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Archive for the ‘Flooring’ Category

In the wood flooring industry, the term ‘old growth’ continues to be the subject of interpretation and controversy. At Madera Floors we make it our business to know more about wood than any other company, and to educate our customers so that they can make more informed purchasing decisions. We frequently address questions about ‘old growth’ trees, especially in relation to reclaimed timber. In fact, we have talked with many consumers who thought the terms meant the same thing and were misled into thinking their old growth flooring was the same as our antique reclaimed flooring. Here we define some of the terms and address questions surrounding the mystery of ‘old growth’.

Old Growth refers to established forests that, up until the time trees are cut, have had little or no disruption. Advocates of cutting old growth timbers suggest that pruning selected trees is good for the forest. We disagree. Old growth forests maintain themselves through a natural process that does not include cutting into the delicate fabric woven by nature.

How Old is “Old” Growth? The actual age that determines “old” growth varies depending on the specie, but it refers to the age at which a tree has reached its maturity. For an eastern white pine, it is between 130-150 years, while many of the hardwoods reach maturity at 80 years. But, what is most important is that at maturity and thereafter the old growth tree is still contributing to the ecosystem in which it lives.

Virgin Growth refers to dense stands of various species of hardwood or pine trees that are indigenous to their habitat; they have never been harvested. Many virgin forests are protected, but tragically there are also many that are still being cut today for purposes that include mass-produced wood flooring. Essentially, virgin timber is old growth that has never been cut, while old growth may or may not be virgin timber.

Reclaimed Wood is also referred to as Antique wood, and for us the terms are interchangeable when describing the wood we use to make our floors. We agree that old growth flooring is beautiful; however, we prefer to reuse this majestic timber that was originally cut to build structures that have shaped our history in the United States and in interesting places all over the world.

“Deconstruction” is the core of the reclaimed wood industry. The emphasis is on utilizing materials that have outlived their usefulness and would otherwise be demolished, discarded or left to decay. Deconstruction helps to close the resource loop that we now realize is so valuable in this world of finite resources.In recycling this precious material there is a significant positive environmental impact.

Deconstruction differs from ‘demolition’ in that it is a painstaking process involving the selective dismantlement of building components. We work with experts who carefully manage dismantling projects to preserve the grand dimensions of the beams, posts and floor joists; this will be reflected in your floor as we work to maintain the superior widths and lengths of these ancient timbers.

Demolition, on the other hand, is unfortunately the more common method of taking down a building. Implosion or ‘wrecking-ball’ style demolition is relatively inexpensive and offers a quick method of clearing sites for new structures. Consequently this process results in significant waste and unusable material.

For more information please visit our website at

www.maderafloors.com or our blog www.maderafloors.blogspot.com

Thanks

As companies attempt to retrofit floor spaces walls, carpeting and vct tile are often removed or repositioned. As a result renovations often end up exposing large areas of adhesives, under laments, and spauling holes form anchors, studding and equipment. Now there is a solution with step by step instructions and help.

Often remodels can see no alternative but to reinstall similar adhesives and floor coverings like carpet and tile. Not only is this often expensive but provides pour ware and clean ability compared to hard Epoxy, Urethane and Glass emulsion services.

Even the most devastated floors can be brought up to level easy to maintain surfaces with hard long lasting seals that are attractive and cost effective. Renovators are often surprised how holes from old walls, and equipment stands can be made do disappear when filled with 100% solid epoxy and ground flush. The process is quick, easy and long lasting. Why would you fill with cheep cement products when you can get lasting results with the same or less labor, using epoxy fillers.

If concrete is exposed to ware it will eventually deteriorate. Friction ware, erosion, and contamination all can play a role in seeing a serviceable floor create problems. Dust, cracks, crumbling, ruff surfaces, and the inability to keep the environment clean are symptoms of a floor that has not been protected and is moving towards an unserviceable condition. Carpeting often hold your contaminants in place and can be a growth medium for mold and mildew. Vinyl tile can not hold up under heavy wheeled traffic, is subject o lifting when wet, and has a soft finish which too often is contaminated by solvents and dies.

Laminated coatings can create a ware barrier between a floor and its environment. These laminated services not only keep the concrete from warring but also provide a protective plate between it and its environment. Contaminants, and hazards, like PCB’s heavy metals, toxic chemicals and the like are kept out to porous concrete with a protective plastic layer. If applied well these laminated surfaces can provide decades of protection and service.

Durall Industial Flooring has installed floors that have provided over a decade of ware in high activity industries like Printing. Multi million dollar presses need to run 24/7 to pay for their high investment costs. There is no opportunity for shut downs and repairs or resurfacing. Companies like Japs Olson Printing have decade old Durall floors that are used 24hours a day, an are still protecting the concrete from ware, and are providing a clearable slow dust environment. The same is true for Airlines, Food processing plants and Breweries served by Durall Industial Flooring.

If your industry requires long ware and service you need to do the job right the first time. You need to protect your investment in your floors, and your long-term ability to keep in production.

Professionals and amateurs alike can successfully install a quality floor. Visitors can obtain free, job-specific quotes on materials or nationwide turnkey installations by completing a simple questionnaire at www.concrete-floor-coatings.com. This full-service concept allows anyone to enjoy the benefits of industrial strength floors successfully.

Durall Industial Flooring is different than others that make industrial flooring products. Instead of advising you to “apply to a clean surface” we are in the business of helping our clients to achieve that surface. Durall Industial Flooring, can provide adhesive removers, oil removing detergents, durable long lasting epoxy fillers for holes, joints, cracks, and crumbling surfaces. Durall provides factory-direct support for these products. Kits of materials are customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. Kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts. Durall Industial Flooring helps its clients restore floors to a smooth easy to maintain surfaces with over 500 specialty chemical cleaning and application products.

For photo examples and more detail, visit www.concrete-floor-coatings.comFor more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@durallfmg.com Phone: 800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)

Lifting and pealing paint is too often the end product of a homeowner’s efforts to dress up their garage with floor paint. The problem is worse than having no finish at all. Dirty, dusty, and stained concrete is usually accepted as the standard for home garages, but the eyesore of blisters, pealing, and chipping of a garage floor gone wrong is testimonial to the homeowner’s failure. Fortunately, new technology in flooring, when combined with systems for preparing concrete properly, can now avoid disasters that leave garages looking worse than before the treatment.

Epoxy flooring is weather-resistant, and unharmed by rain, snow, oil, and flooding. This resistance is due to the fact that epoxy coatings, unlike paints, come in two parts. When mixed, a catalyzing process changes these two parts from a liquid to a permanent solid. In contrast, paints are carried in water or solvent bases that evaporate to leave the finish. If you reintroduce one of those carriers to the surface, the paint often is able to re-dissolve back into a liquid state.

Even though painted garage finishes are formulated to resist re-dissolving into their carriers, under stress they can be susceptible to blistering, pealing, and chipping. But water and most solvents have no effect on sealed epoxy surfaces. Epoxy flooring goes on at the job site and requires no seams, creating a continuous membrane that seals what is above from what is below. These epoxy surfaces have been used in food processing plants for over 50 years now. Mold mildew and other contaminants cannot penetrate the epoxy membrane, and wash off easily.

Modern architects often use the flexibility of epoxy flooring to allow spaces to flow together creating expanses of unbroken line. Now the living room and deck patio can appear as a single integrated living space. Exterior gardens and interior upholstery tie together with access walkways provided by colored epoxy flooring. As a result, snow, rain, leaves, and other outdoor changes provide unique variety to the outdoor spaces that can also be enjoyed from the indoor space.

Preparation is everything when applying finishes. You can only expect a surface to stay in place if its substrate is permanent. Obviously, if the substrate crumbles or moves, your surface will move with it. Today, after 40 years of application experience, flooring experts have developed application preparation procedures that help minimize the risk of substrates moving. New floors are especially vulnerable and require extensive preparation. New concrete is dusty for the first few years while the latents of concrete on the surface are kicked, walked, or driven off. Those latents must be removed before quality epoxy topcoats are applied or the topcoats will move with the latents as they break free from the substrate.

One should not rely on retail store clerks to help with a floor that will be used for 10 to 20 years. Factory-direct kits of materials including step-by-step instructions and a 24/7 help line are now available online. With these resources, anyone can put a quality floor down in their garage that will last for decades. Like a car finish, you may get some scratches and marks, but also like a car finish, a little touching up can keep those finishes looking great for decades.

Durall Industrial Flooring offers no-cost, no-obligation quotes for its fully customized kits of materials, including all preparation materials and procedures, for installing industrial quality epoxy or urethane coatings at www.concrete-floor-coatings.com. These beautifully sealed and easy-to-maintain floors come in over 20 colors. The floor finish can be gloss, flat, or satin and may be easily accented with decorative chips. Additionally, the floors may be skid-resistant like emery paper, yet still easy to sweep or squeegee.

For photo examples and more detail, visit www.concrete-floor-coatings.com
For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@durallfmg.com
Phone: 800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)

New health codes find ceramic tile grout a harbinger of bacteria and microorganisms in embalming rooms. As municipalities adopt more stringent health codes, ceramic tile still in good condition may not be good enough. Often health inspectors are requesting the ceramic tile be replaced with seamless epoxy coatings to assure clean room standards. Now you can coat right over that good ceramic tile to encapsulate it at a fraction of the cost of demolition.

Epoxy coatings with 100% solids can be applied right over your ceramic tile for good looks and healthful environments. Epoxy flooring is not only seamless but can be Class III Laboratory qualified. These mold and mildew resistant surfaces are easy to clean with hose and squeegee. Bleach resistant epoxy flooring can take strong cleaners and heavy abrasion.

Epoxy coatings have been used successfully in swimming pools, laundries, warehouses, garages, and various types of shops for decades. Now they are being used increasingly in embalming rooms, smooth or with fine skid resistant textured surfaces that are still easy to mop and squeegee clean.

Epoxy floors can be flooded, during washing and scrubbed back into service in minutes. Mold, bacteria, and contaminants can be rinsed off. The surfaces are impervious to penetration by liquid-born contaminants. Even diesel, gas, and oil will not penetrate them and can be washed or wiped up. Old technology floorings, including paint, ceramic tile, vinyl tile, and linoleum, are subject to such severe contamination and damage, if flood cleaning is used.

New designs for embalming room floors offer beautiful flood-proof epoxy coated flooring from wall to wall, often including coated vertical surfaces to help further contain liquids. The beauty of epoxy flooring can be enhanced and personalized by using colors. Color chips, glitter, decorative stains, and artwork and decals can be laminated into these attractive floors. Epoxy flooring is a solid choice when building or remodeling embalming room spaces.

Durall Industrial Flooring supplies kits of materials that are customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. Kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts, so professionals and amateurs alike can successfully install a quality floor.

All too often homeowners and businesses try to repair worn, eroded and pitted floors with materials that crumble which ends up leaving large holes or depressions. Once the repair attempt fails the fix is often more difficult then the original problem. Instead of having a few damaged areas, the new holes in the repaired material leave lingering doubts about the remaining repaired surfaces. Will more of the repair material fail? Should the owner go to the expense and effort of trying to remove it? While these questions do not have a universal answer you can make efficient and long lasting repairs to original repairs using 100% epoxy.

Top-coat repairs to floors are often laid with cement like materials that deteriorate from moisture and abrasion. These materials have limited adhesion and are subject to having pockets blister off the substrate which eventually crumble and become dust. A coating of 100% solid epoxy can level those floors and seal them from further damage. By using a squeegee type motion, liquid epoxy can be pulled over floor irregularities allowing them to fill in. Because epoxy is hard, durable and impervious to liquids once sealed further erosion is usually stopped.

Repair of repairs follows several steps.

Use a mallet and scraper to find areas of substrate which are about to come loose and remove it.

Clean the surface using a rotary scrubber with a high alkaline cleaner followed by a high acidic cleaner and scrub rinse.

After drying, use a 4″grinder with a masonry wheel to bevel the edge of craters so edges are about 45% towards the floor.

Sweep off excess ground material.

Use a glazing compound and putty knife to fill hairline cracks so the epoxy will not sink in and continue to show them.

For larger cracks, fill sand into them using a broom until sand becomes visible which will keep your epoxy from sinking through the cracks. Make sure no sand remains on the surface.

Mix up your two part 100% solid epoxy in one gallon batches so it stays as fluid as possible.

Use a brush and 3/16 lint free roller to cut in around the edge of the room and around legs and other obstacles.

Mix more epoxy just as you need it so you are not working with thicker, tackier material that is over 15 minutes old.

Dip your roller and apply to all flat areas.

Pour epoxy directly into any cavities and holes.

Use your roller like a squeegee pulling just towards you and lifting as needed to achieve level surfaces over each hole or problem area.

Allow the floor to harden about 15 hours and then use a 3M type-sanding screen on your rotary scrubber to remove high spots and problems.

Sweep off dust and residue caused by your screening.

Repeat steps 5 through 12 for a second coat.

You should have repairs to your repairs which will have a good chance of lasting quite some time. A heavy impact to your floor may still allow layers of cement type patch to let go but more often than not you will avoid additional problems. Your floor will be relatively flat and good looking while being easy to keep clean and maintain.

Durall Industrial Flooring supplies kits of materials that are customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. Kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts, so professionals and amateurs alike can successfully install a quality floor.

Web visitors can obtain free, job-specific quotes on materials or nationwide turnkey installations by completing a simple questionnaire at http://www.concrete-floor-coatings.com.

Water standing in low spots on garage, shop and warehouse floors can often last for days creating safety problems and cleaning issues. During the troweling of floors some uneven ness can create low spots where spilled liquids can form. Low spots or depressions can now be filled in with 100% solid epoxy to bring them to level. Berms can also be adhered within an epoxy floor to contain liquid spills rendering them easy to squeegee out. Often containment of liquids to safe areas is all that is needed to avoid damage to items stored on the same floor.

An easy way to berm flooring to contain potential liquid spills is to hot glue strips of molding onto the floor before the epoxy flooring is applied. The epoxy flooring then seals the edges of the molding to the floor creating a watertight barrier. Often just ¼ inch of berm is all that is needed to contain liquid spills to areas where they can be easily squeegeed dry.

Epoxy flooring is not only seamless but can be Class III Laboratory qualified. These mold and mildew resistant surfaces are easy to clean with hoses and squeegees. Bleach resistant epoxy flooring can take strong cleaners and heavy abrasion.

Epoxy coatings have been used successfully in swimming pools, laundries, warehouses, garages, and various types of shops for decades. Epoxy floors offer the option of smooth or fine skid resistant textured surfaces that are still easy to mop and squeegee clean.

Epoxy floors can be flooded, pressure washed and scrubbed back into service in minutes. Mold, bacteria, and contaminants can be rinsed off. The surfaces are impervious to penetration by liquid-born contaminants. Even diesel, gas, and oil will not penetrate them and can be washed or wiped up. Old technology floorings, including paint, carpeting, vinyl tile, linoleum, and wood, are subject to severe contamination and damage if flood cleansing is used. Beautiful flood-proof epoxy coated flooring can be used from wall to wall, often including coated vertical surfaces to help further contain liquids.

Durall Industrial Flooring supplies kits of materials that are customized to owner specification and delivered directly to the job site. Kits include full directions and 24/7 help lines staffed by seasoned flooring experts, so professionals and amateurs alike can successfully install a quality floor.

Web visitors can obtain free, job-specific quotes on materials or nationwide turnkey installations by completing a simple questionnaire at http://www.concrete-floor-coatings.com.

For a high-resolution photo example, visit: http://www.concrete-floor-coatings.com/photos

For more information, contact Harvey Chichester at: harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com Phone: 1-800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)