Flooring Blog

Do you trust your installer has enough experience that he knows what your options are and can present them to you and guide you through your choices? Is he an artist in how he arranges grain and cuts in your fireplace or rounded landing? If he ran into a problem would he knowhow to resolve it? Does ...

Are your floors looking dry and weathered? Gray in the soft grain of the wood, showing gray grain patterns in the high traffic areas? You might be wondering if you are a candidate for hardwood refinishing. Lets go over ways to tell:1. How thick is my wear layer? If you floor is solid and older than ...

I am humbled and appreciative of such a great review of our teamwork here at Geneva Flooring.  We strive to deliver our very best to every single customer we work with, just like we did for Laura.  It is so heartwarming to get that confirmation at the end of the project that she was satisfied ...

Serenity Village is a privately owned collection of 8 houses that house and support 58 local women and children in Escondido, CA.  Six of the Eight houses have three bedrooms with two women[1] in each unit, three bathrooms, a living room and a communal kitchen.  Designed like cozy residential ...

Rift and quarter sawn hardwood Ocean Beach CA is premium grade because it is stable, beautiful, and is a select grading of wood. The log is cut in quarters and sawn into planks, ensuring long linear grains and medullary watermarks that pop and give character. This procedure is usually done to oak, ...

Hardwood CAN. There are exceptions! If you get a naturally colored, smooth hardwood floor with enough wear layer for refinishing, then hardwood can last the longest. Comparatively, it is only about ¼ as much to refinish this kind of floor, vs.replacing it! Depending on wear layer you could refinish ...

Do you have a raised foundation? Easy ways to tell: Do you walk up the steps to get to your front door? Jump! You can hear you are on wood, not on the brunt force of concrete. Walk around the outside of your house and look for a crawl space. Once you have determined you have a wood subfloor ...

Reclaimed wood is wood that has been re-sourced instead of harvested for the use of your floor. These Boards can come from many sources. Some reclaimed wood comes from old barns that have been taken down across America and Australia. These woods show the character of old nail rust spots and have ...

DO bring visual aids to reference the color of your cabinets, paint or current floor that you are trying to match.DON'T fall in love with a picture online and try to find that exact floor in a showroom. Print colors, screen colors, lenses disfigure color variation and hue…I never sell the floor in ...

Are you looking for a more modern sophisticated yet simple floor? Try a Mid Century Modern design which consists of neutral tones, clean lines, and organic curves. Mid Century Modern design heavily relies on one big focal point (normally in bold, muted colors such as orange and green) while smaller ...

Waterproof laminate is a great alternative to vinyl plank flooring. Remember, vinyl is only waterproof top-down and still needs protection from moisture in the installation and concrete preparation with a plastic barrier. If there is excessive water vinyl needs to be pulled out and can not be ...

As you'll find in many guides on Redfin;Hardwood is among the top ten improvements you can make to your home to increase the value. People are in my San Diego flooring showroom all the time trying to plan for the uncertain future and my best advice is get something you will love for the time you ...

Choosing the flooring material for your home is often a less complicated affair than choosing the flooring for a rental property. In your home, your focus is on the needs and desires of your family. For a rental, you must cater to the sometimes-divergent needs of a greater number of people. You ...

We use high quality adhesive to glue down wood floors in Santee CA, and it is very hard to get up!  Glue down wood is scraped up in splinters.  You cannot salvage boards for repairs.  At Geneva Flooring, a flooring store San Diego, we have specialty machines that cut and scrape up glue down wood ...

The most common question I get asked at my flooring store in San Diego, is “What floor would you get?”  The floor you choose should always depend on the application.  I am in a rental, with two children under four years old that push around carts and boxes and throw shoes. The most important thing ...

After working with people for 20 years to select the hardwood floor that is best for them, I have derived a system.  I start by moving through the showroom, pointing out differences between the floors to help people understand what they are looking at.  Then we pull out colors and styles that ...

There are three ways to install a hardwood floor: Floating, Nail or Glue.  If you have a wood subfloor nailing is an option for you.  If you have concrete subfloor, I always recommend glue or float the floor instead of building a subfloor.  They are expensive, basically another sponge that can fail,...

Durapalm has been harvesting and manufacturing sugar palm trees into flooring for 20 years. This flooring has been in Florida and Hawaii and is now coming to the beachy city vibes of California! Durapalm Palmwood is directly extracted from the outside of ring of the Palm Stem. The hardest material ...

Most hardwood purchased in the last 30 years has an aluminum oxide finish that will not “come off” and is very low maintenance.  For that I recommend the dry Swiffer- you change the dryer sheet-like slip on the bottom and easily pick up daily dust with no residue.  The Swiffer Wet Jet, in my ...

Hardwood CAN.  There are exceptions!  If you get a naturally colored, smooth hardwood floor with enough wear layer for refinishing, then hardwood can last the longest.  Comparatively, it is only $4.50sf to refinish this kind of floor, and a minimum of $10-18sf to replace it!  Depending on wear ...

This process of heating the wood to above 320 degrees in a low oxygen environment makes physical and chemical changes in the wood’s cellular structure.  The boards are darker in color and there is a lot of color variation- much more than a topically stained floor.  It also improves the dimensional ...

Luxury Vinyl Tiles (stone styles) and Luxury Vinyl Planks (Wood styles) are taking over the Flooring industry because of their durability, price point, and realism.  They have taken a huge share of the carpet market because for a little more you can a longer-term solution.  They have rendered ...

Wood floors change colors for two reasons: breaking down in the sun or natural “patina” color change.  There is no UV protectant in the finish that will truly protect your floor from the sun over time- though some companies try.  Inevitably stains will fade, boards will warp, and finish will dry up....

After a couple years on the market and feedback from clients and PKs (Product knowledge) from my reps (finally), I am learning new things about LYP (Luxury Vinyl Planking). We all thought that luxury vinyl was as dent and scratch resistant as laminate- but waterproof also! We thought all of our ...

It is dumping in San Diego today!  That never happens!  It is usually ideal conditions for install.  But it is important to treat extreme conditions appropriately.  It is the responsibility of the installation crew to not install when it is too hot or humid or too cold.  The flooring will not ...

No matter what your substrate, we are going to make sure your floor is within spec before we install a hard surface flooring. That is 3/16” in 10 feet allowance per the National Wood Flooring Association’s guidelines. If you have a concrete subfloor we use a combination of leveling compound in ...

California WANTS to be able to recycle carpet, but it having a hard time getting the infrastructure in place to do so. We used to have a plant here in San Diego, but it closed in 2016. So now there is no place to take your used carpet to be recycled, unless you haul it up to a LA recycling center....

90% of people go with what the industry calls 711.  It has a simple scroll, it is a nice frame, but not overly ornate as to collect dust.   The minimum height we order to get a thick enough base to cover the gap for hard surface flooring is 7/16” x 2 ½”.  But I like to go with at least the 3 ½” ...

1) How long are you going to be in the property? Are you fixing it up to sell, rent, or enjoy yourself? That will help determine budget and suggested replacement covering. 2) Can the floor you currently have be refurbished? Some Hardwoods, vinyls, and tiles can be refinished or recoated to bring ...

Wool is a durable, NO VOC, easy-to-wash carpet option.  Most commonly they sort the sheep and sell all natural colors, hence, no powder blue ^ Even though synthetic dyes are safe, non-toxic, and have virtually no negative impact on the environment, there are people who want to be as environmentally ...

Hardwood flooring is very sensitive to its environment.  We are lucky in San Diego to have moderate temperatures year round that is also great for our hardwood.  But we still need to be conscientious about our environment so that we do not ruin our floors.  When you buy hardwood your warranty ...

Luxury Vinyl Tiles (stone styles) and Luxury Vinyl Planks (Wood styles) are taking over the Flooring industry because of their durability, price point, and realism. They have taken a huge share of the carpet market because for a little more you can a longer-term solution. They have rendered ...

Leveling is one of the HARDEST parts of my job. It is impossible to know what the cost is going to be on any given job, and I cannot tell you until we are hired and my installer has demolished the existing floor and has a level on your subfloor. My best advice: choose a company you trust and take ...

Wool is a durable, NO VOC, easy-to-wash carpet option. Most commonly they sort the sheep and sell all natural colors, hence, no powder blue:Even though synthetic dyes are safe, non-toxic, and have virtually no negative impact on the environment, there are people who want to be as environmentally ...

Just choosing hardwood is a more environmentally friendly flooring option! Carpets are usually more short term and end up in the landfills every few years. That is why there is now CA Carpet Stewardship Fee on every new carpet purchased, you are paying for the space your old carpet is now taking in ...

Hickory is a beautiful American Species. The price range is $4sf to $10sf and is offered by many different manufacturers. You can get it smooth, hand-scraped or wire-bushed (to accentuate the grain). The grain looks a lot like oak. It is naturally a blond floor with brown grain and can have a large ...

Floating, Nail or Glue…Which one should I do??There are three ways to install a hardwood floor, float it, nail it, or glue it. Here are some guidelines to choose what is best for your situation. Do you have a raised foundation? If the answer is no- you cant nail. Floating is glueing (or some ...

We can get 70% of the flooring in our showroom in 24 hours! Depends on the brand, if it is locally distributed, if there is stock, and what time we place the order!If you have existing hardwood there is a great chance we can help you figure out that room addition you have been thinking about. If ...

Naturally colored floors have variations from board to board. This is beautiful and makes it look like real wood. We are referring to woods that are colored this way straight out of the ground with no stain. Each species of wood has different grain; that is where you get to choose your grain and ...

“Hardness” of wood is referring to density, and we measure that in hardwood flooring on the JANKA Hardness scale. This is PSI (pounds per square inch) pressure. We use Red Oak (1290 PSI) as a baseline standard of “hard enough”. Hard enough to be functional and to not easily dent in normal household ...

Builders usually have limited options and hefty price tags. Builders usually feature a few floors (they are usually common floors that I also carry at a lower price) that streamline the choices for homeowners trying to customize their new build in a new community. While there is a convenience to ...

Why is there such a broad range of prices on hardwood flooring? And how do I decide if I’m really getting a good deal, when they can range all the way from $2.00 to $20.00 per square foot?Hardwood flooring manufacturers have different goals in mind when they set out to produce a product. Some ...