Tile floors for your home - the distinctive and durable approach.

Have you ever wondered why we call the houses we live in as ‘Sweet Homes’? We will tell you why, our residence is named by ourselves as the sweet home since this is the place that not only possess infrastructure, walls, doors, windows, roof etc. but also it is fully occupied with the essence of love. The love which the parents have for their children, the love which the children hold for their parents, the love for guardians, the love for pets, and to much of love for everything. Your sweet home always remains bright and lively, is one of your intense prayers from the Almighty. Thus to let it stay distinctive and durable you need to think for the perfect flooring option for it.

It is significantly stated that the best way to floor your house in order to make it appear pulsating, appealing and sturdy; tile flooring is an ideal and supreme choice. Tiles highly contribute to the finish and immersion of the floor and also make it strong and rigid enough to last un-tampered for decades. There is no doubt with the fact that your next two generations will also find your tile flooring in an appropriate and non-fatigue manner if the quality of tile utilized was acceptable. Tile flooring eminently works to replace the carpets from the house which is a fruitful deed since carpets are the root cause of dust hoardings over the floor. Dust pollution is a severe and unconditionally fatal menace which can initially make you allergic and cause asthma and related ailments in its ultimate application.

Tile flooring is not only healthy for the surface but also it is a shield and luster for the walls, ideally of the kitchen, bathroom and the laundry room. One should get tile flooring for their ‘sweet home’ if they want to keep it sweet for many ages.

Putting On The Fix remodeling & flooring
Burleson, TX
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Species of Hardwood: Red Oak

Description of Red Oak Flooring
Red Oak is not as fine as White Oak and has a rougher feel due to the larger pores. Depending on the sawn boards the grain can have a plumed or grainy appearance, low figuring, tight patter, or a flake appearance that is also known as tiger oak.

Red Oak has a distinct reddish tones, hence the name. The wood is stiff, dense and is durable but not as much as White Oak. It is easier to finish than the white Oak since it is also softer, which also makes it easier to work with when you are nailing it down.
The pores on Red Oak Flooring make it suitable for staining to your favorite tones.

Benefits of Red Oak Flooring
The greatest advantage is the natural red color. Any room that spots this color looks classy and fit for a king. When you want a home that looks like a classical home, then Red Oak Flooring is the best for that old fashioned feel.

Red Oak is also strong and can withstand heavy usage. You can be sure that you will get several years for service from it without any major maintenance. However, due to aging and usage, it can tend to lose its red luster, but this can easily be corrected by applying hardwood polish.
Red Oak is also hypoallergenic and therefore a good addition to homes that have children.

Potential Disadvantages of Red Oak Flooring
Most hardwoods are difficult to maintain and red oak is no exception. Red Oak cannot be exposed to excessive moisture. This can cause serious damage to it which may lead you to change the flooring even before it gives you the required service period.
How to maintain Red Oak Flooring
One should avoid dragging things on the floor or excessive rough treatment. Given that it is not as strong as the white variety, more caution should be exercised. It is important that you wax the flooring every couple of months. This wax polish also helps to protect the wood from moisture and spillages. Should any spills occur, all you have to do is mop it up.
Installation of Red Oak flooring

Depending on the kind of base that you have you can choose to use prefinished hardwood, unfinished red oak or the engineered red oak. Red Oak is easier to work with and its pores make it easy to stain. If you want to have a high gloss finish it may be necessary to use pore filler on these pores before you do the finishing. Prefinished wood is ideal if time is a factor and engineered flooring is best for concrete based houses. If you want to match new flooring to an old one then the unfinished flooring is usually the best.

Price of Red Oak Flooring
Red Oak ranges in price from $2.25 for unfinished to $10 per square foot for prefinished. One may consider this a little on the higher side but given the fact that it will probably outlast your lifespan, then it is a wise purchase.

Putting On The Fix remodeling & flooring
Burleson, TX
http://www.puttingonthefix.com
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info for this blog post from :http://www.hardwoodflooringinfo.net/page/2

Hardwood flooring for your home

A lot of home owners and interior decorators are setting a new trend with beautiful hardwood flooring. There are many reasons to go with hardwood floors, such as the permanent value they add to your home, the easy care and easy cleaning, great style and durability and they’re natural and safe for the environment too.

The cost can vary depending on whether or not you can find discounts or can buy it wholesale. If you know a building contractor or hardwood floor contractor, they may be able to help you get a nice discount where they buy their materials even if you do it yourself. Installing hardwood flooring in your home should be considered a long-term investment that will hold its value, or even increase the resale value of your home, well surpassing the installation cost of the hardwood floors.

After all wood is wood, and what can be more ecologically clean than natural wood planks after very little chemical processing? For the healthy minded, there are much lower levels of chemical emissions from natural wood products. The cost of hardwood flooring depends on what type you choose.

Many of the hardwood flooring retailers and manufacturers offer good discounts if you have a lot of square footage. If you’re thinking about a do-it-yourself project and you’re handy with tools, you can learn how to install hardwood flooring with a few of the proper tools like sanders, nailers, or nail guns, etc. which you can easily rent or borrow. However, keep in mind that if you fail to properly install your hardwood floors, it can be a very costly mistake. Some benefits of using a professional contractor to conduct the installation is that you will know that it will be installed correctly and if you select the right installer then they often provide a warranty on their instllation services.

Some of the most popular hardwood floor manufacturers include Johnson, Regal, Bruce, Shaw, Mohawk, Mannington and Armstrong. There are also other manufacturers but make sure to do your research to learn the quality of their product.

Besides the floor coverings that have been traditionally used in the past, there are now many new styles and materials of flooring to choose from that can definitely add to the style of any room. Hardwoods can give a room an expensive and high quality finish that’s usually only connected to higher-end apartments and designer homes. But first of all you need to find a reputable hardwood floor company to help design and create the type of flooring that you want, unless you’re experienced enough to forge ahead.

Most hardwood floors almost never need replacement and can add thousands of dollars to the value of any home. And hardwood flooring is the healthiest choice for interior living, especially if you have children in the home.

And with today’s advanced wood flooring stains and finishes, cleaning your wood floors has never been easier. If you’re looking for a great way to improve the look, the durability and the value of your home, hardwood floors are definitely the way to go. And wood is a wonderful natural resource that is both renewable and recyclable.

Putting On The Fix remodeling & flooring
Burleson, TX
http://www.puttingonthefix.com
Twitter: @PuttingOnTheFix
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2011-12 Remodeling Cost vs Value report

Are you thinking about remodeling your home? Whether you are doing minor kitchen remodel, major bathroom remodel or even an addition, it is always good to see where you get the best bang for your buck. Remodeling Magazine has just released their annual Cost vs Value report. The report compares the average cost for 35 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects retain at resale.
By copying and pasting the following link to your web browser, http://www.remodeling.hw.net/2011/costvsvalue/national.aspx, you can click on the interactive map to get statistics specifically for your region since it varies from State to State and City to City with some parts of the U.S. having worse housing markets than others.

Of course a lot of homeowners conduct home improvement projects to their home with no intention of selling, so they are the ones enjoying their newly remodeled home and get full satisfaction and value out it.

Brian Heltzel
Putting On The Fix remodeling & flooring
Burleson, TX
http://www.puttingonthefix.com
Twitter: @puttingonthefix
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Home Remodeling - How to Do More with Less

Are you thinking about getting new flooring or remodeling your home? I wanted to share this article that I found from The Wall Street Journal that I thought would be beneficial for those of you who are contemplating taking on a new home improvement project:

Unable to sell their homes in this stagnant real-estate market, more homeowners are settling in for the long haul and renovating.

But at a time when there's less home equity to tap into and lending standards are still tight, people will likely be able to spend less on renovations than before the housing crisis. If you're looking to make updates on a budget, figure out which projects are going to make a big difference—for your comfort now and resale later—for relatively little money.

"Before, everyone had built so much equity in their home, people were going so over and above in home-improvement projects," says Jon Wittmaack, a Ridgewood, N.J.-based licensed contractor and co-host of home-improvement show "Brothers on Call" on the DIY Network. Now, customers "are more cost-conscious."

Labor often is the heftiest cost of a renovation. So first determine which projects you can realistically do on your own and which are best handled by a pro. If you get in over your head, it can end up costing you more in the end. You'll likely pay to fix your mistakes—including not getting the proper permits and inspections—and then to get it done right.
Certain projects, like painting and installing insulation, can be DIY with a bit of guidance from home-improvement websites and books. Replacing sinks and faucets also is fairly simple, says Michael Litchfield, author of the book "Renovation."

Updating the bathroom? Instead of spending thousands to gut the room and replace all fixtures and tile work, consider hiring a glazing company to refinish the tub and change the color of the tiles, says Mr. Wittmaack. You can replace a basic vanity (some under $200), sink (under $70), faucet (under $25) or toilet (under $40) on your own.

In the kitchen, replacing cabinet doors and drawer fronts is typically around 75% cheaper than replacing the whole cabinet and drawer units. In the living room, replace carpeting. You can expect to find remnants for $2 a yard less than retail carpets, says Brent Coffelt at Remnant Carpet Co. in Oklahoma City.
If you live in a warm climate and are looking for more space, consider building an outdoor living space you can use year-round. A simple deck will run you around $1,000, thousands less than the cost of a room addition.

If you opt for a professional to do the work, there are ways to keep costs down. One way is to cut out the middle man -- the general contractor -- and hire subcontractors on your own. You'll want to consult reference books, renovation websites, and friends and family who have done renovations to get a handle on what subcontractors you're going to need and when you'll need them in the process. Ask people for references or look on websites like AngiesList.com, which have reviews of local service providers.

In some locations, you may be able to get a lower rate during the winter since that's typically contractors' slowest time, says Mr. Wittmaack. And you can keep labor costs down by doing some of the grunt work yourself, such as picking up materials at stores and throwing out debris.

When it comes to materials, some contractors get a discount that they'll pass on to customers while others will charge you a mark-up. So it's important to find out the retail price of the things you'll need. If you find a lower price on your own, tell the contractor you'll buy the materials and ask for a quote for either the cost of labor or the cost of labor plus building materials like screws and glue, says Mr. Wittmaack.

Here is a link to the original article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-Remodeling-How-to-Do-wallstreet-2138387997.html?x=0&.v=1c

Brian Heltzel
Putting On The Fix remodeling & flooring
Burleson, TX
http://www.puttingonthefix.com
Twitter: @puttingonthefix
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PuttingOnTheFix
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/b/117513885065686962475/