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| SPECIALTY |
| Specialty flooring
varieties are beyond the norm. Many specialty flooring
options have gained in notoriety in recent years due to
environmental awareness as well as contemporary design
trends and functional requirements. You can find qualities
in these unique floor coverings that you won't find in
traditional options. If you would like to include a cutting
edge floor in your home, consider bamboo, cork,
rubber, or decorative carpet. |
| BAMBOO |
| Featuring Eastern
Elegance and Teragren bamboo flooring. |
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| Why Choose Bamboo
Flooring? |
Bamboo flooring is perhaps
the most widely associated choice for
environmentally-friendly flooring. Bamboo is not actually a
wood, but is a grass that can be harvested in just three
years (in comparison to 100 years for an oak tree), it
regenerates without replanting, and as a crop it requires
very little fertilization or pesticides. Because of bamboo’s
strength and durability, it has been used in construction
applications for thousands of years - but only in recent
years has gained in popularity for flooring applications
here in America. Bamboo naturally resists moisture and is
resistant to mildew and insects.
To convert the bamboo shoot into flooring, it is sliced into
strips and boiled to remove the starch. The strips are then
dried and laminated. The adhesives used to laminate the
bamboo most often contain formaldehyde. There are many
bamboo flooring manufacturers that are continually
developing more environmentally-friendly adhesives that are
much lower in formaldehyde than federal and state
regulations require. To achieve a darker color than the
natural pale yellow of the bamboo, it is pressure steamed in
a process called carbonization.
Bamboo floors are available in both solid and engineered
planks. Due to the manufacturing process required to make
bamboo flooring, it is very difficult to sand and refinish.
And due to both bamboo’s natural water resistance and the
adhesives used in manufacturing, it is difficult to stain as
it doesn’t absorb liquid. Therefore, it is predominantly
only available prefinished.
Pros
- Environmentally friendly (renewable resource)
- Moisture and mildew resistant
- Hard and durable
- Insect resistant |
Cons
- Difficult to sand & refinish
- Adhesives contain formaldehyde
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| CORK |
| Featuring Solida (tile and strip) cork
flooring |
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| Why Choose Cork
Flooring? |
Cork flooring is a little
known option in America, but it is gaining in popularity for
its many qualities. Most notably, cork is becoming popular
due to the increasing attention placed on
environmentally-friendly products. Cork is a renewable
resource - it is made from the outer bark of the cork oak
tree that grows in the Mediterranean region. Though the bark
grows back in three years after harvesting, each cork tree
is only harvested every nine years. Cork oak trees have a
lifespan of 200 to 500 years, and in fact, harvesting the
bark stimulates growth of the tree. Cork is a natural insect
repellant and is hypo-allergenic. Because cork is natural,
it does have a tendency to yellow with age, and it can fade
with overexposure to direct sunlight.
Cork is available in tiles or strips, both giving very
distinct looks to a room. There is natural elasticity in
cork, so it is soft and warm underfoot and has resiliency
that makes it stand up well to heavy furniture and dropped
items that might ordinarily dent a hardwood floor. In terms
of safety, cork is fire resistant and is a non-slip
material. The different stains available allow for a great
variety in color options. Tiles can be laid in geometric
patterns and in different colors, which add to the wide
spectrum of design options that cork offers.
Pros
- Environmentally friendly (renewable resource)
- Natural insect repellant
- Long lasting
- Non-slip
- Fire resistant
- Many installation pattern options |
Cons
- Yellows with age
- Can be difficult to clean
- Must be sealed
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| RUBBER |
| Featuring Johnsonite (flooring, wall
base, stair treads) and Burke Mercer (wall base). |
| Why Choose Rubber
Flooring? |
Rubber flooring is a
versatile flooring option that is well suited for situations
where high usage and traffic is expected. Offices, schools,
gyms, and retail stores are common places that you will find
rubber flooring. Rubber flooring can also now be found in
residential settings too - in playrooms, laundry rooms,
workshops, and game rooms. It comes in a wide array of
colors and textures - from vibrant to subtle and from smooth
to treaded. It is available in either sheet or tile form.
Rubber wall base is commonly used in combination with tile
flooring.
The main advantages of rubber flooring are ease of
maintenance, excellent durability, and resiliency. It has
exceptional slip resistance and it is also resistant to
cigarette burns and chemical spills. In addition, rubber
flooring is sound absorbent, so it helps control echoes in
large rooms. And from an environmental perspective, it is
recyclable and does not produce harmful off-gasses. The main
drawback of rubber flooring is the cost - it is more
expensive than vinyl flooring, but lasts much longer.
Pros
- Very durable & long-lasting
- Excellent slip-resistance
- Low maintenance
- Sound absorbent
- Environmentally-friendly |
Cons
- Expensive |
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| Johnsonite Rubber Flooring |
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