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Inspiration

June 06, 2022

Why Waterproof Floors Are Important to Your Home

What Does Waterproof Mean?  If you look around the flooring world today, you will see many options marketed as waterproof or water-resistant, but it seems as if each of these products mean different things when making these claims.  We’re here to help clear up the confusion.  COREtec makes a 100% waterproof floor. This means that COREtec floors will never swell, expand or contract when exposed to water. This stands in contrast to floors that are water-resistant. ‘Water-resistant’ floors will resist damage from water for a limited time but will ultimately swell when exposed for long periods.   COREtec’s 100% waterproof floors are also different from laminate floors that simply have a waterproof top layer or finish. While these floors will stop damage from above, they will eventually succumb to water damage from below. This is important because water from below can lead to expansion and subtraction, which often leads to contraction, which will ultimately lead to warping.  So, when COREtec says 100% waterproof, it means 100%. All COREtec floors are protected from water both above and below the surface, for any amount of time. And this is fully backed by COREtec’s waterproof warranty, which states, “The floor plank or tile is warranted to be 100% waterproof and the structural integrity of the floor plank or tile will not be significantly diminished by exposure to water for the life of the product.” * Why You Should Care About Waterproof Floors  It’s important to realize all the ways in which water damage can occur. It’s more than just spilling your glass of water on to the floor. Leaky faucets and pipes, steam from showers and appliances and even the presence of humidity during the warmer months can all introduce water into your home.  Photo: Briar Oak VV735-06013Once water enters your home, it can quickly cause serious damage if you don’t have the right protection. When it comes to water damage, it’s typically manifested in two ways – warping or mold and mildew. Although warping will be the more obvious problem, the presence of mold or mildew will be the more serious one. It has major effects on your home’s value and is known to impact the human respiratory system. It’s bad for everyone and everything involved.    The Benefits of Waterproof Flooring  Waterproof floors have benefits beyond what they can prevent. Most obviously, waterproof floors offer you significant peace of mind. Knowing that spills from little ones or pet accidents won’t cause any lasting damage can be a great worry reliever.   And waterproof floors are also significantly easier to clean than non-waterproof options. Water isn’t able to soak through a waterproof floor, so it remains on the surface of the floor, allowing you to simply wipe away any spills or splashes. In the long run, this will save significant money on deep cleans and maintenance.  COREtec’s waterproof core has other appealing benefits. Since our core is so thick (a necessity of truly waterproof cores), the flooring is naturally quieter and warmer than other laminate or vinyl options.   Where to Put Your Waterproof Floors Pictured: Draco Oak VV735-04019 Although we think COREtec floors are perfect for every room of your house, there are several rooms where COREtec’s waterproof feature provides enhanced benefits. Take your basement for instance. 98% of American basements will experience water damage within their lifespan. And often, the water damage in this room can seemingly come out of nowhere. Being below grade (below ground level) makes these spaces more susceptible to “quieter” forms of water damage – ground water leaks, seepage caused by gutters not diverting water far enough from your home and leaky pipes.  So, naturally, hardwood floors are generally a bad idea for this space, whereas waterproof floors like COREtec are perfect.   Obviously, waterproof floors are extremely beneficial for rooms that contain faucets and appliances connected to water lines. For most people, this means bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms. In fact, research shows that these three rooms, combined with basements, make up the four spaces in your home most likely to experience water damage. Installing waterproof floors in these four rooms alone will go a long way towards protecting your home.  And the best part of being able to install COREtec’s floors in these spaces? It allows you to have consistent flooring throughout your house. For too long, the flooring in your kitchen and bathroom had to be different than the flooring in your living room. But since COREtec has hundreds of styles ranging across their collections as well as the valuable waterproof function, you can easily find a floor style that looks good and performs well in every room of your house.    Water You Going To Do About It?  Waterproof floors can be a huge stress-reliever and money saver, and the worst time to think about installing them is after you’ve already suffered from water damage. So, if you’re considering a waterproof floor as one of the ways to protect your home, visit a local retailer and ask to learn more about COREtec floors and their waterproof core.   Visit our Find a Retailer page to locate a COREtec-selling retailer near you!  *Be sure that proper sub-floor moisture tests are performed prior to installation to ensure you don’t trap moisture underneath the floor.

#warranty #waterproof #water-resistant
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December 09, 2021

Clean Home for the Holidays
November 01, 2021

The 3 Best Natural Textures to Incorporate into Your Home

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December 09, 2021

Clean Home for the Holidays

With the holidays fast approaching, that ever-looming threat of the holiday deep clean is getting closer and closer every day. Visions of steam mops and vacuum cleaners dance in your head while the overwhelming number of floor cleaning products plagues your mind. Luckily for you, COREtec is here to make your life so much easier with our Encore Cleaner designed specifically for your COREtec hard surface flooring! Your annual deep clean has never been easier.Made Just for Your Floors With all the different floor cleaning products out there, it can be hard to know what’s best for your floors. For your COREtec Floors, though, you don’t even have to think about what product is best. Our Encore Cleaner is made specifically for luxury vinyl flooring and is the recommended cleaner for all COREtec floors.  While it’s perfect for your LVP floors, Encore is formulated for cleaning all types of hard surface flooring, including hardwood, ceramic, laminate and resilient. The pH neutral compound removes dirt, grease and scuffs to leave your floor sparkling clean. Create your perfect clean this holiday with the cleaner made just for you! Photo: 32oz bottle of COREtec’s Encore Luxury Vinyl Flooring CleanerClean Made Easy One thing you don’t have too much of during the holidays is time. Save your time with Encore’s no rinse formula. Just spray, wipe and done! Keeping your floors in-law ready has never been easier. Not only does Encore Floor Cleaner save you time, but it also saves you money. Stop spending money on a different floor cleaner for every hard surface. Instead, just buy one and you’re done with Encore, the perfect cleaner for all types of hard surface flooring. Focus on what really matters this holiday season and keep your floors clean for less with Encore from COREtec. Photo: COREtec’s Encore Floor Cleaner spraying.Easy as 1, 2, 3... Floor care and maintenance are vital for the longevity of your floors. Follow these best practices to keep your floors looking like new for longer. Step 1: Spray Once you’ve ordered your Encore Floor Cleaning Spray here, clear your floor of any clutter or mess you don’t want to be cleaned. Then, spray an even layer of Encore over the whole floor. Step 2: Wipe After your floor has been sprayed with the cleaner, use a towel, microfiber cloth or dry mop to wipe up the cleaner.  Step 3: Done! Then you’re done! There’s nothing else to it! Repeat this process once a week for high traffic areas and once a month for low traffic areas throughout your home. This will ensure your floors stay in tip top shape for longer.  No matter what your home is dealing with this holiday season, whether it be in-laws, food fights or nail-biter football games, Encore Floor Cleaner from COREtec has what it takes to handle your toughest mess and leave your hard surface flooring squeaky clean! Click here to order your Encore Cleaner today! 

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November 01, 2021

The 3 Best Natural Textures to Incorporate into Your Home

Incorporating the colors of nature, such as browns, as well as natural materials, like wood, can help us fulfill our biophilia, a growing interior design movement that aims to merge nature with interior design. These designs take a human-centered approach to design, considering our physical, mental and emotional needs as well as our safety, welfare and desire for contemporary style.  With these broader considerations of health and wellbeing in mind, people are beginning to lean into more natural materials, such as rattan, wicker, wool and other coarse grain textiles, to help lessen toxicity in interiors. We want natural looks that bring the benefits of the outside in.1. Brown Interior Designs Mimicking naturally harnessed browns through organic textures and colors can help you achieve a natural feel in your home. Brown tones create the feeling of the forest through dark woods or the design of the desert through the colors of raw clay and rock. Brown tones are alive, reflecting the complexity of the world around us and bringing warmth, comfort and style into our spaces. COREtec’s Blended Umber luxury vinyl planks give you all the look and feel of the wood with the innovation and quality of vinyl. Our patented construction features an innovative extruded core made from recycled wood and bamboo dust, limestone and virgin PVC. It is also 100% waterproof, allowing it to be installed anywhere and can be floated over most existing hard floor surfaces or substrates. Our entire COREtec Plus HD collection is also GREENGUARD GOLD Certified for Indoor Air Quality, letting you breathe easy and feel confident about the health of your home. Photo: Wood interior designs, living room, luxury vinyl plank flooring.2. Wooden Wall Designs Woods used to be limited to just your floors, but COREtec’s innovative technology gives you the possibility of wood in every application of your home. Our waterproof designs allow you to incorporate wood looks into your kitchens, bathrooms and basements without fear of warping or swelling. COREtec’s Pro Plus collection is just one of COREtec’s collections that makes an excellent addition to any wall and to any home wanting to incorporate the look and feel of nature. This collection can give you lots of wood wall ideas and inspiration to bring the outdoors into your space.  The variety of shades of brown in Divergence Oak can bring that rustic feel of wood to your walls while giving you the confidence that vinyl provides. These and other wall paneling ideas can add extra life and style to your space by accenting walls or complimenting existing flooring.   Photo: Wooden wall design, wood wall ideas, wall paneling ideas, luxury vinyl plank flooring.3. Wood Interior Designs With these various uses for wood within the home, you can achieve a trending Nordic look with clean plank lines on your floors and walls. Celebrate exposure with unfinished, natural looks that complement the architecture of your home. Staining wood rather than painting it can allow the wood to speak for itself and heighten its impact in your space.   Incorporating multiple species of wood looks into one space can also create a contrasting design that highlights all the various natural textures. For example, pairing Biscayne Oak with Flagstaff Oak or Hobbs Oak with Galveston Oak in one space could help to bring out the strong qualities in each tone. Bringing the refreshing elements of nature into your home can do so much more than just add style to your home. Whether you prefer wood on your floors or walls, these natural tones and textures can help to merge the great outdoors into your interior design and provide you with mental, emotional and physical health benefits.  

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November 01, 2021

We’re Just Warming Up: The 3 Best Tones to Warm Up Your Home

Choosing the perfect products for your space can be a challenge. You want to showcase your style while also creating a functional space for your lifestyle. You want features that add warmth and texture to your home and want timeless looks that can adapt as your preferences and needs shift.  Travertine, faux concrete and textured accent walls are three of the best ways to accomplish all these goals in your space, and COREtec has a variety of style options for every budget to combine style and function in your home.1.    Travertine Flooring Travertine is an especially attractive form of limestone. It is a very durable stone that’s easier to care for than some types of natural stone. Its fibrous, marble-like texture and attractive earth-tone colors make it one of the most popular stones used in building materials. COREtec’s Ankara Travertine tile gives you all the style of travertine limestone with the innovative, patented core structure of COREtec Plus Tile. Ankara Travertine is 100% waterproof and can liven up any space in your home, from kitchens to living rooms and even showers. No matter your budget, its warm sand coloring can bring the relaxing feel of the beach or the dry style of the desert to any room in your home. 2.    Faux Concrete Floors For those who want simplicity in their modern style, faux concrete is the perfect way to add a simple pop of texture to your space while keeping it fresh and stylish. You can fulfill your minimalist style dreams without sacrificing functionality. COREtec’s Weathered Concrete tile gives you the chic, industrial look of a New York loft with the warmth and durability of COREtec’s patented tile. The attached cork underlayment dampens sound, giving you all the style with none of the added noise.  Like Ankara Travertine, Weathered Concrete is also 100% waterproof and can be installed anywhere in your home. There are no limits to where your style can go with COREtec Plus Tile.   Photo: Faux concrete floors, warm grey, vinyl plank flooring.3.    COREtec as “Textured Wallpaper” Another way to warm up your space is through textured wallpaper. This little pop of life on your walls can tone down the rigidity of some spaces, like kitchens and bathrooms, and make them more livable and inviting.  Adding wallpaper can be a simple and easy way to brighten up your space and breathe new life into it. Show off your style with bold patterns like a metallic floral or keep it subtle with muted tones like a grey textured wallpaper.    Photo: Grey textured wallpaper, dark flooring.COREtec products like Antioch Oak can also be used on walls to add even more unique style to your space. This stunning herringbone design is backed by the patented COREtec technology featuring our innovative COREtec core structure, which is an extruded core made from recycled wood and bamboo dust, limestone and virgin PVC. No matter if you want to incorporate an eye-catching accent wall or cover every wall, adding COREtec planks to your walls can add texture to your space and create a look that is uniquely you.  Photo: Grey textured wall, accent wall, luxury vinyl plank flooring. Whether you like the warm desert memories of Travertine, the cool, chic feel of faux concrete or the fun pop of a textured wall, adding warmth to your home with tones like these can help enhance and shine a light on your personal style. Using products like COREtec’s Ankara Travertine, Weathered Concrete and Antioch Oak can help you achieve this style without sacrificing durability or going over your budget. COREtec has products for every design style and can give you what you need to achieve the look and feel you want for your home. 

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October 11, 2021

The Bedroom Has Become the Living Room

Creating Personal Sanctuaries: Calming Bedroom Ideas for Inner and Outer PeaceFor those of us making the best of all of our spaces, every room in our homes can feel like they’re working double. It can be hard to find some peace and quiet amongst all the chaos. Creating calm and peaceful environments in our bedrooms can help to ease the stresses of modern life and provide us with a private space to relax and rejuvenate even in seemingly smaller spaces.For those of us sharing space with our partners, family members or roommates, private space can be a luxurious commodity. Having a place where we can shut the door, get away and take time for ourselves is a necessity to keep our sanity, and the bedroom has become just the place for this. What used to be just a room for sleeping is now so much more.Living rooms have always been communal living spaces where families and roommates can come together for movies, game night or nonchalant hang outs. While we appreciate places that allow us to come together, we also need private living space to focus on our relationship with ourselves.Our Bedrooms Are Our Sanctuaries Our bedrooms have become our own private living spaces for mindfulness activities, such as journaling, praying or meditation, as well as for more productive activities, like work or exercise. Working from home has increased the use of bedroom accessories, such as bed desks and stationary bikes, but this has also increased the need for space to relax and unwind.Photo: Bedroom, luxury vinyl plank flooring, peaceful, private living spaces.When we’re working with limited space, we may find ourselves having to use our dining or living rooms as makeshift office space, making our bedrooms an even more desirable place to leave the stress of the day behind. We want to create a personal sanctuary to help shut off our minds from work and focus on self-care.Utilizing calming and peaceful elements, such as pastel bedroom colors and natural light, can help our brains to shift from work to relaxation more quickly. Soft pinks, lavenders and shades of blue and green can all help you to reduce stress. They can calm your mind, lower your blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and even slow your heart rate.COREtec’s Grande collection offers calming and comfortable colors, such as Grande Khalifa Oak and Grande Vista Oak, that can help you craft the perfect bedroom design for relaxing at the end of a long day. These products pair perfectly with a pastel color palette to add an extra layer of peace to your in-home hideaway.  Photo: Living room, vinyl plank flooring, pastel color palette, peace.Flooring That Fits Your LifestyleWith more activities happening within our homes than ever before, the importance of choosing the best products to fit our lifestyles is growing. Large, multifunctional rooms used to be reserved for the ultra-wealthy, but now many of us are adapting to this new way of life. Conscious home decor choices, such as comforting furniture made of soft and cozy fabrics, mood-enhancing paint colors and stylish and durable floors, are just a few ways to promote self-care within our design choices. Utilizing as much natural light as possible throughout your home can also benefit both your mental and physical health. According to a study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, prolonged exposure to natural light can help to improve your productivity, sleep, vision and mood. It can also lead to increased vitamin D intake which promotes bone growth and general immunity. Being intentional about what we put into our spaces can help them work better for us. Our dining room tables can become productive office spaces. Our living rooms can become home theaters. Our bedrooms can become sanctuaries from it all. Utilizing our spaces to their full potential can promote a healthier lifestyle and improve our overall well-being.Our Spaces Impact Our HealthConsidering your mental and physical health when constructing your space can benefit you greatly. Using high-quality products, like COREtec flooring or soothing paint colors, can help transform your space into your own personal oasis. We all need a getaway every now and then, even if it’s just getting away from the living room and into the bedroom. Being able to shut the door and settle into a comfy chair or snuggle up under a cozy blanket can be more than enough sometimes. Creating a personal space to unwind and relax can help you to feel better and perform better throughout your day. All it takes is a small change to make a big difference. See how experimenting with some of these calm bedroom design ideas in your home can help you create your perfect peaceful oasis.

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October 11, 2021

Have You Heard the News? Sound Makes All the Difference in Your Home!

Whether you’re a first time guitar player, a backyard DJ or simply someone who enjoys not hearing every step your kids take around the house, acoustics play a big role in all of our lives. Acoustic flooring can make or break the tranquility of your home. Incorporating sound into your decision-making process when selecting flooring can save not just your eardrums, but your peace of mind, as well.  You’ve considered the role of each sense in crafting your feel-good spaces — plush fabrics for comfort, sleek designs that are easy on the eyes and fragrant candles for a welcoming scent. While these elements can come together to form your perfect space, there’s one element that can’t be forgotten: sound.Sound Affects Our Health According to WHO, more than 1 million healthy life years (DALYs) are lost annually because of environmental noise exposure. Most of these DALYs can be attributed to noise-induced sleep disturbance and annoyance. The impact of sound on your health cannot be overlooked.  Your cat’s middle of the night triathlons around your house, your kid’s midnight milk runs, or even your partner slipping to the bathroom can all disturb your sleep if your floors aren’t properly insulated for sound. With COREtec’s Premium and Grande collections, you can rest easy knowing the thick cork underlayment is protecting your health with its innovative sound insulation. While COREtec can't fully soundproof your floors, our products can aid in dampening sounds and preserving your peace and quiet.   Quality Products Can Improve the Overall Health of Your Home Incorporating high quality products into our homes can help us achieve the look, feel and functionality we need from our spaces. Whether you’re working towards a soundproof office, bedroom, or maybe your entire home, COREtec products can help you on your sound-dampening journey. COREtec uses sustainable and durable materials that satisfy the senses and help your floors work for you.   COREtec’s cork underlayment is soft to the touch, with a non-intrusive, slightly sweet odor and creates effective insulation to dampen sound. This cork also has a natural temperature very close to that of the human body, conveying a feeling of comfort and warmth that is difficult to replicate with any other material. Similar to layers of drywall in your walls, this underlayment helps to stop sounds of foot traffic, paw traffic and other unwanted noises from disturbing your peace.  Photo: Cork underlayment, flooring, luxury vinyl plank. Whether you’re looking for a wood look, like Premium’s Noble Oak, or a stone look, like COREtec Stone’s Lucina in your luxury vinyl, all COREtec products are created to be soft, warm and quiet to make your home as comfortable and functional as possible.   Traditional wood and stone can have your feet freezing with the sound of every step echoing around your house. COREtec’s cork underlayment insulates your floor, preventing cold feet and thundering footsteps   Now with space at a premium in our homes, we need flexibility in our spaces to adapt to all the different activities our homes accommodate. With everyone being home, sound control has become an even more pressing challenge.  Floors that Work for Every Space Our homes have rarely been considered “flex” spaces in the past. Each room served its purpose, and we tended to leave it at that. Now we have full days at home. With working remotely from home and virtual learning becoming more and more prevalent, it may stay like that for a lot of people in the foreseeable future.   What was once just a dining room is now a classroom and a workspace, as well. What was once a backyard for BBQs is now a playground. What was once a living room is now a gym, a movie theater and an office. With our spaces taking on new meanings, how do we juggle all of these flex spaces while managing the senses of sight, touch, smell and sound?  While many companies are beginning to address the issue of sound in their products, COREtec has had sound on our mind since our founding. We have always scrutinized every detail of our products to ensure you’re getting style, strength and simplicity from every COREtec product.   Innovation is a foundational part of COREtec. We’ve been monitoring these elements in all of their products since the very beginning, giving you the upper hand in creating your perfect space. Our patented technology gives you the style you want with the sound absorption that you need to coexist with everyone in your home.   Using COREtec flooring puts you in control of the sound in your home and make a world of difference towards soundproof rooms in your space. With all of us in such close quarters nowadays, we’ll take all the extra quiet we can get!   Sound has a significant impact on our mental and physical health. Utilizing innovative products can help us to protect the sounds we want to hear and soften the sounds we don’t.  

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September 13, 2021

Family Living Spaces and Pets

Sharing Spaces: Parents, Pets and Play Rooms — Oh My!2020 is best characterized by unpredictability and massive change. This is especially evident in the home space; many first-home buyers navigated home purchase and moves. These new homeowners then started their search for the perfect living room ideas with their dream furniture, flooring and style.For others, uninhabited or underutilized spaces morphed into something new and useful — dining room tables became classrooms, living rooms became gyms, backyards became dog parks and kitchens became coffee shops as our whole lives moved within the walls of our homes. While most homes used to only have one “living room”, now all of our rooms are used for living.With this change, those living with family members and pets have had to further adapt our spaces to meet the new needs of everyone living there. This caused a shift towards more casual living room design ideas and style preferences as well as a push for more durable and efficient products throughout our homes. One thing is certain — people want to feel comfortable and in control in their new “living rooms”.Choosing family friendly living room design ideas COREtec is founded on innovation and our promise to you is to provide you the most efficient products to fit your space. Whether you’re looking for mid century modern or more minimalist design ideas, our products can give you the style that you want with the functionality your home requires. From family room design ideas to bedroom floor upgrades, we have the products you need to make your space work for you.Increased time spent at home changed what we need from it. In the past, parts of our homes served as snapshots of our style through trendy furniture pieces or show stopping floors. Now every aspect of our home is needed to fulfill its designated purpose and then some — usefulness trumps decor. We are seeing living room design ideas adjust to accommodate more personable, tailored spaces that highlight what’s unique about us and our lives.Once empty bookshelves and desks are now filled with personal objects — photos, collected trinkets and memorabilia from our lives that help us to highlight who we are within our space. These can remind us of places we’ve been, people we miss and our goals for the future while working from home. It helps us to incorporate some of the personal moments we crave.Today, functionality is crucial. We need more from our living rooms and the products in them. Style alone isn’t enough; people expect a higher level of performance and comfort from the products they purchase. With most of us spending more time in our living rooms, we’re using our floors more than ever.Pacing during phone calls, playing fetch in the hallway, doing yoga on the living room floor and games of tag throughout the house all add extra stress to our floors. Products like COREtec Advanced+ combine our need for style and performance with natural artistry and innovative engineering that provides next-level protection for pets, kids, toys, shoes and the wear and tear of everyday life. Products that don’t shy away from the realities of our lives help things go a lot more smoothly.These high performance COREtec products combine the classic and stylish look of hardwood with the durability and functionality of luxury vinyl plank (LVP). Bright and airy color options, such as Charter Oak and Pierpoint Walnut, give you the feeling of lightness in your living spaces while being durable enough to handle all aspects of your life — from kids to pets and more. Adding floors like this to your kitchen, living room or even play room can give new life to your home and also handle all your life can throw at it.Fast change can be a great thing. Many of us have adapted to this new life in many ways. While we used to settle for style alone, our products are now having to work overtime to provide us with both style and performance.We want our living rooms to work for us and our families and use it to showcase what is unique about us. Functional and comfortable products, like COREtec’s Advanced+ series, provide style and durability to our spaces and allow us and everyone we live with to thrive.Like us, our homes have had to learn how to juggle many things at once. We need to cultivate spaces that work for us no matter what we throw at them, whether it be conference calls, soccer cleats, virtual class projects, dinner parties or family game nights. For small living room ideas, family room ideas, modern living room styles, and more, COREtec has the products to enhance both the style and functionality of your space. By filling our living rooms with products that perform, we create homes that work for every member of our family, from four legs to two.

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September 13, 2021

Reinventing the Home Office

Pictured Above: Pro Plus Springfield OakMaking ‘Work From Home’ Work for You. The phrase “work from home” has become one we are now all too familiar with, but its impact on our homes has been more widespread than originally predicted. Our work that was initially done in high rise office buildings has moved to our beds or dining room tables. Now, after some time to adjust, work has moved into its own nook in the home: the home office. With this migration of all aspects of our lives happening at home, the entire concept of the home office and our home office design ideas have been reinvented to suit our new needs.Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a designated office space in the home was more of a luxury than a necessity. We may have had desks to house our drawers full of personal documents or forgotten craft supplies, but not much actual work was being done at them. Now in 2021, a home office is not just a want, but a need for most people.With more of our homes being shown on Zoom these days, the need for a functional, stylish and calming workspace has only increased. The reality of our lives, from kids to pets to clutter, is now on full display, so we have no real need to try and conceal this with minimalistic design anymore.Finding the perfect work from home office designs Stark whites have given way to a variety of color and pattern combinations. Dark, contrasting hardwoods have given way to lighter, more inviting tones, like COREtec’s Lyric Oak and Shoreline Maple. Products like these give our home office space a brightness that keeps us motivated when the couch is calling and keeps us glowing during our virtual meetings.   While we still crave organization within our workspaces, the crisp and empty aesthetics that were popular in years prior have given way to more practical styles that allow us to use as much of our space as possible. What used to be a room used mostly for organizing bills or maybe even just an empty corner of the living room is now being utilized to serve a variety of purposes. Kids need a school desk, parents need a workspace, and our new quarantine hobbies need a place to live.Hybrid & Functional Home office design ideasWhile we need our homes to serve a lot more purposes nowadays, we don’t all have the luxury of one space for one purpose. We need products to improve the efficiency of these spaces to serve all of our needs. Stylish, durable and functional products can help us get the most out of our space. COREtec’s Pro offers flooring that is waterproof, warmer and quieter than competing floors, and impact and dent resistantEven as we transition back into a more “normal” way of life, many are still choosing to work from home or have adapted to more hybrid work schedules. While this has definitely shortened our commutes, it has simultaneously increased our need for a designated work space that helps us separate the different aspects of our lives now all taking place within our homes.Pre-pandemic, the simple act of entering our homes marked the difference between the workday and our free time. Now, these aspects of our lives are intertwined, and it can be hard to switch the brain from work to relaxation after logging off. Whether it be a new desk or a certain seat on the couch, designating a specific location for work can help to ease the transition at the end of the workday.This past year has brought about a lot of change; that’s clear. This has created a strong need for comfort and the desire to curate an experience within our spaces, whether that be through personal photos and trinkets or cozy blankets and rugs.For those of us living with roommates or family members, our limited amount of personal space has to serve a lot of purposes: private work spaces, places to work out, personal sanctuaries for relaxing, and so much more. Because of this, we’ve had to put intentional effort into curating our spaces to meet this wide variety of needs.Something that we might have just bought off the rack in passing back in 2019 is now something that we’re taking our time picking out so that we can find the perfect products to fit our spaces. We want desk chairs with adequate back support, keyboards that feel nice under our fingers, and storage to help us transition our spaces through their different uses. Things like rugs help us to feel cozy while high quality resilient flooring allows us to go from pillow forts to at home yoga with ease.All the change of the past year has forced us to adapt our homes to fit this “new normal”. As we adjust, we’ve curated spaces that fit our personal styles and needs and allow us to truly enjoy the spaces we inhabit.Our home office designs have come to reflect who we are and what we value in life, adding an extra layer of comfort to our days by reminding us what we’re working for. Stylish, durable, and functional products paired with organization and comfort pieces make our lives easier and help our space to work for us. While our needs are constantly evolving, one thing we can be certain of is that the need for a home office is not going away.

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June 06, 2022

Why Waterproof Floors Are Important to Your Home

What Does Waterproof Mean?  If you look around the flooring world today, you will see many options marketed as waterproof or water-resistant, but it seems as if each of these products mean different things when making these claims.  We’re here to help clear up the confusion.  COREtec makes a 100% waterproof floor. This means that COREtec floors will never swell, expand or contract when exposed to water. This stands in contrast to floors that are water-resistant. ‘Water-resistant’ floors will resist damage from water for a limited time but will ultimately swell when exposed for long periods.   COREtec’s 100% waterproof floors are also different from laminate floors that simply have a waterproof top layer or finish. While these floors will stop damage from above, they will eventually succumb to water damage from below. This is important because water from below can lead to expansion and subtraction, which often leads to contraction, which will ultimately lead to warping.  So, when COREtec says 100% waterproof, it means 100%. All COREtec floors are protected from water both above and below the surface, for any amount of time. And this is fully backed by COREtec’s waterproof warranty, which states, “The floor plank or tile is warranted to be 100% waterproof and the structural integrity of the floor plank or tile will not be significantly diminished by exposure to water for the life of the product.” * Why You Should Care About Waterproof Floors  It’s important to realize all the ways in which water damage can occur. It’s more than just spilling your glass of water on to the floor. Leaky faucets and pipes, steam from showers and appliances and even the presence of humidity during the warmer months can all introduce water into your home.  Photo: Briar Oak VV735-06013Once water enters your home, it can quickly cause serious damage if you don’t have the right protection. When it comes to water damage, it’s typically manifested in two ways – warping or mold and mildew. Although warping will be the more obvious problem, the presence of mold or mildew will be the more serious one. It has major effects on your home’s value and is known to impact the human respiratory system. It’s bad for everyone and everything involved.    The Benefits of Waterproof Flooring  Waterproof floors have benefits beyond what they can prevent. Most obviously, waterproof floors offer you significant peace of mind. Knowing that spills from little ones or pet accidents won’t cause any lasting damage can be a great worry reliever.   And waterproof floors are also significantly easier to clean than non-waterproof options. Water isn’t able to soak through a waterproof floor, so it remains on the surface of the floor, allowing you to simply wipe away any spills or splashes. In the long run, this will save significant money on deep cleans and maintenance.  COREtec’s waterproof core has other appealing benefits. Since our core is so thick (a necessity of truly waterproof cores), the flooring is naturally quieter and warmer than other laminate or vinyl options.   Where to Put Your Waterproof Floors Pictured: Draco Oak VV735-04019 Although we think COREtec floors are perfect for every room of your house, there are several rooms where COREtec’s waterproof feature provides enhanced benefits. Take your basement for instance. 98% of American basements will experience water damage within their lifespan. And often, the water damage in this room can seemingly come out of nowhere. Being below grade (below ground level) makes these spaces more susceptible to “quieter” forms of water damage – ground water leaks, seepage caused by gutters not diverting water far enough from your home and leaky pipes.  So, naturally, hardwood floors are generally a bad idea for this space, whereas waterproof floors like COREtec are perfect.   Obviously, waterproof floors are extremely beneficial for rooms that contain faucets and appliances connected to water lines. For most people, this means bathrooms, kitchens and laundry rooms. In fact, research shows that these three rooms, combined with basements, make up the four spaces in your home most likely to experience water damage. Installing waterproof floors in these four rooms alone will go a long way towards protecting your home.  And the best part of being able to install COREtec’s floors in these spaces? It allows you to have consistent flooring throughout your house. For too long, the flooring in your kitchen and bathroom had to be different than the flooring in your living room. But since COREtec has hundreds of styles ranging across their collections as well as the valuable waterproof function, you can easily find a floor style that looks good and performs well in every room of your house.    Water You Going To Do About It?  Waterproof floors can be a huge stress-reliever and money saver, and the worst time to think about installing them is after you’ve already suffered from water damage. So, if you’re considering a waterproof floor as one of the ways to protect your home, visit a local retailer and ask to learn more about COREtec floors and their waterproof core.   Visit our Find a Retailer page to locate a COREtec-selling retailer near you!  *Be sure that proper sub-floor moisture tests are performed prior to installation to ensure you don’t trap moisture underneath the floor.

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