Carpet Express' Flooring Blog

Replacement Products for: Pattern Plus Shine, Pattern Plus Shine Remover, Spray Shield, Spray Tone, Lite N Natural , Dark N Rich

Armstrong will now recommend replacement products for the 6 products listed above, which are no longer available. Although we do not currently manufacture hardwood products that require the use of these types of products, we recognize that a lot of the hardwood flooring that has been sold in the past still requires periodic maintenance. The products are designed for maintenance with Commercial and Residential hardwood flooring with a HartWood or wax finish and without a urethane coating. While some of the replacement suggestions are Armstrong^® branded, some are not, so it is important that the customer follows the manufacturer’s application instructions for the products. Our goal was to find a list of compatible products for use on our hardwood floors that could be recommended to our customers. Performance testing has been completed to ensure that the new recommendations are not only compatible with our products, but perform to the same high standards. The Customer Service team as well as our Commercial TechLine have been updated on the changes.

Replacement Product Recommendations for Hardwood Flooring Without a Urethane Coating:

These replacement products are only recommendations for our customers; we do not require the use of these products. As always, our goal is to please our customers.

DuraSeal Neutral Wax

Cabin grade hardwood flooring, also called “tavern grade,” is a very popular alternative to fully warrantied wood flooring. A good quality cabin grade wood will produce a good-looking floor, but it will be more rustic and have more character than better grades of wood. In other words, it will have more light and dark boards, more mineral streaks, pin holes, and small knots holes. When purchasing cabin grade wood, you will need to purchase 15% extra material than the square footage  you are covering. This allows your installer to discard unusable boards or cut out bad sections.

Bruce Dundee Plank CB1210 scored a new high for wear testing. Oak floors have always done well for wear, and this says a lot about the quality of Bruce hardwood. Dundee was the only product in its class to receive the “excellent” rating. This popular wood floor is very affordable for a ¾” solid oak. Oak floors are very attractive and have an attractive variance in wood grain.  The micro-beveled edge adds a nice detention to this great product.

This ¾” solid oak hardwood comes in 2 ¼, 3 ¼, and 5” widths. It is available in many classic colors: Gunstock, Butterscotch, cherry, fawn, saddle, and natural. It has a 25 year limited warranty.

Installation is probably one of the most important issues when purchasing your floor covering. As a consumer, we will spend hours (and sometimes days!) making a decision on what kind of style, color, or particular product we want to beautify our home. Now after the decision is made, we will ask, “how soon can you do the job?”

No time has been spent and no questions have been asked about installation. All the time and effort spent has now been wasted, because the installation is a disaster.

Please take the time to ask questions about the labor. Find out as much as you can about what you are being charged for. Ask for some referals or maybe even a job you can go and look at.

If you are hiring the installers yourself, beware of the shade-tree mechanics. Ask if they have the proper insurance or carry worker’s compensation on their hired help. Get two or three quotes from different installers, and then go with the one that you feel the most confidence in.

Don’t let a cheaper price be the deciding factor, because usually this is the installer that will cost you the most in the long run.

For more information about installation, call (800) 922-5582, or email info@carpetexpress.com.

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.

Cabin grade wood is a huge market in Dalton, Georgia and throughout the country. Many customers shop long and hard for cabin grade wood without ever considering first quality, fully warranted, American grown and milled hardwood. Bruce’s Dundee Strip and Plank is an example of a first quality, 25 year finish and structural warranted hardwood floor that can usually be purchased for less than 10% more than the tavern grade Dundee (Timberland) or a Chinese import.

If you like a rustic look with color variations, knot holes, and heavy mineral streaks, then the tavern or cabin grade may be right for you. Just be open minded to a first quality, fully warranted floor without missing tongues and more uniform color. In many cases, the cost is about the same.

Read the full report:
Cabin Grade vs. First Quality: Which is cheaper?

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

Question: I am installing a powder room. I plan on ceramic  tile for the floor. Does the tile need to have grout under the toilet, and if so does the grout need to be sealed under the toilet, and if so, how long do I have to wait after grout and/or sealing before I can install the toilet?

Thanks,
Sue

Answer: At the time you’re grouting the tile, it would be just as easy to grout under the toilet. The toilet will be removed at this time, so there won’t be any extra time involved in doing so. As far as sealing the grout under the toilet, it really isn’t necessary, but if your toilet hasn’t been put back at the time you’re sealing the rest of the floor, go ahead and seal it, also. Either way should be fine, whether there’s grout or sealer under the toilet or not. It’s best to install the toilet back after the tile has had time to bond to the floor, which in most cases is approximately 24 to 48 hours. You could even grout the floor after the toilet has been reset, if you wish.

Hope this helps,
Mike Jones