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A happy house is a hardwood house

     The very first experience I had with the process of dealing with hardwood flooring occurred during the time I was sharing a home with my adult daughter, son and grandson.  We had never been fortunate enough before to actually own a home, ever……But, my daughter had obtained a beautiful older turn of the century home built in 1903 in Adairsville Ga.  Upon initial inspection and repeated viewing of the home, she was very happy with every aspect of the home, except for the flooring.  Throughout this beautiful old home with ancient fireplaces and beadboarded walls and ceilings the floors were covered with this thick, grayish white, seen better days , well worn carpet.  The seller said she had put it down because her elderly parents had previously lived in the home, and needed the extra warmth that the carpet provided.  Not to worry.  We figured between the 3 of us adults, that we could all pitch in together in helping to take it up.   Wow!  Yeah, that was quite an experience.  The tearing, cutting and pulling up of the carpet was no big deal.  But pulling up all the hundreds of nails used to tack it down was tedious and knee and back breaking work, if you weren’t used to doing it.

Armstrong Hardwood Flooring
Bruce Hardwood Floors
Virginia Vintage Hardwood Floors

     Anyway, soon we had it all up and we were delighted with what lay underneath.  The actual original heart of pine floors lay gleaming under our feet.   Just beautiful.  We were thrilled!  Then little by little we sensed that, even tho’ it was the last thing we wanted to do, the floor might have to be replaced due to weaknesses in the joist and slumping leveling of the floor.  This became a necessity when my daughters foot actually went thru the floor in her bedroom one night, leaving a gaping hole right next to her bed!  Well, this was disconcerting enough, but the idea of what might lurk beneath the ancient floor of this old house, undisturbed for many years, really freaked us out.  Didn’t need any creepy crawlers coming up to visit from the dark depths below.  So, until we could get the floor fixed, we put a glass coffee table top over the hole to prevent anything from coming up, or any of us from going down!

BR111 Flooring
Shaw Flooring
Mohawk Flooring

     Alas, we had the floor inspected a second time, and what do you know, there was extreme termite damage.  Imagine that!

     Well, my daughter shopped around and found a supposed Christian flooring company in who she contracted to lay a new floor.  For the sake of saving money, she decided to get laminate, instead of hardwood.  Just couldn’t afford the other, and the wide plank laminate she decided on was beautiful, so that’s what she went with.  However, it would have been nice for the flooring company to explain that the way the floor had originally been built, with no subfloor, and actually containing part of an ancient old indian cabin floor that the house had been built around, that laminate really would not be a good idea to go with if you desired to be rid of slumping floors and weak places between joists.  Anyway, it wasn’t the right thing for us.  Soon my daughter was discouraged in that if the floor was still going to have weak places and slanting levels, she would have just had someone patch up her old heart of pine, and just try to have lived with it.  Laminate flooring can be just as beautiful as many hardwood floors, sometimes, maybe, but for our money, theres no other way to go than hardwood, even if you may even have to borrow a little to get it done right the first time.

Anderson Flooring
We Cork Flooring
Kahrs Hardwood Flooring
Mannington Hardwood Flooring

     Fortunately for my daughter, she actually met a wonderful man who happened to own his own flooring company, so soon, the laminate floor was a thing of the past, replaced by beautiful hardwood hickory floors.

And you could even sense that we weren’t the only ones pleased with them.  You could tell that the house itself was pleased, because once more the turn of the century ambience and character of the old house was restored.  You could just kinda feel the house smile again, and breathe a sigh of relief….

     So, take it from someone who knows thru experience,….a happy house, is a hardwood house!  For more information please visit hardwood flooring atlanta and browse the hand scraped hardwood flooring options.

Cork Flooring- Unique in Form and Function.

Cork has been in use for thousands of years.  In 3000 B.C., China, Persia, and Egypt used cork for fishing bobbers.  The Romans used cork when building ships, as roofing material, and for the soles of shoes.  In the United States, cork flooring was introduced in the early 1900’s.  The floors were installed in public buildings, and still exist today.  This attests to the strength and resilience of a cork floor.  Cork flooring is abrasion resistant, and stands up well to high traffic.  It can be used in homes as well as in public buildings.

Wicanders Cork Flooring
Wicanders Series 1000
Teragren Synergy

Cork comes from the Cork Oak tree, which is an evergreen tree.  It can be found throughout the Mediterranean, but its largest producer is Portugal; Portugal produces 50% of the world’s supply of cork.  Portugal is also well known for the care and management of their Cork Oak forests.  Being a natural product, cork is recyclable and biodegradable.  The manufacturing of cork is also environmentally friendly.  The Cork Oak tree does not need to be cut down in order to harvest the cork.  Cork Oak evergreens have the amazing ability to re-grow their bark.  The first or virgin harvest, takes place when the tree is approximately 20-25 years old, then harvested about every nine years after that.  This unique evergreen is stripped of its bark and average of 16 times over its 150 250 year lifespan.

Columbia Flooring
Teragren Bamboo Prices

Cork is a cellular structure with a honeycomb pattern.  Cork cells are fourteen sided and have great strength and flexibility.  These cell walls are waterproof and airtight; great qualities to find in a floor.  These qualities make cork the perfect flooring for any space, whether commercial or private.

Armstrong Grand Illusions Cherry
Columbia Silverton Hickory

Kahrs Flooring 

Cork flooring is lightweight and easy to install.  It is available in rolls, or in tiles.  Generally, cork floors float, and therefore can be installed over existing floors.  There are many different color and design possibilities with a cork floor.  Cork flooring is a great insulator no matter the climate.  The look of cork is warm and cozy, and it feels great to the legs and feet.  When compressed, cork regains its shape quickly.  It is naturally water proof and airtight, making it antibacterial and antimicrobial.  Cork does not absorb dust and other airborne particles, making it allergen fee.  Suberin, a natural ingredient in cork, repels insects and acts as a natural fire retardant.  If you’re looking for and all around unique, great looking floor, choose cork.

The Dangers of Water Damage on a Shaw Queen Carpet  

While carpets are a great addition to any home, they can quickly become ruined when put under the right conditions. A poorly constructed carpet will wear away to nothing if under enough stress from traffic. One of the most damaging substances to a carpet is water. A simple leaky roof can leave a carpet useless if it is not taken care of. It is important to make sure that your Shaw Queen carpet is not exposed to water over a long period for any reason. While some carpets are resistant to water, if they are immersed for long enough they will be ruined just like any other carpet. Take great care to spot any problems with water early on to avoid any bad results.

There are many different potential causes of water damage. The first and foremost cause is a leaky roof. Most repairable water damage will come from either a broken window, or a leaky roof. If you don’t notice the leak the damage can become severe over time. Over time the carpet will become untreatable and you will have to throw it away. Mold and other bacteria will grow on a wet carpet and that could create health hazards. There is also a good chance that the subfloor underneath the Shaw Queen carpet will be ruined as well if water is sitting for too long. Finding and repairing any water damage is very important to the life of your carpet and the health of everyone in your household.

Scotchgard for Carpet
Shaw Rugs 
Carpet Care 
Carpet Cleaning 
Discount Carpet  

There are many different options when it comes to fixing a carpet that has been damaged by water. If it is only minor water damage, you can just clean the carpet and put it out to dry. If on the other hand there is a major amount of damage you will have to let the professionals take care of it. When a wall to wall carpet is damaged it will have to be pulled up and then put back down after it has been treated. While the Shaw Queen carpet is up it’s a good idea to look for any subfloor damage. If the carpet has been damaged by any waste water or just flood water in general, it should be thrown out right away. The bacteria lodged in the Shaw Queen carpet will be dangerous to everyone that comes in contact with it.

Shaw Carpet
Hollytex Carpet 
Mohawk Carpet
Carpet Tiles
Carpet Padding

Water can cause some serious damage to the carpets in your home if left unchecked. Make sure to look around your home once and awhile for any wet spots or signs of leakage.

Making Money in the Insurance World

It may seem unbelievable to some that insurance companies can really make that much money, but some of the most successive businesses are insurance companies.  When you think about an insurance company, what comes to mind?  Just like most Americans, you probably thought about Geico.  But why choose Geico?  Even though they have the cute little lizard, it’s just a good marketing strategy.  Geico is a pretty big company but they fall short to companies like State Farm and All State who have the largest number of policy holders and policies of any other insurance companies in the country.  But that’s the key strategy for all insurance companies; to have as many customers with as little accidents or claims as possible.  Its all about volume and making good business decisions.  The biggest decisions is deciding which drivers to cover and which drivers not to cover. 

·         Commercial Liability Insurance Georgia

·         Commercial Property insurance Georgia

·         Online Life Insurance Quote

·         Home Insurance Georgia

They take the probability that the property being covered is going to be destroyed in some fashion.  With this calculation in the probability, they can determine how much of a liability you are to them and their bottom line.  After its all said and done, the premium is then marked up to cover that probability so that they can still make money.  Regardless of the liability that you are to the insurance companies, if they want to cover you bad enough, they will just raise the premium.  It’s all about being a successful and profitable company in the business world.  The insurance companies are not in business to lose money, and they will continue to charge the policy holders until they are making enough money to be profitable.  That’s why health insurance is so expensive and is not affordable.  The cost that the insurance companies pay on health care is astronomical.  Then they have to tack on their profit on top of that. 

·         Car Insurance Georgia

·         Insurance Agency Georgia

·         Auto Insurance Georgia

·         Online Quote Car Insurance

It’s inevitable that you will come out on top when paying insurance.  Somebody has to lose and more than likely it will policy holders.  You pay in and pay in and pay in your whole life on policy after policy and you might file a claim an automobile claim once every 5 years only to find out that your premium has just increased all because of a little fender bender.  Then you can’t go out and get a new policy because you just had an accident and starting a new policy is always more expensive.  So you have to keep on paying on the same policy at a higher premium for year after year again, trying your hardest to not get speeding tickets or in another accident.  Your whole life you pay in on a policy and possibly never reap anything.  I guess that’s why they call it insurance.  It’s a gamble that you take by law, if that makes sense.  Just remember that being careful and taking care of your property is the best way to insure that you won’t be handing over too much of your hard earned money to the insurance companies.