It's usually a good idea to get multiple estimates. Most of my customers get 3. When you get multiple estimates, it helps ensure you get competitive pricing (because let's face it, not everyone is as honest as you would hope). Also, it's important to make sure you have someone you feel comfortable with and for some jobs (ones that are less straightforward), you may want to speak to mutliple people to get opinions on the best solution.

But, even when there are straight forward jobs, there are plenty of times that you may not really be comparing apples to apples, so it's important to clarify your expectations and ask questions.

In my opinion, refinishing hardwood floors in Westchester is a fairly straight forward job...and, on the surface, it should be relatively easy to compare estimates. But, even so, I've realized that many customers don't understand why there might be differences in price. (Of course, I always try to educate my customers so they make an informed decision).

On Tuesday, I was surprised at my customer's reaction when I gave her the estimate of $2,800. She had this look on her fact that said "what the heck?" I probed further and she told me that she had another estimate for only $1,600. I was floored by this...because my rates are very competitive and even though most customers get 3 (or more) estimates, I tend to win a majority of them. I was puzzled for a bit, questioning if I had mismeasured (which of course I hadn't). I then explained the process, and in so doing, I realized that we were NOT comparing apples to apples.

My estimate was for sanding and refinishing the whole apartment; the other estimate was to sand & refinish 2 rooms and buff the other 3 rooms. I was glad that I probed further, because when I re-estimated this way, my estimate was about the same as the other one, and I even included some minor repair work that the other person didn't catch.

So, when you are comparing estimates for refinishing hardwood, here are some questions to ask so that you can fairly compare estimates:

- Is the job scope the same? Confirm the area(s) to be done. Is furniture move included? Is there any carpet removal? (And, are they hauling it away?)

- Are you looking to go natural (less expensive) or add a stain color (more expensive)?

- How many coats of polyurethane are included?

- Is the polyurethane oil based or water based? You can read more about the pros and cons on oil vs. water based polyurethane in this blog post.

- If you have pine (or maple) floors, did they include a conditioner? A conditioner is needed to help open the pores to absorb the stain better.

If you have vastly different estimates for refinishing hardwood floors, chances are there is a good reason for it. So ask questions, so you understand and feel comfortable with the decision you make.

When you're looking to refinish your hardwood floors in Westchester NY, give The Flooring Girl a call at 914-937-2950 and I'd be happy to give you a free estimate and walk you through the process.

Radiant heated floors | Scarsdale NY 10583 | Perfect for bathrooms, kitchens, basement and sun rooms

Are your feet cold in the winter? If you have tile floors or rooms that tend to be cold in the winter, radiant heat flooring may be a great option for you. Heated floors provide a level of comfort and luxury and once you've experienced them, you'll never want to go back! They are the perfect addition to your home in Scarsdale.

If you are installing new floors for your home in Scarsdale NY, consider adding radiant heat. Whether it's tile flooring (ceramic, porcelain, natural stone), hardwood, laminate and floating floors, cork or even carpet, radiant heated floors are a wonderful option. The experts at Floor Coverings International can help you find the both ideal flooring for you and the right radiant heat option that works with that type of flooring. After all, we "bring the store to your door," making it easy to find the right colors and styles for you and we guide you every step along the way.

More and more Scarsdale home owners are adding radiant heat to:

• Bathrooms, especially master bathrooms
• Kitchens
• Basements
• Sunrooms and 3 season rooms

At Floor Coverings International of Scarsdale NY, we proudly use Warmup Radiant heated floors. Now, radiant heat flooring can be used for virtually all types of flooring surfaces - tile, many types of hardwood, laminate, cork, bamboo and now even carpet. We customize the flooring based on your needs. Warmup provides outstanding temperature controlled heat, and they provide a 30 year transferable warranty on their product.

With Warmup radiant heat flooring, not only will your floors heat up quickly, but once they reach your desired temperature level, they will stabilize. With the programmable thermometer, you can control the heat to your desired temperature.

Radiant floor heating has become more and more affordable these last couple of years. While every project is different, pending on the type of flooring you are installing, size of space (as well as placement of electric boxes in your home), and general rule of thumb is that the radiant heat will probably add an additional 20-50% to the cost of your flooring project. Given the added level of comfort (as well as some potential energy savings), many feel this is worth it.

Warmup is the fastest growing electric in floor heating company in North America. Their award winning products are designed to be the thinnest, toughest and safest in the industry. They have exceptional customer service and their professional support team is available 24/7/365 days a year.

Floor Coverings International installs all types of flooring - hardwood, tile, carpet, laminate, cork, bamboo and other eco-friendly flooring options. We are a shop at home service, so we come to your home. We are part of a nationwide buying group (there are over 100 of us across the US and Canada), so we buy directly fro the manufacturers and are very reasonably priced. Our estimates are always free. We provide guidance and our goal is to make the shopping process fun and easy. Call us at 914-937-2950 for a FREE estimate and let us "bring the store to your door."

Radiant heated floors | Scarsdale NY 10583 | Perfect for bathrooms, kitchens, basement and sun rooms

Are you looking to sand and refinish hardwood floors in Scarsdale NY?

It's amazing what a difference refinishing your hardwood flooring can make. Your floors will look brand new and you even have the option to change the color. You can go light, dark, mid tones, or red tones. It can really give your home (or room) a whole new look.

If you have hardwood underneath your carpets, we can restore the beauty of the hardwood underneath. It's amazing what a big difference this can make in your home. And, believe it or not, it is usually less expensive to refinish your floors than to recarpet. Refinishing your floors will also improve your home's value and it will be easier to clean and maintain.

At Floor Coverings International, we are a shop at home service. We will bring the "store to your door" so that you can see the flooring and colors in your own home and lighting and color coordinate with your paint colors and decor. When it comes to sanding and refinishing, not only we will help guide you in color selections, but we will also test out a few colors for you on your floor. This is important because every floor is different, so it's best to see what the stain will actually look like on your own floors (rather than a tiny sample).

We offer both the standard refinishing process as well as a dustless sanding system. Dustless sanding costs a bit extra, but many customers feel it's worth it, especially if they have someone with allergies in their household. We offer both oil and water based polyurethane, and we will help you understand the pros and cons on each method.

We are proud of our work, but don't rely on our word...ask our customers! We have won the Angie's list Super Service award 2 years in a row, and you can even check our google reviews online. And, we will gladly provide with a list of over 30 customers to call.

Video of hardwood flooring and refinishing Scarsdale NY 10583

Our estimates are always free. So, when you're ready to refinish your hardwood floors in Scarsdale NY 10583, call us at 914-937-2950 and let us "bring the store to your door."

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Related posts:

Water based polyurethane vs. oil based: Which is better for refinishing hardwood floors?

I have hardwood underneath my carpets. Should I refinish the hardwood or recarpet?

What types of hardwood are best for pets?

Refinish hardwood flooring | Scarsdale NY 10583 | Dustless sanding

Basement Flooring Trends - Westchester County - Fall 2011

Given all the flooding that we've seen since end of August into the fall (Hurricane Irene, tons of rain, October snow storm), there has definitely been a trend towards hard surface options that are waterproof and can withstand water in the basement. These options cost more than carpet, but they will definitely last longer and avoid unnecessary expense and inconvenience from flooding and/or moisture/mold damage.

Basement flooring trends

1. Rubber gym flooring. This is a wonderful option for water. This looks like the rubber flooring you see in gyms and they generally come in 2 x 2 interlocking tiles. If your basement gets wet, you can detach the tiles, clean them, air them out and then return them. If you use your basement for a gym, this is stylistically a great option as well. If you want the look/feel of warm carpet, you can also put carpet (in the form of area rugs) on top of it.

I have done some rooms where we just create a custom bound area rug and then others where my customers want the look of wall to carpet...so we made the carpet go up to the wall and bound the ends so it looks like wall to wall carpet. For those that have chronic flooding and consistently have flooding, when you are afraid you will get flooding, you just roll the carpet up. Or, if you are a bit too late, often, you can send the area rug to the cleaners. This way, you avoid the horrible smell and expense of replacing your carpet after a flood.

2. Luxury vinyl that looks like hardwood. This is a wonderful option if you want the look of hardwood and you want the durability of tile. First, luxury vinyl looks and feels real...check out these pictures. Not only does it look real, but you can feel the ridges for the graining. Furthermore, unlike sheet vinyl or peel & stick or vinyl composite tile, luxury vinyl will actually withstand a flood because the adhesive is waterproof. It's truly an amazing product.

3. Commercial glue down carpet for those that need to save money. For those on a budget, carpeting may be the best option for your budget as it is less expensive than hard surfaces. If you need to do carpeting and you tend to have lots of moisture in the basement, you may consider avoiding carpet pad (that's where most of the moisture is absorbed and where most of the smell comes from). Commercial carpet (or indoor/outdoor carpet) can be glued down without the carpet pad.

4. Laminate flooring or engineered hardwood for basements that have been waterproofed. If you've gone through the major expense of waterproofing your basement, the world is your oyster and you can do whatever type of flooring you like. When all the options are open, most customers prefer to install hardwood flooring (budget permitting) or if they can't afford that, laminate flooring is the next best thing. If your basement is below grade (i.e. below ground level), then solid hardwood is not an option, but engineered hardwood will work as well as laminate.

5. Carpet pad with moisture barrier. For customers that really want the warmth that carpet provides, you still have options. While carpeting will rarely survive flooding, if you just have a bit of a chronic moisture issue, you can consider a carpet pad with a moisture barrier such as Shaw's Triple Touch carpet pad. This is a wonderful pad and Shaw even doubles the warranty on their carpets if you use this pad.

When you're looking to replace the carpeting or flooring in your basement in Westchester, NY and would like to consult an expert on your options, call The Flooring Girl at 914-937-2950 and let us "bring the store to your door."

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Basement Flooring Trends - Westchester County - Fall 2011

GOT MOLD?...in your basement in Scarsdale NY 10583? - Helpful Tips - do's and don'ts.

GOT MOLD? Yeah, that wet, icky smell from ours or a parent's basement that we love to hate. You don't even want to go down there to do laundry, or find those holiday decorations. With historic rains and freak snow in the northeast this year, we've had more than our fair share of mold growth in homes and businesses in Scarsdale NY 10583.

Mold Mitigation & Remediation - Signs of the presence of excessive mold include:

Mold is everywhere...on forest paths with the bambis -- that we like to hike in the fall, past the cute mushrooms growing under trees and such. We just don't want it indoors with us. Most mold in most homes or businesses can just be removed, especially in small amounts -- like on a back basement wall that stays damp throughout the year. There are lots of waterproof paints and epoxys to use after the water is stopped, but first you should:

1. Call a plumber or your landscaper and drying solutions professional and stop the water source. Then, we'll come in and get your structure dry and mold free. Afterwards, you can install French drains around the outside of a home or business, put in a good dry well, an effective sump pump in a lower level, or basement, with a generator -- if you lose power more the once per year -- and a great dehumidifier (dehu).

NOTE: Set your "dehu" below 60 RH (for relative humidity) in your damp room(s). In the summer when it's more humid, set it at 50-55 and get one that you don't have to empty daily -- they shut off and that will do you no good. Some have a small hose that feeds into your sump pump or lower level drain. We've cleaned flooded homes where a dehu ran for a week, did not shut off and the water was pouring out and being dehumidified in a vicious cycle of water.

2. Remove / kill the mold - but don't just call a handyman or your local contractor, and have them ripping out your walls for no reason. Staining from moisture on walls does not mean you have mold. "The appearance of visible mold" is all we can say at my company, Servpro of Scarsdale / Mount Vernon. We can often see what appears to be mold on your walls and even ceilings, although we professionally remediate the stuff. Only those lab professionals in white coats with petri dishes can officially tell you and us that it's truly mold and what type.

3. Servpro and other certified mold mitigators don't do "demolition" unless we have to do so, and we are fully Water Certified professionals with The Clean Trust. In fact, if there are health issues with your children, someone elderly in the home, or a business with a history of flooding, we may suggest that you independently call an Indoor Environment Professional (IEP) to test for mold spores and levels. Our Servpro does not contract with or subcontract with IEPs because it is a conflict of interest. We work independently and have great respect for one another. Many IEPs recommend Servpros because of our 45 year old reputation in mold mitigation.

Our Servpro of Scarsdale / Mount Vernon offers names and numbers that home and business owners can call directly. My company's initial walk through for mold or a water damage is free -- that's after all the rain and flooding, plus a freak October snow storm / melt in Scarsdale NY this year. So, the IEP gives us a "menu" for mold removal and we follow it and are "tested" at the end, to make sure your levels are safe and we have done the work correctly, based on industry standards and guidelines.

Excessive amounts of mold and certain types of mold may present health concerns. Water damages can cause mold growth in your home or business, therefore it is important to have your water damages cleaned promptly and professionally.

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GOT MOLD?...in Scarsdale NY 10583 - Helpful Tips - do's and don'ts.