Inside simplefloors.com

Green Flooring that will surprise

2008-04-28T09:19:00.003-05:00

Made of Bamboo, Premium Green's new strand woven hardwood flooring is not only breathtaking visually, it is a renewable "hardwood" floor produced organically without the use of fertilizers nor pesticides. The bamboo is harvested in approx 5 years and the plant it left alive and healthy to regrow once again. Something that can not be said for domestic tree species not to mention the exotic brazilian hardwoods that are under depletion.

If you want the exotic look of a brazilian hardwood the new strand woven collection might be the place to look. The original tones were in the steamed darker brown tones or the lighter natural tone. Now by mixing and weaving a variety of both we have the Charred and Raw options. Great choices and neutral colors all with an unexpected 3000lb janka hardness rating matching that of the Exotic Brazilian Walnut tree. This is twice the hardness rating as maple, standard bamboo flooring and Oak.

What about the cost? It is priced lower than our solid brazilian wood options.

So if you want the look and hardness rating of an exotic hardwood floor but do not like the idea of walking on the product of a dead rainforest, consider the strand woven bamboo option by premium green bamboo. Click here to view the collection

Full 5" Wide Hickory Plank

2008-04-15T08:43:00.004-05:00

A great new introduction today, a new 5" wide Hickory plank starting in the low $3. per square foot range. The rejuvenate plank introduction features 1/2" thick construction and an exceptional mulit-coat crystal clear finish that accentuates the randomly contrasting light and dark areas of the hickory grain. Check out this new hickory floor introduction.

Chicago simplefloors moving forward

2008-04-11T09:30:00.004-05:00

The Chicago simplefloors showroom is under way. This is our 8th location and it is definitely a twist on our existing model. After all who would put a hardwood flooring showroom in a "glass wall" high rise, overlooking the chicago river right in the middle of the financial district. Its a little out there.... so we are doing it. I will post pictures soon and let you know when it will be open.

So far we are using the rainforest collection, in the dark amazon color for the flooring. We tore out the carpet and installed the flooring in a floating floor method. We did not like any of the display options this industry uses so we spent a little too much time over the past 6 months designing a new display system which we then had custom built. It is completed and on the way. If you live in Chicago, we look forward to seeing you but you wont be able to just waltz on in, you can visit but you have to give us a call first. You will be surprised at the prices, we only look expensive, they are they same as our low online prices.

We have been contacted by many in the local design community already requesting access to samples of our products, so we will be opening it to the trade due to its ideal location (blocks from the chicago design center).

Portland & Seattle stores and warehouse, now off fossil fuels

2008-04-10T10:37:00.003-05:00

Another step forward, the Portland and Seattle simplefloors stores have been converted to 100% GreenPower (mostly clean wind). No fossil fuels, no nukes, no hydro. If the concept seems odd, don't worry your not alone. Swtiching to green electric power does several important things. It creates demand for clean energy while lowering demand for fossil fuels and nuke energy sources. In our society, change is driven by demand. Its your dollar and you have the right to spend it the way you want. When enough demand is placed for clean power, more clean power stations will be built. When demand lowers for dirty power, expansion of the old institutions will stop and a decline will start.

Turning toward green

2008-04-09T18:16:00.005-05:00

It costs a little more, but its worth it. Flooring? No, I am talking about power. Our Sacramento store is the first store to use and purchase solar and wind power only for its operations. In my opinion, it should be mandatory for every company where it is available. It is called responsible and I am very proud of them. Its time to stop preaching "green" and start doing. Other locations are soon to follow. The Seattle store is on the phone to Puget Sound Energy as I type. Businesses are not the only ones that can do this, contact your local power company and find out how to purchase solar and wind power only. Its an option that is available in most areas. Change starts with real action, and sometimes being responsible is a bit more expensive....so be it.

Clearance Section Created

2008-04-08T11:45:00.002-05:00

Just launched a new clearance section on the site. This section has items that are odd lots and discontinued items. Occassionally it will have things in it that we just have too much of. These items we list until the inventory levels drop down to a normal rate and then they are removed. This is a great addition to the site and we treat it like a "garage sale" section. Anyway, items have been added and are selling well already. We have approx 22,000 cartons of items in the clearance section right now (roughly 748,000 square feet) that are marked and priced for clearance. There will always be something in this section, here is a link to the section

Portland simplefloors now open

2008-04-03T10:23:00.002-05:00

On the footsteps of the Seattle store, the Portland store is now open. Both look and are doing great. Have not posted lately, been very busy with our product revamp for 2008. The visual difference between a plank of oak and high design hardwood floors is really obvious when comparing the two. It is like anything else when you really get into the detail of it, it is suprising how involved something as "simple" as a wood floor can get. Colors, staining techniques, hand crafting techniques, tonal buffs, gloss levels, species to color to gloss combinations, width varieties, it goes on and on and can be overwhelming. This year, we are streamlining the line, and launching only the best of the best visuals with the most impressive features and highest quality ingredients. Just as important we are going to do it at the same price as the mass produced standards. simplefloors.com, floors to go.simple to do

Location Grand Opening

2007-12-05T12:04:00.000-06:00

Back from the holidays, its snowing in Chicago and flooding in Washington. The Seattle store just opened its doors. The first few days were damped by record rain falls but it did not dampen the employees spirits and now the store is off to a great start. Portland is next, paint is going up and we are hoping for a January Grand Opening date. We work hard at keeping our costs down and sourcing at the lowest possible prices so its exciting to see people recognize and respond so well to the values. As long as we don't loose focus of this reality our growth will continue.

The warehouse in Oakland just got the first shipment of 4 new sku additions to the Reclamation Plank collection. It is an unusual species, African Black Walnut in a solid 3/4 thickness xtra wide at nearly 8" and we even spec'd it out with a 3mm neoprene cushion on the back. These new ones are really nice, in fact one of the operating partners of simplefloors just put this throughout her new home. I will get and post some pictures of how it turned out.
When I typed this I did not have it online but if you are reading it chances are it is live now. You can see it by clicking here. http://www.simplefloors.com/products/Hand-Scraped-Flooring/Reclamation-Plank/collection21.aspx

2007-11-16T21:24:00.000-06:00

Releasing New Artist Inspired Collection

2007-11-13T13:40:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite things is when a new collection is launched. I can already tell, The Old World Chisel is going to be in demand. This Artist Inspired collection currently available in 4 tones will be expanding soon. We are proud to have the exclusive on the Old World Chisel collection inspired by the well known artist Paul Jermann.
Paul Jermann clients have included Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros and Paramount to name a few. Paul's originals are well known with his latest piece marketed for $30,000.
Here is one of the tones available, If you want to take a look at the handscraped Old World Chisel collection you can click here

Tomorrow I will post a a new series of cork flooring skus that some of you might find interesting. Cork is a warm, quiet and environmentally friendly flooring option that now has a rather interesting designer look.

Handscraped Floors - authentic version are artforms

2007-11-09T12:57:00.000-06:00

Can offering a little above the ordinary add value and speed to your home sale?
Distressed and antiqued wood floors when created using tradition and human artisan technique create value in any home. Regardless of whether you plan on ever selling your home, installation of authentic hand carved flooring increases the appeal and wow factor of any home. We have had many customers comment on their homes selling and attributed it in part because of these handcrafted floors being installed. These floors are now widely available at both independent and franchised flooring specialty stores around the country. Because of the cost however, they are out of most of our budgets, anywhere from $10.00 - $19.00 per square foot.

Realistic costs are possible on handscraped wood floors
The direction a company takes is often a result of the characteristics of its people. The art form of authentic handscraped floors is something that motivates us at simplefloors. It is our goal to bring this 300+ year old artform within the average budget, something after much work, we have now accomplished. Not only do we boast the largest species selection and handcrafting techniques of hand-scraped floors, our beginning price point starts in the upper $2.00 per square foot range for Maple Furia in our Vintage Couture line. Some of the handscraping techniques used in our wide selection of floors follows. (these will be posted and identified with example images on the site soon)

The hanscraping techniques:

Time Worn Shallow Sculpt The least aggressive of the hand-scraping techniques. The hand tool lathe is used to gently carve valleys into the surface of the floor. The edges of the floor are also carved to an uneven, random state. Flowing uneven paths throughout the surface are characteristics of this hand scraping technique. The Time Worn Technique, accomplishes the natural uneven effects of foot wearing patterns and subtle texture of wood floors ageing 100 years and greater. Floors with rolling texture that fit a range of design themes from contemporary to traditional results. This technique is the easiest target for machine mimicking but the results from machine create a distinct repeating pattern and do not compare to authentic hand scraping. By hand, sculpt time for the Time Worn Shallow Sculpt technique is approx 95 square feet per day per artisan. Vintage millworks

Hand planing The technique used to create the uneven overall surface of the floor. This differs from the time worn shallow sculpt or the lathe finger carve in that it is not intended to be the entire focal point scraping technique. Hand planing accomplishes the handcrafted overall uneven surface of the floor in a minimal and extremely random format. While creating an uneven surface, definite rolls and running lathe lines are not as apparent. This technique is almost always used as a distressing compliment to one or more additional hand-scraping techniques. Lumberton/

Distressed Divet punch This time consuming process is completed using a chisel punch. The hand punches used will range in size producing both the larger and smaller imprints in the wood surface. The imprints while imperfect are round in nature. Recreating the time worn appearance of worm holes, small stone and debris imprints as well as spur and heel marks is the intent. As it is time consuming it is one of the more costly distressing techniques. This likely explains why a machine copy of this method has been attempted. However the machine copies failed as they left a definite repeating stamped pattern over and over throughout the face of the floor. When done by hand the floors that are created using the distressed divet punch method deliver a true 300 year old appearance.

Cross plane (lathe) Gouge A thickness planer is a tool used for smoothing rough lumber or reducing the thickness of a board. 150 years ago the luxury of precision electric planer tools did not exist. The wood was planed by hand to achieve and somewhat even appearance. The distressing method known as the Cross Plane Gouge replicates the low scrape mark produced by the hand held planers. Although not always, these are typically narrow indentions running across the width of the plank and often used in conjunction with one or more other scraping techniques.

Lathe finger Carve – A channel hand-scraping technique using a narrower push lathe. Longer weaving channels are carved into the surface of the floor. The method of scrape is similar to that of Time Worn Shallow Sculpt except the top peak of the carved area is sharper, and more visible. Typically 4 to 5 peaks are visible from the width edge across the plank at times intersecting. The edges of the planks receive a uneven random carving as well. Hand rubbing the stain results in the top edge of the carve lines often being slightly lighter in tone which shows the sculpting technique further. On average one artisan completes 135sf of Lathe Finger Carve per day.

Saw Kerf This hand scraping technique consists of a multitude of Smaller punch and chisel indent marks in selected groups running throughout the body of the wood surface. Smaller intricate indentations arranged in close proximity to each other produce whole unique distressed and indented sections of the floor. Depending on the species and the artist intent, often times these will be found inside select darker grains or mineral streaked areas of interest. Primarily due to the arrangement and creation of the smaller marks and greater quantity of them this is one of the most time consuming hand distressing processes. It will often be complimented by an additional distressing technique.

Mineral chisel. The technique of chiseling and gouging selected mineral streaks in the wood surface as well as areas containing knots or burls. This technique gouges and creates scrape marks, and even removes small parts of the mineral area or knot area of the wood. This antiquing process adds a time distressed appearance and draws greater attention to the unique and more interesting areas of the grain.

Wire brushed. A hand scraping technique that replicates, with detail, century aged European planks, in which the soft parts of the wood grain naturally eroded under the touch of time. The method of wire brush extraction involves an actual wire brush handheld tool that is literally brushed across the wood in multiple passes until softer parts of the grain are removed. This creates small but slightly larger than hair like line areas in the surface of the wood that are carved out and lower than the overall surface height. The result is a depth enhanced surface with added grain texture. Naturally this occurs over hundreds of years of use.

Grain Weathering The Darkening process that turns the softer underlying grain patterns a deeper tone. This provides clearer grain visibility and more contrast to the overall surface of the floor. The technique re-creates the actual darkening of the soft part of the wood grain which occurs naturally over many years of exposure.

Chisel impact. Using a sharp flat end chisel, the artisan applies blows with a hammer to the top of the chisel. The end of the chisel is held to the wood surface at an angle. The chisel is then placed at the adjacent edge of the fist blow mark, again at an angle. A small pie shaped indent randomly placed throughout the body of the wood surface results. Chisel impact is not only one of the most striking in appearance it is one of the most time consuming hand scraping techniques and of no surprise by far one of the most requested. On some stained colors, deeper tint is often applied to the marks themselves creating further contrast with the surface for an authentic time aged appearance. The Hand Chisel Impact is not able to be mimicked by machine and takes the average artisan one day to complete 75 square feet.

Cross Slash A series of stacked line gouges carved into the planks surface using a flat gouge blade. Typically this vintage technique is accomplished in a multiple scrape marks and at an angle to the length of the plank. 300 years prior, craftsmen did not have the power tools to achieve perfect planed surfaces. The stitch cross gouge will range in size depending on the intent of the artisan and resembles the scrape mark left by the overcut of a tooth saw blade. Darkening tints will often be applied to the Stitch cross gouge making it more visible. This scraping technique is often used as a compliment to one or more of the other scraping techniques.

Zipper punch The zipper punch distressing technique is used as a complimentary element of the overall distressing technique. Not as conspicuous as most techniques it can actually resemble a small metal zipper indents side by side on the surface of the wood floor. To further describe this distressing technique, you might imagine what a coarse, often referred to as “bastard file” file imprint stamped into a wood surface would look like. This techniques re-creates the impression of the teeth marks left in the wood by a hand held coarse file used centuries prior.

Edge gouge longer tear marks grooving from the end edge of the plank in toward the body of the plank. This edge distressing treatment while found most often on the butt end edges of the planks, can also be found on the running side edge of the planks as well. The distressing technique resembles the effects of imperfect milling and splintering of the edges, as well as the scars left of years of time worn use. This plank edge distressing technique typically is used in conjunction with one or more additional hand sculpting techniques, often times the Cross Stitch Gouge, in the body of the plank.

Edge sculpt The uneven shaping of each wood floor planks edges. When the planks are installed together this technique is becomes more apparent. This is due to the randomly carved edges meeting together each creating a unique time worn framing effect at the plank edges. This plank edge distressing technique typically compliments additional hand sculpting techniques in the body of the plank.

Edge Chisel The artisans sculpt deeper and shorter chisel markings, in pie shaped angles into the ends and side edges of the planks. This resembles the slight splintering left behind by hand mill tools. Often the frequency is greater on the ends of the planks than the sides. This plank edge distressing technique typically compliments additional hand sculpting techniques in the body of the plank

Handrubbed Stains The hand-rubbed staining technique that is used on most hand scraped floors to apply the color stain of choice. A soft cotton cloth rubbing the stain on, while another buffs the excess off. All done by hand, this allows the grain to naturally absorb the stain to either a greater or lesser extend depending on the particular porosity of the wood in a given area. This creates an authentic hand stained surface. Hand-rubbing stains can be used in conjunction with the Toned and Antique Toned techniques but when used on its own creates a mild variation in color tone and a soft luster.

Toned The process in which the flooring stain is applied heavier and lighter in various areas of the plank. This creates an uneven depth of color ranging from nearly translucent to deeply opaque. The goal is to achieve a very uneven time weathered look with the use of color stain. Often times this is used in conjunction with hand sculpting techniques to provide further depth and texture to the surfaces. This technique results in a surface with a variation of tones within the given stain color.

Antiqued Tone This process is very similar to the Toned process. The Antiqued Tone process uses multiple colors, rather than just multiple tones to create an uneven, striking antiqued effect to the surface of the wood. Typically the deeper color is applied to the edges of the plank and then feathered in toward the center gradually. A poorly executed machine applied version often referred to as “French bleed” paints a machine rolled straight dark line, similar in size to a felt tip pin at the edge of the plank. The machine automated French Bleed method fails to provide the depth and realism of the gradual stain fading inward of the Antiqued Tone process.

Bamboo that installs like Pergo (laminate flooring)

2007-11-07T16:31:00.000-06:00

I have not posted for atleast a few days. Its been busy here inside simplefloors.com. This month our Seattle store will open and the ground crew is busy painting, building display boards and everything else that is involved in opening a store. I am very excited to see the Seattle store progressing as I admire and lived in the city for over 6 years. We feel fortunate that in this housing downturn we continue to make progress. I credit this to our seemingly never ending efforts toward focusing on providing high fashion styles for prices that are sometimes perceived as "too good to be true". Enough about the day to day here, now a bit about the bamboo flooring that installs like Pergo laminate flooring.

Bamboo flooring arrived to the U.S in a version that was easier to install about 3 years ago. The dimensions of this floor are approx 7' long by 7" wide. These large planks have a glueless locking tongue and groove on all 4 sides. The new engineered format of this bamboo floor makes it possible to lock the planks together over a floating floor underlayment. The planks go in pretty quick because of their size and easy snap together feature. The collection is called Premium Green Loft collection. It is available in both the vertical and horizontal grains and carbonized and natural tones as discussed previously. The flooring is real bamboo for the price of many plastic laminates and is just as easy to install. It may be worth a look if you are searching for a do it yourself wood floor.

Bamboo Floors The design side Part III

2007-11-01T16:42:00.000-05:00

Color Stained Bamboo Floors

So Horizontal and Vertical grains were the first two design options for bamboo floors. While the carbonized and natural tone were fairly neutral they was a lack of design opportunity with regards color. From a manufacturing standpoint the problem was the bamboo would not take a stain well so coloring it was proving difficult. It took some time but eventually a staining process was developed that the bamboo accepted well. Thus colors were able to be introduced to the bamboo category. The Color Studio bamboo flooring collection from Premium Green is one of the first product lines that resulted from this improvement in staining techniques. The other design advantage that results from the staining of the bamboo flooring surface is a reduction in the visibility of the bamboo cane. This allows for the introduction of the color versions into more design themes than previous.

2007-11-01T11:56:00.000-05:00

A view of the bamboo flooring factory

2007-10-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

Today I wanted to share some pics of a somewhat recent trip to the Premium Green Bamboo Forest and Factory. Premium Green is harvested in eastern China from a continuously renewed forest. Harvesting is restricted to a few months each year to allow new shoots to grow uninterrupted for a long period.

Bamboo Harvest - Bamboo forests quickly renew and are managed to ensure future supply of material. Bamboo for flooring is harvested at 5-6 years of age.

Heading to the splitter. Many times you see these trucks coasting down the mountain

Splitting - The bamboo is cut to a prescribed length then pushed against knives to produce slats.

Four Sided Milling - The first step in making flooring planks is to feed the splits into a 4 sided mill. Any unacceptable splits are removed at this step. After this step the bamboo is treated to remove pests and mildew.

Carbonizing - The carbonized (or chocolate brown) color of bamboo is from a reaction of the natural sugars in the material. This reaction takes place in a pressure vessel filled with stream.

Moisture Removal - All of the bamboo strips are then kiln dried to remove any moisture.

Glue and Assembly - The kiln dried strips then have glue applied and are bound together to make planks. Defective strips are identified at this step and are discarded.

Hot Pressing - At this step the strips are placed in a heated press for several minutes to form planks.

Plane and Tongue Groove - Here the planks are fed into a planer that also cuts the tongue and groove on the long edges.

Length Cut and Tongue and Groove - This machine cuts planks to the required length and cuts the tongue and groove in the ends.

Sanding - Planks are sanded multiple times to ensure a smooth surface before coating. Inspection takes place at this step including thickness measurement.

Coating Line - The photo shows the entry to the coating line. Several successive layers of Klummp coatings are applied including two top coats containing aluminum oxide. Each layer of coating is individually cured with UV light.

Packaging - The planks are packaged with a layer of poly between each plank to prevent any damage during shipment. This is the last inspection point for planks.

Finished Product Staging- The boxed up Bamboo ready for shipment. If you are ever in China, you are welcome to visit the Premium Green Bamboo facilities.

Bamboo Floors. The design side Part II

2007-10-28T09:44:00.000-05:00

In the first post I covered bamboo floor styles in horizontal grain in the natural and carbonized colors. These were the first two styles introduced. The desire for a version that would fit into more design themes and with a bit less of the oriental theme was growing. The concept of bamboo flooring from an Conscious perspective is excellent. That being said, nobody should have to settle for a eco friendly floor that does not fit their design or color intentions.

The Introduction Vertical
As I remember, the first manufacturer to introduce Vertical grain was Premium Green Bamboo. I was pretty impressed at seeing this version and preferred it myself over the original without much thought. Vertical was made of the same material, the wide slats were simply turned on the side. This makes for a surface filled with thinner more lineal slats. The growth ring could be detected still but it is more of a node or spot. The vertical lacks the overwhelming feel of an oriental theme. At first available in only 3' long planks, it eventually was made into a longer 6' plank version which due to its linear make up, looks much more impressive when installed. Vertical grains work well in most applications including ultra contemporary. We use it less in ultra traditional settings because there are many other options that work in most cases better, it can be done.

I am always ready to hear any simplefloors reviews, simplefloors feedback and simplefloors complaints or raves.

Bamboo Flooring -The design side Part I

2007-10-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

Bamboo
In the next few posts (this is my first one ever) I will chat about the design side of bamboo floors, what styles are the newest, which ones are most desired as well as which are in decline. I wont go into quality differences, the sustainable element, the comparison of brands. I will touch slightly on construction of the product from time to time but only as it in some way relates to the appearance. We purchase things like wood or bamboo floors to improve the atmosphere, overall design and feeling of our homes. You may find the information I share useful as you are looking around.

Horizontal Grain Selections
Bamboo Flooring has been available for about 7 years now in North America. Just like anything styles come and go. The original floor that was imported to the U.S was Horizontal Grain in the Natural tone (the light blonde color). Next came the Horizontal Grain in the Carbonized tone (a darker brown version). As you are shopping around the Internet you will see these options. Horizontal refers to the placement of the grain within the floor plank. It is easy to spot the horizontal variety as the growth ring is very evident. Horizontal bamboo has its place but as of late it has begun to take on the stigma of an oriental theme as it so closely resembles the bamboo cane. While it is still selling everywhere, popularity of this version on the West Coast and parts of the east coast is in decline. I am still seeing alot of shipments heading to the Midwest and Southeast parts of the country. Horizontal grains in the natural colors do not lend themselves well to contemporary settings nor ultra traditional settings. They do work in eclectic, oriental theme and semi-traditional interiors. In terms of available plank sizes in the solid, there are wide versions (approx 6") as well as the standard 3 3/4" inch wide version. Plank lengths of 6' provide a higher quality appearance than those of 3' as the plank end joints are able to be more randomly staggered from plank to adjacent plank. Fortunately there are better looking options now. I will cover this some more in the next post.
In closing, I am always ready to hear any simplefloors reviews, simplefloors feedback and simplefloors complaints or raves.