Carpet Express' Flooring Blog

At Carpet Express, we try to bring our customers the best values in the flooring industry. Bruce Springdale Plank by Armstrong is one of the best engineered wood flooring products on the market today. Its 3-ply construction is 100% oak, where most engineered wood uses a cheaper wood as a filler, and only has oak as the bottom ply and the top veneer.

We wanted to bring this product to the market at a price that would compete with Chinese imports and lesser American made products.

And then it hit us. Bring in truckloads. Buy it in bulk, and sell it cheap.

Call us today to find out what we’re selling this hot product for – (800) 922-5582.

We just introduced a new line of handscraped hardwood flooring to our website called “Hickory Road.”

Hickory Road has some of the best looking colors you will ever see in a hand-scraped wood floor. The style takes you back to the times of riverboats and petty-coat dresses. The traditional look and feel is represented in each and every plank, and gives any room a time-honored characteristic look, displaying the unique grain and texture of Hickory.

This wood is a 3/8″ engineered product, with a thick top veneer, giving it structural stability. It can be used above, on, or below grade, and can be glued, nailed, stapled, or floated. It carries a 25 year residential finish warranty, and a lifetime structure warranty. All planks are 5″ wide, and come in random lengths, between 18-48″ each.

We invite you to take a look at Hickory Road, and let us know what you think of it.

Question: A great informative site. I sure wish I had seen it before my install. I laid Bruce’s cabin (tavern) grade. I knew about all the minor imperfections it could have, in fact I even like them. Makes it look a bit more real. What I do not like though is the edging where the planks come together. The lock and fold is not nearly engineered as the 1st quality. Overall, it is nothing like the 1st quality Bruce flooring I have used in the past. Is there any thing I can do to make the seams more level? As they are right now, not all of them, you can catch a toe on it if not careful.

Thanks so much for you valued input,
Jim – Garland, Texas

Answer: Jim,

There are some things that can be prevented during the time of the installation to help level the ends or edges but it would be very difficult for me to give a correct answer without actually looking at the floor.  One way I personally like is rolling the wood with at lest a 75 lb roller when setting it in the adhesive.  This helps give a smooth surface and it will also give a better adhesive transfer or bond.  You will always have what we refer to in wood the business overwood and in the cabin grade quality it will be a little worst.  Still it should be something that you could live with.   One way to test your overwood problem is to take a credit card and set it on the lower side of the wood and match it up to the higher side.  If the height difference is less than the credit card then it should be within the industry standard. One problem with overwood is that in some of the darker colors you can actually see the wood where it is not stained.  In this case you can get a stain marker pen that matches the existing stain and color the edges.

You can purchase the markers at a local Home Depot or Lowe’s.  Be sure to take a piece of your wood to match the proper stain color.

Thank you for your question,

Mike Jones

Question: Hello,

I’d like to get wood floors. I have carpet, and under it there is asphalt tiles (30 or 40 years old) and the 2 contractors suggest to have an asbestos contractor to remove those tiles before they do the wood.

What do you suggest?

Thank you,
Sandra

Answer: Sandra,

I would say that your contractor might be right about the ashpalt tile having asbestos in it. But just to make sure, here’s a few things to help you. If your tile was installed before 1982, then there’s a good chance it’s asbestos. Also, if your tile is 9″ x 9″, then, again, it probably has asbestos.

But here’s the good news – you don’t have to take up that old tile! There are some wood products on the market now that you can loose lay, or what we refer to as floating floors (example – Bruce Lock and Fold).  This is what I would recommend in your case because removing that asbestos tile from your home will be quite an expense, and there’s even a great chance that the adhesive used on those tiles will also have asbestos.

By using this floating floor method you can install a new wood floor without removing that old tile, saving you time and expensive labor.

If we can be of any help, please call (800) 922-5582 or email us, info at carpetexpress.com.

Thank you for your question, and good luck on your remodeling project.
Mike Jones