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Flooring

Carpet - Area Rugs - Hardwood - Ceramic Tile - Vinyl

This section is a place where you can learn some of the fundamentals; things like classifications, fabric styles, and other fascinating, wonderful and, in some cases, peculiar, things about flooring.

Scroll Down or click to continue.

Carpet

All carpeting begins from the conversion of raw fiber

that is (with a few exceptions) spun into yarn and

then made into carpet by one of three methods -

weaving, tufting, or bonding.

There are two sources of carpet fiber:

natural (like wool, silk, and cotton) and man-made

(like nylon, polyester and acrylic). Natural fibers

provide soft, low luster colors, long term performance, and other aesthetic qualities. Synthetic fibers offer brilliant colors, easy maintenance, softness and outstanding value.

Color is introduced either at the raw fiber stage, or when the yarn is spun into the thickness, weight, and length used in the particular carpet. (An especially skilled job, yarn spinning has its own specialist companies.)

Today, most carpet is made of synthetic fiber. Nylon is the most popular, and offers the best performance and styling flexibility of all natural and synthetic carpet fibers. It accounts for over 65% of all carpets manufactured.

Carpet Care

Let's start by saying that the most important thing you can do to prolong the life of your new carpet or rug is to vacuum it. Regular vacuuming removes those nasty dirt particles that leave it looking dingy over time and abrade the fiber, which shortens its lifespan. Use a vacuum that has a rotating brush or beater bar, which stimulates the carpet tufts and loosens the dirt and soil. (Plus, schedule regular professional cleanings to remove soil accumulation that your regular vacuum can't reach.) If your area rug has a fringe, make sure it's sewn on well, and use the vacuum carefully.

If you have a thick carpet and want to remove any tracks the vacuum makes (it's called shading), you might try vacuuming in one direction, and then smoothing the carpet surface by hand.

You can help to reduce wear in your carpet by occasionally alternating your furniture placement to change the "traffic lanes" and allow the carpet to wear more uniformly. Be sure to vacuum these specific areas more often to reduce dirt particles, which can lead to matting too.

Carpet First Aid

In case of spills on your beautiful carpet, the best way to remove any liquid stains is, generally, to first remove the excess liquid with several layers of clean, dry paper towels. Then apply a diluted hand washing detergent to a clean cloth and gently blot the stain until it's removed

All About Area Rugs

Area rugs have been used as practical

objects to cover floors for hundreds of

years. But today they're more than just

practical and now can also be beautiful

works of art that help you to express

your special style.

For an explanation of the

five kinds of area rugs click here.

Area Rug Care

If you have a thick carpet and want to remove any tracks the vacuum makes (it's called shading), you might try vacuuming in one direction, and then smoothing the carpet surface by hand.

Area Rug First Aid

Just in case of spills on your beautiful carpet, the best way to remove any liquid stains is, generally, to first remove the excess liquid with several layers of clean, dry paper towels. Then apply a diluted hand washing detergent to a clean cloth and gently blot the stain until it's removed.

Hardwood

Hardwood flooring is beautiful, warm, rich, and natural. And it offers a multitude of wood types, species, finishes, and installation methods to meet your needs.

There are two basic types of hardwood flooring -

solid and engineered. Engineered floors are made

from layers (plies) of both hardwood and softwood,

with the top layer typically a solid ply of the species.

Solid hardwood flooring is not made up of any plies -

it's pure solid hardwood, and typically costs less.

The main installation methods for hardwood floors

are nail or staple down, glue down, and floating. The floating method is the most flexible because it allows for installations over virtually any subfloor.

Hardwood's grain patterns (the dark gray or black marks and knots of various sizes) are the result of the growth process of a particular species of wood and are influenced by sunlight, soil and climate.

You can expect to see shade changes in your floor over time. It usually comes from exposure to sunlight - the change will be more noticeable in lighter colors, which will eventually darken. Some species, like Brazilian cherry, will darken over the years just due to the natural characteristics of the wood.

Some of the different wood species used in flooring, starting with the hardest and most durable, are Brazilian Cherry, Merbau, Pecan, Maple, White Oak, Ash, Beech, Red Oak, Birch, Walnut and Teak.

Hardwood Care

To keep your hardwood floor looking beautiful, there are some simple procedures you should follow.

Vacuum regularly and use non-staining mats at exterior entrances to keep sand, dirt, grease, and oil outside.

To protect your floor's finish, use pads underneath furniture legs to help prevent scratching, and, while we're on the subject, keep all your pets nails trimmed, too. Along that same line, when moving any heavy objects (like furniture or appliances, for instance), use a dolly and protective sheets of plywood on the floor.

When cleaning the floor, always use the manufacturer's recommended cleaning procedures. Avoid getting water on the floor, too, as it may cause the wood grain to rise, or the boards to cup.

And be careful about exposure to the sun, because UV rays do the same thing to wood that they do to skin: accelerate the aging, which causes the wood stain to change color.

Ceramic Tile

Ceramic tiles are made from a mixture of clays that are

pressed into shape and fired at high temperatures to give

the tile its hardness.

Ceramic tiles are either glazed or unglazed. Glazed tiles

are the most common style today in floor and wall tiles as

well as for residential and commercial applications. Glazing

is done by applying liquid glass to the body of the tile, and

firing it at high temperatures so the glazing becomes hard

and non-porous. Shiny glazes are softer, can be scratched

easier, and can be more slippery than satin or rustic finishes.

Unglazed tiles, on the other hand, are very durable and don't show the effects of heavy traffic. The most common unglazed tiles are red quarry tiles or the granite-looking porcelain ceramic tiles that are used in heavy commercial areas.

The color of the body of the tile (as opposed to the surface) is determined by the color of the clay available in the manufacturer's area.

Ceramic tiles can be manufactured in one of two ways, called: - Bicottura ("double fired") - the clay body is fired on the first pass through the kiln, and then the glaze is applied and fired on the second pass through. - Monocottura ("single fired") - the tile passes through the firing process one time at a temperature of 2200 degrees. Monocottura tiles have denser bodies and harder glazes than Bicottura tiles.

As the weight or density of the tile increases, the stronger it becomes, but the less moisture it can absorb. Which is something you should keep in mind, depending on where you plan to use them. They're graded, from "Non-Vitreous Tiles," which can absorb the most moisture, through "Semi-Vitreous" and "Vitreous," to "Impervious Tiles," which absorb less than .5% moisture.

Vinyl

Today's vinyl flooring can look like hardwood, stone,

or just about any natural flooring material, while still

keeping vinyl's easy-to-take-care-of benefits. It's done

with a rotogravure embossing process, which achieves

a realistic look in what's known as - no surprise here -

rotogravure vinyl flooring.

Vinyl floors come with two types of "wearlayers"

(a fancy name for the surface) that effect their overall

performance: Urethane - an enhanced urethane finish

will protect floors from scuffing, asphalt sealer tracking, and allow most spills to be wiped off easily with a clean rag or paper towel. And PVC (poly-vinyl-chloride) - the basic vinyl floor wearlayer, it gives good durability, but lacks the easy maintenance features found in urethane. So scuffs and marks can be difficult to remove.

The thickness of the wearlayer varies, and is generally measured in mils. The thickness of a mil is the same as a telephone book page (so a 10 mil wearlayer is about as thick as ten pages of the phone book). Generally, the more expensive vinyl floors have thicker wearlayers.

Vinyl composition tile is a special form of vinyl flooring, a mix of thermoplastic binder, fillers and pigments. Its used primarily in offices, retail establishments, schools and health care interiors because of its durability, ease of installation, and moderate price.

Vinyl Care

Caring for a vinyl floor is fairly easy, but there are some general rules.

Vacuum regularly to remove grit and sand, and wash your floor occasionally with the manufacturer's recommended floor cleaner. (Never use abrasive cleaners, soaps, paste waxes or solvents, though.) Also, to keep sand and grit from being tracked onto the floor, non-staining walk-off mats should be placed at every outside entry to the room.

Dull-looking vinyl floors can be restored to their original gloss with the manufacturer's recommended floor polish - but first, try cleaning to make sure a film on the floor isn't causing the dullness. With inexpensive PVC floors, you should consider using 2-3 coats of polish - any vinyl floor with a PVC wearlayer (that's a fancy name for surface) shows scuffs, scratches, and other marks very easily and by adding those coats of polish you'll make the floor easier to maintain.

When moving heavy objects across a vinyl floor, place plywood sheets down first and move the object over them.

Vinyl First Aid

If your Vinyl floor gets a cut or gouge in it, or if you have a seam open, cover the areas and call a floor covering professional immediately to come and repair them.

Wipe up any spills immediately. Most spills wipe up easily with a clean rag or paper towel. If needed, clean them with the manufacturer's recommended cleaner or luke warm water and clear ammonia. Don't use soap because it will leave a film that will make the floor appear dull.

JP Flooring Systems - Design Center

9097 Union Centre Boulevard

West Chester, Ohio 45069

513-346-4300 tel 513-346-4308 fax

website email: Joe Sigmon

Design Center Hours: "please make an appointment"

Mondays - Fridays 9:00am-6:00pm

Saturdays 10:00am-4:00pm

Closed Sundays

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