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New flooring is one of the quickest ways to add value and comfort to your home. Imagine your mental and physical health could be instantly improved by getting rid of old carpeting and replacing it with something new.

Shirley Pai Hilton of Kahala Pacific Floors has distilled down some of the information from her monthly Wood and Stone Flooring 101 seminar to share with you as quick tips when shopping for new flooring.

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First off, 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 and slab-on-grade construction, look into engineered wood and see if it might be right for you. A decent wear layer is a must for longevity.

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If it is laminate you are thinking of, that’s a good budget-friendly option, which has the look of wood but remember that it’s merely a photograph sitting on the surface and you cannot refinish it. Also, laminate quite often has a hollow sound when walked on so be warned. Last, 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 due to scratching easily. 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, luxury vinyl tile (LVT) offers a modern alternative to sheet products of yesteryear. Consisting of layers of poly vinyl chloride (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: prepping your subfloor may be cost prohibitive so look for something with the wood-plastic composite (WPC) hard core.

This is a mere fraction of what you can learn at Shirley’s monthly seminar. The company’s next 90-minute session is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. at its Kalihi showroom. Enjoy pastries and coffee while gaining a wealth of information. Thousands have attended and have loved the seminar. But best of all, once you attend, you will always receive a discount on your flooring materials and installation.

Call 847-7711 to reserve a seat today.

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

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