This was the title of an article on the MSN Real Estate Web site a few months ago. It said more Americans are turning to hardwoods, decorative concrete and other hard surfaces to send their home values skyrocketing. There’s no question hard surface is in great demand. This is a fact and every major manufacturer has gotten involved in the production or distribution of all kinds of hard surface flooring materials.

If you watch any of the home shows, particularly House Hunters on HGTV, one of the first things most prospective buyers make a comment on is flooring. They comment on the wood floors or on replacing what’s currently installed; most often replacing it with wood. Wood is considered a sign of quality.

However, don’t be fooled into thinking carpet is dead—it’s far from it. It has actually gained market share slightly and still commands the majority of flooring sold. It is the most comfortable and still the best value by far of any category.

Create A Unique Appearance

Broadloom, according to surveys around the country, is also the least expensive product to install. Given the surge in fashion and styling it has undergone, potentially it is the most stylish flooring material there is. A little imagination and creativity can create a unique appearance by using patterned products, textures and implementing borders. Most people who sell carpet don’t even consider its design element and how well it lends itself to the creation of a unique space.

Broadloom keeps getting better. The technology in fibers, treatments, backings and design and the filtering down of extraordinary structural and patterning elements from the commercial market have all contributed to products that are better than ever before.

We all live in homes that have some hard surface flooring and more people want it in more places than ever before. It is more practical in kitchens, laundry rooms, powder and bathrooms and high traffic areas. It can make a grand statement in a large foyer or make a common foyer more elaborate. But, you can’t beat the comfort, quiet, softness, luxury and warmth of carpet. The limitations of design and styling are only in the mind of those who sell it. Anything the mind can conceive in a design, style, color or individuality can be created with the advanced equipment available today by any number of mills. Woven manufacturers have been creating product like this for decades used in casinos, up-scale hotels, cruise ships and corporate offices. Even the broadloom being used in better retail stores is higher styled today. These environments are the same facilities seen by millions of consumers who shop your stores. They are exposed to carpet in a way most of you don’t even consider. The opportunities to sell more and better escape most salespeople who don’t allow themselves to be attuned to the possibilities.

Know The Products You Sell

Broadloom is not dead now nor will it be. The segment continues to grow and those prospects are not dimming. Relative to claims, the largest growth category for complaints is wood—one of the fastest growing product segments. Is this a proportional issue? To an extent, yes, but like most floor covering, wood is not understood the way it should be by those who sell it. For that matter, neither is carpet. Again, if you know the products you sell, their limitations, where they should be used and how and what they will do when subjected to use, abuse and poor maintenance you will avoid claims and can actually provide products that deliver what the consumer expects. Unfortunately, this is information that is not supplied or that you don’t avail yourselves of. How many of you have the vast amounts of information provided from the wood associations?

God forbid someone should tell you that you can’t use white broadloom in a family room populated by an active family who lives in the room and takes very poor care of it. How could it not look bad? This is where the “bad press” comes from and the negatives are predicated on ignorance not common sense. Would you wear your Sunday best to work in the yard then complain how it didn’t hold up? The right carpet in the right place will work every time. The problem isn’t the broadloom it’s the people who market and sell it. Granted there is a substantial amount coming out of the mills which is less than perfect. But, all the defects can be sourced and corrected so they won’t occur again; we’ve known this for years.

Much of hard surface’s growth has been generated by people being lied to about how well certain carpets will perform. Disillusionment about any product will cause this to happen time and again. So, again, carpet is not dead. It’s not even ill.

If you need help with any flooring material question, information or otherwise, call us. You can’t find a better source for answers.