While consumer demand for natural products is growing, they are a must-have for people with chemical sensitivities
Kathy McDowell was upset to think she would have to stop playing with her grandchildren on the carpet in her family room. Every time she got close to the floor, the West Lafayette, IN, resident had a reaction that triggered respiratory problems.
When her doctor told her that the carpet had to go, McDowell persisted. She started investigating wool carpet and learned about chemical-free Nature’s Carpet – surprisingly close to home at Cline’s Carpets & Blinds.
“I love the carpet,” says McDowell, who has asthma. “I can get down on the floor with my grandkids. And the wool is easy to keep clean. It seems to breathe. It’s natural. It’s warm when it’s cold, and it’s cool when it’s warm.”
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.
