Announcing the Surfaces
New Product Extravaganza. Brought to you by our website FlooringInsider.com,
the Extravaganza gives you a look at some of the latest, most
innovative
products that were unveiled during Surfaces 2008. Each listing includes
a brief
description of some of the newest products and, as a service to our
readers, full contact information so you can easily call or e-mail the
companies.
The products
that appear here will also be printed in a special section in the April issues of
National Floor
Trends, Floor Covering Installer and
TILE
Magazine.
Evan Hackel is relinquishing
his day-to-day responsibilities as president of Carpet One Floor & Home to oversee
a new web-based venture set for launch by Carpet One’s parent, CCA Global
Partners. Assuming the top position at Carpet One will be Eric Demaree, a 32-year
veteran of flooring who joined CCA three years ago after 11 years at Home
Depot.
Taking a page from the postal worker’s handbook, executives
at Beaulieu of America said they plan to host their “The Bliss Experience”
event March 20-21 at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta only a week after
a tornado touched down in the area. Some streets are still closed as cleanup
continued into Monday, the company noted.
Looking to “provide a boost to the
carpet market,” a consortium of leading UK and European carpet makers are
working with large UK retail group Carpetright and distribution group Headlam
to create “an extensive, generic promotional campaign for broadloom carpet.” The
campaign, set to run for two years beginning in September, will cost about $12
million U.S., according to the group.
Faus Group has licensed the use of several of its patented
laminate flooring technologies to manufacturers in China. Specifically, Faus
has licensed its Embossed in Register and Joint Guard/bevel edge technologies
to PowerDekor and Elegant Living. PowerDekor is a leading producer of laminate
flooring in China. Additionally, Elegant Living is the leading manufacturer of
solid and engineered hardwood in the country. The company also makes laminate
flooring.
New York -- Catering to the high end of the
market and working in and around New York City has helped shield flooring
manufacturers, designer and retailers from the recent slowdown in housing
construction and remodeling that has had a negative impact on much of the
industry, representatives of the more than two dozen flooring and floor
covering companies at the Seventh Annual Architectural Digest
Home Design Show here last month said.
Professional floor cleaning equipment maker Nilfisk-Advance
has purchased HydraMaster, a Mukilteo, Wash.-based manufacturer of truckmount
extractors, rotary floor care systems, cleaning accessories and carpet and
fabric care chemicals. Plans call for HydraMaster to keep its name and continue
operations from its Washington plant. However, HydraMaster and its CleanMaster
brand will now be managed by Doug Hauff, general manager of Nilfisk-Advance’s
U.S. Products brand. Former HydraMaster CEO Steve Brandt and chairman Mike Palmer
will stay on as advisors.
National Gypsum Co., based in Charlotte, N.C.,
announced it has entered a joint venture with Panel Rey S.A. to produce
PermaBase and PermaBase Flex cement board in Mexico. Panel Rey, based in
Monterrey, Mexico, has sold PermaBase to over 300 distributors throughout
Mexico and Latin America under an agreement with National Gypsum for the past
seven years. The new joint venture company will be called PermaBase de
Americas, and target Mexico as well as Central and South America.
Installation
expert and NFT columnist Ray Thompson, Jr., will host a series of
classes on hard surface installation and moisture-related issues in March and
April. The hands-on sessions, which will be held at the Floor Covering
Institute in Easton, Wash., will include a basic five-day resilient
installation school, five-day commercial and advanced schools; as well as
classes aimed at floor preparation and wood flooring installation. The slate
will also include daylong seminars covering moisture in concrete and moisture
testing classes.
Ark Floors, a hardwood flooring maker based in Irwindale,
Calif., is moving. Plans call for Ark, the U.S. arm of Chinese wood
manufacturer A & W [Shanghai] Woods Co., to relocate to a newly constructed
70,000 sq. ft. facility in El Monte, Calif., in mid-March. The new facility,
which will allow the company to warehouse inventory and ship products at four
times its current capacity, will place the company about 8 miles southwest of
their current site.