August 2008 Archives

Although I didn't rehearse I got most of the answers to this question wrapped into this video. Take a peek.

Because the question arises so often about people asking to put their vinyl flooring or laminate flooring or even hardwood floors on their deck, patio or porch we wanted to discuss it briefly. The bottom line is that interior products are not designed for exterior settings. Even if the area is covered the humidity and temperature changes would be too variable to be considered a "normal" living condition so you would be on your own if you decided to go that route.

A few days ago I posted this blog entry:

PERFECT WORLD INSTALLATION

Basically that was the video how things go in the perfect world.

However this video is a slightly humorous view of some of the "real world" obstacles that can stand in the way.

The video was originally to be designed to have a live narration to talk through some of the photos that illustrate some of the every day "jackpots" that we find as we put together a job.

So as you watch this one just imagine us saying hey in a perfect world the dog would be biting us, the traffic wouldn't be slowing us and the mountains of funiture wouldn't be there.

Anyway I think it is a fun point- counterpoint to really talk about some of the very tough challenges that our professionals overcome day in and day out. I am so proud to be associated with them. (Of course they do all the work and I try to share a little of the credit, but the truth is they deserve all the credit!)

Take a peek at both to really get the idea of what we are trying to illustrate.

So often people get excited about getting flooring projects going and they forget what a tremendous impact their stairway makes in an entry of the home. So often stairs are new the primary entry of the home and so often it is a missed opportunity to really make a visual impact by extending the hardwood flooring onto the stairs as well.

iFLOOR is one of the few companies that offers stair treads and risers for so many of the hardwood floors offered on the web site. A solid tread with a riser can be an upgrade that more than pays for itself at the time of resale. There is nothing quite like a full solid tread from a design perspective.

One footnote: for those seeking laminate stair cases the prevailing option is the "overlap stairnose" which I am not a huge fan of. (although this is within code and it is the most available nosing.) Alot of customers are buying stair treads in a unifinished oak or maple and then having them installed and stained onsite to coordinate with the laminate as opposed to installing the overlapped option. You can do the same thing with Cork or other floors too if they don't offer a coordinating stair tread. Another option for laminate is the Wilsonart laminate flooring ONESTEP full laminate stair tread. I suspect this tread will be used much more in the future as well to coordinate with other flooring choices.

The upside is the incredibly pleasing aesthetic and design impact in your home. The investment is typically around $100-$200 per stair so plan for it and it is another great reason to check out the 0% interest options available at iFLOOR too! Makes a typical stair case boil down to $50-$80 bucks per month depending on the term.

I was just looking at a couple of my pictures and noticed I snapped a couple photos when I was in Hong Kong and landed and took off during a typhoon Signal #8 (whatever that means). I would say the pilots did a great job, I think I was flying Cathy Pacific and Dragon Air, but I wouldn't recommend it. In fact the airport was closed not long after my flight departed and the airport stayed closed for several hours.

Anyway I am, as always, pressed for time so I thought I would share a couple quick photos:

The Malawi Government, through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has imposed a ban on export of hardwood and its products with immediate effect.

The development follows rampant deforestation that has threatened the future of natural trees mostly used in the carving of curios and tourist items, not hardwood flooring. But the move has not gone down well with curio traders who fear the ban would negatively affect their business, which is mostly export oriented.

However, in an interview on Monday, Principal Secretary of Industry and Trade Nebert Nyirenda, said the decision was made to preserve forests and avoid further environmental degradation.

"The fact of the matter is that hardwood trees have been there for along time some of them over hundreds of years and to destroy something like this for money is illogical so the ban still stands," said Nyirenda.

But a curio vendor in Blantyre who identified himself as Adak Yusuf said government is not being considerate by banning the exports since it would slash their income earning base. "You see most of our customers are foreign tourists and by coming up with this ban government is cutting us out from that market.

He added that government would prosecute those merchants found exporting the banned product.

Although this is not specifically hardwood flooring related it is a step toward recognition from governments of smaller countries with precious resources that they need to have a way to create a sustainable plan for harvesting. That is progress.

Russia is taxing log exports in a major way. Basically by the year 2010 you won't be able to buy Russian logs in an effective way. Part of their move is about enviornmental protection, but most of it is based in my opinion on economic motives. The Russian government is looking across the border at Chinese factories that are "making all the money" and saying, why should we export our natural resource - why not make the full product and export the highest value add product ourselves?

There are a ton of things happening around the world in the hardwood raw material markets!

What does this mean to North American and European customers? As I have been saying the cost of hardwood is going up in the future due to more constricted supply. Some of it for good reasons and some for competitive reasons.

You've probably noticed that everyone and their brother are going "green" these days, whether they sell washers or widgets. While we applaud them for their efforts, one could question whether or not it's out of their love for the environment or because a changing consumer landscape made them more aware (that's an argument for the talking heads to tackle, not me.)

The one thing I know is that one of my guiding principles (as I learned in the Boy Scouts) is to leave this earth how I found it (or better.) That's why I personally travel around the glove to try and inspect each manufacturing facility to ensure that no unneeded chemicals are used in the process or that potentially toxic waste is being dumped into surrounding rivers and streams. We even help promote the idea that proper re-forestation practices are followed, that worker conditions are not substandard and to the extent possible that recyclable and reusable materials are used wherever possible. Bottom line, if you don't pass my "smell" test, we will not buy or sell your products.

To try and bring a little more awareness to the huge strides made in "green" flooring, we'll be offering Free Shipping on select Green Floors (60% off shipping on everything else.)

Why only green floors?

In a nutshell, I think they're gorgeous and that you'll love them. So much as that I'm willing to pay a little more so you can experience them. It definitely doesn't cost me any less to ship Green Floors like Cork or Bamboo, but anything I can do to perpetuate their use, I will do. Heck, you can do your part to help save us all the emissions of unnecessary shipping by picking up at your local iFloor store on select items.

They aren't for everyone, and that's why we carry 3,000 different products and have a bigger selection than anyone. But if you're in the market for flooring, you should definitely take a look at the "green" alternatives and I'll try to give you the incentive to do just that. But whatever floor you do end up purchasing, you're definitely in the right place!

Here is a little flooring story - kudos to all involved in putting this together!

If you wondered what a high quality finish line looks like I am going to share a couple photos. I won't give away some of the cool secrets nor can I go into huge detail, but I want to at least get you some photos to take a peek at. This US line is a superlative example of high quality in action!

I get asked all the time what exactly does the term "engineered" mean. And Although I have talked about this is the past it is worth a 2 minute review:

Engineered, when you are talking about flooring products most often refers to engineered hardwood. The term engineered generally means that multiple "layers" or components are placed together to form a complete floor.

This is very often contrasted with "SOLID" hardwood which is generally 1 component with just tongue and grove added to it.

A couple good reasons to consider engineered flooring is because of the very flexible installation choices, very good with expansion and contraction, excellent species selection, in general more earth friendly than solid and more. There are various benefits to engineered flooring which are too numerous to go into on this entry, but there are a couple noteworthy engineered flooring brands right now: (good luck if you can get stock - they sell out fast)

Saso
WestHollow Engineered (now you know what engineered means!)

I have seen a ton of handscraped hardwood both engineered and solid being sold at retail for $15.00-$25.00 per square foot.

We were lucky to pick up some truckloads of a high quality SOLID handscraped floors that is priced below $5.00 per foot! WOODSTOCK has several colors, but it is first come, first served. When it's gone it's gone.

Here is a great little video about installing a T-molding for a glue down installation.

When we first started iFLOOR, we asked ourselves, "How do we take an already confusing process (buying flooring) and make it work on the internet?" Well, it wasn't easy, but we made it work. I think one way we were able to accomplish this was by educating our customers more than anyone and letting them make their own decisions. If we could then provide the best products, prices and the best service, how could it not work? Over time we proved a lot of people wrong, and we have you to thank for it.

Since the beginning, our key focus has been providing a pleasant and simple floor shopping experience that helps eliminate the confusion associated with this type of purchase. That's why I love what the merchandising team cooked up this week (just don't tell the CFO!):

1. For $199 or less, you can purchase enough laminate for a 12' x 10' room.


2. Hardwood and Bamboo for $299 or less for the same room size.


3. Cork for $399 or less (notice the "or less") for the same room size.

And this isn't just one item we're talking about. Each category has several products to choose from and you're almost sure to find exactly what you're looking for.

This offer doesn't include installation or underlayment (my kids need to eat for god's sake - throw me a bone) but the prices are pretty extraordinary.

And with your purchase of $799 or more, we're also going to give you 18 months with no payments and no interest (oac, of course). If you do the math, your new floor will cost you pennies a day. As always, these items are available while supplies last, so don't wait until the last day! Last week we had customers who missed some of the truck load materials by hours, so that reinforces the ol' - early bird gets the worm as a winning strategy.

Here is a quick video about the important topic of underlayment - in particular about 6mm cork underlayment.

As a mentioned some of my photos had to be taken on my phone, which are not awesome quality - but I wanted to share a nice area in Shanghai called old town aka yuyuan(?). It was heavy tourists in that area so we didn't stay for more than 30-40 mins, but it was fun to see the old style buildings.

You may have noticed some amazing deals on the site lately, and quite frankly, I'm not sure how long they're going to last. It seems my voicemail and inbox have been inundated lately from several vendors with what I like to call "nutty deals." You know, the kind you see but don't believe? If you've been perusing the site and checking out some of our marked down items, you already know exactly what I'm talking about (oh and btw, you can believe it!)

The latest of the "nutty deals" was a challenge issued to me from one of our manufacturers. Starting Thursday, iFLOOR has been given 72 hours to empty the overstocked items in their distribution warehouse. If we can do it, we'll be given additional "nutty" discounts. I won't bore you with the complicated math involved (yawn,) but my jaw nearly hit the floor and I committed immediately.

Confident that we'll reach this goal easily, I've instructed merchandising to price our featured items with the discounts I expect we'll receive, though there's still some risk involved on our part. So as an added incentive to ensure that we reach this goal, we'll be offering our customers No Payment and No interest financing for 18 months and a complimentary cruise for 2 with your purchase of $799 or more (see detail page for more info.) If you're in the market for flooring, it just won't get any better than this!

As I said, this is still a pretty risky proposition for us. I'm essentially passing on discounts that I'm not 100% sure we'll receive. So if we don't reach our goal, you'll still get the cruise, but I'll just be taking a bath(not an ideal outcome). So don't let me down!

(For those that wonder about the cruise click here out this past blog entry to find my research.)

My camera actually died while I was in China a few weeks back so I used my phone, so the pictures aren't great, but they are all I can share.

Below are a couple shots from Shanghai:

I have not been able to post regularly as normal when travel gets crazy it is hard to keep up.

Last week I traveled to North Carolina to see the Exdura plant as well as Georgia to see a laminate factory and a area rug factory. We also saw a hand full of key partners which made for a busy busy trip!

I will post some pictures as I find the time.

You can't go anywhere these days without hearing about gas prices, and since we ship more flooring across the globe than just about anyone, I probably hear about it more than most. This is one issue that affects everyone and the one thing that we seem to have no control over. Or do we?

One way we've adjusted (as have many consumers,) is to buy in larger quantities while making fewer trips. Not only does this save us on shipping (not to mention less of an impact on the environment- see our eco-zone page,) but with greater volume purchasing comes better pricing by the square foot. This is one way we've been able to maintain our excellent prices while costs for just about everything seem to be skyrocketing. But we're not stopping there.

We've figured out how we can save on gas and now we've figured out how you can, too! For the next 4 days, we'll be giving away to our customers a $500.00 Gas Redemption Voucher that can be used at just about any gas station (see detail page for complete information.) For the average commuter, that's about 2-3 month's worth of gas, even at today's prices! And, we'll also be offering 18 months no payments and no interest, so you'll essentially start receiving gas vouchers well before you even have to make a payment!

To sum it all up, you'll get the best deal on the best flooring, $500.00, and you won't have to pay for any of it until 2010. I think that's pretty awesome! Don't wait until the last day, though, many of the items we've marked down are only available while supplies last!

And yes you should check out the details related to the gas redemption and yes there are some rebate hoops to jump through over time, but if you can put this in your calendar and manage the rebates it is a great way to save money.