Products, continued

Flooring

Tile for Problem Subfloors.

Cracked, uneven, and high-moisture subfloors can be problematic for most floor coverings, but the manufacturer of FreeStyle Resilient Laminate Flooring promises that its product can be used over almost any surface. Installed without adhesive, the 18-inch-square interlocking tiles can be replaced easily, but the maker claims they hold firm even over irregular surfaces. The tiles are made from 95% recycled content and feature a 20-mil wear layer and an antimicrobial treatment. The manufacturer says that they won’t trap moisture and that they’re suitable for residential and light-commercial applications. They cost about $4 per square foot.

SelecTech Flooring, 877/738-4537, www.selectechinc.com.

Eye-Popping Topping.

Durable, inexpensive, custom-colored floor finishes suitable for a variety of materials might seem like a tall order, but Dex-O-Tex Micro-Topping could be the answer you and your client are looking for. You can use the Portland cement­based topping over concrete, masonry, steel, and wood. Acrylic modifiers permit very thin applications (around 3/32 inch), making it ideal for remodeling applications. The product can be colored or stenciled with most concrete stain for custom designs and logos. It costs about $4 to $8 per square foot installed.

Crossfield Products, 310/886-9100, www.dexotex.com.

Nice Floor, No Gaps.

Little can compete with the natural beauty and durability of real wood strip flooring, but season changes and indoor humidity can produce unsightly gaps between boards. If you want to eliminate that variable, you could offer your clients Bellagio from Oregon Lumber. Bellagio is real wood, but the engineered product is laminated in layers like plywood, so it won’t shrink or swell with changes in humidity. In addition, the 5×86-inch panels can be glued, nailed, or floated over a foam pad. A six-coat UV-cured aluminum-oxide polyurethane finish eliminates the mess and odor of job-site finishing. Also, unlike most prefinished hardwood flooring, Bellagio has no beveled edges to trap dirt. It’s available in almost any domestic or exotic species. Prices start at $4.25 a square foot for Rustic White Oak; American Cherry goes for about $6.25 a square foot.

Oregon Lumber, 800/824-5671, www.oregonlumber.com.

Palm Tree Pedigree.

If your customer is looking for the most environmentally friendly wood floor, you might suggest coconut palm. Coconut palms stop producing fruit after about 80 years, and typically the plantation-grown trees are burned to make room for new trees. But some are now being turned into good-looking dark flooring. According to the manufacturer, Durapalm Flooring is made from the densest part of the tree. The 3/4x3x72-inch strips are laminated for greater strength and stability. You can install it over wood subfloors and concrete slabs, and, at 1,600 psi on the Janka hardness test, it’s about 15% harder than white oak. It’s available prefinished or unfinished, and prices start at about $7 per square foot.

Smith and Fong, 866/835-9859, www.durapalm.com.

Sub-Slab Vapor Barrier.

Installing finished flooring over a slab-on-grade can be tricky. If you don’t get it right, vapor transmission through the slab can lead to expensive problems like buckling hardwood and moldy carpeting. According to Grace Construction, you can prevent those problems by installing Florprufe Vapor Barrier before the slab is poured. The polyolefin membrane adheres to the bottom side of the concrete with a pressure-sensitive adhesive. Although dealing with a huge expanse of sticky plastic sounds worse than a mold lawsuit, the manufacturer claims that the adhesive isn’t tacky until activated by the concrete and that it prevents vapor transmission significantly better than nonadhesive products. It’s sold in a 4×115-foot roll and costs 85¢ to 90¢ per square foot.

Grace Construction Products, 866/333-3726, www.graceconstruction.com.

Asphalt Roofing

Goof-Proof Roof.

When several roofers start on different parts of a complicated roof, it usually results in weird exposures and crooked coursing. Even simple roofs can have wavy courses or odd exposures because of poor layout. But Thor Layout Tapes can prevent most common shingle screwups because the reinforced tape provides an accurate layout that’s used by the whole crew. The tape is applied from the eave to the ridge, and several sets of marks (lettered to prevent confusion) allow you to shrink or stretch exposures so you don’t end up with one or two odd-sized courses near the ridge. The product really shines in problem situations like working up both sides of a dormer. According to the manufacturer, many professional roofers claim significant labor savings when using the tapes. The company’s website provides more details on how they work. The 25-foot tapes run about $4 to $6 per roll depending on the quantity purchased.

Thor Systems, 800/398-0376, www.thortools.com.

Faster Flashing.

Flashing a masonry chimney takes a lot of time and skill. And we all know that bad chimney flashing is one of the leading causes of roofing callbacks. You can make the process go faster and eliminate some of the uncertainty with a No Leak Chimney Flashing Kit. The kit includes everything you need to flash one masonry chimney, including a preformed apron, precut step and counter flashings, and sealant and fasteners. The kit can be field trimmed and is manufactured in 2×2-foot and 3×3-foot versions. It’s available in steel and copper; prices start at $65.

4Tech Manufacturing, 800/588-8747, www.noleak.net.

Perfect Match.

It’s common to see the main roof of a house covered with asphalt shingles while the low-slope roof of the addition or porch is covered with half-lap roll roofing. What you don’t see every day is the two roofing materials in the exact same color — unless, of course, it’s black. CertainTeed is now offering its low-slope Flintlastic Modified Bitumen in nine colors, making it possible to match the two materials without resorting to a Model T color scheme. You can find Flintlastic in Burnt Sienna, Colonial Slate, Heather Blend, Resawn Shake, Driftwood, Weathered Wood, Moire Black, Hunter Green, and White.

CertainTeed, 800/233-8990, www.certainteed.com.

Super-Size It.

There’s no denying that American homes (and waistlines) are significantly bigger than they were 20 years ago, but shingles still look the same. To better match the larger scale of today’s new homes, Elk recently introduced a high-definition line of shingles that the manufacturer claims has a 40% bigger pattern than most other architectural shingles. The shingles have a 5 5/8-inch exposure and are available in 12 colors. They cost about $50 per square.

Elk, 972/851-0420, www.elkcorp.com.