Do you enjoy working with your hands?  Do you like providing a finished product that requires skill and knowledge?  Do you like working with people?  Flooring installation is a rewarding career for individuals that answered “yes!” to these questions.   It involves physical activity, creativity, attention to detail, and mathematics.  The rewards can be substantial for well-trained, ambitious individuals as well as the satisfaction of a job well done.  As with many trades, the flooring industry is always looking for qualified people.

Today’s consumers want someone who is prepared to provide exceptional craftsmanship for products that they have carefully selected and anticipate enjoying for many years.  Carpet Network promotes engaging the services of certified floor covering installers.  “The only way floor covering dealers can grow,” says Lenny Rankin, CEO of Carpet Network, with more than 20 years experience in the shop-at-home home flooring industry, “is to upgrade the installation process. Despite the fact that most of the installers are independent business owners, they are still the most important part of our team. By recognizing them, we are able to show them how important they are to the success of our business and their importance to our customers.   We can do this by supporting their efforts and recognizing their talents.”

There is a real need for men and women who qualify.   This trade provides an avenue for young people searching for a rewarding occupation and those who are changing careers.  The future of the business they create is unlimited.

If you or someone you know would like to investigate what programs are available in your area, contact the Certified FloorCovering Installers.

This article is brought to you by the people at Carpet Network.

Electric radiant heating systems are often installed under naturally cold surfaces, such as tile, stone and hardwood. The heat from the system penetrates the flooring and warms from the ground up. The warmth transfers directly to you and warms everything it touches as it radiates throughout the room. It’s sort of like stepping out of the shade and into the sun; the air temperature is essentially the same, but you feel warmer.

Operating your floor heating system with an Energy Star rated, programmable thermostat further reduces energy consumption. You can program your thermostat to be “on” only during the time that you actually want to enjoy your electric floor heating system. If we can turn our thermostats down and stay as warm (or warmer), thereby wasting fewer resources, why wouldn’t we do that for Mother Earth?

Many of us will have to replace our floors at some time, so why not add radiant floor heating then? You can even go one step further to reduce your carbon footprint by selecting hardwood flooring. Hardwood is a popular floor covering option and can be installed in virtually any room in your home. Recently, the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) published an article, Radiant Wood Floors: Wood Floors Over Radiant Heat Reduce Carbon Footprint, and explained that, “Because wood floors are sustainable and renewable, they increase radiant heat’s benefits.”

Why not complement the strength and beauty of your hardwood flooring with radiant floor heating and be ecologically responsible and comfortable?

Wood flooring has a great story to tell from both a macro- and micro-environmental perspective.  That is, wood flooring is good, not only for the environment in the big picture, but also for the interior environment of customers’ homes, and that is something health conscious customers should be aware of.

“One of the often untold stories about wood flooring is that because it does not collect dust and allergens, many health professionals say that wood flooring is a good choice for homes where one or more inhabitants suffer from allergies,” says Ed Korczak, CEO and executive director of the National Wood Flooring Association.

In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that 50 million Americans suffer from some form of allergies and 20 million suffer from asthma.  The National Center for Healthy Housing (www.centerforhealthyhousing.org) and other recommend hard surface floors such as hardwood to help eliminate dust, animal dander, microorganisms and other potential allergens in the home.

Renewable

Consumers who buy green focus on many issues, but products that come from renewable resources rank high on the list, and wood flooring fits that bill perfectly.  Whether wood flooring is made from domestic North American hardwoods or from exotic imported species, the good news is that the world’s forests are alive and well and proliferating.

According to a recent report by the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, the U.S. has one of the world’s largest and most productive forest resources, with more than two billion acres of forest area – and annual growth of U.S. forested acres exceeds harvests by 37% each year.  The nations’ forest land area is still about two-thirds the size it was 400 years ago, in spite of the conversion of 370 million acres of forest land to other uses, principally to agriculture.  The resort’s authors add that more trees are growing in America’s forests today than at any time since the early 1900’s.  Net annual forest growth has increased62% since 1952 and total growth per acre has increased 71%.  Nationally, standing timber volume per acre in U.S. forests is 30% greater today than it was in 1952.

There’s also good news in other parts of the world, according to a November 2006 report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  “Contrary to common belief, forests in many nations are expanding, not shrinking,” the researchers concluded, adding that from 1990 to 2005, forest area increased in 18 of the 50 nations studied.

“There is a trend towards in improvement in forests both in terms of the area they cover and in terms of their condition,” said Roger Sedjo of Resources for the Future, an independent institute in Washington, D.C.  The researchers used data from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
That’s true for most species in North America, but some imported species have gained environmental cachet.  High on the list of renewable wood sources are cork and bamboo, both of which have become increasingly popular in recent years, in part because both species are able to regenerate quickly.

Recyclable

Reclaimed wood flooring has also grown in popularity in recent years, with several companies specializing I the manufacture of wood flooring made from reclaimed structural timers, as well as timber recovered from river bottoms.  If newly harvested timber is environmentally responsible – and it is when it is harvested from sustainably managed forests- reclaimed wood will appeal even more to some consumers.  SmartWood Certification Systems, an international sustainability certification body, estimates that reclaiming one million board feet of lumber preserves on thousand acres of old growth forest.

The National Wood Flooring Association currently lists more than 130 companies specializing in reclaimed wood flooring in 21 species, ranging from beech to walnut.

Sustainable

Many wood flooring manufacturers have gone the extra mile to ensure that their products come from sustainably managed forest resources, whether the source in sin North America or elsewhere.

“As an industry, we believe that only wood logged and approved by the country of origin for export should be used in wood flooring,” says NWFA’s Korczak.

You may also find that wood flooring will appeal to a segment of the building trades that emphasizes green building principles.  The National Association of Home Builders, for example, has developed a green-building program that recognizes, among other things, the use of renewable and recycled materials such as wood flooring.

Will all customers place a high value on eco-friendly flooring?  Probably not, but being able to address the green aspects of wood flooring may just be the key selling point that will enable customers to purchase the wood floors they want with a clear environmental conscience.

The Author:  Rick Berg, is a technical writer/advisor for the National Wood Flooring Association.  Rick also writes for Floor Focus Magazine where this article appeared in the February 2008 Issue.