Consider origin, construction, chemical emissions, innovation and responsiveness when you choose cork flooring

The call was one no flooring retailer wants.  The customer was furious. Her husband had damaged the cork flooring Cline’s Carpets had just installed in her home outside of West Lafayette, Ind.

“She was really honked off, not at us, but at her husband who had done something that took a divot out of the floor,” owner Cary Cline recalls.

But a strange thing happened when Cline’s installer went out the next day to make a repair. He couldn’t find any damage. “The flooring had healed itself,” Cline says.

Cork flooring, invented more than 100 years ago, is known for its ability to bounce back from abuse. Today’s construction — which includes engineered flooring and an array of stronger finishes — has led to a dramatic increase in sales during the past decade. Read the rest of this entry »

Bamboo  2010 Style

 Part One: Urea Formaldehyde

 I was taken aback. “Respected” brands of bamboo, two of them were named, don’t contain Formaldehyde, read a recent article in a respected “green” products magazine.

I don’t mean to criticize the author. The landscape of bamboo manufacturers and formaldehyde adhesives used in their products has changed quite a bit over the past three years, and some people just haven’t kept their knowledge base up-to-date. Read the rest of this entry »