Comfortable House

Fiberon, a leading manufacturer of composite decking, has created the ultimate marriage of beauty and durability with its new tropical hardwood colors for Horizon™ composite decking. These new colors have the dramatic wood tones of highly desirable tropical hardwood, and Fiberon offers the industry’s first 10-year Stain and Fade warranty, demonstrating the products ability to provide lasting beauty.

“This is hands down the best composite decking product I’ve ever seen,” said Tom Kraeutler, a nationally syndicated radio host for The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show (www.moneypit.com) and the Home Improvement Editor for AOL. “I’ve reviewed many composite decking products over the years and none have been able to achieve both the natural look and top performance of Fiberon’s Horizon.”

“This additional tropical hardwood look for Horizon decking represents the marriage of the highest beauty to the best performance, clearly demonstrating Fiberon’s commitment to bringing innovative products to the marketplace,” said Chris H. Beyer, Vice President of Marketing for Fiberon. “Homeowners are looking for products that are an extension of their home, raising their interest in the appearance of ipe or mahogany, but know they need an easy-to-maintain composite decking product. This perfectly provides that exotic look but with the best stain, fade, mold and scratch resistance in the wood alternative and composite decking category.”

Charged with creating the ultimate in beauty and long-lasting performance, Fiberon’s product development team united the exceptional stain-, fade-, mold- and scratch-resistant attributes of their leading Horizon composite decking, made possible through its PermaTech™ surface technology, with the multi-chromatic tropical hardwood look of its composite decking with stunning tropical colors.

Horizon is now available in two exotic hardwood colors, Ipe and Rosewood. Horizon decking will continue to be available in four solid colors, including Sand, Brick, Bronze and Slate. Boards can be ordered in square edge or grooved profiles. Grooved boards allow for the optional Phantom™ hidden fastener system for fastener-free deck surfaces.

Fiberon Horizon composite decking is sold to professional contractors and dealers through a national network of distributors. To learn more, visit www.fiberondecking.com, call 800-573-8841 or send an email to info@fibercomposites.com

About Fiberon

Fiberon is a leading manufacturer of composite and PVC decking, railing and fencing products used in homes and light commercial construction across North America. Part of the Fiber Composites, LLC family, the Fiberon brand product line is designed specifically for professional contractors. Fiberon’s polymer chemists and extrusion professionals employ the latest technology to constantly innovate, using the finest raw materials coupled with leading manufacturing processes to ensure best-in-class quality. The company was founded in 1997 and is privately owned with manufacturing operations in North Carolina and Idaho.

Few home projects do more to enhance the overall beauty of family homes than clean, sparkling, windows. Although generally affordable, easy enough to perform, and requiring little in the way of materials, the window-washing project is perhaps the easiest chore to put off for another day. Here are some suggestions for maintaining classy glass inside and outside your home:

Organize the scope of the project and the options for getting it done. How many windows? How often would you like to have them cleaned? What are the options for getting the job done?

If you live in old three-story house with 92 windows, the options are fairly straight forward. You can ask the local window cleaning service for a quantity break, or divide the windows by the number of week’s year, and then tackle them at a rate of two or three each week. A third option involves renting a scissor lift at your local home store annually or semi-annually to make the outside part of the job as safe as possible.

New houses with even large numbers of windows often have the advantage of lift out panels that can be quickly cleaned and replaced. Again, a workable schedule can be a big help if you plan to do it yourself. Professional window cleaner’s can do the job for less than you probably imagine when working on a continuing contract.

Outside windows suffering from long-term neglect may challenge the skills of professional or do-it-yourself window cleaners, but are clearly worth the extra effort.

Materials:

Window cleaners come in all sizes and shapes. Spray-ons are perfect for a quick clean up with no muss or fuss. Vinegar water and steam cleaning are favorites for removing residue from past cleaner formulas. Also, there are commercial products that can be power sprayed onto outside windows. Be careful about power spraying in areas that might cause paint peel in nearby trim.

For the really dirty outside windows your will want to try a commercial window-cleaning solution or strong sudsy-ammonia solution in hot water. It can be applied with a padded telescoping applicator or brush, and removed with a rubber squeegee from ground level or from a platform ladder. Rinsing will prevent the dull film that sometimes follows heavy-duty use of cleaners.

Window Dressings:

Curtains, drapery, cornices and blinds can change the look of a room dramatically. While wide wooden slats blinds can make rooms on the sunny side of the house habitable, reducing glare and helping to control the room temperature, sheer curtains or sheer drapery let in the sunlight for fully brightened rooms, and open the possibilities for a full spectrum of color. Likewise, matching blinds, whether vertical of horizontal unify large rooms and give an orderly look inside and out.

ABET LAMINATI, a leading manufacturer of High Pressure laminates, continues its tradition of daring, innovative design with Serigrafia — now in a raised Longline finish. The 16 new designs, produced by ABETs special silk-screening techniques, emulate exotic fabrics with a slightly raised surface of vertical lines. In addition to wallcovering, this laminate can also be used on furniture or any application that does not require a horizontal surface.

When combined with the already existing Serigrafia line of 21 dazzling designs in a smooth surface, the new silk-screened patterns bring the total number of choices to 37. Each sheet of postforming Serigrafia is individually silk-screened and measures 51 inches by 120 inches.

ABET LAMINATI continues to be the leader in high pressure laminate design. As with all our products, the Serigrafia line is in stock at ABET’s U.S. distribution centers as well as local distributors across the country. For further information call 1-800-228-2238 or 201-541-0700, fax 201-541-0701.