USFloors, Inc. has signed a license agreement with Välinge for production of 2G mechanical locking systems on its cork flooring and wood flooring.

Dalton based USFloors, a leading manufacturer of unique and sustainable flooring, has signed a global, non-exclusive, license agreement to use Välinge’s patented 2G technology for mechanical locking systems with Fold Down installation, on its Cork and wood flooring products. The Fold Down installation method is fast, easy and suitable for glue free installation as well as glue down or nail down installation methods.

USFloors is a partner with one of Välinge’s first licensees – Amorim – the leading cork producer in the world, who acquired a 25% ownership in USFloors in 2008. This partnership has allowed USFloors to work closely with Välinge and its technology for a long time.

“It is with great pleasure that we welcome another US manufacturer to use the Välinge technology. We have been working together for about a year with the Amorim products. This agreement expands our cooperation with US Floors and reinforces a welcome trend towards more flooring production with mechanical locking systems in North America.”, says Mr. Per Nygren, EVP Marketing, Välinge.

“We are excited to extend our relationship with Välinge. Our Natural Cork® collection combines great styling with a great installation system. This agreement further prepares us to expand our US based production in a growing market for sustainable flooring enhanced with mechanical locking systems.”, says Mr. Piet Dossche, CEO, USFloors.

Välinge is pleased to announce the new agreement with USFloors.

United Renewable Energy, which has installed many of Dalton’s solar energy sites, hosted a tour for Dalton leaders, business owners from across the state and officials involved in promoting renewable energy in Georgia.

The tour included a rooftop solar array at USFloors, a newly installed array on top of a landfill at Textile Rubber and Chemical Co., Dalton Utilities’ solar system and a solar tracking panel at IVC.

Piet Dossche, CEO of USFloors, told the group that for him solar isn’t just about the environment — it makes good business sense for his company.

The company has saved 40 percent on utility costs since installing the panels, he said.

“I’m not a tree-hugger; I’m a business person,” he said, amidst laughs from his listeners. “And the numbers do make sense.”

Dossche said he also prides himself in being a leader, creating a more diverse economy in Dalton’s carpet-heavy manufacturing world and helping the county become more energy independent.

To read the entire Times Free Press article, click here.

USFloors 350 kilowatt rooftop solar array in Dalton, GA

The article highlights USFloors’ tremendous contribution to Georgia’s renewable energy supply, in spite of the state’s lethargic embrace of its growing solar industry. Notable are the 1701 solar photovoltaic panels which cover a large portion of the 100,000 sq. ft. roof of USFloors’ Corporate Center and Manufacturing facility in Dalton. The system generates 350 kilowatts of clean, renewable solar energy and is a significant portion of the 500 kilowatt total system that makes USFloors the largest commercial solar power producer in the state of Georgia. According the USFloors President/CEO Piet Dossche, the companies commitment to solar power “takes our commitment to sustainability another step further.” USFloors is the leading supplier of sustainable cork, bamboo, and FSC-certified hardwood floors in the US.

USFloors 500 kilowatt system captures enough energy to power 54 homes and will offset more than 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the 25 year lifespan of the panels.

To read the Georgia Trend article in it’s entirety, click here.

Mark Brunelle of USFContract with BON Gold award

Cork Décor is a vinyl-encapsulated cork tile that carries a 15 year heavy commercial warranty, likely the only commercial cork floor with such a warranty. Cork Décor Volume 2 made its debut at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart during NeoCon 2011, the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings.

Best of Neocon, presented by Contract Magazine, is awarded by the Best of Neocon jury, composed of 45 corporate, government, and institutional facilities management executives, interior designers, and architects, who are responsible for selecting and buying furniture and furnishings for their specific organizations or clients. The seven jury teams visited Merchandise Mart showrooms and temporary market suites to judge each product in person. Manufacturers or product designers had the opportunity to explain and discuss details of the entered product and answer jurors’ questions.

A mere two years in existence, USFContract has managed to capture this coveted award which has eluded many mature contract commercial companies with many more years in the contract market. Other companies with products entered in the resilient category included Mannington, Johnsonite, Amtico, Centiva, and Karndean among others.

Cork Décor:
USFContract’s Cork Décor from Natural Cork® takes traditional cork flooring and adds extreme durability to create a collection of eco-friendly flooring designed to perform in the most demanding commercial applications. The high performance attributes are achieved by applying an acrylic nano bead lacquer finish to the surface of the vinyl clad cork core. The nano beads are embedded into the top layer to provide improved scratch, scuff, stain, and slip resistance. Cork Décor also utilizes Acrodur®, a water based binder that significantly reduces the level of emissions without compromising the technical performance of the

Best of Neocon Gold winner Cork Decor Volume 2 from USFContract

floor. The vinyl backing provides dimensional stability and strength to the Cork Décor tiles making it highly resistant to tearing and moisture. Natural Cork® Cork Décor Tiles are certified by the very stringent GreenGuard® Children and Schools Indoor Air Quality certification program for low emitting interior building materials, furnishings, and finish systems. GreenGuard Children & Schools Certified products can also be used as a strategy to earn valuable credits in the CHPS Best Practices Manual for K-12 schools, U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System, Green Guide for Healthcare, NAHB Green Building Guidelines, Green Globes, Regreen and many other local green building codes.

About USFContract
USFContract is a division of USFloors, the only US-based cork and bamboo flooring supplier with manufacturing facilities located in the U.S. Founded in May 2001, USFloors features state‐of‐the‐art finishing and profiling lines for flooring and moldings. USFloors’ manufacturing facility is the only manufacturing facility in Georgia utilizing photovoltaic panels to generate clean, renewable energy. USFloors also manufactures a wide assortment of bamboo and distinctive hardwood products. USFloors is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.

To learn more about Cork Décor or order samples, visit usfcontract.com.

In the interest of full disclosure, Jim Ed Oberst works for a company called Brewco Marketing Group. Brewco designed, built, and manages the Decor[k] mobile cork showroom that is touring home shows across America, educating consumers about the unmatched beauty and virtues of cork flooring. Decor[k] is an outreach of APCOR, the Portuguese Cork Association, of which USFloors is a member. If you want to know more about the Decor[k] tour and mobile showroom, or you want learn about cork flooring, or your interested to see what HGTV celebrity designer Candice Olson thinks about cork flooring, or you just want to browse a really cool website, visit www.realcorkfloors.com. Now back to the story…

Having learned, in depth, the virtues of cork flooring via Decor[k], Jim Ed and his lovely better half, Tara, became cork flooring converts and decided to install our beautiful Leon Natural Cork Floor in their house. Leon is from our New Dimensions collection and is a 7′ wide plank Natural Cork floating floor with beveled edges and ends. You can get more details on Leon by clicking here.

Upon installing their new Leon cork floor, Tara snapped this photo of their daughter and sent it to Jim Ed who forwarded it to us with the following testimonial:

Powerless to the comfort of a Natural Cork floor

“I just had to send this short testimonial about my new cork floors. My wife sent me this picture from her phone on Saturday. My daughter, age 4, was playing with her Leapster comfortably on our new LEON USFloor and got so comfortable that she simply put her thumb in her mouth and took a nap. Now part of the reason she is on the floor is we haven’t put our furniture back in the house yet. As you can see, the shoe molding is not down, but is being put in as we speak.

We love our floor. I just wanted send a picture to prove it.

Jim Ed”

Thanks, Jim Ed and Tara. You’ll also be glad to know that the LEON Natural Cork floor is indoor air quality third-party certified to the Greenguard Children & Schools standard, one of the most stringent testing standards for formaldehyde and other VOC emissions. You can breathe easy knowing your cork floor is a healthier floor for your kids to nap on.

We are glad your daughter digs the floor as much as you do.

November 12, 2010, Dalton, GA – USFloors has commissioned its third solar photovoltaic (PV) project intended to supply half of the facility’s energy. This installation of 365.04 kw is the largest solar array in Georgia, eclipsing the record once held by the Georgia Tech Natatorium, installed for the 1996 Olympics. Alpharetta-based United Renewable Energy installed 1521 Suniva solar panels and an SMA Sunny Central Inverter for this ARRA, GEFA Grant funded project . The combined output of all three USFloors solar arrays will total over half a Megawatt, and makes USFloors the largest producer of solar energy in the state of Georgia. USFloors is producing enough solar energy to power 54 average American homes, offsetting 11,400 tons of CO2 and nearly 23 million vehicle miles.

Commerce in Dalton has thrived for decades, providing jobs, growth and a competitive marketplace. In recent years, the manufacturers that made Dalton the Flooring Capital of the World have been challenged to survive changes in the economy. USFloors, a distributor and manufacturer of eco-friendly cork and bamboo, has “greenstreamed”

their operations, adding jobs while much of Dalton struggles with unemployment, and making investments in renewable energy. USFloors has installed over 540 kW of solar panels and is in the process of developing a LEED certified facility and has emerged as a leader in sustainable flooring. Now, they have commissioned the largest solar array in the state. USFloors is reducing its carbon footprint by walking the talk.

Piet Dossche, President of USFloors, Inc., began his green campaign in 2007, becoming the only cork and bamboo flooring supplier with manufacturing capability in the country. A recipient of the Green Step Award in 2010, the company is committed to exclusively using sustainable resources for its flooring, and complying with rigorous U.S. and European environmental standards. By following strict Forest Stewardship Council guidelines, USFloors avoids clear cut or non-managed plantations, and promotes green building through renewable energy and LEED initiatives. This has earned them a position of respect within the sustainability community. USFloors is now the largest producer of solar energy in the state of Georgia. To install this solar array, the company took advantage of a 30% Federal Grant and a 35% State Grant given by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.

USFloors’ expansion of their solar investment sets an example as a cleaner, greener way to power a manufacturing business. According to Dossche, “USFloors strives to be an example of how a privately-owned company can be a part of the effort to contribute to the solution of cleaner power.” In building the state’s flagship solar array, USFloors partnered with local, Georgia-based companies to ensure that the state’s economy was benefitted as well. Norcross-based Suniva provided the solar panels for the array. Georgia-based United Renewable Energy expanded its Dalton workforce to maintain a commitment to developing skilled labor in the communities it services.

Throughout the project, Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors of Milford, OH, has installed Corboo from USFloors. Read the entire article at http://www.naturalinteriors.com/2010/07/customer-gallery-2/

Dalton, GA. – USFloors, a nationwide leader in sustainable flooring, will commence the installation of a 365 kw solar array on its facilities. This array will be the third for USFloors and will bring their total to well over half a Megawatt. This installation will make USFloors the largest producer of solar in the State of Georgia.

USFloors’ President and CEO, Piet Dossche commented, “We continue to expand our commitment to alternative energy with this latest array, which will bring our capacity to more then half a Mega Watt since our first PV investment we made in 2008. As a nation, we are far behind Europe and China in investments and focus to create alternative energy solutions and help reduce our dependency on oil while generating cleaner, more environmentally friendly power.” Dossche continued, “At USFloors, we want to be an example of how a privately-owned company can be a part of this effort and contribute to the solution of cleaner power, generated in our country, with the resources we have available in abundance , GEORGIA SUN!”

By producing solar power on site, USFloors is able to take advantage of excellent Government and Utility benefits; a 30% Federal Grant, a 35% State Rebate and accelerated depreciation. North Georgia EMC pays USFloors a premium for the solar power that it generates. This investment in clean energy hedges against dramatic energy cost increases, and carries solid financial benefits.

The system will be installed by Alpharetta based United Renewable Energy, LLC. William Silva, President of United Renewable Energy LLC added that “USFloors continues to show leadership in sustainable manufacturing practices and job growth. This solar array is impressive in its size alone, but more importantly because this is the largest array in the entire state of Georgia.”

Installing this solar array adds to one of the many sustainable practices of USFloors, a company actively working towards a solar powered future for Whitfield County.  Brian Anderson, President of the Dalton/Whitfield Chamber of Commerce, noted, “We are impressed and proud to have a progressive company like USFloors in our community. It just goes to show how sustainable energy, like sustainable cork and bamboo floors, can create jobs for Dalton and Whitfield Co.”

Dossche added, “It’s not only an investment in our energy future, but an investment in our community. We are installing the system using local labor and putting people to work in Whitfield County. With the millions of square feet of “flooring” roof tops available in and around Whitfield County, we have the perfect opportunity to become the leading community in Solar Energy and an example for the rest of the country!”

About USFloors- USFloors’ is an importer and manufacturer of bamboo , cork and other unique flooring products and committed  to sourcing and utilizing sustainable resources for its flooring products and specifying raw materials and processes that meet stringent U.S. and European environmental standards. USFloors NEVER sources from clear cut or non-managed plantations and continually strives to actively reduce its environmental and energy footprint, creating better indoor air quality and promoting Green Building through renewable energy and LEED initiatives.

About United Renewable Energy, LLC - Alpharetta, Georgia based United Renewable Energy, LLC (URE) delivers practical, economical, renewable energy solutions to businesses and homes throughout the East Coast. URE is the leading integrator of commercial photovoltaic solar electric power systems in the state of Georgia, and one of the fastest growing renewable energy companies in the country. URE’s president is a NABCEP Certified PV installer, and as Adjunct Coordinator of Solar Programs at Lanier Technical College, shares best practices with aspiring solar installers. URE is committed to promoting quality solar installations, to educating the public and promoting supportive legislation for renewable energy .

An amazing Natural Bamboo installation!

Cincinnati, OH – Here’s an interesting Natural Bamboo flooring installation if I’ve ever seen one. These photos come courtesy of Ben Lanich, Store Manager of Carpetland Carpet One in Cincinnati, an independent retailer who carries USFloors Natural Bamboo flooring line. The customer, Evergreen Holistic Learning Center, created a one-of-a-kind custom installation by mixing Natural, Spice, and Stained Cognac Horizontal Bamboo.

According to Mr. Lanich, “[Evergreen Holistic] is a learning center for local colleges and high schools with a main focus on green continuous building and farming practices. The customer wanted a unique, sustainable floor that they could use as a teaching tool and a conversation piece. I think they got exactly what they wanted!”

Located on 8 1/2 acres in the Spring Grove Village community, Evergreen is strongly dedicated to serving people throughout all stages of life, and particularly emphasizes the support and advancement of the urban community.

For more photos of Evergreen’s beautiful Natural Bamboo floors, click here to visit our Flickr site.

NEW YORK – New York, a city already famous for high style and a cosmopolitan culture, got a little more chic with the launch of the North American Décor(k) Tour in Herald Square today, courtesy of the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR).

Candice Olson speaks to media at Decork luncheon

The goal of the Décor(k) Tour – which will visit 16 cities across the United States and Canada – is to educate consumers about the different styles and varieties of Portuguese cork flooring, and will feature a 53 foot-long mobile showroom designed by “Divine Design” host Candice Olson. Inside the showroom, visitors will enjoy a “feet on” experience of cork flooring’s unique comfort and resiliency while viewing different room layouts and flooring applications designed by Olson. Additional displays will allow visitors to see how cork stands up to moisture, heavy foot traffic and allergens, providing users with durable, comfortable flooring that can last years.

With more families spending time “living” on the floor, the floor has taken on a larger role as a functional living space. Therefore, it has become more important for flooring to be comfortable, durable, stylish and highly functional. Cork flooring fulfills all of these requirements. Another important benefit is that cork is the most environmentally friendly flooring choice because it is completely renewable, 100 percent natural and recyclable — three essential qualities for a modern and environmentally friendly society. Incredible inherent properties, including sound and temperature insulation, cushioning and water resistance provide homeowners even more reasons to choose cork as a flooring option.

“The choice of flooring is always an integral element in my designs,” said Olson. “When homeowners are building their nests, they must think about how much time will be spent on their floors. Cork flooring is a perfect choice for the home because it can provide a desired, stylish look while remaining functional and environmentally friendly.”

Through Olson’s beautifully designed settings for the Décor(k) Tour, it is easy to see that cork flooring is the ultimate in eco-chic. With inspirational designs ranging from traditional and vintage to artistic and modern, luxurious textures and shades, classic patterns and elegant finishes, the options available for cork flooring in North American homes are truly limitless. It has become a viable contender as the centerpiece of any home.

Cork is more than 50 percent air, which makes it lightweight and highly resilient. Consequently, cork often does not show dents or grooves the same way wood flooring can. It has excellent insulating properties and is warmer under foot than a cold tile. It is also allergy free and easy to maintain – great for a healthy, safe home.

“Cork has been used as flooring for a very long time because of its natural beauty, durability and renewability,” said Piet Dossche, chairman of APCOR North America Flooring Group and president & CEO of USFloors, Inc. “New finishing techniques and improved technologies have revived an interest in cork flooring. No other floor covering can match the combined benefits of cork.”

Cork’s journey begins in the montado (the Portuguese cork oak forest) where the time-honored tradition of the cork harvest takes place. Only after a maturation period of 25 years have these majestic giant cork oak trees carefully transformed their outer shell into a thing of beauty. This natural process gives way to cork flooring. During the harvesting of the bark, which can only take place every nine years, the tree is never cut down or harmed. The quality of cork actually improves with every harvest.

The cork oak forest has been developed and maintained to sustain a triple bottom line industry – one that is good for the people, for the planet and for the economy. Portuguese cork makes for authentic, high quality and eco-efficient cork flooring that is created with true craftsmanship and care.

Following the New York City launch on September 1, the Décor(k) mobile cork flooring showroom will visit these U.S. and Canadian cities on the following dates:

The Decork mobile showroom in shadow of Empire State Building

For more information about the Décor(k) Tour and the unique style and esthetic aspects of cork flooring, visit www.realcorkfloors.com.

About APCOR

APCOR’s mission is to represent and promote the Portuguese Cork Industry, with more than 250 members, representing around 80 percent of the total national cork production and 85 percent of all cork exports. APCOR is also responsible for promotional activities, with added value to cork, on both a national and international scale, providing, in addition, an extensive Information Resource Centre on cork.

About Décor(k)

The Décor(k) mobile showroom has been created by APCOR to tell the story of cork flooring, beginning with the cork oak and the harvest of the cork bark through to the versatility and beauty of the finished product from an interior designer’s perspective. Visitors to the Décor(k) showroom will learn how the cork oak bark is fashioned into beautiful cork flooring and will be invited to experience six different room concepts created by Divine Design’s Candice Olson and featuring the very best of Portuguese cork flooring. The Décor(k) Tour will be visiting 16 cities in the United States and Canada over the next ten months.

To view more photos from the New York City Decor[k] launch and see photos inside the Decor[k] mobile showroom, visit USFloors on flikr.com by clicking here.