Hardwood Floors E-News - 1/7/2008

Inpa Parket SRL (Casilla Correo Asuncion, Paraguay) was awarded the Latin America Trade Award for its contribution to business relations between the Netherlands and Latin America. The award is given every two years and is an initiative of the Netherlands Latin America Business Council, ABN Amro, KPMG and the EVD. Start 'N Finish Hardwood Flooring Products (Weddington, N.C.) has added Select Hardwood Flooring (Overland Park, Kansas) and Southcoast Hardwood Supply (Charleston, S.C.) as distributors.

Absolute Coatings Inc. (New Rochelle, N.Y.) has selected KO Floor Supply (Riverdale, N.J.) as a distributor. For more information, contact KO Supply Owner and Operator Kevin O’Leary at 862/248-0870, by fax at 862/248-0873 or e-mail at [email protected].

Urban Floor (Industry, Calif.) has added Hyde Park Distribution (Coquitlam, British Columbia) as its Canadian distributor covering British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Western Ontario.

Samy Santa Flooring Depot (Duluth, Ga.) held a grand opening ceremony at its Thornton Road, Atlanta, location December 5 and an open house at its Duluth location December 6. Representatives from Absolute Coatings, BLC Hardwood Flooring LLC, BonaKemi USA, Bostitch, Howell Hardwood, Lenmar Inc., Norton Abrasives, South Mountain Flooring, Taylor Adhesives and Timbermate were on hand for demonstrations and to answer questions.

Grizzly Forest Products (Joanna, S.C.) has hired Travis Woodall as area sales manager. Woodall previously worked for Long Floor Supply and Horizon Forest Products. He can be reached at 423/946-2692 or [email protected].

Samy Santa Flooring Depot has added Brian Newberry as sales specialist. He was previously territory manager for Shaw Industries. He can be reached at [email protected]. The company has also added Wes Perkins, who is in charge of the company’s Lithia Springs, Ga., warehouse. He can be contacted at 770/948-3321.

The NWFA will hold an Intermediate Installation and Sand & Finish School April 23-25 at its training facility in St. Louis. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.

The Australian Timber Flooring Association will hold an Installation and Finishing Fundamentals class in Melbourne, Australia, April 10-12 and an Intermediate Techniques class in Melbourne on April 14-15. For more information, e-mail [email protected].

New residential sales of single-family houses in November 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 647,000 units - the lowest rate in more than 12 years. This is 9 percent below the revised October rate of 711,000 units, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The drop is 34.4 percent below the November 2006 estimate of 987,000 units, the biggest annual slide since early 1991. Artistic Finishes (Roseville, Minn.) has launched its Online Hardwood Accessory Order Desk, which is accessible from www.artfinishes.com. Distributor Heritage Forest Products (Hamburg, N.Y.) is looking for experienced outside salespeople that will bring a customer following to the company’s Florida and Georgia branches. For more information, contact Fred Blackmon at 800/433-4456 or e-mail him at [email protected].

Richard Zylinski, formerly from Hoboken Floors, is seeking employment. He has experience as a product manager, pro shop manager and in machine repair. For more information, contact [email protected].

Stop by the NWFA and Hardwood Floors booths 114 and 115 during Surfaces in Las Vegas January 30-February 1 to receive a free gift from the NWFA. If you are not an NWFA member, learn about the benefits of membership and receive a copy of the "Ornamental Floors" Technical Manual chapter. NWFA members can stop by the booth to receive an NWFA lapel pin. NWFA Certified Professionals will offer a Certified Inspector Symposium running concurrently with the NWFA 2008 Convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., March 25-28. The symposium is for certified inspectors only and will offer a variety of speaker sessions dedicated to issues facing verified inspectors. Attendees will also be able to attend any NWFA Convention education session or general session, as well as the Wood Flooring Expo trade show. The cost to attend the NWFACP Symposium is $350. The cost for all the events, including NWFA Convention special events, is an additional $200. NWFA Convention special events can be purchased a la carte for $75. For more information, visit www.nwfacp.org, or contact the NWFA 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.