Caring For Your Hardwood Floors

At Sparkle Floors and Carpet, we often get panicked phone calls about wood floor catastrophes. These calls are generally because our clients have either used the wrong product or scratched their floors with damaging cleaning tools. Wood floors can be simple and easy to maintain, and we want to help you understand how. Here are the best tips to care for your precious and beautiful hardwood floors.

Regular maintenance of your floors can prevent major dirt build-up and heavy cleaning. Try sweeping your floors daily with a soft broom or even using a dry swifter/microfiber mop. On a weekly basis, you can mop your floors with a professional wood floor cleaning product. At Sparkle Floors and Carpet, we like to recommend Bona as it is gentle on wood and won’t remove your shiny coat.

If you do want to try a new professional cleaning product, be sure it is intended for hardwood floors only. We do not recommend using any products that are intended for multi-floor use including vinyl or tile, as they can damage your floors causing you to have to sand and re-stain which can be costly and inconvenient. When trying a new product, always test a small spot on the floor first, wait a few hours and then proceed. This will give you the best chance for preserving your hardwood flooring.

Lastly, here are some additional tips to help keep your wood floors in the best shape possible:

· Avoid walking on your hardwoods with high heels

· Do not allow your floors to be saturated with water

· Do not use a wet mop or steam mop to clean floors

· Put felt protectors on all of your furniture to avoid scratches

As always, please reach out to Sparkle Floors and Carpet to help answer any of the questions that you may have about keeping your floors in the best condition possible.

All There Is to Know About Vinyl Flooring

If you love the look of hardwood, but don’t love the price tag, vinyl flooring may be a candidate for your home. Vinyl flooring has transformed in look and texture over the years. Most importantly, it will save you a lot of money. Hardwood floors can cost on average about $4.50 a square foot where vinyl will cost around $1.50. If you are looking to update your home with a brand new look at a much lower cost, vinyl could be the best option for you.

Vinyl floors now come in a plethora of beautiful options. They are not the 70’s sheets of plastic you are thinking of – but rather planks of sophisticated detail. They are available in patterns that replicate stone, hardwood and even unique mosaic pebbles. Your floors set the stage in each room to create the home of your dreams. The variety and detail of vinyl flooring can help you achieve the look that you love.

Vinyl flooring is not just beautiful and inexpensive, but it is one of the top options for durability. It’s most suitable in areas with high residential traffic such as living rooms, dens, and areas with pets. Vinyl flooring is available in either a water resistant or waterproof finish and is extremely resistant to scratches, stains and dents.

For all of the above reasons, vinyl flooring can make for one of the most long-lasting flooring options at one of the lowest price points. Vinyl was once only considered for less visible parts of the home, but has now become a valuable tool for modern decor.

Laminate Flooring

The flooring industry is growing and creating more innovative products for each home’s unique needs. Your gut instinct may be to want hardwood flooring and only hardwood flooring, but there are many other options to consider that may make more sense for your family and for your budget.

One of the better options to think about is laminate flooring. Laminate flooring has progressed tremendously over time. It can now replicate the look of hardwood more than it ever has before. Today, laminate floors are produced at a much higher quality. They are built to endure every day wear and tear and can even cost much less than hardwood flooring. If you are worried about investing a lot of money in flooring that may be distressed by small children or pets, laminate flooring may be the better option for you.

However, there are many factors to consider about Laminate flooring before making a final decision. You must keep in mind that laminate flooring cannot be refinished and will maintain a final look until it is replaced. This means that as parts of your floor are damaged, they will need to be replaced, as they cannot be repaired.

For more insight on your flooring options, please reach out to Sparkle Floor and Carpets and we can help you make the right decision for your home

Tips For Pet Induced Allergies

Pet dander can live deep in your carpet and continue to collect over time – which can potentially enhance your allergies. Although some people think that vacuuming can help remove this dander, it can sometimes make it worse. A standard vacuum cleaner may even spit dander back into the air, making allergies even worse.

Sparkle Floors and Carpet can press the reset button on your carpets to give you the fresh start you need. Once you’ve had a deep carpet cleaning – we can provide you with solutions that will help you avoid dander build up in your “like new” rugs.

One of the first tips we offer our clients is to repeatedly vacuum your home on a weekly basis. This is essential because your pet will continue to leave behind dander in any room it enters. Another suggestion is to use a HEPA vacuum. HEPA vacuums are stronger and able to pick up more dander than a standard one. This will offer you the best chance of stopping pet allergens from excessively building up.

Additionally, it is very important to keep other surfaces clean to avoid from transitioning to your carpet. In order to keep dander under control, try regularly dust walls, ceilings, baseboards and furniture to rid the allergy-inducing particles. There are many cleaning products available that are nontoxic, eco-friendly and gentle enough for your children and pets.

Please give the Sparkle Floors and Carpet team a call – and we will be glad to provide you with a free consultation and the information you need to make the best decision for your family.

Tricks & Tips to Reduce Pet Allergies

Give your home a fresh new look through a much less expensive option. You may not realize that your old, scratched, and dull wood floors can be refinished to look brand new. Through the refinishing process, you can completely modify the color of your hardwood flooring and the look of your entire house. Whether you want to completely change the color of your floors or just remove the wear and tear, Sparkle Floors and Carpet can help you make the change that you need to feel like your have brand new floors!

Sparkle Floors and Carpet will manage the process from start to finish, to make the project as fast and seamless as possible for your family. The first step we take is to sand and refinish the hardwood floors creating a smooth surface that it is ready to accept a new color and coating for a new long lasting look.

After sanding the floors, the wood will look raw in its original form and become a blank canvas for the new color of your choice. At this point you can choose to any stain you would like, whether it be dark, light, red or even natural. Because the same stain can look completely different on each individual floor, we will place a few stains on your hardwood and allow you to choose the new floor of your dreams. Lastly, we apply a 2-3 coats of polyurethane buffing in between each application to create an extremely smooth and seamless look. Sparkle Floors and Carpet is so excited to create the home of your dreams!

Reclaimed Hardwood Rising Trend

Flooring is one of the most important things in your home – let our experts help you find the right solution for the right room.  Stop by anytime or call 908-464-2653.

Flooring Trends Impact Interior Design

Believe it or not, social trends are having an impact on interior design in general and flooring design in particular.

Put another way, flooring covering designers are influenced by design leaders who, in turn, are influenced by popular trends showcased in places like New York Fashion Week, lifestyle magazines and media outlets.

On the color side, a strong trend that is emerging for 2016 is the use of grey in flooring.  This will become the new ‘classic’ and can be used for modern styles, especially Scandinavian and Minimalist interiors
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There are many different ways to utilize grey, from a dark charcoal vinyl faux wood to a pale ash-white engineered floor.

No matter what your color preferences are, you can come into Sparkle Floors and Carpet and see a wide variety of colors and types of flooring, from hardwood and vinyl to carpet and engineered wood.  Our showroom has a wide selection and our installers are the best!

Spring Cleaning is Here!

Floor Spring Cleaning

It’s that time of year again! Time to make your home shine from top to bottom just in time for Spring. This year, make sure you are cleaning your floors right! Here are some floor maintenance tips that use to keep your floors looking new for years to come.

First of all, consider water your floor’s worst enemy. No matter if you have hardwood, bamboo, cork or laminate, any water that get into the joints can cause shrinking, swelling, or distorting. Ditch the old mop bucket and replace it with a push style dry-type cleaner with replaceable pads. These prevent the spread of water that standard mops produce.

When adding cleaning supplies, never apply them directly on the floor. Always spray them straight onto the replaceable pad. This will avoid water damage. Always make sure that the cleaning supplies you are using are safe for urethane finishes. If you don’t, the clouding may occur.

Simple remedies can be used to keep your floor clean. Try putting floor mats near all entranceways. Also, don’t wear shoes inside your house. Avoid tracking any sand in your house. If you’re coming back from the beach, wash off outside! Sand scratches flooring very easily. It is the most common cause of scratches on floors.

This Spring, make your house look better than ever before! Follow these steps and keep your floor looking brand new. Just avoid moisture, use the right cleaning products, and avoid bringing dirt and sand into the house.

Carpet Cleaning Solutions that Could Save You Money!

Are you considering throwing out your old stained carpet in order to improve the look of a room? Before you spend money on new flooring, why not get it cleaned?

We offer carpet cleaning solutions which could save you a money. If you still love that old carpet but you want to make it look new again, we can help! Our professional technicians will inspect your carpet to tell you what services we can provide for you and they can tell you if those old stains are permanent.

We handle both residential and commercial carpet cleaning. With our truck-mounted cleaning system, we can go anywhere you need us.

If you are considering having your carpet cleaned at your office, keep in mind that a clean and odor-free work environment helps promote your company’s image and creates a healthier work environment for all employees.

Do you think that you do not have enough time to fit us into your busy schedule? Well, since we want to be your first choice in all your floor cleaning and maintenance, we offer a flexible schedule so we can work with your time constraints.

We are dedicated to helping our clients have the best looking and cleanest floor possible. We want to help make your rooms sparkle! Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.