. I also liked the back charts that had internet companies with data about values etc... The thing that intrigued me is that at one point the average value was something like 80 times sales! (fyi - if you are ready to buy iFLOOR for 80x sales I am listening..)
I for one will miss you Business 2.0!
I have heard alot of about Carbon Offset and I hesitate to do the math on my own consumption, however, I am certainly interested in companies like TerraPass that offer me the opportunity to "offset" my emissions.
For our part we are working on a project for this spring which would plant a tree for each carton of material a customer purchases. We think stewardship of our resources is a shared responsibility and something we take serious. (Of course it will also be helpful if there are more trees that I can make into floors in the future too. That is what I can economically sustainable thinking!)
We certainly believe that you can have mutual interest when it comes to the environment as well as the economic development. It just has to be balanced.
I have said no to most strand bamboo's since they have been introduced for formaldehyde reasons up to now.
Finally we have an engineered solution that takes the worry away about formaldehyde and lets the true beauty of this series shine through. I am so thrilled to see this new product line up finally hitting the shelves. This is something we can put our name on without worrying about it's ill effects that may happen on the solid strand bamboos. (there is hope there too long term, just not today.)
The hardness of this product is AWESOME. It is really something to consider at the top of anyone's list!
Notice the natural and rich variation of the boards. This is something that really is a part of nature therefore you should expect this level of variation as part of the design that you are seeking. Nice job Gene for overseeing this beautiful installation!
This happens to be a complex commercial installation but this can work in homes, offices and anywhere else that fashion and high performance need to come together!
If you have followed this blog at all you know that from time to time we have had some difficulty with our bigger and stronger rival Home Depot. I like to think of this as a friendly competitiveness. I have no ill will nor do I seek to annoy the big guys (aside from winning the flooring business).
I do think it is noteworthy, however, to just ask a rhetorical question of, "Why is there so much attention to a tiny company like iFLOOR - when you are nearly a 100 billion dollar power house?" Aren't we a waste of your time?
To refresh your memory feel free to check out:
Big ol' Home Depot is ticked off at little ol' me
Darn it - Home Depot is at it again!
No question about it we have the attention of some of these superb competitors! Today I received some updated photos from our Houston iFLOOR store which is located in a strip mall behind the Home Depot.
Here are today's photos:
it may not be obvious, but they are blocking our loading dock so that we can not receive truckloads in the back nor can we load out customers. We are making due using the front doors, but it seems to be a move aimed at disruption. I have been clear about the fact that I believe Home Depot is great for buying hammers, drills and other stuff, but leave the flooring to specialist. Of course that is a self-serving statement and I am willing to agree to disagree about that last point. But goodness, why make it tougher on my people who are trying to make a living just because we are neighbors? Ironically I am pleased to report since those "condos" were installed by our loading area we have received alot more traffic! Thanks HD. :)
Perhaps we can agree to a friendly game of Halo on the xBOX between CEO's to settle the score?
And to my dedicated iFLOOR colleagues around the world who fight everyday against the competition, friendly or otherwise, to redefine the flooring business;
I invoke the words of the great Winston Churchhill:
“Never give up, never give up, I say, Never Never give up!”
Here is a link to an installation time lapse. Completed by one of our star folks here at iFLOOR. Of course he is a programmer, not an installer so that makes it that much more interesting.
http://images.ifloor.com/media/orcasfloor.mov
or watch here in a bit more lower resolution version:
Well with the title to this entry it should be clear that I believe the underlayment for your floating floor is CRITICAL for your floating floor.
Depending on the application of your flooring there are a number of options.
The best advice I can give quickly is that you should match your flooring underlayment with the "mission" of the floors.
For example if you are just finishing an extra room in the basement that is used infrequently you can just use the basics. But know that it will echo more so than a glue down floor or a floating floor that has a more sound dampening characteristics like a 6mm cork underlayment. (NOTE: FOR ANY CONCRETE APPLICATION IT IS REQUIRED TO USE ADEQUATE MOISTURE BARRIER. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION!) Some foam now has moisture barrier built in which works, but make sure you follow the rules.
If you are doing an upstairs room that you are worried about sound you should really concentrate on what is the best sound dampening material for you. I think that the Sound 6 barrier as well as the 6mm cork represent the best of the best.
Always feel free to run your project by an iFLOOR expert so that you understand what is best for you.
http://www.ifloor.com/group_11559/more-/flooring-underlayments/underlayment.html
我致以個人和非常熱烈歡迎對讀我的BLOG 的我的朋友從中國。
這裡在這BLOG 我們談論許多事關於flooring 事務包括重要角色那中國戲劇在事務的發展。我相信, 中國有在flooring 事務的一個重要角色, 當正確規格、規程、安全和其它製造過程被跟隨。
當前的氣候關於中國和美國當它來到產品安全繼續是一個非常重要題目。我們非常小心關於怎樣我們獲得產品從任一個國家包括中國。
我為我惡劣的中國語言譯者道歉, 但我想一樣清楚寄發消息到您儘可能。 謝謝是iFLOOR.com 的部份。"如果您的腳能談話。"
