Marmoleum is a type of floor covering that is manufactured for both residential and commercial use. It has been around for centuries but it has never been as popular as it is today because of the immediate call for saving our environment. Marmoleum is an organic combination of jute, rosin, wood flour and linseed oil. They are mixed and pressed together then dried in order to produce tiles or sheets.

In general, marmoleum floors are durable even though they are fairly soft and comfortable to the feet. It is not hard to maintain because it is very easy to clean and does not absorb spills, and stains. It is also anti-static therefore it does not attract dust making it the best floor material for people who have allergies and asthma.  Because of its linseed oil component, it oxidizes and kills germs giving it its anti-bacterial characteristic.

Marmoleum is actually a very versatile material. It is primarily used as a floor covering and is usually a substitute for the traditional linoleum used in bathrooms, kitchens and hallways. Hospitals and schools usually choose this material due to its low maintenance and anti-bacterial properties. Marmoleum can also be used for countertops since it does not harbor germs and bacteria and is very easy to clean.

Most importantly, marmoleum is an eco-friendly material. Since it is made from all-natural products that grow back very fast, it is highly biodegradable and recyclable and does not have so much impact on ecology.

Beautify your home. Save your health. Save the earth.

Now that you’ve made your selection of natural flooring in the form of a sisal, coir or seagrass area rug or carpet, you want to maintain your new floor in the best way possible. Here are a couple of quick and simple ideas to help keep your new floor beautiful.

First, make sure you have a vacuum cleaner with strong beater brushes and good suction. Regular vacuuming, daily if you have lots of traffic, is your best defense against early wear on any new carpet. The best vacuuming is with multiple passes in different directions.

Any spill should be attacked immediately. For water-based spills, blot (do not rub!) the spot with a clean, absorbent, undyed cloth or paper. Start at the outside edges of the spill and work your way to the center. Depending on the spill you might need to rinse with clean water. At this point, it is important to dry the carpet with a blow dryer or another clean cloth. If using a cloth, cover the spot entirely and weight the cloth so it presses into the carpet. Don’t walk on the spot until it is completely dry.

Oil-based spills and stains clean well with dry cleaning solvent. Again, blot from the outside of the stain to the center. Be sure to apply the solvent only to your blotting cloth, rather than directly to the carpet.

Occasionally you may need to “restore” some moisture to your sisal or coir carpets. Do this by applying an even, light mist of clean water to the surface. In low humidity or high traffic areas, this helps prevent excessive dryness, which can shorten your carpet’s life.

Besides the standard fibers like nylon, wool, polyester and olefin, there are several natural fibers currently in use for carpet manufacture. Coir, seagrass and sisal carpets are becoming popular for their environmental friendliness, as well as their fashionable architectural designs.

Coir, incredibly strong, is harvested from coconut husks. About 90% of the coir used in carpet production comes from India and Sri Lanka. Coir generally comes in its natural color, which ranges from golden brown to reddish brown.

Seagrass is a thick and tough fiber, grown underwater mostly in China. Because it is virtually impermeable, it is almost impossible to dye. As a result, you will nearly always find seagrass in its natural green-brown colors.

Sisal is a product of the agave cactus with long fibers, which are spun into yarn and often dyed before manufacture into area rugs or wall-to-wall carpet. Most of the world’s production of sisal comes from Brazil, Tanzania and China.

Each of these fibers results in carpets that are anti-static and organic. They are completely biodegradable and of truly renewable resources. Remember that like all natural fibers, they will vary in color, which simply adds to their beauty and character.

Don’t let the fact that they’re biodegradable give you concerns about performance! With normal maintenance, any degradation will take up to 20 years! Though sisal has some maintenance challenges because of its affinity to dyes (stains), all three are easily maintained with regular spot cleaning and vacuuming. When necessary, any commercially available dry cleaning method works well (never use wet cleaning).

Debating between Laminate or Hardwood Floors? Here are Some Questions to Consider.

In many ways, the choice of wood or laminate is comes down to personal preferences and lifestyle. You may want to consider some of these personal issues before you head to your store, so that you are prepared to make a good decision.

How will the floor be used? Are spills going to be a way of life in that room? Will furniture be dragged around regularly? Are there clearly defined high and low traffic areas? Then a good laminate will look better over its life than wood.

How important is the feel and look of real wood to you in your home? Although laminates are remarkable mimics of a wood floor, the repetition of the wood grain doesn’t have the distinctions over a space that wood does. Many people never notice the difference, and the ambience is very similar. Be sure to visit somewhere with a good laminate floor before you make your final decision.

Can you live with the imperfections of a real wood floor? Unlike laminate, wood will age over time – with scratches, dents and fading. These issues can be more prevalent in a home with children or pets. Many people feel that this is part of the charm of a wood floor, but not everyone agrees. Think about what you are comfortable with in a floor.

How willing are you to spend time and energy maintaining the floor? Laminate requires just a damp mop to keep it up, while wood does better with re-waxing or polyurethane coating every few years if it is a finish in place application.

Both laminate and wood floors have much to recommend them. It’s up to you to determine which will work best for your lifestyle, your personal preferences, and your home. No matter which decision you make, you will be happy with your choice as long as you select a good quality product and a reliable installer. We are here to help you determine what’s right for your lifestyle, so don’t hesitate to ask us any questions to help you decide!

WWII was raging and the United States was operating in a wartime economy. Of critical interest to both the government and industry was the dwindling supply of silk used to make parachutes and other military textiles. DuPont’s chemical and textile engineers came to the rescue with a synthetic replacement for silk, which they called nylon. This new fiber quickly found its way into myriad markets, including both commercial and residential carpet manufacturing.

Now, 60 years later, the essential chemical structures of nylon carpet fiber remain virtually unchanged. What have continued to change and improve are ancillary processes like dye methods, carpet construction and finishing technologies. What this means to finished carpet is a constant improvement in on-the-floor performance in places like your house! And the exceptional performance extends to both plush (cut-pile) and loop pile constructions.

Critical to nylon’s success as the world’s most-used carpet fiber is its characteristic colorfastness. Solution-dyed nylon (where color is introduced prior to nylon’s extrusion into fiber) is essentially impervious to the color-damaging effects of exposure to direct sunlight or bleach! Even those nylon fibers dyed after extrusion are intensely colorfast due to the latest technologies for preventing soiling and staining.

Nylon carpets will easily retain their original shape and appearance when they are properly constructed, installed and maintained. They respond well to current commercial cleaning methods, promising years of satisfactory use. The reality is that today’s nylon carpets will never wear out; they simply get ugly at the end of their wear lives.

Carpet colors, trends, styles and fashions have come and gone, but carpet fiber options have remained essentially the same! Nylon and polyester are today’s leaders in residential carpet sales as their quality has continued to improve. Still, despite wool owning but a fraction of the overall market, it remains the standard for luxury. Stay tuned for upcoming blog entries, where each of the fibers will be highlighted.

Nylon. Owner of all the sales records for 50 years with products and styles that have continued to lead the residential market. Today’s nylon carpets look good, resist stain, and perform well at reasonable prices. Sensibly maintained and installed over a quality cushion, nylon carpet easily performs well for 10 – 20 years.

Polyester. Once scorned as poorly performing, polyester carpets have made a significant comeback. Creeping into nylon’s market share, polyester carpets now account for up to one-fourth of residential carpet sales. The draw is price;  The key is to ask for yarn with multiple plies and multiple twists.

Wool. For hundreds (maybe thousands?) of years, wool has been a fiber known for distinctive beauty and charm. Nylon “uglies out” as it ages, but wool – as it gracefully grows old, looks good year after year. Given basic maintenance, wool carpets will perform wonderfully for 20 years or more. It’s not unusual to find beautiful 30-year-old wool carpets – even if they do have a threadbare spot or two!