Infloormation

Safaris, exotic animals, white tents and tea in the afternoon. Where are you? Why in Africa of course. What on earth does Africa have to do with flooring? At Pierce we are happy to present our product of the week: the Armstrong Global Exotics Hard Wood collection.

Rich, inviting hardwood floors are not only beautiful to live with, they’re easy to care for as well. Plus, today, hardwood types, options and applications are more diverse and delightful than ever.

The Global Exotics line is no exception. With names like African Mahogany, Tigerwood Natural and Lapacho, Global Exotics hardwoods are distinguished by their origin, color and sophisticated grain.

This line of hardwood will give any room in your home an elegant look. Designed to be durable, this flooring line will not only add an aura of sophistication but will also add quality and value to your home. From soft and subtle colors to vibrant and dark tones, you will find the perfect option for whatever your decorating style.

View the product catalog and rooms featuring  Global Exotics floors.

Pierce is proud to offer this line of flooring as the Armstrong brand is known and trusted for reliable quality, and an expansive offering of colors and designs to meet the personal style of all customers.

Once you browse the on-line catalog, please contact us to make an appointment for an in-home estimate.

There’s no hiding how this store perceives itself. Check your wallet before you walk in – if it’s too thin, walk on by.

Most of us would not be drawn to a store that promotes itself as expensive. High prices are not the same as high quality, and the focus should be on quality and value, not just the “bottom line.”

When it comes to flooring, often people perceive many choices as expensive. In reality, there is almost as wide a variety in flooring materials, construction and workmanship as there is in clothing. When you’re making purchasing decisions, it’s important to look beyond price to find the quality and style you want and determine the true value of your choice.

Sometimes a silk shirt is the right choice, and for other purposes, cotton may be better. Silk is more expensive than cotton in general but it might be just right with the outfit you’re planning so you’re willing to pay more. In the same way, one flooring material may be more expensive but worth the price for your purposes.

When you’re debating about the right flooring for you, how about taking the cost difference between the two options and dividing it by the number of years you plan to live in your home. Are you willing to pay that much more a year for the more expensive flooring? If you plan to move in a few years, take a look at resale issues. For example, homes with wood floors sell faster than homes with any other type of flooring.

When you’re choosing flooring, don’t discard price issues, but be sure to look beyond cost when you make your final choice.  When you are ready to look for new flooring for an update to your home, visit one of our convenient showrooms and see what we can do for you!

You might think polyester carpet is just polyester carpet, right? Not exactly. There is “old” polyester, PET polyester and PTT polyester. Most of today’s polyester carpets are made from PET fibers, which are basically produced from used plastic soda bottles. While it is true that the PET fibers of today are better than the “old” polyester, they still retain some of the performance challenges for which polyester has been known.

The main benefits of PET carpets are their low price and the fact that when new, they have an unusually soft and luxurious feel. You may hear carpet folks refer to this feel as the carpet having a “good hand.” Two other selling points for PET carpets are their amazing colorfastness and resistance to staining by water-based stain agents. The greatest complaints about PET carpets are their tendency to mat and crush quickly, and the difficulty of removing oil-based stains. In fact, oil-based stains left untreated can actually bond with the fiber and become permanent.

To learn more about carpet and other fibers, please click here.

The challenge was to find a replacement for silk. The United States was in a wartime economy, in the middle of WWII, and we were running out of silk to make parachutes and other military textiles. Embracing this challenge, the chemical and textile engineers at DuPont invented a synthetic replacement for silk, which came to be called nylon. Because of its strength, durability and flexibility, nylon fibers found their way into a host of different markets, including commercial and residential carpet manufacturing.

60 years later, the essential chemical structures of nylon remain exactly the same as they were in their wartime debut. What have made dramatic changes are the processes for dyeing, constructing and finishing carpet products. Decades of improvement in these technologies means significant gains in the way nylon carpets perform on your floors. Fortunately, these improvements extend to both cut-pile (plush) and loop pile carpet constructions.

Contributing significantly to nylon’s success as the world’s most specified fiber for carpet is its characteristic colorfastness. In particular, solution-dyed nylon – where the polymer is colored prior to its extrusion into fiber – is almost completely impervious to the effects of exposure to direct sunlight or bleach! Even when the fiber is dyed after extrusion, today’s advanced technologies for stain and soil protection keep nylon extremely colorfast.

Once constructed, installed and maintained properly, you can expect your nylon carpet to retain its original shape and appearance for many years. In fact, nylon carpet will never actually wear out . . . it just gets ugly once its useful life ends.

Over decades, carpet markets and styles have changed, but what hasn’t changed much is the available selection of carpet fibers! Today, just like 20 years ago, nylon and polyester are the sales leaders for residential carpet. Fortunately for us as consumers, their quality has continued to improve. Wool owns but a tiny piece of the market, yet remains the standard for luxury and comfort.

•    Nylon
o    Has led the residential sales market for 50 years
o    Looks good, resists stain, and performs extremely well at reasonable prices
o    Can be expected to last for 10 – 20 years with basic maintenance (when installed over a quality cushion)

•    Polyester
o    The “comeback kid” of carpet, has overcome a reputation of performing poorly
o    Now accounts for up to one-fourth of residential carpet sales
o    Performs well when constructed properly – with multiple plies and twists in the yarn

•    Wool
o    Known for its distinctive beauty, charm, color saturation and elegance for hundreds of years
o    Grows old gracefully, compared to nylon, which “uglies out” as it ages
o    Performs wonderfully for 20 years or more when given basic maintenance and installed over a quality pad.

Stay tuned for upcoming blog entries, where each of the individual fibers will be highlighted.