Comfortable House

With so many available options for hardwood flooring, today’s busy and environmentally responsible consumer wants information – accurate information – to simplify the process of selecting a new hardwood floor.

Be a knowledgeable consumer and get the facts about U.S. hardwoods. They are “green,” exceptionally beautiful and can last a lifetime.” Here are some of the things you’ll want to know to make the right choice for hardwood flooring.

Know the Facts and Shop with Confidence

• A solid hardwood floor will provide decades of extraordinary beauty, durable service and flexibility. Remember, solid hardwood flooring can be refinished for changing tastes or excessive wear. It may initially cost a little more, but as trends evolve, it can too.
• Hardwood floors are non-toxic and trap no allergens such as mold spores and dust. Simple maintenance — dust mopping, sweeping or vacuuming — will keep hardwood floors looking great and allergen-free.
• U.S. hardwoods are truly sustainable. The US Forest Service, in a 2008 report, verified that the average annual net growth for hardwoods is greater than average annual removals. The volume of hardwood timberland in American forests is almost double that of 50 years ago.
• U.S. hardwoods are an all-natural, carbon-negative material. They have no emissions for methane, nitrogen oxides and other particulate matter and they are homegrown. Being regionally sourced further minimizes their carbon footprint.
• When considering a particular U.S. hardwood species, pay attention to its hardness rating scale, referred to as the Janka Scale. For high traffic areas, consider Oak, Maple, Cherry and Ash, species with higher hardness ratings.

Which One?

Pre-finished solid hardwood flooring is just that – already sanded and sealed, by the manufacturer, with at least four coats of ultraviolet-cured urethane resin. It offers consistent quality, quicker installation and immediate gratification, meaning you can walk on it as soon as it is laid. Time and money saved during the installation typically off-set the initial higher material cost.

Unfinished solid hardwood flooring must be sanded and sealed on-site. While it does offer more color choices, it requires extensive preparation. The sanding process is messy; significant drying time is required after each sealing application requiring up to five days for completion. While the initial material cost is lower, remember the additional finishing cost.

Engineered flooring, consisting of a plywood base that’s covered with a 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick layer of wood, works well in bathrooms and basements where light moisture might be a concern. It is almost always pre-finished. Because the top layer is so thin, it can’t be sanded more than one to three times and usually requires a professional to do it. Keep in mind that the less expensive choices cannot be sanded at all due to the very thin top layer.

Don’t be Misled by Lookalikes

The least expensive flooring option is laminate. It looks like wood, but it’s really a printed paper that is affixed to a wood-chip base or high-density fiberboard, covered with a clear surface layer to absorb daily impact. Its issue is that it can’t be repaired or sanded when scratches or dings occur.

Tropical woods, not native to the U.S., are being renamed and falsely marketed as favorite hardwoods. Be careful. Brazilian Cherry is jatoba and Chilean Cherry is lenga. Neither is Cherry. Tasmanian Oak and Australian Heritage Oak are eucalyptus, not Oak. Malaysian Oak is rubber wood and Australian Cypress is pine. When in doubt, visit www.HardwoodInfo.com to review the U.S. hardwood Species Guide.

Bamboo flooring is being called hardwood. It is not. Bamboo is a grass grown typically in tropical regions of the world and it is not carbon negative. To make flooring, the grass is glued together under tremendous pressures of up to 1,200 pounds per square inch. Glue content can range from three to 20 percent, and often contains urea formaldehyde, which is classified as a probable human carcinogen. Manufacturers approximate it could last only 30 years. And because it is typically manufactured in Southeast Asia, shipment to U.S. shores increases its carbon footprint, significantly. (See the attached chart for additional information)

As you contemplate your home improvement projects, make choices based upon the facts, not hype. Choose nature’s quintessential “green” material, U.S. hardwood, for flooring, furniture, mouldings, millwork and cabinetry that will last.

As the green movement has infiltrated the home improvement sector, companies are continually developing more products and projects for you to “green” your home. A simple, budget-friendly project is incorporating a rain garden in your yard to help filter stormwater pollutants coming from your home.

A rain garden is typically located in a low-lying area in your yard. It collects rainwater and slowly filters it through the ground versus directly into storm sewers and local lakes and rivers. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these gardens are an increasingly popular way to help reduce natural and human-made pollutants carried by rainfall or melted snow.

Benefits of Rain Gardens

No home renovations are providing 100 percent return on investment in today’s real estate market, according to the annual “2009 Cost vs. Value Report” conducted by Realtor Magazine and Remodeling. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for homeowners to spend a lot of money on expensive remodeling projects. Instead, it’s a great time to consider low-cost, minor renovations, such as landscaping a rain garden.

“With a rain garden, homeowners not only beautify their property with plants, but are being environmentally friendly as well,” said Mark Munley, vice president of sales and marketing for Firestone Specialty Products. “They are also a source of food and shelter for birds and insects like dragonflies, which help eradicate pesky mosquitoes.”

Installing Your Rain Garden

To define a location for placement, you should first determine the end of your backyard’s existing drainage pattern. If the drainage pattern is not noticeable, note the course of runoff and areas where water collect after a storm. Choice locations to capture the most stormwater are close to downspouts from your roof, sump pump outlets or near paved driveways.

The EPA suggests a good “rule of thumb”, to determine the size of your rain garden, is to take 30 percent of the area which the garden will be collecting water from, whether that is a roof or driveway. Don’t be detoured from building a rain garden if you do not have enough space to accommodate the formulated size. A rain garden, no matter how small, can still help your local water resources.

According to Rain Gardens of West Michigan, an environmental education program focused on stormwater education, you should install your rain garden down-slope and at least 10 feet away from the building’s foundation to ensure it won’t build up too much water that can lead to leaks in your basement. “Many homeowners are installing an environmentally friendly liner under their rain gardens to give their homes the added protection they desire,” said Munley.

Adding a PondGard™ Rubber Liner from Firestone Specialty Products, Indianapolis, Ind., to the side of your garden that faces your home will minimize the risk to your foundation. PondGard Rubber Liners are formulated to be environmentally safe for plants and animals while remaining resistant to damaging aging conditions such as cracking and splitting, even in exposed applications. PondGard liners are available in a variety of sizes and conform to nearly any shape in order to fit many designs.

The next step is to start digging out your selected area creating a berm or slight walls, which helps contain the rain water. You will need to fill your rain garden with a substance that allows water to filter down to the liner. Choosing the right substance depends on the type of soil you have—sandy or silty soil or clay—but common fillers are loose gravel laid on the liner, followed by a layer of sand and topped with top soil. If desired, you can add mulch or peat moss to finish off the look.

You should test the amount of water your garden can potentially filter by filling it with water and seeing how long it takes to seep out. A typical rain garden should retain water for a few hours after rainfall. If your garden is not retaining enough water, add additional PondGard Rubber Liners to achieve your desired results.

According to the Low Impact Development Center, an organization funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, typical soil mixture should be washed, sharp sand; double-shredded, hardwood mulch; weed seed-free topsoil and peat moss.

Adding Your Personal Touch

Choosing the plants for your rain garden is a means to add a creative and colorful touch to your property. According to the Mid-America Regional Council and the EPA, native plants are recommended for their ability to thrive in their native climates. To guarantee your plants will flourish – water them everyday until maturity; at that point they should no longer require watering between rainfalls.

With the green movement in full swing, it is easier than ever to lessen your family’s impact on the environment. By installing an inexpensive rain garden with a PondGard Rubber Liner, you will directly decrease the amount of pollution your family home attributes into your local water resources. Also, check your local municipalities to see if they offer any incentives for installing a rain garden on your property.

For more information about Firestone PondGard Rubber Liners and to find your local distributor, please visit our Web site at www.firestonesp.com.

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.