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Amorim, a USFloors partner and our sole supplier of cork flooring, both finished and unfinished, supplied cork for the Portugal Pavillion at the world expo in Shanghai. The exterior of the building is made out of cork and the interior has cork flooring throughout.

The stunning Portugal Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, which opened on May first, is a showcase for natural cork — and Amorim.

Amorim has supplied 59201 square ft of cork for the pavilion, which boasts a bold architectural design.

Cork is displayed on the building’s facade, as a prominent element of the aesthetic design, as a flooring material and in several technical solutions.

In keeping with the Expo theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’, pavilion organizers selected natural cork as a base and structural material.

Cork demonstrates sustainable construction, shows innovation in harmony with nature and has excellent acoustic, thermal and anti-vibration insulation qualities.

It is also a raw material strongly identified with Portugal as the country has the largest area of cork oak forests in the world.

The 39.180 square ft facade of the Portugal Pavilion is covered with 62 million pounds of insulation corkboard — considered the most environmentally friendly insulation solution in the world.

In terms of technical solutions, 8395 square ft of ACM (Acoustic Core Materials) manufactured by Amorim Cork Composites is utilized in a projection room for sound absorption.

Corticeira Amorim, the world’s largest cork producer and manufacturer, is a major sponsor of the Portugal Pavilion at the exposition.

Expo Shanghai 2010 runs from May first to October 31. About 190 countries and 50 international organizations are participating in the event that is estimated to attract some 70 million visitors.

To view photos of the Portuguese Pavilion, visit USFloors’ Flickr site by clicking here.

As interior designers become more aware of the distinctive beauty and unique performance benefits of cork flooring, they are convincing clients to use these fantastic, sustainable floors in new construction and renovation projects. One such designer is Paul Anater of St. Petersburg, FL.

Paul is a kitchen and bath residential designer, as well as a free-lance writer, who recently wrote about his first experience with specifying and installing a cork floor in a recent kitchen renovation, which just happened to be a floating cork floor from USFloors’ Natural Cork Earth and Classics Collection. This is the first of 3 projects that he has underway using Natural Cork floors. Paul and his clients are “ecstatic” with the results. Paul is on what he refers to as a “cork kick” and is convincing more and more of his clients to install USFloors’ Natural Cork floors in their kitchen renovations. He wants to promote Natural Cork flooring, not only through this article on www.kitchenandresidentialdesign.com,  but also by recommending it to his existing and potential clients.

You can read Paul’s article and see pictures of the kitchen and it’s beautiful Natural Cork floor by clicking here.

USF Contract was featured in a product focus in the April 2010 edition of Contract Magazine’s Green Scene. The product focus notes USF Contract’s 36 colors of strand woven bamboo as well as the GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification attained by USF Contract’s Natural Bamboo floors. The Natural Bamboo line by USF Contract, and it’s parent company, USFloors, is the only bamboo line with the stringent GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification, a reference standard for  credit EQ 4.3 Low Emitting Materials - Flooring Systems under LEED v.3. For more information on USF Contract visit usfcontract.com.

USF Contract is showing at Neocon 2010. You can find us in the Merchandise Mart on the 8th Floor, Space 6054.

USFloors latest solar array installation was featured in a article published in the March 20 edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The article features interesting facts about the solar array, the largest commercial solar array in the state of Georgia. Click here to view the article in its entirety.

Piet Dossche leads YLS members on tour of USFloors manufacturing facility.

Forty-two United Way Young Leaders Society members recently enjoyed a lunch at USFloors, where President/CEO Piet Dossche entertained the group with stories about his personal journey as an entrepreneur. Piet taught the group about the process of making bamboo and cork flooring, shared 21 tips about starting your own business, and reviewed a photo slideshow of his international travels. Then Piet and his team led a tour of their Corporate Dr. manufacturing facility. Melissa Pateritsas, a YLS member, commented, “Piet Dossche is a true entrepreneurial success story. Everyone who attaned his presentation was surely motivated by his hard work and commitment.” James Gordy, another YLS member who attended the luncheon, enjoyed the event as well, “Very interesting to learn about innovative companies in our area! Mr. Dossche did a great job explaining his business and encouraging future entrepreneurs in the community.”

Members of the group learned that USFloors makes cork flooring from the by-products of wine cork manufacturing and that the company has solar panels on two Whitfield County facilities. USFloors is the only supplier of cork and bamboo flooring with manufacturing facilities operating in the United States. Piet and his wife Sabine are generous supporters of United Way, as members of the Alexis de Tocquville Society.

Young Leaders Society is a giving circle with over 120 members who annually contribute over $100,000 to the United Way of Northwest Georgia. For more information visit www.ourunitedway.org.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Royce Epstein of Kling Stubbins

USFContract, the specified commercial division of USFloors Inc., was recently profiled on “REPEAT NO REPEAT” a blog about materials, finishes, and interior design. Royce Epstein, a veteran Resource Specialist at Kling Stubbins, profiles the USFContract product line in her blog, making special note of Corboo, USFC’s exclusive patent-pending strand woven bamboo and cork hybrid plank, and Cork Decor, a heavy commercial cork floor with unique and distinctive visuals. Kling Stubbins, located in Philadelphia, is one of the largest architecture and interior design firms in the country. To read the article in its entirety CLICK HERE. For more information on USF Contract and to view the USFC product line visit usfcontract.com.

Phoenix, AZ - USF Contract, the commercial division of USFloors, was awarded the Green Exhibitor Award for the Partner Level at the 2009 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo held recently in Phoenix, AZ. The Green Exhibitor Awards are based on points accumulated by using the Green Exhibition Scorecard provided by Greenbuild and the USGBC. continue

San Francisco - In a nondescript neighborhood on San Francisco’s south side, there sits what any average passerby would think is your typical everyday bungalow. But, with a closer look you find it’s no ordinary home. It’s San Francisco’s first and only Green X-ray House, and it’s quite the attraction.

Exposed walls of Green X-Ray House show various types of energy efficient insulation. Bamboo floor is USFloors' Engineered Horizontal Spice

The Green X-ray House is a public/private partnership between the city of San Francisco and local builders, designers, and building material suppliers. The house has been remodeled using energy efficient, sustainable, and financially viable green building practices and materials that can be incorporated into even the most average of homes with only a modest budget.

To demonstrate unseen features, some of the interior walls and floors have been left unfinished to allow visitors to peer inside the walls and under floors to view various types of wall insulation and subfloor radiant heating systems. Thus the name X-ray House.

The flooring was supplied through Greenv Sustainable Center of South San Francisco and installed by Crown Flooring of San Francisco. Craig Anderson, Crown Flooring owner, said, “It was great to be a part of such an important and innovative project that does a great job at educating home owners about green homes.” continue

The Avignon Collection from USF Contract, the commercial division of USFloors, has been featured in Interior Design magazines 2009 Fall Market Tabloid in the eco-friendly products section (p. 192). Introduced at Neocon East in Baltimore, Avignon is the newest addition to USF Contract’s line of unique and sustainable flooring products engineered specifically for commercial interiors.

The distinctive character of each Avignon Collection natural oil finished oak hardwood plank is achieved using a variety of antiquing and aging techniques and finished with natural oils to preserve the original beauty of the wood.

Avignon Collection’s natural oil finish provides a warmth and refinement to the floor that cannot be achieved with modern day acrylic or polyurethane finishes. The rich patina of each Avignon Collection floor is only enhanced with age and use – the more traffic it endures, the more beautiful it gets. The natural oils in Avignon Collection floors penetrate the grain and become part of the finish.

100% FSC Pure Certification

Avignon Collection floors feature the FSC 100% certified designation of the Forest Stewardship Council. This ensures that not only the oak wear layer, but the entirety of the wood used to produce these beautiful floors follows a verified and documented chain of custody. FSC certification gives you the confidence that only wood from well-managed forests harvested using environmentally responsible practices is used to make floors in our Avignon Collection.

Distinctive Surface Treatments

Avignon Collection floors feature a distinctive and sophisticated range of distressed, smoked, and antiqued floors finished with either natural or pigmented oils. Each Avignon Collection floor is meticulously crafted to ensure lasting beauty.

One of the Industry’s Thickest Wear Layers

The 6 mm solid oak hardwood top layer is one of the industry’s thickest wear layers and rests on a multi-layered, dimensionally stable core giving each Avignon Collection floor the strength to withstand many years of use. continue

For centuries, hardwood floors were finished with a variety of natural oils or waxes to protect and nourish the floors that would needto  withstand decades of use. With the  evolution of modern polyurethane and acrylic hard finishes, hardwood floors finished with natural oils declined in popularity.

Today, as many consumers are becoming more “green” , natural oil floors are being embraced by consumers drawn to the enhanced nature, or “realness”, of natural oil floors. continue