For the fifth year in a row, Sanford Carpet, Inc. has been named Best of Seminole (County) in the flooring category.

Readers of the Sanford Herald, distributed throughout Seminole County, Florida, vote each August for their favorites in a variety of categories including restaurants, retail shops and professional, pet and personal services.

Thank you to everyone who voted for us this year! It is our honor to be your favorite. We love helping homeowners and business owners beautify their floors!

Ira and Barbara Abramson
Sanford Carpet
“We Stand On Our Work – So Can You!”

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Having new flooring installed means a little bit of chaos before the calm. But the serene new look you will have when it is all complete will be worth the temporary displacement of your personal items and schedule.

Be prepared for some dust! Removing the existing floors will bring to surface sand and dirt that is underneath your carpet and pad. Removing existing tile and wood will create a lot of dust and residue as part of the process.

Here are some tips that will help you prepare for your new flooring installation.

CARPET REMOVAL
Before the installers show up, vacuum the existing carpet. This will reduce the amount of dust and dirt that flies up in the air.

WOOD and TILE REMOVAL
This is going to be messy and there is no easy way to avoid the dust that will be created, but here are some suggestions that will make clean up easier.

Cover surfaces with plastic that can be rolled up and thrown away later. Use a heavier plastic if possible. Consider also covering your cabinets, dressers and drawers in other rooms. Close the doors to the room that are not being remodeled and put plastic at open areas between the door and floor.

Don’t be surprised if you still find dust in these areas and room as it can still travel through the air conditioning vents, but the amount will be significantly less!

VINYL
Fortunately, vinyl removal is the least messy of all flooring surfaces which it comes to removal. If the vinyl is in good condition, meaning no tears or loose areas, it may not even need to be removed at all as many flooring surfaces can be installed over existing vinyl.

Other Ways to Prepare for New Flooring:

Move any times off of your dressers, entertainment centers, tables, etc. in the rooms the new flooring is being installed in. Store them in another room not getting new flooring. Bathtubs are great places to set things as well as kitchen counters if you are having rooms other than these remodeled.

Pick up anything off the floor of your closets.

Any clothing that hangs down to the ground, can be looped up higher with a second hanger, or removed from the closet altogether.

Empty out all bookshelves unless they are built in.
Unplug all electronics. Remember to label your wires for ease of assembly later.

Make plans to secure your pets. This is extremely important for the safety of your pets, especially if you are not home during the installation. Installers need to go in and out of your house to their vehicles several times. A dog or cat can easily slip out of the house during these times.

Remodeling also can be stressful on the pet as well and may cause them to become agitated. Temporary boarding or asking a friend to watch them in their home are both great solutions.

Your flooring experience should be a happy one with as less stress and upheaval as possible. Anything you can do to make the process smoother will result in a more positive installation experience!

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Sanford Carpet was recently hired to install carpet in an office that had cubicles that could not be moved.  The customer wanted to match the existing carpet, but it was no longer available.  We worked with them to find a carpet with similar colors and pattern and installed a custom border around the cubicles to bridge the two together.

The carpet would not release easily from the floor and a carpet removal machine was needed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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The phone rings and a distressed caller on the other end asks -

   ”Do you repair carpet?”

We assure them we do and ask what their situation is.

“The dog has chewed the carpet” (usually where it meets tile or near a wall), and  ”Our carpet has waves and speed bumps in it” are two of the common concerns we hear on a weekly basis.

Fortunately, the remedy for both of these is pretty easy.

Let’s talk about waves or wrinkles first.  These are often the result of an installer using a knee kicker to attach the carpet around the edges instead of using a power stretcher.   If you have it “kicked-in” again, you will find your wrinkles returning and there is no wrinkle cream that can fix your carpet.

Flooring companies such as Sanford Carpet who have “CFI” Certified Flooring Installers powerstretch their installations.  Check out how carpet is installed where you live — some companies leave it up to the discretion of the installers how the job is installed.

The “dog chewed my carpet” remedy can also be solved by powerstretching providing there is enough carpet to stretch it back over the tackstrip.  If not, we often can take carpet from a closet if it is matching and patch it in.

Here is Ira patching a carpet back to the wall after the customer’s dog enjoyed an afternoon snack.

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The door opens and in walks Mrs. Customer clutching a tile; the only one she has left from the tile she had installed in her kitchen seven years ago.  She wants to match it exactly and extend the tile into her family room.

The sales rep for the flooring store smiles a knowing smile.  It is going to be nearly impossible to match the customer’s tile.

Over the years, tile styles are dropped by both manufacturers and distributors.  In addition, a tile may be dropped by one manufacturer and picked up by another.  The “new” style might be a different size, i.e., originally a 12” tile, may now be a 16” tile.

Even if the tile is still in production from the same manufacturer, the shading of the original tile next to the “new” tile may look like night and day.

Because ceramic and porcelain tile are natural products, each batch that is manufactured has its own unique dye lot.  Even tile that is ordered several months or days apart can have different dye lots.

For example, a customer may order 60 cartons of a tile that is pulled from a run of 100 cartons.  Another customer orders 38 cartons from another store that purchases from the same tile distributor and these cartons also are pulled from the same batch.  As the first customer gets his job installed, and realizes he needs six more cartons, he will be dismayed to find out only two cartons are available in the same dye lot and any additional tile would have to be pulled from a lot that may be shaded slightly lighter or darker.

So what is the customer to do when faced with the sour news that their tile project is a looming lemon?

Make Lemonade!!

A creative sales rep can show a customer how to turn what appears to be a unfinished tile project nightmare into a custom “designer” masterpiece with the use of a decorative tile insert called a listello.

When the tile you are looking for is no longer available, a listello can be a bridge between two completely different tiles, whether they differ in size, color, texture or all three.  It is common to pick a listello that has aspects of the colors and textures of the two different tiles installed next to each other

Listellos don’t have to be used just to bridge rooms.  With a little creativity and planning, you can create unique spaces by using listellos to border a room along the floor, create a tile “area rug” by creating a rectangle in the foyer or middle of the room and turning the tile inside of the rectangle on a diagonal for a great look.  The tile inside and outside the listellos can be completely different styles, sizes and color.  Wall listellos also add a great punch to shower and bathroom walls as well as backsplashes.

Now there is no need to view the inability to find more of the “same” tile as a problem or Lemon – instead, embrace the opportunity to make a batch of beautiful Lemonade!

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Sanford Carpet has supplied red carpet runners for Oscar parties, Restaurant grand openings and other special events.

Last week, the 508 Framing Gallery in Sanford, FL was inducted into the Sanford Chamber of Commerce with an official ribbon cutting ceremony.  Our Sanford community is thriving and growing and we showed up to lend our support and to roll out the red carpet for Rae-Marie, owner of the gallery.

If you have a local business in the Sanford, FL area, give us a call.  We have runners available for rent and for purchase.  Realtors – this is a great way to stage an open house!

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 A married couple bought carpet from us a few months ago and were of different opinions as to the style they wanted.  We sent them home with many samples options, made home decor visits to help them with their selection and worked hard to find something they both would like.

 Finally, the wife gave in to her husband and agreed to the heavier weight carpet with the longer fibers versus the lighter weight, shorter pile carpet she preferred.

Within a week, she called me.  She was so unhappy with the purchase. She regretted not insisting that they get the carpet she wanted. 

The story could easily end here with us telling her – Sorry, but the carpet has been installed.  You can’t bring it back because it was custom ordered for your room. 

The good news is – She can bring it back because the carpet she purchased was from Mohawk.  They have a 60-days, no questions asked full-replacement warranty on all carpet which makes it so easy to have it  exchanged.  The customer pays the frieght and the labor charge and any difference in the cost of the carpet (if it is higher). 

Here is their full warranty statement:

Mohawk is committed to total satisfaction
and offers the strongest, simplest,
full-replacement warranty in the flooring
industry. Our 60-Day Satisfaction Guarantee
allows you to buy with complete confidence
bcause if, for any reason, you are not
completely satisfied with your new Mohawk
ColorCenter carpet, hardwood, laminate or
ceramic purchase (during the first 60 days
after purchase), we will authorize its
replacement at no charge with a Mohawk
ColorCenter flooring of comparable value.                     
              
The original material must not have been
misused, damaged or abused. Full
replacement option may be exercised once for
each purchase and applies to carpet,
hardwood, laminate and ceramic only. LABOR
is the responsibility of the consumer.

Mohawk, Warranty

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When carpet is removed from a home in order to install new flooring, the old carpet is cut up into three-foot-wide strips for easy handling.  Quite often, the old carpet is dirty and stained and is usually the reason for changing the flooring in favor of new carpet, hardwood, laminate or tile.

Occasionally, the decision to change the flooring is purely a fashion decision – the existing flooring is in good shape but is the wrong color or style.  This is common when a home is purchased and the previous home owner has left behind something the new homeowner just can’t live with.

Such was the case recently for one of our customers who purchased a beautiful home with blue-green carpet that was still in excellent condition but just the wrong color for her new home.  Committed to giving back to the community, our customers asked us if it could be donated.  Absolutely!

We rolled up  the carpet in each room and the next day, delivered it to Habitat for Humanity, one of our favorite organizations. Several times during the year, we call Habitat for Humanity and donate surplus tile, laminate, wood and carpet to the ReStore, where they sell them (as well as other donated items) at very inexpensive prices.   All profits go directly to Habitat For Humanity in Seminole County to build more homes.

It was our pleasure to help one of our customers help them as well!

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According to the WiseGeek website: Some theorists believe that dancers could be said to cut a rug when they danced so well and so regularly that they would have worn out a carpet. In some regions, a particularly skilled dancer is said to “cut a mean rug,” a nod to the notable abilities of said dancer. In addition to being charming, this explanation is highly probable. Carpets are known to show extensive wear with small slits which could resemble cuts, and the link between heavy dancing and wearing out the floors seems obvious.

Other theorists have suggested that the term is related to rugs in the sense of taking them up or moving them. When a spontaneous dance party arises, rugs and furniture are usually moved out of the way to facilitate dancing. Rugs could also be removed in the long term to create a dance space, as would have been common in the 1920s, when Prohibition caused many social clubs to go underground into private homes. While the rugs might not have been literally cut, they could have been moved to safekeeping to avoid damage from dancing.

Whatever the origins of the idea of dancing enough to cut a rug may be, the term is charmingly descriptive. The 1920s was an era in which more vigorous dances began to be popular, and the idea that young people were dancing so robustly that the carpets were in danger may have been held by more traditionalist dancers. As often happens with disparaging comments made by outsiders, “cut a rug” may have been picked up by the exuberant dancers to describe their activities. One will note that modern and jazz dances can be said to cut a rug, while traditional minuets and waltzes are usually not associated with the colorful expression.

One responder to this article noted Cutting a Rug comes from Square Dancing and was performed by cowboys with spurs on. The repeated patterns of Square dancing and the wear of the spurs on the rug would “cut” it.

YEE HAW!!!

For the full articles and responses, check out www.wisegeek.com

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