Carlisle Wide Plank Floors

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• DIY Wood Floor Cleaner

  Posted by Megan Sprague

  Believe it, or not, there’s a very simple way to make your own wood floor cleaning solution—right in your own kitchen!
  
  Next time you wash your wood floors (after you’ve vacuumed or swept them clean), try adding a few cap-fulls of white vinegar to your bucket of hot water. It’s that simple! There’s no need to add any soap or floor cleaners to the solution, simply the vinegar and water.
  
  I have even heard of some people adding 8-10 drops of an essential oil to the vinegar/water solution—this gives the room a nice, fragrant smell without adding any harsh chemicals like some of the store bought cleaners. Consider peppermint or lavender!
  
  Choosing to make your own wood floor cleaning solution is very cost effective, simple and great for the environment. Try it out the next time you are doing your weekly chores.
  
  

  Posted on July 23, 2008 at 10:27 AM in DIY • Hardwood Flooring • (5) Comments

• Green Cleaning: Eco-Friendly Solutions for Your Home (and Floor)

  Posted by GuestBlogger

  By Nancy Shohet West

  Until very recently, it was something of an oxymoron - two irreconcilable opposites - to look at cleaning products as environmentally friendly. Many of us are accustomed to thinking that clean equals germ-killing, and killing germs might not be compatible with preserving all other life forms. When you go into a hospital, you smell bleach; when you pick up clothes at the dry cleaner's, you smell...well, we're not sure what the smell is, but it definitely connotes a pristine wardrobe, even if it's not an aroma found in nature.

  In other words, in the past it was almost taken for granted that in order to rid surfaces and substances of pollutants - whether the item to be cleaned was wood flooring, dishes, household appliances or clothing -- a certain amount of eradicating might be necessary. Sometimes you have to prioritize, we believed then, and let your ecological principles lapse a little if it meant getting your home germ-free.

  Fortunately, that kind of thinking has changed. With more and more people feeling guilty about pouring chemicals into the groundwater every time they mop a floor or polish an antique, the demand grew for environmentally friendly cleaning products, as this article on green cleaning explains. So now, it really is possible to do both: preserve the environment and protect your home from germs and dirt.

  Of course, the best way to keep things clean is not to let them get dirty in the first place. Your most environmentally correct choice when it comes to a cleaning substance is to avoid cleaning substances altogether. In the case of floors, there is a lot you can do to prevent the need for stringent cleaning. Bearing in mind that the three most powerful foes of wood flooring are dirt, sand and water, consider these very easy tips that promote "holistic" - i.e., non-chemical - cleaning:

  • Encourage the removal of shoes as people enter your house by placing a mat or a durable runner made of indoor-outdoor carpeting just inside your front door. Even more generous is to have extra pairs of slippers handy in a basket by the door for visitors.

  • Sweep your hardwood floors regularly, using a natural or nylon bristle broom with slightly frayed ends. Doing this every day if possible will make a huge difference in terms of the quantity of grit that gets ground into your wood floors on a regular basis.

  • Clean up liquid spills right away, including water, which often comes into the house in the form of snow clumps.

  • Dry-mop with a terry-cloth dust mop. Dry-mopping provides the benefits of buffing and polishing without the harshness of cleaners.

  • If you have pets, keep their toenails short.

  • Avoid dragging heavy objects across your wood floors.

  • Place felt casters under furniture legs.

  When you do need to go the extra mile and wet-mop or polish, there are several environmentally friendly products designed for use as wood floor cleaners. For example, Floor Kleener from Earth Friendly Products has been specially developed for cleaning a variety of flooring, including sealed hardwood floors. Another good example is Envirorite Hard Floor Cleaner, which uses soy in place of chemical substances and can also be used on sealed hardwood flooring surfaces. Envirorite boasts the added advantage of being safe for people with allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities, which is also important if you have babies or toddlers crawling on your floors. You can find these products and more at the Floor Cleaners and Kokopelli's Green Market websites.

   

  Posted on July 15, 2008 at 02:22 PM in DIY • Green Building • Hardwood Flooring • (0) Comments

• DIY: New England-Style Farmhouse

  Posted by Megan Sprague

  Check out this great do-it-yourself project out of Trabuco Canyon, California. Donnelle & Tony Koselka decided to purchase our wide Eastern White Pine floors to complete the look of their New England-Style Farmhouse. Originally, Donnelle & Tony chose Marmloeum for their living room, but after some thought realized that a solid wood floor would be more reminiscent of the look they were trying to achieve. While searching the internet and flipping through several magazines, they came across Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.  They thought the wide Pine floors would truly fit the New England feel they were hoping for. After speaking with Dan ONeill in our West Hollywood office, they made the jump. Dan helped them understand how long wide boards can extended their home visually, and enlarge the prospective of their living space.
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  With the help of Dave Delfs, a local installer, the pine floors were easy enough to install. Dave used the Bostik’s 2-part glue system directly over the existing floor. The truth is in these before and after photos!  Such an easy change drastically brought the Koselka’s the look they were dreaming of. Donnelle recites, “While I loved our unusual Marmoleum floors (cork-based lineoleum), the wood floors complete our New England-style farmhouse.  What a difference the pine makes!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  With a slight eased edge to emphasize the dimensions, warm honey tones of the tung oil finish, and the slow natural distressing that comes with life, it was a perfect fit…especially for their little dog, Riley.
  
  Are you dreaming of a New England-Style home? Click here for more photos and information.

   

  Already a Carlisle customer…want to upload photos of your DIY project? Click here: 
  

  
  
  

  Posted on June 23, 2008 at 01:22 PM in DIY • (2) Comments

• Kitchens Continue to be a Remodeling Hot Spot

  Posted by Lesley Anderson

  

  You know that phrase, "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen"? Well, remodelers are heeding the opposite, making the kitchen the hottest place in the house for renovations, and it's not too hard to see why. The kitchen has become more than just a place where food is prepared. It's become the family and social gathering place. No matter how big or small the home, people always seem to end up in the kitchen. Sometimes it's to keep the cook company during a family get-together, or to lend a helping hand. Other times, it's to gather around a bowl of snacks or to do homework after school. When you think about it, the kitchen really is the life force of modern living, so it's only reasonable that during the recent housing dip, people are turning to renovate their own homes instead of purchase new ones. Kitchen renovations top the list of home improvements, according to Remodeling Online.

  As a result of this kitchen craze, kitchen manufacturers are cranking out more and more high-quality, eco-friendly options for DIYers and contractors alike. The green movement seems to have hit at a perfect time, since buyers are now looking to not only save the environment, but save money and be able to feel that they're doing their part by working on home projects themselves. Now, instead of simply renovating the look and feel of a kitchen, owners are becoming more invested in the long-term affects of their kitchen renovations by carefully choosing environmentally friendly materials and appliances.

  Recyclable materials like glass and quartz are becoming more common in kitchen countertops, and of course you knew we'd mention hardwood flooring! Wood is one of the best examples of nature's renewable resources! Many people often think that once a piece of wood has lost its lustre that it's destined for firewood, but this isn't the case. Reclaimed wood in particular adds character and beauty to kitchen cabinets, and you can also have the satisfaction in knowing you're using a natural, renewable resource for your home that will last for generations. With so many different finishing options available, you could turn virtually any wood surface into something to suit your lifestyle.

  Not far behind kitchens on the renovation list are bathrooms. Ironically, kitchens and bathrooms are two rooms we've talked about on the blog that seem further from the front of people's minds when thinking about hardwood flooring, but they can actually be some of the most affordable hardwood flooring projects since their square footage is generally smaller than that of a living room or bedroom. Have you recently renovated your kitchen? What were your biggest priorities in reshaping and refreshing your decor? 

  Posted on May 21, 2008 at 02:00 PM in DIY • Green Building • (0) Comments

• DIY: Walnut Bathroom Renovation

  Posted by Megan Sprague

  As a proud member of Carlisle’s marketing team, I wanted to share my most recent do-it-yourself project—the installation of my very first Carlisle floor! I chose Walnut because of its beautiful brown tones with highlights of golden honey and the nice figuring in the grain patterns.
  
  I began my project in September 2007 when my boyfriend Dan and I first decided to embark on the demolition of our current bathroom. We knew straight off that it was going to be a fairly large undertaking, but we also knew it had to be done. After two days of destroying, hauling pieces of old sheetrock, insulation and tile out by the truckload we were finally down to the rafters.
  
  As we have delicately built the bathroom back up we decided to make our project as custom as we could afford. Firstly, we’ve done the entire project ourselves: plumbing, electrical, everything! (We did have the extra hands of our dads helping out, which is great.)  Dan invented his own radiant heat system—it’s a built-in subfloor unit with PEX tubing (which we purchased on EBay inexpensively). We were able to install our Carlisle floor directly on top of our radiant heat system. We also did a tile inlay underneath our toilet and in front of our bathtub, and it was really easy to make both the tile and the walnut work nicely together during the installation—we had zero hiccups.
  
  One of the best parts during our renovation was applying the tung oil to our floor. We thought the wood was stunning before we started the finishing process, but as we added the coats of tung oil we were amazed at how it heightens the swirling grains and warm chocolaty tones. 
  
  A few holidays, snowmobile season and a litter of Weimaraner puppies later and we are still working on our bathroom! We are hand making our vanity and that’s our current stage of the process. Stay tuned for the vanity and completion of my bathroom
  
  

  Posted on April 22, 2008 at 10:54 AM in DIY • (0) Comments

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