It’s amazing what a difference clean, fresh floor coverings can do for your home. If you are in the market to throw out your tired and old floor, Shirley Pai Hilton of Kahala Pacific Floors has distilled some of the information from her monthly Wood and Stone Flooring 101 seminar to share some quick tips with you when shopping for new flooring.

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Firstly, if you are thinking about wood, go to a specialist. The large home improvement stores rarely carry anything in the way of wood that can be called “good quality.” Also, with Hawaii’s humidity, move away from solid wood and go with an engineered floor that has a decent wear layer on it. You want to be able to refinish it at least a few times.

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If it is laminate you are thinking of, it is a budget-friendly option, having the look of wood, but remember that it’s merely a photograph sitting on the surface that cannot be refinished. Also, laminate quite often has a hollow sound when walked on, so be warned. Furthermore, soak a sample piece in water to make sure it has a pressboard core that won’t explode on you.

Regular bamboo floors are not popular, because it easily is scratched. However, strand or compressed bamboo is a good alternative. Made of smaller strands or strips of bamboo mixed with resins, this composite offers a super hard form of this floor made of grass.

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Lastly, LVT (luxury vinyl tile), offers a modern alternative to sheet products of yester-year. Consisting of layers of PVC with a pattern laid or printed on top, this modern version has the advantage of realistic-looking planks and the ability to change out a damaged spot without doing a crude patch job. The big caveat with vinyl is that prepping your subfloor may be cost-prohibitive. Vinyl needs to be laid onto a nearly perfect sub-floor to avoid the telegraphing of bumps, dips and rolls.

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This is a mere fraction of what you can learn at Hilton’s monthly seminars. The next 90-minute session is scheduled for Saturday, July 11. Enjoy pastries and coffee while gaining a wealth of information. Best of all, seminar graduates get a very special lifetime discount. Call 847-7711 to reserve a seat.

KAHALA PACIFIC FLOORS
contact // 847-7711
address // 926 Kohou St.
web // kahalafloors.com