It's About Flooring

You've probably noticed that everyone and their brother are going "green" these days, whether they sell washers or widgets. While we applaud them for their efforts, one could question whether or not it's out of their love for the environment or because a changing consumer landscape made them more aware (that's an argument for the talking heads to tackle, not me.)

The one thing I know is that one of my guiding principles (as I learned in the Boy Scouts) is to leave this earth how I found it (or better.) That's why I personally travel around the glove to try and inspect each manufacturing facility to ensure that no unneeded chemicals are used in the process or that potentially toxic waste is being dumped into surrounding rivers and streams. We even help promote the idea that proper re-forestation practices are followed, that worker conditions are not substandard and to the extent possible that recyclable and reusable materials are used wherever possible. Bottom line, if you don't pass my "smell" test, we will not buy or sell your products.

To try and bring a little more awareness to the huge strides made in "green" flooring, we'll be offering Free Shipping on select Green Floors (60% off shipping on everything else.)

Why only green floors?

In a nutshell, I think they're gorgeous and that you'll love them. So much as that I'm willing to pay a little more so you can experience them. It definitely doesn't cost me any less to ship Green Floors like Cork or Bamboo, but anything I can do to perpetuate their use, I will do. Heck, you can do your part to help save us all the emissions of unnecessary shipping by picking up at your local iFloor store on select items.

They aren't for everyone, and that's why we carry 3,000 different products and have a bigger selection than anyone. But if you're in the market for flooring, you should definitely take a look at the "green" alternatives and I'll try to give you the incentive to do just that. But whatever floor you do end up purchasing, you're definitely in the right place!

Here is a little flooring story - kudos to all involved in putting this together!

If you wondered what a high quality finish line looks like I am going to share a couple photos. I won't give away some of the cool secrets nor can I go into huge detail, but I want to at least get you some photos to take a peek at. This US line is a superlative example of high quality in action!

I get asked all the time what exactly does the term "engineered" mean. And Although I have talked about this is the past it is worth a 2 minute review:

Engineered, when you are talking about flooring products most often refers to engineered hardwood. The term engineered generally means that multiple "layers" or components are placed together to form a complete floor.

This is very often contrasted with "SOLID" hardwood which is generally 1 component with just tongue and grove added to it.

A couple good reasons to consider engineered flooring is because of the very flexible installation choices, very good with expansion and contraction, excellent species selection, in general more earth friendly than solid and more. There are various benefits to engineered flooring which are too numerous to go into on this entry, but there are a couple noteworthy engineered flooring brands right now: (good luck if you can get stock - they sell out fast)

Saso
WestHollow Engineered (now you know what engineered means!)

I have seen a ton of handscraped hardwood both engineered and solid being sold at retail for $15.00-$25.00 per square foot.

We were lucky to pick up some truckloads of a high quality SOLID handscraped floors that is priced below $5.00 per foot! WOODSTOCK has several colors, but it is first come, first served. When it's gone it's gone.

Here is a great little video about installing a T-molding for a glue down installation.

When we first started iFLOOR, we asked ourselves, "How do we take an already confusing process (buying flooring) and make it work on the internet?" Well, it wasn't easy, but we made it work. I think one way we were able to accomplish this was by educating our customers more than anyone and letting them make their own decisions. If we could then provide the best products, prices and the best service, how could it not work? Over time we proved a lot of people wrong, and we have you to thank for it.

Since the beginning, our key focus has been providing a pleasant and simple floor shopping experience that helps eliminate the confusion associated with this type of purchase. That's why I love what the merchandising team cooked up this week (just don't tell the CFO!):

1. For $199 or less, you can purchase enough laminate for a 12' x 10' room.


2. Hardwood and Bamboo for $299 or less for the same room size.


3. Cork for $399 or less (notice the "or less") for the same room size.

And this isn't just one item we're talking about. Each category has several products to choose from and you're almost sure to find exactly what you're looking for.

This offer doesn't include installation or underlayment (my kids need to eat for god's sake - throw me a bone) but the prices are pretty extraordinary.

And with your purchase of $799 or more, we're also going to give you 18 months with no payments and no interest (oac, of course). If you do the math, your new floor will cost you pennies a day. As always, these items are available while supplies last, so don't wait until the last day! Last week we had customers who missed some of the truck load materials by hours, so that reinforces the ol' - early bird gets the worm as a winning strategy.

Here is a quick video about the important topic of underlayment - in particular about 6mm cork underlayment.

As a mentioned some of my photos had to be taken on my phone, which are not awesome quality - but I wanted to share a nice area in Shanghai called old town aka yuyuan(?). It was heavy tourists in that area so we didn't stay for more than 30-40 mins, but it was fun to see the old style buildings.

You may have noticed some amazing deals on the site lately, and quite frankly, I'm not sure how long they're going to last. It seems my voicemail and inbox have been inundated lately from several vendors with what I like to call "nutty deals." You know, the kind you see but don't believe? If you've been perusing the site and checking out some of our marked down items, you already know exactly what I'm talking about (oh and btw, you can believe it!)

The latest of the "nutty deals" was a challenge issued to me from one of our manufacturers. Starting Thursday, iFLOOR has been given 72 hours to empty the overstocked items in their distribution warehouse. If we can do it, we'll be given additional "nutty" discounts. I won't bore you with the complicated math involved (yawn,) but my jaw nearly hit the floor and I committed immediately.

Confident that we'll reach this goal easily, I've instructed merchandising to price our featured items with the discounts I expect we'll receive, though there's still some risk involved on our part. So as an added incentive to ensure that we reach this goal, we'll be offering our customers No Payment and No interest financing for 18 months and a complimentary cruise for 2 with your purchase of $799 or more (see detail page for more info.) If you're in the market for flooring, it just won't get any better than this!

As I said, this is still a pretty risky proposition for us. I'm essentially passing on discounts that I'm not 100% sure we'll receive. So if we don't reach our goal, you'll still get the cruise, but I'll just be taking a bath(not an ideal outcome). So don't let me down!

(For those that wonder about the cruise click here out this past blog entry to find my research.)