When it comes to replacing floors in your home, sales of bamboo floors are on the rise. Bamboo is more eco-friendly because it grows much faster than trees. But how do bamboo floors stack up against oak floors, the most popular type of flooring? Consumer Reports tested 21 different types of hardwood flooring, including seven bamboo floors ranging in price from $4 a square foot to $9.
The floors were put through a battery of tests, including an abrasion test that simulates years of foot traffic, a test designed to see how easily a floor scratches, and another test that shows how well a floor can withstand denting. But that's not all.
To test stain resistance, a wide variety of substances are placed on each of the floors—everything from ketchup to crayons. It turns out that an oak flooring got the lowest rating. It's the Anderson Pacific Cumberland oak floor.
Interestingly, two bamboo floors out-performed all the hard woods. Consumer Reports' tests found that bamboo flooring has gotten much tougher. There's a new manufacturing technique that shreds the bamboo into strands, which are glued together with an adhesive that creates less emissions than with traditional bamboo floors.
The top-rated floor is the EcoTimber Strand Woven Honey bamboo. And at $5.50, it's a Consumer Reports Best Buy.
When it comes to replacing floors in your home, sales of bamboo floors are on the rise. Bamboo is more eco-friendly because it grows much faster than trees. But how do bamboo floors stack up against oak floors, the most popular type of flooring? Consumer Reports tested 21 different types of hardwood flooring, including seven bamboo floors ranging in price from $4 a square foot to $9.
The floors were put through a battery of tests, including an abrasion test that simulates years of foot traffic, a test designed to see how easily a floor scratches, and another test that shows how well a floor can withstand denting. But that's not all.
To test stain resistance, a wide variety of substances are placed on each of the floors—everything from ketchup to crayons. It turns out that an oak flooring got the lowest rating. It's the Anderson Pacific Cumberland oak floor.
Interestingly, two bamboo floors out-performed all the hard woods. Consumer Reports' tests found that bamboo flooring has gotten much tougher. There's a new manufacturing technique that shreds the bamboo into strands, which are glued together with an adhesive that creates less emissions than with traditional bamboo floors.
The top-rated floor is the EcoTimber Strand Woven Honey bamboo. And at $5.50, it's a Consumer Reports Best Buy.
Those looking for bamboo flooring in the home may be interested in the Saso Kentucky Kingdoms horizontal engineered bamboo flooring.
Coming in a darkened bamboo, the product is made from material arranged into horizontal slats, so their widest edge is visible and shows off the characteristic markings of this type of wood.
The slats are fixed together using a high pressure laminate and coated with a satin lacquer that provides a light-reflective sheen as well as making the product easier to clean and maintain.
V-grooves on the edges of the planks give them a distinct join with each neighbour, an effect that provides each one with a greater sense of depth and dimension.
The planks are 120 mm wide and 14 mm thick, while the item comes with click system installation and a 25-year warranty.
Those looking for bamboo flooring may wish to consider Saso's other product, the Swedish Serendipity engineered bamboo flooring, which comes in a darker shade than the Kentucky.
Those looking for bamboo flooring in the home may be interested in the Saso Kentucky Kingdoms horizontal engineered bamboo flooring.
Coming in a darkened bamboo, the product is made from material arranged into horizontal slats, so their widest edge is visible and shows off the characteristic markings of this type of wood.
The slats are fixed together using a high pressure laminate and coated with a satin lacquer that provides a light-reflective sheen as well as making the product easier to clean and maintain.
V-grooves on the edges of the planks give them a distinct join with each neighbour, an effect that provides each one with a greater sense of depth and dimension.
The planks are 120 mm wide and 14 mm thick, while the item comes with click system installation and a 25-year warranty.
Those looking for bamboo flooring may wish to consider Saso's other product, the Swedish Serendipity engineered bamboo flooring, which comes in a darker shade than the Kentucky.
Hardwood floor can be installed with your choice of nail down, glue down, or lock-n-go.
A more popular product is laminate flooring, which is easier to maintain and install especially as a do-it-yourself project.
Laminate flooring comes in wood look, ceramic, marble or slate patterns. Laminate is known to be more scratch resistant then softer types of wood flooring.
All owners would ever need is a Swiffer to clean laminate floors, and in today’s world….easier cleaning is not only preferable, it’s necessary.
For kitchen and bathroom projects, many people would like an alternative to ceramic tile or vinyl sheet goods. That’s where Duratone or Duroceramic luxury vinyl tiles come into play. They are warmer and more comfortable under foot, easier to care for with endless design possibilities, and more flexible then ceramic tiles.
If you require more comfort, let’s talk carpeting. In the main living area, and bedrooms you can chose from plushes, textures, soft touch, cut and loop, and Frieze (shag) style carpets.
A rainbow of colors awaits you and your decorating ideas. Always be aware of the high traffic zones in your home, so that you can make an informed decision regarding wear and tear.
For all landlords and commercial property owners, Berbers and level loop-no pull commercial grade carpeting, is the right choice for wear and durability.
So we at Huffman’s Floor Covering hope this information will make your choices of floor covering much easier. Come on in and say hi.
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Hardwood floor can be installed with your choice of nail down, glue down, or lock-n-go.
A more popular product is laminate flooring, which is easier to maintain and install especially as a do-it-yourself project.
Laminate flooring comes in wood look, ceramic, marble or slate patterns. Laminate is known to be more scratch resistant then softer types of wood flooring.
All owners would ever need is a Swiffer to clean laminate floors, and in today’s world….easier cleaning is not only preferable, it’s necessary.
For kitchen and bathroom projects, many people would like an alternative to ceramic tile or vinyl sheet goods. That’s where Duratone or Duroceramic luxury vinyl tiles come into play. They are warmer and more comfortable under foot, easier to care for with endless design possibilities, and more flexible then ceramic tiles.
If you require more comfort, let’s talk carpeting. In the main living area, and bedrooms you can chose from plushes, textures, soft touch, cut and loop, and Frieze (shag) style carpets.
A rainbow of colors awaits you and your decorating ideas. Always be aware of the high traffic zones in your home, so that you can make an informed decision regarding wear and tear.
For all landlords and commercial property owners, Berbers and level loop-no pull commercial grade carpeting, is the right choice for wear and durability.
So we at Huffman’s Floor Covering hope this information will make your choices of floor covering much easier. Come on in and say hi.
]]>
Hardwood floor can be installed with your choice of nail down, glue down, or lock-n-go.
A more popular product is laminate flooring, which is easier to maintain and install especially as a do-it-yourself project.
Laminate flooring comes in wood look, ceramic, marble or slate patterns. Laminate is known to be more scratch resistant then softer types of wood flooring.
All owners would ever need is a Swiffer to clean laminate floors, and in today’s world….easier cleaning is not only preferable, it’s necessary.
For kitchen and bathroom projects, many people would like an alternative to ceramic tile or vinyl sheet goods. That’s where Duratone or Duroceramic luxury vinyl tiles come into play. They are warmer and more comfortable under foot, easier to care for with endless design possibilities, and more flexible then ceramic tiles.
If you require more comfort, let’s talk carpeting. In the main living area, and bedrooms you can chose from plushes, textures, soft touch, cut and loop, and Frieze (shag) style carpets.
A rainbow of colors awaits you and your decorating ideas. Always be aware of the high traffic zones in your home, so that you can make an informed decision regarding wear and tear.
For all landlords and commercial property owners, Berbers and level loop-no pull commercial grade carpeting, is the right choice for wear and durability.
So we at Huffman’s Floor Covering hope this information will make your choices of floor covering much easier.
]]>
Hardwood floor can be installed with your choice of nail down, glue down, or lock-n-go.
A more popular product is laminate flooring, which is easier to maintain and install especially as a do-it-yourself project.
Laminate flooring comes in wood look, ceramic, marble or slate patterns. Laminate is known to be more scratch resistant then softer types of wood flooring.
All owners would ever need is a Swiffer to clean laminate floors, and in today’s world….easier cleaning is not only preferable, it’s necessary.
For kitchen and bathroom projects, many people would like an alternative to ceramic tile or vinyl sheet goods. That’s where Duratone or Duroceramic luxury vinyl tiles come into play. They are warmer and more comfortable under foot, easier to care for with endless design possibilities, and more flexible then ceramic tiles.
If you require more comfort, let’s talk carpeting. In the main living area, and bedrooms you can chose from plushes, textures, soft touch, cut and loop, and Frieze (shag) style carpets.
A rainbow of colors awaits you and your decorating ideas. Always be aware of the high traffic zones in your home, so that you can make an informed decision regarding wear and tear.
For all landlords and commercial property owners, Berbers and level loop-no pull commercial grade carpeting, is the right choice for wear and durability.
So we at Huffman’s Floor Covering hope this information will make your choices of floor covering much easier.
]]>
When it comes to replacing floors in your home, sales of bamboo floors are on the rise. Bamboo is more eco-friendly because it grows much faster than trees. But how do bamboo floors stack up against oak floors, the most popular type of flooring? Consumer Reports tested 21 different types of hardwood flooring, including seven bamboo floors ranging in price from $4 a square foot to $9.
The floors were put through a battery of tests, including an abrasion test that simulates years of foot traffic, a test designed to see how easily a floor scratches, and another test that shows how well a floor can withstand denting. But that's not all.
To test stain resistance, a wide variety of substances are placed on each of the floors—everything from ketchup to crayons. It turns out that an oak flooring got the lowest rating. It's the Anderson Pacific Cumberland oak floor.
Interestingly, two bamboo floors out-performed all the hard woods. Consumer Reports' tests found that bamboo flooring has gotten much tougher. There's a new manufacturing technique that shreds the bamboo into strands, which are glued together with an adhesive that creates less emissions than with traditional bamboo floors.
The top-rated floor is the EcoTimber Strand Woven Honey bamboo. And at $5.50, it's a Consumer Reports Best Buy.
When it comes to replacing floors in your home, sales of bamboo floors are on the rise. Bamboo is more eco-friendly because it grows much faster than trees. But how do bamboo floors stack up against oak floors, the most popular type of flooring? Consumer Reports tested 21 different types of hardwood flooring, including seven bamboo floors ranging in price from $4 a square foot to $9.
The floors were put through a battery of tests, including an abrasion test that simulates years of foot traffic, a test designed to see how easily a floor scratches, and another test that shows how well a floor can withstand denting. But that's not all.
To test stain resistance, a wide variety of substances are placed on each of the floors—everything from ketchup to crayons. It turns out that an oak flooring got the lowest rating. It's the Anderson Pacific Cumberland oak floor.
Interestingly, two bamboo floors out-performed all the hard woods. Consumer Reports' tests found that bamboo flooring has gotten much tougher. There's a new manufacturing technique that shreds the bamboo into strands, which are glued together with an adhesive that creates less emissions than with traditional bamboo floors.
The top-rated floor is the EcoTimber Strand Woven Honey bamboo. And at $5.50, it's a Consumer Reports Best Buy.
Symantec’s Oregon facility has been certified as a green building with a gold rating under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. It's the second time that the firm has earned the ranking for one of its sites.
The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the rating to the Symantec facility in Springfield under the LEED parameters for Existing Buildings; Operations and Maintenance. The earlier gold rating, under the LEED standards for new construction, went to the company’s Culver City campus last year.
A gold ranking is the second highest in LEED’s five-tier green building rating system, which range from basic certification to platinum status.
Symantec said the Oregon site attained its certification by cutting energy and water use and increasing recycling. Other attributes that were deemed eco-friendly included the use of rapidly renewable bamboo flooring, natural lighting in 99 percent of the interior, Energy Star equipment, recycled paper, native plants for landscaping, and locally grown and organic food in the company cafe.
In announcing its LEED Gold certification last week, the security and utilities vendor based in Cupertino, Calif., also said it joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders, the partnership program between the agency and companies to develop and support climate change strategies.
Companies participating in the program must commit to reducing their environmental impact, inventory the greenhouse gas emissions for their entire business operation, set tough goals to reduce their carbon footprint and annually report on progress to the EPA.
In its most recent corporate responsibility report, Symantec said it had completed a global greenhouse gas inventory; set a target of reducing CO2 emissions 15 percent by the end of fiscal year 2012, using emissions in FY 2008 as a baseline; and set goals of meeting LEED standards for all existing buildings and new construction.
Symantec’s announcement followed news of Digital Realty Trust’s second LEED Gold rating for a data center. Digital Realty’s first gold rating went to a data center in Chicago in 2007, and the most recent went to a data center in Santa Clara.
Earning data center green building certifications are particularly challenging because of the amount energy needed to power and cool the facilities.
With help from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a coalition of groups is asking the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED certification standards for data centers and is developing criteria for the council to consider.s
In a survey released last month, Symantec said the movement to green IT is gaining ground around the world -- and not only to cut costs. Implementing best practices for a range of functions from power management to virtualization and achieving corporate sustainability goals were among the reasons respondents cited for greater interest in making IT more environmentally responsible.
Symantec’s Oregon facility has been certified as a green building with a gold rating under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. It's the second time that the firm has earned the ranking for one of its sites.
The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the rating to the Symantec facility in Springfield under the LEED parameters for Existing Buildings; Operations and Maintenance. The earlier gold rating, under the LEED standards for new construction, went to the company’s Culver City campus last year.
A gold ranking is the second highest in LEED’s five-tier green building rating system, which range from basic certification to platinum status.
Symantec said the Oregon site attained its certification by cutting energy and water use and increasing recycling. Other attributes that were deemed eco-friendly included the use of rapidly renewable bamboo flooring, natural lighting in 99 percent of the interior, Energy Star equipment, recycled paper, native plants for landscaping, and locally grown and organic food in the company cafe.
In announcing its LEED Gold certification last week, the security and utilities vendor based in Cupertino, Calif., also said it joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders, the partnership program between the agency and companies to develop and support climate change strategies.
Companies participating in the program must commit to reducing their environmental impact, inventory the greenhouse gas emissions for their entire business operation, set tough goals to reduce their carbon footprint and annually report on progress to the EPA.
In its most recent corporate responsibility report, Symantec said it had completed a global greenhouse gas inventory; set a target of reducing CO2 emissions 15 percent by the end of fiscal year 2012, using emissions in FY 2008 as a baseline; and set goals of meeting LEED standards for all existing buildings and new construction.
Symantec’s announcement followed news of Digital Realty Trust’s second LEED Gold rating for a data center. Digital Realty’s first gold rating went to a data center in Chicago in 2007, and the most recent went to a data center in Santa Clara.
Earning data center green building certifications are particularly challenging because of the amount energy needed to power and cool the facilities.
With help from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a coalition of groups is asking the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED certification standards for data centers and is developing criteria for the council to consider.s
In a survey released last month, Symantec said the movement to green IT is gaining ground around the world -- and not only to cut costs. Implementing best practices for a range of functions from power management to virtualization and achieving corporate sustainability goals were among the reasons respondents cited for greater interest in making IT more environmentally responsible.
A natural bamboo stock is hollow and the walls of the plant are fairly thin. Strips of bamboo are therefore laminated together to make our 5/8” flooring. The terms “horizontal” and “vertical” refer to the manner in which bamboo strips are laminated together. In the horizontal style, the strips are laid flat so the top surface shows the bamboo’s natural growth rings, or “knuckles.” In the vertical style, the strips are turned on their sides and laminated together in long, slender rows creating a different appearance
]]>A natural bamboo stock is hollow and the walls of the plant are fairly thin. Strips of bamboo are therefore laminated together to make our 5/8” flooring. The terms “horizontal” and “vertical” refer to the manner in which bamboo strips are laminated together. In the horizontal style, the strips are laid flat so the top surface shows the bamboo’s natural growth rings, or “knuckles.” In the vertical style, the strips are turned on their sides and laminated together in long, slender rows creating a different appearance
]]>Several years ago, in a nook in the "NoHo" Arts District of North Hollywood, California, Tom Sullivan & Joanne Chen owned and operated a small design and manufacturing studio, focusing on luxury customized director chairs for the movie industry. In their quest for a lighter chair, they experimented with bamboo, long known for its strength vs. weight ratio. The resulting chair was not only lighter but much stronger than the oak they had previously used.
Intrigued with using such a renewable, ecologically friendly material they set out to design various house ware products using their "engineered bamboo" and in doing so, developed the world's first bamboo cutting board. Bamboo, they discovered, is 16% harder than maple, making it perfect for a cutting surface.
Shortly afterwards, Totally Bamboo was born, launching as the premiere manufacturer for bamboo house ware products. From cutting boards to salad bowls and plates, Totally Bamboo plans to change the way the world uses bamboo, as a viable alternative to our precious hardwood trees.
Bamboo is actually a grass that grows to a harvestable height of 60 feet in about three to five years, growing as much as two feet per day. It has an extensive root system that continually sends up new shoots, naturally replenishing itself. It does not require replanting, making it one of the most renewable resources known. The species we use, "Moso" timber bamboo is not a food source, or a habitat, for the Giant Panda.
Bamboo holds the promise of a sustainable, cost effective and ecologically responsible alternative to the widespread clear cutting of our world's precious timberland.
The Color of Bamboo: Our bamboo comes in two colors, light, which is the natural color of the bamboo and dark, which is a honey color. The dark color is achieved by steaming the bamboo, bringing out the natural sugars, caramelizing it. This color is permanent and will not fade or wash out.
The Grain of Bamboo: There are three types: Vertical grain, Flat grain and End grain. Vertical grain, approximately 1/4" wide is taken from the side of the split pole; Flat grain, approx. 5/8" wide is from the face of the pole and End grain is the cross section of the pole.
The goal of Totally Bamboo is to be recognized as the leader in changing the way the world uses bamboo, as the new, ecologically renewable alternative to hard woods.
]]>Several years ago, in a nook in the "NoHo" Arts District of North Hollywood, California, Tom Sullivan & Joanne Chen owned and operated a small design and manufacturing studio, focusing on luxury customized director chairs for the movie industry. In their quest for a lighter chair, they experimented with bamboo, long known for its strength vs. weight ratio. The resulting chair was not only lighter but much stronger than the oak they had previously used.
Intrigued with using such a renewable, ecologically friendly material they set out to design various house ware products using their "engineered bamboo" and in doing so, developed the world's first bamboo cutting board. Bamboo, they discovered, is 16% harder than maple, making it perfect for a cutting surface.
Shortly afterwards, Totally Bamboo was born, launching as the premiere manufacturer for bamboo house ware products. From cutting boards to salad bowls and plates, Totally Bamboo plans to change the way the world uses bamboo, as a viable alternative to our precious hardwood trees.
Bamboo is actually a grass that grows to a harvestable height of 60 feet in about three to five years, growing as much as two feet per day. It has an extensive root system that continually sends up new shoots, naturally replenishing itself. It does not require replanting, making it one of the most renewable resources known. The species we use, "Moso" timber bamboo is not a food source, or a habitat, for the Giant Panda.
Bamboo holds the promise of a sustainable, cost effective and ecologically responsible alternative to the widespread clear cutting of our world's precious timberland.
The Color of Bamboo: Our bamboo comes in two colors, light, which is the natural color of the bamboo and dark, which is a honey color. The dark color is achieved by steaming the bamboo, bringing out the natural sugars, caramelizing it. This color is permanent and will not fade or wash out.
The Grain of Bamboo: There are three types: Vertical grain, Flat grain and End grain. Vertical grain, approximately 1/4" wide is taken from the side of the split pole; Flat grain, approx. 5/8" wide is from the face of the pole and End grain is the cross section of the pole.
The goal of Totally Bamboo is to be recognized as the leader in changing the way the world uses bamboo, as the new, ecologically renewable alternative to hard woods.
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