JM: Hi this is JenMax at REMAX!
Over the last couple of weeks as I've been showing properties to some clients I noticed one property in particular had seven different types of flooring throughout the house and it wasn't pretty. It was like a bad jigsaw puzzle… so I decided to call on a friend of mine Karl McMurdy of Floorever Interiors to ask him about some of the trends in home flooring.
[Inside Showroom]
JM: So here's Karl McMurdy from Floorever Interiors. Hi Karl!
KM: Hello!
JM: So I walked through this store and I have to tell you it's like walking into a candy store… there's so many good things to look at! I’m a real estate geek, I love flooring, it excites me -- what can I say?
So Karl tell me what are some of the big trends and flooring nowadays?
KM: The trend’s still the wood look porcelain tile, the bigger sizes now started out a few years ago slowly now they're people are going bigger and bigger, waterproof laminate which we sell laminate probably 4-to-1 over hardwood.
JM: Okay Wow! and cost associate I mean I don't need an exact cost but really which is more expensive?
KM: The tile the tile yeah the title planks are labor intensive so the labor on those okay. The laminate is much less.
JM: So tile can be made out of a infinitesimal number of things correct yes so tell me what are some of the tiles that you see people putting into homes to make them a little better?
KM: Right now everybody we knew about 90% of our tile installs are wood look tile, the 12 by 24 on a brick pattern is still there a little bit and then your basic square tiles 18 inch 20 inch not so much.
JM: Okay. So when you say wood look tile that means a tile that's vertical, long?
KM: Yeah and looks like a wood plank but in fact is a ceramic of some sort – could be 8 by 48 or 6 by 36
JM: We've seen color trends certainly gray was the new black I'm assuming that sort of on its way out?
KM: So far not, but people are nervous of gray right now because they think it is on its way out. I actually see people that are nervous of the wood plank title do because they think it's on its way out and it's kind of dated, but I don't think so. I think it's probably another five years. The good laminates are going to be a little more money and they're going to look much more realistic. You’ve got 12 millimeter thickness -- we carry a really nice laminate by Mohawk it sells well it's very realistic-looking everybody's thrilled with it when they when they have it installed so durability of these laminates is no problem and its manufactured in the United States. American-made products are quite popular.
JM: Okay. So one of the things I noticed walking on laminate floors -- I think you've all had this experience if you're for women who walk in heels… you hear that hollow sound.
KM: Yeah, you get that on wood but you also get that on tile sometimes what does that mean well it is a floating product so it is literally sitting on top of the floor there's numerous sound deadening underlayment to put under them. But it's just they're going to get a little really okay yeah when you glue real wood down you don't have that okay so hard wood yeah would not have that issue that is the number one drawback with laminate is you have that hollow sound. There's a trade-off because it's you know a much cheaper.
JM: As I walked in -- I was telling you folks earlier -- that I had walked into a home last week and there were seven different types of flooring throughout the house and it was just ugly, was an unattractive part of the house, and I realized we're talking at a big price tag for these homeowners who buy this house to come in and fix that. What are some of the mistakes--besides multiple different types of flooring-- that you see homeowners making in their flooring?
KM: Well, I guess if you're thinking of somebody that's doing it to sell or doing it to for themselves…
JM: Ah! I see good that's a good point are you doing it because you're trying to sell the house alright are you doing it because you want to be comfortable and be happy with what you're stepping on every day?
KM: Right. Some people are probably okay with seven different types of flooring. It's not advisable. Right now we have a lot of people trading out carpet for the wood plank tile even though they have a square twenty inch tile or so throughout the rest of the house their button to do different tiles right up next agenda so that's interesting so removing carpet from say bedrooms and putting in the wood the wood like tile.
JM: What is the longevity of this wood like tile versus carpet?
KM: Lasts forever. Really: you're going to get tired of it long before you ever wear it out.
JM: Oh okay. So for an investment property for instance somebody who's investing a property who's got the option of putting in carpet yet again into the bedrooms are going with something that's a longer a durable product?
KM: Yeah, yeah, that would be a good idea. I mean it's scratch proof. I mean if you like the look of wood but you don't want to deal with the scratching the susceptibility to the damage from water those sort of things you know no big deal if it gets wet. Carpet though is still pretty popular in the bedroom areas
JM: I've seen some really good-looking carpet that I actually liked enough to want to put in my bedrooms because I'm not a carpet person because I have a dog. Dogs and carpet -- not a great combination, but I'm thinking, you know, some of those carpets are so nice but some of them are really awful I mean what are we what is what is the difference between a good and bad carpet?
KM: Well you got your your weights, your fiber -- nylon fiber is going to be the best for Footwear. Shape retention it's not inherently stain proof like the polyester fiber is inherently stain proof but it doesn't stand up to wear and tear like you know the nylon carpet. So if you’ve got an area that's getting a lot of traffic you know you're probably going to want to go with a nylon so it doesn't matte and lose its shape. Then sometimes people with a lot of kids, dogs whatever, and they need that stain protection it's kind of a balancing act.
JM: I noticed here in the front of your wonderful showroom that you have a bunch of different carpet samples up front. Some of them are super, super cushy like I step on them and I don't want to take another step because it's so comfortable. I mean what is that just a fluffy pad its pad and it's carpet both?
KM: Okay you know its balancing act: you can get a $25 carpet or you can get $100 carpet which is going to be thick and plush. A lot of times you can't even tell the difference what’s under carpet like that okay so for a consumer a homeowner who wanted to replace the flooring in their bedrooms yet again carpet or go with tile what's the most economical way to go probably off your carpet polyester carpet okay they'll be the cheapest it might not last as it won't last long but if they're trying to put the house on the market they want it to look really good for a $2.00 people that come in here and want to put some carpet in to get their house for sale how you always recommend a polyester because it's much less expensive. So for the same money as a nylon you get a bunch of thick carpet your customer walks in to see the house and they see this thick lush carpet they can’t tell if its polyester or nylon right? You get more bang for the buck.
JM: Mm-hmm okay that makes a lot of sense. So actually I have a good question for you: For buyers looking at a house that clearly the flooring needs to be adjusted but they haven't put in an offer on the house -- What do they need to do to understand what is this going to cost them if they buy this house and replace the floors? It's not like you can guesstimate it?
KM: You need to know a bunch of things in order to get a quote right. Carpet is the most difficult to accurately quote just based on square footage. Tile, wood that sort of stuff -- I mean a person can just to take some measurements of the room length width bring it in pick something out we can price it out carpet is not that way because carpet has to be bought on a twelve foot roll and technically we don't buy carpet buy the footage we buy by the lineal foot so there's a lot more wasting carpet. But if somebody wants to still just get a good ballpark you know we can take the length of the width a little okay that's a helpful tip for you buyers out there because to be perfectly honest if you're thinking of changing flooring and you don't know what that's going to cost you don't want to put an offer in on a property to have that number definitely not, so the costs obviously carpet you get more bang for your buck.
JM: What are some of your favorite floorings yours -- not what's popular -- what does Karl the expert in floors like best for flooring?
KM: Real wood real.
JM: Well ok real wood mine too. I'm a salsa dancer as you all know and I love to dance on real hardwood floors laminate floors are alright but they're better than tile. So there’s hard wood there's all different cuts, there's all different kinds of wood what kind of hardwood?
KM: Oak, Oak I like a nice oak. I like you know when we first opened the wire brush look was really in you know the board's back then vertically five six inches wide and now it's gone to more of a flat brush look this doesn't have them scraping right right you know hand scraped look.
JM: What's durability like here in Arizona for hardwood?
KM: You’ll find everything we do is engineered what we don't can do anything solid wood okay we don't have the climate for it so everything is engineered with apply layer plies that keep staple okay so you know it's easy to clean this race it with cleaner on it and wipe it down with a microfiber pad.
JM: Lkay so that's hardwood. What is your favorite flooring -- what about some of the tiles that are out there what some of your favorites that you think just have that real excellent elegant look?
KM: I mean I like a 12 or 24 size any particular you put in 12 or 24 on a on a soldier style where they're all lining up with each other it gives it a real contemporary look or you can brick lamb you know halfway
JM: How do you figure out which way to direction to put these in?
KM: I mean you could go this way you go this way you could go this way and I mean how do you figure that out number of lines it’s a personal preference nothing - generally you're going to run them the longest direction on the road.
JM: Okay so it’s an optical illusion?
KM: Again I mean it's up to the customer they like it going this way.
JM: So I noticed here in the showroom I'm seeing cabinet fixtures I see ooh cabinets cuz he's got some a Waypoint showcase over here which is just divine midcontinent you've got everything so you obviously do more than just floors I mean what what else does floor ever interior offer in terms of products and services?
KM: Well we do flooring where you are a Hunter Douglas Gallery dealer so that's the top-tier how under douglas dealership that that they have and that's windows that's window coverings like you said cabinets we do countertops with you quartz we do any sort of countertop there is so floor ever does complete interior renovation for bathrooms and the kitchens sure.
JM: Okay okay so then countertops I mean what are what are we on here [slaps counter] what's this?
KM: This is genuine granite right here that's beautiful it's so beautiful different type these are your edges that you can get oh yeah I love these right now quartz is the number one choice for counters mm-hmm more expensive than granite but people, people are really going for the quartz right now quartz is coming down mm-hmm in terms of price.
JM: So does that mean you also do complete kitchen remodels that you'd be offering the fixtures like the water faucet and all those other things?
KM: Sure do.
JM: That's good to know good to know well.
KM: We do showers you should see some of the showers we've done.
JM: Oh I actually need a new shower.
KM: A lot of people right now are like after replacing the tub with the small shower next to it they're not using the tub so we do a lot of jobs where we take that tub out and make the shower huge like a Tuscan shower at that I'll walk in nice you know two showerheads two valves a rain head.
JM: So Floorever Interiors is pretty much a one-stop-shop for interior redesign. Nice. Do you work with architects?
KM: Sure.
JM: Any new builds coming up?
KM: We’re working on a big waterproof laminate job for somebody that just closed on a house. They took the standard flooring in the house and we're ripping it all out.
JM: So you must be busy during this seller's market?
KM: Yes, a lot of sellers trying to make their house look better to sell.
JM: Well that's all we have for today. I want to thank you Karl for giving us all this real helpful information for a lot of people. I've have Karl's phone number running across the bottom of the screen [Floorever Interiors (480) 339-0107 scrolls across screen] here so if you do need some help with your flooring or any interior renovations give Floorever Interiors and Karl -- this is a family-run business so we like that right? --so give him a call and ask him for some help. I'm sure you'd be able to help you out!
This is JenMax at REMAX -- we'll talk with you again soon!
