Hardwood Floors E-News - 5/14/2007

Armstrong World Industries (AWI) (Lancaster, Pa.) has reported first quarter 2007 net sales of $863.4 million, up 5 percent from $822.2 million in the first quarter of 2006. The reported operating income from continuing operations grew to $65.5 million from $47.2 million in the first quarter of 2006. Wood floor net sales declined 3 percent in the first quarter to $199.2 million from $205.2 million the same quarter in 2006; the company cited the residential housing market slowdown as the reason for the downturn.

In other Armstrong news, the board of directors of Armstrong Holdings Inc. (previously the parent holding company of AWI), have approved a plan to dissolve Armstrong Holdings and distribute its assets of approximately $27 million in cash to shareholders. The AWI Plan of Reorganization following AWI’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy cancelled Armstrong Holdings’ ownership in AWI, and Armstrong Holdings has no operations and no employees.

The recent weeks have been busy ones for NWFA technical training:

The NWFA held an Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish School April 25-27 in Anaheim, Calif. Steve Marley of Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring and the WFCA’s Jon Namba led the instruction of 28 students at the WFCA headquarters. Volunteer instructors included Jennifer Hansen, 3M; Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings LLC; Pat Cooney and Ken Hintz, BonaKemi USA; Wayne Lee, Clarke American Sanders; Roger Barker, Fortifiber Building Systems Group; Tom Peotter, Oshkosh Designs; Marla Fields, Pasadena Wood Floors Inc.; Gary Arnold, Powernail Company Inc.; Larry Subervi, UFloor Systems Inc.; Nathaniel Prior, VerMeister USA; Dave Stark, Virginia Abrasives Corporation; Dave Posey, Wood Pro Floors; and Marijan Vukcevich, WFCA.

There was also an Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish School May 9-11 in Greenville, S.C. NWFA Technical Advisor Frank Kroupa led the instruction of 31 students. Volunteer instructors included Jim Schumacher, 3M; Scott Lynch, Absolute Coatings Inc.; Brian Pruitt, Kevin Reilly and Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings LLC; Bob Burton and Mark Mukosiej, BonaKemi USA; Wayne Lee, Clarke American Sanders; David Harrison, Custom Wholesale Floors; Tom Heese, Dura Seal; Daniel Boone, Everwood Floors; Cameron DeMar, Glitsa American; Janet Sullivan, Lenmar Inc.; Reed Maddray, Maddray Flooring LLC; Richard Wheeler, Porta-Nails Inc.; Craig Anderson, Stahl USA; Charles Garvey, Timbermate USA Inc.; Bob Goldstein, Wood Flooring International Inc.; Dave Posey, Wood Pro Floors; Ricardo Pairazaman, Woods of the World LLC; and Robert Lee, World Floor Covering Association. The sponsoring distributor was American Products of SC (Greenville, S.C.).

Schools were also going on at the NWFA headquarters in St. Louis. On May 8-10, NWFA’s Director of Technical Training Steve Seabaugh, assisted by NWFA’s Rusty Swindoll and Glen Miller led the Subfloor Solutions School. Volunteer instructors included Dayle Moore, Steve Lima and Sam Elliott, Bostik Inc.; Robert Moffett and Ken Razor, Ceno Group; Mark Long, Chemque Inc.; Alan Blake, ElkCorp.; Roger Barker, Fortifiber Building Systems Group; Mark Lamanno, Franklin International; Brent Stoller, Interstate Supply Company; and Jeferson Verardi, Verardi & Company Custom Wood Floors.

On May 11, Seabaugh, Swindoll and Miller led an Engineered Installation School at the NWFA headquarters. Assisting them as volunteer instructors were Long, Barker and Lamanno.

Dri-Eaz (Burlington, Wash.) has expanded its Nashville, Tenn., warehouse capacity by 100 percent. Dri-Eaz now has a total of four shipping and receiving docks.

Shaw Industries Inc. (Dalton, Ga.) will be featured in an episode of A&E’s "Flip This House" on June 9 at 9 p.m. EST. The New Haven, Conn., project will showcase Shaw’s eco-friendly products.

Norton Abrasives (Sanborn, N.Y.) awarded Floor Style Products Inc. (Hastings, Mich.) its Annual Achievement Award at the NWFA Convention in Denver in recognition of its outstanding efforts as a distributor.

VerMeister USA (Seattle) has added Wood Floor Solutions (Southampton, N.Y) and Mountain West Finishes (Murray, Utah) as regional suppliers for the full line of VerMeister finishes.

Basic Coatings LLC (Toledo, Ohio) has appointed Enos Farnsworth vice president and general manager. Farnsworth has more than 20 years’ experience in the flooring industry, most recently with BonaKemi USA.

TRB Flooring (Holly Ridge, N.C.) has added Jim Gallie, formerly of JNS Flooring Agents, as sales representative for the Northeast. Gallie is in charge of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. He can be contacted at 401/487-4932. TRB has also added Kay Watkins for sales in Mississippi and Louisiana. She can be reached at 228/223-7509. Additionally, the company has hired Patty Pedata-Welch as an office assistant.

Festool (Goleta, Calif.) has named Gregory Stewart sales manager of Florida. Stewart previously worked for 13 years at Senco.

Americans will spend nearly $233 on home remodeling this year, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) 2007 industry forecast. That represents a 1.9 percent increase from the record $228 billion spent in 2006, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, in the NAHB Remodeling Market Index (RMI) for the first quarter of 2007, the current market conditions index fell from 48.2 to 46.1 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while future expectations increased slightly to 46.5 from 46.0. Regionally, the only area of the country with an increase in its RMI readings was the Midwest. More than 150 flooring contractors gathered for a floor covering conference April 30-May 3 hosted by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America at its International Training Center in Las Vegas. The conference, held by INSTALL (the International Standards and Training Alliance), was dedicated to sharing best practices in the flooring covering industry. Domotex Asia/ChinaFloor 2007, held March 28-30 in Shanghai, China, broke attendance records with a total of 35,695 flooring professionals, including a 37 percent growth in foreign visitors, at 4,315. Domotex Asia/Chinafloor 2008 will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre March 11-13, 2008. The NWFA, in conjunction with the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA), will hold an Advanced Installation School June 20-22 at the WFCA’s training facility in Anaheim, Calif. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.

NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association will hold its next NOFMA-Certified Wood Flooring Inspector School August 18-22 at the Holiday Inn Select in Memphis. The five-day course is limited to 15 participants. For more information, call 901/526-5016 or e-mail [email protected].

Starting with the August/September 2007 issue, Hardwood Floors will feature a real dealer/contractor marketing piece redesigned by professional design experts. To have your piece considered for a redesign, hardwood flooring contractors and dealers should send in their newspaper, magazine or Yellow Pages ads by May 18. Entries can be mailed to: Redesign, Hardwood Floors, 4130 Lien Road, Madison, WI 53704. The previous Issue of Hardwood Floors E-News listed the incorrect phone number for Mary Blankenship of Barefoot Flooring Inc. (Troy, Mich.) It should have been listed as 276/252-3500. NWFA members can receive competitive property and liability insurance programs from HRH Insurance Services, an agent of the Travelers Indemnity Company. HRH has specialized in providing risk management and insurance to the floor covering industry for more than 20 years. Getting a quote through the plan is easy. For more information, contact Stacy Eickhoff at HEH at 800/477-7401, or contact the NWFA by phone at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international) by e-mail at [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.