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Quick Step Laminate Flooring

Copyright (c) 2008 Steven Magill

Laminate flooring is one of the most popular forms of flooring in the world. It is popular because it gives people a way in which they can have floors that look like hard wood, tile or even stone at a fraction of the cost that they would have to pay for floors that were actually made out of hard wood, tile or stone. Laminate flooring was invented in Sweden in the late 1970s but it wasn’t very long before it had become popular all over the world. One of the world’s most popular brands of laminate flooring is Quick Step laminate flooring.

Quick Step laminate flooring is made by the Quick Step Flooring, Inc. Company, which is headquartered in St. Louis Missouri. It is the United States division of a company called Unilin Group, which is headquartered in Belgium and was founded in 1960. This company is known for its wood-based panels, its laminate flooring, its roofing systems and its laminate panels. The company has facilities in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and, obviously, the United States. This company was the first company to introduce a patented technology called Uniclic. Uniclic offers people a method of floor installation that is glueless.

The Quick Step laminate flooring line includes flooring that is made to look like beech, oak and chestnut wood planks, tile squares and both the imitation wood and tile are available in a variety of colors.

The Quick Step official website offers users an interactive menu to help them find the dealer that is nearest to them in location. All users have to do is enter their zip code and then choose how wide of a radius in which to search. Quick step will then return the addresses and information of all of the quick step dealers within that radius.

All of the flooring made by Quick Step is direct pressure laminate flooring. This type of flooring is often considered to be better than the high-pressured laminate flooring because it is better balanced. Each of the different types of floors also comes with an installation instruction manual that can be downloaded as a .PDF format.

Quick Step makes more than laminate flooring; it also makes wall treatments, molding, tile skirting, adaptors and a variety of square noses. They also offer a small variety of cleaning kits for your laminate flooring even though, like most kinds of this type of flooring, Quick Step laminate flooring is very easy to keep clean.

You can buy Quick Step laminate flooring through a dealer or through the website and you can also learn a great deal about the different types of laminate flooring that Quick Step has available. No matter what kind of floor you want to have, Quick Step will help you make it happen. Their products are affordable (certainly more affordable than “real” hard wood floors), durable, easy to install and easy to keep clean. With Quick Step laminate floors you can redo all of the floors in your home in no time at all

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by Bashed

What is So Good About Amtico Flooring

Amtico flooring is just about the most hardwearing and practical alternative to real wood.

Have a look at the comprehensive selection of Amtico flooring in the latest natural wood designs. These range from the softest colours such as white maple, to the mid toned classic oaks, and on to the darkest colour in our range Wenge Wood. All Amtico woods are genuine British made commercial grade {not the Asian made Spacia} and are available in ‘tick’ finish in the 114mm x 915mm standard size. They are all available from stock for next day delivery so you can avoid the frustrating long delivery times quoted by supposed Amtico stockists. You can even check out our real time stockholding online so that you cab book your installer in advance.

Choosing Amtico flooring means you don’t’ have to worry about long tem maintenance- your floor will never need sanding or re-finishing. The tough abrasion resistant surface will repel stains and moisture making it an ideal choice for wet areas such as bathrooms and shower rooms, and heavy wear areas such as hallways and entrance lobbies.

Amtico wood authentically replicates the natural product and it’s true characteristics. The Stripwood is highly variable in grain, shade and decoration. Please consider this in your product selection, as our online images only display a small section of the material.

Installing Amtico wood flooring can be undertaken by any reasonably competent DIYer with little in the way of equipment. If you are installing onto an existing wood floorboard, chipboard, or MDF sub-floor, it is always good practice to install a new plywood base first. Not only will this ensure long term wear, it will prevent undulations showing through your new flooring. If your sub-floor is reasonably flat, 6mm exterior grade moisture resistant plywood is adequate. This should be fixed at 15-20cm centers with screw nails.

If your sub-floor is old and extremely uneven, a heavier grade plywood 9mm or 12mm should be used. However before installing this, level off any hollows with a latex screed compound. Otherwise the plywood will never be completely flat.

After installing the plywood, spend as much time as possible filling any gaps in the joints, and knocking down nails flat. Then take down any high spots with a medium grade sand paper. Time taken on preparing the sub-floor will produce huge dividends when you have installed you new Amtico, so do not be tempted to cut any corners.

Depending on how flat and smooth you have managed to make the plywood base, it may be necessary to apply a further leveler such as Ardex Feather Finish which can be applied thinly without the risk of delaminating.

If you are installing over a solid floor e.g. concrete, asphalt, quarry tiles, stone flags etc. it is imperative that your do a thorough check of the moisture content of the sub-floor. Even a slight amount of moisture in a sub-floor will cause Amtico flooring to start lifting within a very short period of time. Your investment will then be wasted, as the floor will be beyond repair. Check first for the presence of a dpm, which should be visible on your outside, walls maybe the first or second line of brick or stone. If there is nothing evident, and your house was build before 1960, then it is safe to assume that there is no damp proof membrane in the sub-floor.

Your only option then is to apply a surface dpm to the sub-floor. These are a 2-part epoxy resin coating. These are easy to apply, but can take up to 48 hours to cure. The most widely used product is ES3000 made by Treetabond.

Once you have a dry clean solid sub-floor, a leveling screed should be laid. Always follow the screed manufacturers instructions with regard to the use of priming or bonding agents. Remember that if the screed de-bonds from the sub-floor, your new Amtico floor will also fail. The screed should be rubbed down as smooth as possible before installing your Amtico flooring. Any trowel marks, high or low spots will soon become evident once you have a new shiny floor over the screed. Therefore more time and effort spent on the preparations will be rewarded with a superior final floor finish.

The Amtico flooring in Stripwood should always be installed using the approved Amtico adhesives For wet areas the Amtico ‘Universal’ adhesive should always be used. Amtico flooring can be laid onto underfloor heating, provided that Amtico HT (high temperature) adhesive is used. For all other areas the standard Amtico SF (solvent free) adhesive can be used without problems.

As with all flooring, Amtico flooring will benefit from regular maintenance. The Amtico floor dressing will give enhanced protection from moisture and abrasion. The Amtico Cleaner will effectively clean your floor without stripping off the Dressing. However, when the time comes to renew the dressing, Amtico Dressing Remover is a powerful and aggressive stripper, which makes light work of removing heavy build-ups of old layers of floor dressing. Guidance on maintenance is available from the Amtico flooring web-site

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