I just wanted to drop a note about my experience with ifloor.com and the retail store.
From the moment I placed the order to picking it up today the experience has been very positive.
My order was very small but it was given the utmost attention when I inquired about the status, the response was very timely and detailed.
Even the salesman at the Nashua NH location that I picked it up from was very pleasant.
Top notch job all around, thank you.
Ryan
Joan Castillo did an outstanding job in placing our order and tracking our delivery. Her customer service skills are excellent. She polite, courteous, knowledgeable and, thorough in her service to the customer. I felt very confident placing my flooring order with her. I was very impressed with the quick delivery of the product. I will recommend IFlooring and Joan Castillo to my family and friends.
Thank you,
Linda
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Thanks Linda - I agree with you, Joan is a awesome! And the magic elves behind the scenes that make the whole thing click are equally awesome.
We appreciate your business and your referrals. Keep them coming.
ss
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
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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
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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
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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
-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:25 PM
To: steve
Subject: Question re iFloor, laminate & t-molding
Mr. Simonson,
I visited your store in Dalton this morning and have a couple of follow-up
questions before I take the plunge to install laminate (currently looking at
the Westhollow 10.3mm) throughout the first floor of my house. I know you're
very busy, but I'd feel much better about the plunge I'm about to take with
just a little more information.
First question: Is it imperative that I place t-moldings in the doorways
between rooms? Or, with proper attention to detail (i.e., expansion spacing)
can you safely do without the t-moldings between, say, entrance foyer,
living room and dining room and allow the laminate to extend seamlessly from
room to room? (The first floor off my house is 25'x37' and is divided into
three rooms and an entrance foyer.) I'd love to have the "new- house" look
where the flooring continues uninterrupted from room to room throughout the
entire first floor. Moreover, I worry that having t-molding in every
doorway/opening (there are five such openings) throughout my first floor
will impart the feeling of premanufactured housing. I don't want to spend
that much time and effort to end up with a look that is obviously not
hardwood and reminds people of living in a trailer park. I saw on the Pergo
web site where they state unequivocally that you *must* use t-molding in
every doorway. Your thoughts?
Second question: Pergo's web site says only that you must take off the
quarter round before installing their flooring; the WestHollow instructions
at iFloor.com say to take off the quarter round *and* the floor molding. Is
it really necessary to take off the floor molding? If so, it would seem that
makes the installation considerably more difficult and will require touching
up all the walls when done. Is this requirement unique to WestHollow, or is
it really best to take off all the molding no matter whose flooring you're
installing?
Last question: Am I losing anything in quality by considering the WestHollow
brand instead of a more well known brand such as Pergo, Mannington, or
Armstrong.
Thanks in advance for your help.
David
________________________________________
From:
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 3:27 PM
To: ceo
Subject: RE: Westhollow
Steve,
Thank you for your prompt response.
My husband and I have tentatively decided to order the Westhollow prefinished Maple Natural Select, 3/4 in. by 3 1/4 in for our entire house. The main reason for the selection is the light color of maple. We hope it will brighten our house inside, esp. during the dark Seattle winters.
However we are confused by the grade of wood used. From the sample and pictures the Westhollow maple select appears to be creamy white. Is it made from sapwood or heartwood? I understand there are color variations. According to NWFA heartwood is creamy white to light reddish brown while sapwood is pale to creamy white. Also many trade publications indicate that the sapwood is much softer (950) while heartwood (1450) is harder. Janka scale of 950 is quite soft in our opinion.
Your staff at Ifloor.com gave us different answers. Some say it is sapwood while others say it is "hardwood". We like to have a strong wood. But sapwood may be too soft.
We know many basketball in-door courts have maple floors. Are they of different grade?
The internet data portion also does not show how many coats of finish it has. Do you have that information?
Thank you. We look forward to your answers.
Julie
-----Original Message-----
From:
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:47:49
To:
Subject: inquiry
Steve
I have been trying to get some answers to my question about radiant heating in the floors of the home we are preparing to build. I checked out the bamboo flooring at iFloor and found a note that radiant heating is NOT recommended with the Ming Dynasty Bamboo Stained: Burnt Mocha Horizontal. I'm very interested in the product due to the color, and was disappointed to find that it's not recommended for my application. I intend to use the radiant heat, so I guess your product is out. I looked on line at bamboo flooring in general and found comments that the material is a very good match for radiant heat.
What's the deal? Why is your product not recommended?
We are going to make a decision real soon, so if I don't hear back from you right away we'll just have to go elsewhere.
Thanks in advance for your response'
Mike
