Got A House? Things You Need To Know

Remnant Pieces
Remnants are small pieces leftover from jobs, not big enough to use for a large area, but big enough to hold on to. This week we have a lot of small topics to cover. Hope you enjoy these remnants!
  
It's Crazy Out There

The real estate market is hot right now. Here is some current information from some of our favorite realtors:
  
"This is the lowest inventory of homes on the market I have ever seen! If you are considering selling, there has not been a better time in recent history... It is an overwhelmingly strong market, but the house must be ready to go. Mediocre homes are not selling quickly. Houses that are presented well are flying off the shelves."
--Mona ElGomayel, Keller Williams https://monasellsrealestate.com/
  
"2020 has proven to be an unusual year and the Atlanta real estate market is no exception. With the pandemic gaining strength early this year, the usually strong spring market was delayed. Still decent, but the big sales months came in June and July this year (instead of the traditional big bump in April and May). 2020 continues to be a sellers market, with more buyer demand than houses available for sale. The current historically low mortgage interest rate is almost certainly fueling this high demand. A buyer with good credit can lock in a 30-year fixed mortgage for less than 3%. That's good news for buyers and sellers!"
--Kim Kell Stinson, Berkshire Hathaway Georgia Properties Here's the link: https://kimstinson.bhhsgeorgia.com/
  

"Despite the recent impacts to small businesses, home values in Georgia have increased tremendously and are on pace to rise even more so in the next year. Interest rates are low and so is the supply of homes. This creates an uptick in prices and competitive bidding wars. It's a great time to sell and take advantage of the market, but also a great time to buy and take advantage of the great interest rates.  If homes are priced correctly, they are flying "as is". If the house needs significant updating, the price simply needs to match to reflect the current state of the home. It's important to look at some of these details when pulling comps to price the home: age of the home, roof,  HVAC; the floor plan; is the kitchen and master bath updated or not.  All play a role in the price, much like the square footage and school system."
--Arthur Valdez, www.AgentDawg.com
 
"There has never been a better time to buy or sell! Buyers are taking advantage of record low interest rates from 2.5%, and sellers are excited about low turnaround time because of the lack of inventory, especially in the $200,000 - $400,000 range. The market has certainly not followed the traditional trend of dropping off once school started. This year has proven to be unique in every way!"
--Gina Ann Riggs, www.AnsleyAtlanta.com/agents/gina-ann-riggs 
  

"We are definitely in a sellers market. Interest rates remain at an all-time low and housing inventory is low as well, often resulting in bidding wars. Homes that are priced correctly are selling within days. However, unless it's an investor, most people want move-in ready or only minor repairs."
--Laura Presley, Virtual Properties Realty  
https://virtualpropertiesrealty.com/?aios_agent=laura-presley-2
  
"Under $300K is moving quicker than ever. $500K+ is also selling well, but is a little slower and there aren't many multiple offer situations. Homes under 200K are selling like crazy regardless of condition."
--Dale Carnegie, Trend Atlanta Realty
 https://www.trendatlanta.com/1/Trend-Agents
 
Come in today and meet with an Enhance Design Consultant and get started on what you need to do to get your house ready to put on the market.  We can help you make smart choices with a big pay off.
 
White Oak vs Red Oak

When choosing between red oak and white oak flooring, there are some key features and factors to keep in mind:
 
~~Color Difference: To some, the color difference is hard to discern, to others it is really noticeable.  Here's how you can visually tell red oak and white oak flooring apart.  Red oak has a subtle pink undertone, white oak has a browner and often green/yellow tint. And when you stain each, the shades can be very different depending on the stain color selected. The darker the stain, the less you can see the pink or yellow undertones -- but with lighter stains, you can still see a red oak's pinkish hue. 
 
PRO TIP: If you already have oak hardwood floors in your home and need to extend it into an adjacent room, you need to match the existing white or red oak for color and stain consistency.
 

~~Graining: If you appreciate a strong wood grain pattern, you're going to love red oak flooring. Red oak has much stronger graining than white oak, which appears smoother. Overall, the strong graining of red oak also helps hide scratches and dents that may occur, which is perfect for busy households and homes with kids and pets. There are two more noticeable differences in red oak vs. white oak graining. Red oak displays many more rays (groupings of cells in a row), whereas white oak tends to have more mineral streaks that give the floor more character.
 
~~Hardness Level: White oak flooring is slightly harder than red oak. The Janka hardness scale lists white oak at 1360 and red oak at 1290. While it may seem like an easy decision to choose the harder density of white oak, the difference is slight, so there's no need to make your decision based on hardness.  
  

It's Fall Y'all!
It's time to change out your pastel rugs, pillows, and throws for richer deeper colors.  Gold, burgundy, and eggplant are all colors that are evocative of the coming season.  Black and white plaid is very on trend this fall.
 
Need a new rug for a quick update?  We have some beautiful rugs in stock and ready for you to take home. Or are you having a hard time finding the right rug? Come see our brand new custom rug line from Nourison Industries - beautiful wool and wool blend carpets that are gorgeous!
 

Fun Fact
Forsyth County (Cumming) ranks as the top "Work from Home" county in the United States, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors®,  measuring several factors of increasing relevance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The NAR looked at factors including the current share of workers already working from home, internet connectivity, the percentage of workers in office-related jobs, home affordability, urbanization, and a county's population growth.
 

Want A Roomba
Don't buy one, win one! How? It's easy: all you need to do is write a review of your shopping and installation experience with Enhance Floors on Google, Yelp, BBB, or Facebook. Send us a quick email (enhancefloors@cs.com) to make sure we know you wrote it, and you will be entered in our next drawing. Not only are you helping others know about your experience, you could also win a Roomba!
 
Pad's No Fad

There are four main types of carpet pad: rebond foam, urethane (frothed or densified), rubber cushion, and fiber pad. The type of pad recommended will vary for different situations. 
 Think of the pad as the shock absorber of your carpet. The better the pad, the longer before the carpet begins to show wear.  You don't have to replace your pad when you are getting new carpet, but your product warranty is usually made void. People also replace their pad for hygiene reasons.  Our standard (included in our installed price) pad is a 7/16" 8 lb. rebond pad. Pad upgrades are also available. Be sure to ask your Design Consultant to show you samples of a variety of pads so that you are making an informed decision.

Chicken or Egg?

Almost every client asks if they should paint first or install their new floor. For hard surface flooring, you can certainly do your floors first. A reputable painter will not have any problems protecting and not damaging your brand-new floors. By doing the painting last, you don't have to worry about touch-up painting, painting your primed shoemold, etc.  However, if you are installing new carpet, most people paint first. Do be aware that no matter how careful we are, there will be some touch-up painting required after installation.
 
PRO TIP: Don't paint and then try to find the perfect floor color.  There are thousands and thousands of paint color choices, but nowhere near that many flooring color choices.  Make both decisions at the same time so you do not give yourself a much harder task when choosing your new floor.
 
Tired of Your Kitchen

But don't want to do a full gut and reno? Replace your countertops!
In one afternoon, you can have brand new quartz or stone (granite, marble) countertops installed in your kitchen.  Expect to spend a minimum of $4000 for a medium sized kitchen, including installation of one slab, a new sink and the necessary plumbing.  Our best-selling countertops are all lighter colors.  And if you want Carrara marble (super popular!) definitely consider quartz - stain resistant, never needs sealing, and most people can't tell the difference between quartz and the real thing. Yes, the visuals are that good!

What To Look For This Fall

It's been a really strange year, hasn't it? Everything keeps changing. Take out or dine in? School or no school? Get a test or self-quarantine? The only constants are the four basic rules:

--wash your hands, a lot

--social distance 6 feet

--wear a mask

--if you're sick, stay home

Another constant is the changing of the seasons. Fall is fast approaching. Fall is all about outdoor activities like family time around the firepit, hiking, picking apples, picnics - so many fun and safe things you can do outside.

As the days get shorter and the weather cools, we will also be spending even more time inside our homes. We have already been cooped up inside a lot, and most of us are tired of what we're seeing.

  

We recently did a quick unscientific poll, with very interesting results. Here's the survey question:

If you were given $10,000 that you had to spend on one category only for the interior of your home, would you spend it on:

Furniture
Painting
Flooring
Countertops
Electronics
Bedding, Mattresses
Bathroom Redo
Appliances

Kitchen Reno
Windows, Window Treatments 

Here are the results: Bathroom redo was tops with 78 votes. Flooring was next with 60. These two categories won by a landslide. Then painting with 24, kitchen reno with 19, and furniture with 18. There were also votes for countertops and appliances, which are part of a kitchen redo. (NOTE: Keeping a full kitchen and/or bathroom gut and renovation to $10K is probably not possible in anything other than the smallest of kitchens and baths.)

  

This quick survey tells us that we are (hopefully) going to be pretty busy this fall. Floors are on many To Do lists. But it's not going to be as easy as in years past. We are getting price increase notices from our vendors, for a variety of reasons: tariffs on Chinese imports, high demand leading to low supply, manufacturers facing higher raw material, labor, and freight costs. We are also encountering numerous back orders. Imported products have been delayed and many shipping departments are short staffed, so it is taking longer to get product out for delivery. Most manufacturing plants are not working at full capacity. Sadly, you do need to be aware, and understanding, that some things may be extremely hard to get right now and may delay the start of your project or the completion.

 

Everyone is working really hard and doing the best they can in this "new normal." We appreciate your patience and understanding. We are all in this together!

  

Not Exactly Free Money, But

You may still be thinking about our survey question and wonder how you could get that $10K to spend on your home. We can't hook you up with that deal, but we do have a great financing offer available until September 15. 18-month interest free financing is available on installed purchases of Mohawk products - carpet, hardwoods, laminate, and LVP. Only a $2,500 minimum purchase is required. Long term no interest financing is a great way to get your new floor today and get extended time to pay. You can get prequalified now on our website: Convenient Financing Options

  

How Much Does It Cost?

This client took advantage of the 18-month financing offer and had a great looking Mohawk laminate installed in their living room, dining room, kitchen, hall, and powder room. 560 square feet, fully installed for $4700. Their monthly payment is only $262. That's in the budget, right?  If so,give us a call and get your project started.  The financing offer ends September 15.

  

Design Tip

Got a blank wall that you need to cover? Try something different from the usual prints and paintings. Look for a handmade piece of textile art to hang as the focal point. Macramé is big right now, as well as decorative fabric wall hangings. For a really original result, you could also get a statement rug with a bold graphic pattern, not to be used on floor but to be placed on the wall.

  

Take A Look

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Instead of us telling you how great our installations look, why not check them out for yourself? We post pictures almost every day of our installations on Facebook , Instagram , and Pinterest. Follow us and get inspiration for how gorgeous your home can look with beautiful new floors!

What Lies Beneath

All About Subfloors At some point while you are shopping for floors, you will be asked what your subfloor is. Hopefully early in the process, before you fall in a love with a floor that is impractical for your installation. Why? you may wonder. Why do we care? What has that got to do with the kind of floor you want?  Actually, your subfloor has a LOT to do with what kind of floor you get. What Is A Subfloor? The subfloor is the lowest structural layer beneath the finished flooring, the solid material under your floor covering. The subfloor holds up everything in your house - walls, cabinets, furniture, the piano, people - everything! All houses have subfloors.    There are two basic types of subfloor. The first is a cement (concrete) slab. A slab foundation is made of concrete that is typically 4"-6" thick. The concrete slab is often placed on a layer of sand for drainage or to act as a cushion. Houses built on a slab lack crawlspaces, and there is no space underneath the slab. Footings and other load-bearing elements are added to the slab. The unit works together to anchor the house, and the exterior walls and interior load-bearing walls rest on the slab. If you have a basement, the subfloor is almost certainly a slab. Slab subfloors can be below grade or on grade. Flooring is almost always installed directly on the slab.    Fun Fact: Few Steps! Slab homes are built closer to the ground than homes with basements or crawl spaces, thus reducing the number of steps required to enter the home. Easy access is advantageous for those who are less physically able. If your home does not have a slab foundation, the other option is over a crawl space. A crawl space is essentially a hollow area under the floors between the ground and the first floor. It's usually roughly 1 foot to 3 feet high - just high enough for someone to enter by crawling, as its name implies (low ceilings!)  If you have a crawl space, proper ventilation is essential to prevent moisture from moving from the ground up through cracks in the plywood into the home. Moisture in a crawl space is not good - for both the structural integrity of your house as well as your health. Floor joists are installed over the crawl space and support the weight of the building, absorb impacts on the floor, and create structural support so that the floor will be stable and secure. Joists are used to frame the upper levels of the home and are made of engineered, laminated wood or dimensional lumber. All houses not on a slab have joists. A wooden subfloor is attached to the joists to create a flat solid surface for the finished flooring to rest on. Typically, a subfloor is made of plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) panels.    Still with us? You need to know what your subfloor is before you start shopping for hardwood flooring in particular. Carpet, laminate, tile, and luxury vinyl can be installed over all types of subfloors. Solid wood floors can only be installed on a cement slab if special and expensive installation techniques are followed. Hardwood flooring should not be installed over particleboard, waferboard, pressed wood, or fiberboard. All wooden subfloors, especially OSB, must be of a certain thickness and in excellent condition in order to properly support the new wood floor.   Your subfloor is the base, the very "foundation" of your flooring. If the subfloor isn't right, nothing that comes after it is going to be right.   Now Let's Talk About Floor Prep Floor prep is the work that is required to make your subfloor flat, clean, dry, and structurally sound prior to the installation of your new floors. Besides being necessary to make the new floor look and feel good, floor prep is also required in order to meet the manufacturer's guidelines to issue a warranty.    When we come to your home to measure, we must assess the potential floor prep and leveling that will be needed for your installation. Floor prep is the most difficult of all costs to estimate because your subflooring is typically covered by existing flooring that must be removed. Sometimes when your existing floor coverings are removed, your subflooring is found to be damaged (example, a section of plywood is water damaged) and must be repaired or replaced prior to the installation of the new flooring. This is a structural problem that must be corrected prior to the installation of your new floor.    For most hard surface floor coverings, the subfloor must be level to within 3/16" over a 10' span.   When the subfloor is covered with carpeting and padding, it is impossible to measure how level the subfloor is. Carpet and pad also hide if a subfloor is clean, smooth, and/or dry.   Please be aware that many builders do not prepare the subfloor to meet these specifications.  Subfloors that the builder makes  "carpet ready" are rarely hard surface ready, particularly in basements (the basement slab is rarely in good shape.) In older homes, the house has almost certainly settled and sagged, which must be corrected.    When you are having carpet installed, we do not have to be as concerned about how level the floor is, but we do need to replace any damaged subfloor before installing the new carpet. This is also the time to minimize any squeaks in the subfloor.    Floor prep is usually not included in your estimate for new flooring and can't be priced in the store. We can give you a guesstimate during your in-home measure, so you have an idea what to expect. Please know that floor prep is not a profit center for our company or our installers. At all times we strive to be fair with our clients and only seek to make sure that we and our installers are compensated for the time, materials, knowledge and expertise in knowing the best way to achieve the required results. We have been installing floors for over 35 years and every year install approximately 500,000 square feet of hard surface flooring and even more square feet of carpet.   Hopefully this honest information will help you know what to expect as you shop for your new flooring purchase, and what will need to be done to give you the beautiful floor that will perform and look great for years and years! Design Tip Are your kids virtual learning? Designate a specific room for homeschooling. It allows you to have everything easily accessible in one place. Some ideas: ~~Add a blackboard the easy way -s tick it on with innovative chalkboard wall stickers or adhesive paper. Both can be easily repositioned or removed as necessary. ~~Give your students living things to tend to such as plants and/or fish for hands-on biology.    ~~Create a cozy nook with bean bag chairs and a fun, colorful area rug. This is an awesome space to read books and complete assignments, to do work on a tablet or laptop, to study, or to brainstorm.   ~~Make your walls work for you - hang up helpful educational charts of math facts and parts of speech, laminated U.S. and world maps, an interactive clock, magnetic white boards with letters for spelling, numbers for calculating, and words for forming sentences and short poems. ~~Invest in bookshelves and equip them with baskets and/or bins to keep supplies contained.  ~~Use storage bins on wheels. ~~Hang up over-the-door plastic shoe hangers. The pockets are perfect for storing flashcards, stickers, pencils, pens, and highlighters, calculators, sticky notes, scissors, rulers, and more. Don't Be Surprised It's always exciting to begin a home improvement project, but here's a cautionary note. You may encounter product scarcity and back order situations. We are already hearing about an extreme shortage of pressure treated lumber, kitchen appliances, some flooring styles, the list goes on and on. Products that are imported from China are facing delays as the supply chain totally shut down and is only now beginning to resume. Some shipping departments are short staffed, so it is taking longer to get product out for delivery, as well as manufacturing plants that are not working at full capacity. Sadly, you do need to be aware, and understanding, that some things may be very hard to get right now and may delay the start of your project or the completion.    How Much Does It Cost? We just installed laminate in a home in Kennesaw - almost 1000 square feet, in the kitchen, living room, dining room, master bedroom, foyer, hall, master and guest bathrooms (yes, you can install "waterproof" laminates in bathrooms!) and utility room for $6800, including the required floor prep. And the best part - our client was replacing the floors prior to putting the house on the market, listed the home on July 10, and closed 30 days later with a sales price $10,000 over the asking price. We know it was the floors! I Was FLOORED By Enhance Susan in Canton writes: "We could not be happier about our experience with Enhance Floors & More. I can't say enough about the installers; courteous hard workers who left the house looking like they'd never been there!" Thank you, Susan. The new window treatments you ordered with your Decorating Dollars will be here next week. Please send us pics of your completed project!

Ugly Floors? We Can Help

 

What's New At Enhance

 

A lot! We have been busy busy busy the past few weeks. We recently installed a large area of luxury vinyl plank (LVP) floors in the Design Center. These floors are very popular - and practical - and we know you want to see more installed products to help in selecting the perfect one for your home. 

We installed six new floors: COREtec Chatuge Oak, Mannington Parisian Oak Meringue, Karastan Refined Forest Kona and Curated Grain Natural, Pergo Wood Enhanced Ayres, and Mohawk Infused Beauty Crema. Dark colors, light colors, medium shades, wide planks, random widths, even a tile look, you can see it all so you can envision exactly how the floor will look once installed.

 

We have also brought in some new product lines. 

We have new LVP from 

Mannington APEX:                Mohawk SolidTech Plus:    

                        

Coretec & Palmetto Road

New hardwoods to take a look at include 

Mercier Pro:                                Anderson Tuftex:

             

 The new styles of Mohawk Silk Carpet are super soft and super popular. 

 

We also have new porcelain and deco (think bling!) tiles from

Happy Floors                               Signature Series

    

  

and Interceramic. 

 

And don't forget about laminate - the new styles from Mohawk RevWood and Mannington are gorgeous.

  

Normally we would throw a big party in the store and invite you to see these great looking products. Thanks (not!) to the coronavirus, we can't have a party, but you can still come in and see our new floors. We are seeing clients in the Design Center by appointment to limit the number of people in the store at one time. Appointments are scheduled Monday thru Saturday, with our first appointment at 10 and our last appointment at 4:00. 

NOTE: We are not open on Sundays. 

We have plenty of disposable masks and hand sanitizer available for your use. Give us a call to set up your time to come in.

 

Carpet shopping? One of the things you may find confusing is that the same carpet may have a different name in different stores. This is common in many industries - particularly mattresses and furniture. There are a couple of reasons for this. Unfortunately, one is to make it harder to comparison shop. On the plus side, there are buying groups in flooring - an association of smaller retailers that join together to make purchases collectively, to receive better pricing and terms from the manufacturers. There are almost always enhanced warranties that are a bonus of purchasing from a buying group, for example "no questions asked" satisfaction warranties and longer product warranties.

Hard surface floors (LVP, wood, laminate) may "own" the main level of many homes these days, but most clients still want carpet for their bedrooms. Carpet is soft, cozy, warm on the coldest days, and affordable. We just installed a high end Karastan LCL (loop - cut - loop) carpet for a client in Woodstock. 1007 square feet was installed in the master bedroom, two guest bedrooms, closets, hall, landings, and stairs, for $4900. This includes a new 8 lb. pad, all furniture moving, and pull-up and removal of the old carpet and padding.

Design Tip

Take advantage of online design tools as you make your flooring decision. You can upload a picture of your room and have a variety for flooring products superimposed over your current floor, so that you can see it in your room! It's easy. On our website, go to Products, choose a category, and select a product you like with the "See in my room" icon, and then "Upload My Room". It's quick, simple to do, and helps you to be much more comfortable with your decision.

I Was FLOORED By Enhance

Ann in Lawrenceville writes,

"We had Mannington laminate installed upstairs and downstairs. We also had our stairs, railings and balusters redone. The contractors were so professional, and we were so pleased at how the project turned out. We always received prompt replies to calls or emails."

Thank you, Ann. You were a pleasure to work with! Enjoy your floors and let us know if you have any questions about caring for them.  We have the recommended cleaning products available for sale in the Design Center.