Located near to the University of Virginia, The Ceiling & Floor Shop was founded in 1978 by Bernie Martin and Mike Simpson. Originally, the primary focus of the business was ceiling construction, but Bernie and Mike, evolved the business into commercial flooring after several years of operation. Bernie and Mike continue to run the business with commercial flooring over 70% of their business and growing.

Franklin Interiors was founded in 1945 by the Franklin family with an emphasis on residential interior design.  Over time, The business evolved into commercial interiors and became an Authorized Steelcase dealer. From this foundation, the company moved into commercial flooring.

Franklin Interiors has grown around a vision of being the leader in providing innovative and effective solutions that exceed clients’ expectations. Their product and service offerings have grown to accommodate a broad spectrum of clients’ needs, whether it be carpet, hardwood flooring, rubber flooring, and vinyl flooring solutions.

With General Manager of Commercial Flooring, Jack Fraser, overseeing a dedicated team for business growth and working closely with Starnet Preferred Vendors in the Pittsburgh market, they recently were able to launch a maintenance business in December 2011.

To learn more, please visit www.franklininteriors.com.

The turf, manufactured by XGRASS, was delivered to Consolidated’s warehouse in 10 pieces, prefabricated with Velcro seam fasteners and Tostitos® logos and football field lines painted on them. Delivery by Consolidated to Times Square took place in the early morning of December 16, at 1:30am, and was picked up after removal at 12:00am Saturday morning.

While on site at Times Square, the Tostitos® branded turf represented the end of a football field, complete with yard lines and an end zone featuring an installed goal post. When installed, it was positioned based on the location of the goal post, with several specific cuts made to accommodate unique features on site. Consolidated’s installers ensured that the proper cuts were made around the structural framework, street light poles, subway emergency exit hatches on the sidewalk, and subway ventilation grills. Finally, cuts were made to adjust the size of the field and logo to meet on site conditions formed by the goal post, and the logo paint was then touched up and sealed by others. Overall, 20 hours of carpet mechanic labor was required for this unique installation and removal of the turf, with two installers completing the job.

Thousands of participants took their turns on the turf, attempting to kick successful field goals. In setting the new Guinness World Records® title for the most people to kick successful American football field goals in 6 hours, 181 field goals were completed and $200,000 was donated from Tostitos to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. With celebrities and athletes like Nick Lachey, Jim Kelly, Antonio Pierce and Robert Peete in attendance, the turf became a gathering place for nearly 100 Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors and their mentees, marking a successful day.

ABOUT CONSOLIDATED CARPET: A NATIONAL LEADER WITH A TRADITION OF SERVICE

Consolidated Carpet is the nation’s premier full service flooring and carpet contractor, with headquarters in the New York. As a third generation, family‐owned and operated business we are hands‐on, accountable and driven to satisfy our client’s needs. As one of the nation’s largest and most recognized full‐service floor covering contractors, we serve our clients from planning and specification through installation and maintenance. Our prestigious clients include Fortune 500 corporations, professional service firms, luxury hotel properties, institutional properties, real estate owners, and general contractors. The firm’s website can be found at www.consolidatedcarpet.com.

ReSource New Jersey, an AIA/CES Registered Provider, recently provided an education and networking event for Architects, Interior Designers, Facilities Managers and General Contractors. The event of December 6th, 2011 was held at ReSource New Jersey’s Corporate Showroom and Conference Center located at 66 Ford Road Denville, NJ 07834.

The evening event offered three AIA Continuing Education Unit Courses authored by ReSource New Jersey including two in collaboration with CMP and Boen. The event was attended by over 30 people including 19 Architects and Interior Designers.

ReSource New Jersey announced their next CEU Event will be Friday May 4th 2012

Participants were also given a tour of on-site facilities for administration, estimating, project management and current warehouse stock.

If you would like to be added to our mailing list for future AIA/CES Events hosted by ReSource New Jersey, please e-mail Charles DiGisco at cdigisco@resourcenj.com.

The American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers

The AAHID Advisory Council acts as a liaison to the AAHID Board of Regents by providing and contributing knowledge and broad perspective related to the Healthcare Interior Design profession and related fields of expertise. The Advisory Council also focuses on growing the AAHID Membership and redefining the benefits listing for industry and service partners.”

“Starnet’s affiliation with AAHID provides a great opportunity for our Membership to be proactive participants in this important market segment for commercial flooring,” says Matson. “AAHID recognizes the importance of specifying products designed for healthcare environments and insuring their clients receive best in class finished floors.”

In addition Mr. Boender will manage Starnet Special Services, a program aimed at capturing new “National Account” clients for Starnet’s network of Commercial Flooring Contractor Members.

Mr. Boender joins the Starnet Staff with 19 years of experience as a full service flooring contractor. Most recently Mr. Boender was a managing partner of Century Floor Space, a Starnet Member firm, located in Grand Rapids, MI.

Jeanne Matson, Starnet President & CEO, commented “Starnet is thrilled to have Eric Boender join our management Staff. He brings years of hands on commercial flooring maintenance experience and has been a very active participant on our Maintenance Committee. He has all the required business skills for this new position and is well respected by our Membership. Eric will report to Fred Williamson, our Vice President of Operations. He is a great addition to our team.”

Randy Weis, Chairman of Starnet’s Board of Directors, added “Eric is an industry professional that I have known and worked with for many years. His service on Starnet’s Maintenance Committee clearly indicates his professionalism and knowledge base. I know his past experience as a commercial flooring maintenance franchisee (MilliCare) and as a member of DuPont Flooring Systems will be a huge benefit to his new role with Starnet.”

Please direct any questions to Fred Williamson, Vice President of Operations, Starnet at fred@starnetflooring.com.

To access the helpful information click on this link: www.rhspec.com/manufacturers-specifying-relative-humidity-testing.

Thank you to our friends at Wagner for sharing this tool. We understand that this list will continue to grow and appreciate your commitment to keeping the list current and assisting the Starnet Membership.

Deb Esbenshade

SelecTech said it has just completed breakthrough technical developments that now allows the company to manufacture its FreeStyle, SelecTile and Place N’ Go flooring using 70% recycled materials, including 50% post-consumer carpet tile.

All of SelecTech’s flooring products are adhesive-free, freelay, decorative floor tiles that are water-proof and 100% recyclable.

The company said it is now utilizing more than 500,000 pounds per year of post-consumer carpet waste and projects that number to increase nearly 10-fold in 2012.

“Armstrong is a long-standing, trusted brand and its floor solutions are recognized as the industry benchmark for design, quality and versatility.”

Can’t do much better than the ratings Armstrong Commercial Flooring got from the nation’s designers in Floor Focus magazine’s annual survey of the leading 250 design firms. Armstrong took the top spot in all five hard surface categories.

The Floor Focus survey asked designers about various topics such as the scope of their responsibilities, changes in the workplace, how they make buying decisions, top problems, favorite products and favorite manufacturers.

According to Floor Focus, “It’s rare for a company to win first place in all five categories. That means the designers find the companies listed in the survey as the best to do business with; these companies provide the products and services that the designers need now.”

“Congratulations to the Armstrong Commercial Flooring Team, and a special thank you to all of the architects and designers for this valued tribute; it is a true honor to have this recognition!” said Marketing & Design Director Julia Pierce. “Armstrong has made it a priority to listen to our customers’ needs and to develop new products and processes that better fit their work styles.”

Armstrong’s product portfolio includes 45 product lines across nine categories of commercial flooring and over 900 different skus – deep enough to address a variety of different criteria and narrow down choices for designers. “As the trusted source in commercial resilient flooring, we want to guide our customers to the right floor solutions that fit their project’s most essential design, performance and budget requirements,” said Pierce.

“Armstrong is a long-standing, trusted brand and its floor solutions are recognized as the industry benchmark for design, quality and versatility. This survey underscores that we’re taking the lead in providing customer-focused solutions. We will continue this focus with more exciting introductions planned for 2012,” said Dominic Rice, vice president and general manager, Commercial Flooring.

The survey revealed that today’s designers are interested in getting the necessary variety of products in design, performance and sustainability to meet the needs of new market conditions. One of the clearest indications of the state of the commercial flooring industry is the increased focus on vinyl flooring shown by this year’s survey respondents. Vinyl offers long term performance at budget friendly prices. Products such as Armstrong’s award-winning NATURAL CREATIONS® luxury vinyl tile and new REJUVENATIONS™ sheet vinyl have helped to earn the company its top spot in design, along with venerable product attributes like performance, durability, sustainability in manufacturing, longer life spans and low maintenance options.

For more information, visit www.armstrong.com.

About Floor Focus

Written for floor covering retailers, wholesalers, contractors, designers, facility planners and manufacturers, Floor Focus features analysis of important events occurring at the supply, manufacturing and retail levels of the industry. Both technical and business sides of the industry are examined in detail. It has a circulation of 15,500 professionals.

About Armstrong

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of floors, ceilings and cabinets with a focus on innovation, design and environmental sustainability. In 2010, Armstrong’s consolidated net sales totaled approximately $2.8 billion. Based in Lancaster, PA, Armstrong operates 33 plants in eight countries and has approximately 9,500 employees worldwide.