Experts In Your Home Blog

As builders and remodelers, Experts in Your Home has heard just about every contractor joke known to man – and woman. Some of the jokes are even funny.

For homeowners, the upshot is not always worth cracking a smile about. Consider the age-old, “When is the best time to undertake a home improvement project?” Answer: “When you don't have to be home to deal with it.”

The upshot here is that home improvement projects are disruptive and stressful. While it's true that many of them can be, it's equally true that an experienced company knows exactly how to minimize the disruptions and stress until a project is complete.

Shopping for new carpet is a little like shopping for a new mattress. You sort of know what you want. And you sort of know what you like. But if a sales person asked you to explain your criterion, you'd be better off pointing to a few samples instead.

Plenty of people make major purchases based on their “I'll-know-it-when-I-see-it” instinct. But you don't have to select new carpet this way because you have Experts in Your Home, who will supply you with the language and skills you'll need to make an informed choice.

We don't see it often: the 100-year-old-plus home with hardwood flooring that has literally stood the test of time. But these homes exist in the Chico area, and they carry a valuable “teaching moment” for anyone who loves wood flooring and wants it to last.

As with many commodities that are capable of lasting a long time but sometimes don't – think of air conditioners, furnaces and decks – the difference often comes down to maintenance. Let Experts in Your Home make you feel like an expert in your home so you can extend the life of your solid wood or engineered wood flooring – and maybe even make it worthy of centenarian status.

It's a safe bet: if the average Chico homeowner were handed a blank check from their favorite home improvement center, he or she would redeem it for new wood floors.

More than any other home amenity, wood flooring conveys warmth, style and easy elegance and complements modern décor as surely as it does homes with traditional furnishings.

Experts in Your Home has installed wood flooring in homes all around Chico – whether or not the homeowner has been handed a blank check. The first decision we ask homeowners to make is whether they prefer solid or engineered flooring. This can be a difficult choice because the flooring is so similar that homeowners really have to “drill down” and consider the advantages and drawbacks of each.

The process is rather enlightening – and can help you, too, if you want to add beauty and charm to your home with new wood floors.

We clean our hands with soap, wash our hair with shampoo and clean our clothes with detergent.

The active ingredient here is soap, so when Experts in Your Home tell a homeowner with a newly installed tile floor that all he or she needs to clean their floor is water, it's no wonder it takes a few rounds of persuasion.

In reality, there is a little more involved in keeping tile flooring looking its best. But when we say “little,” we mean very little. If you haven't fallen in love with your ceramic or natural stone tile floor by now, you will when the Experts reveal how blissfully low maintenance tile flooring really is. Here are our tips on how to clean tile flooring:

It's easy to understand why tile is the flooring of choice among many Californians. Tile is durable, water-resistant and simple to clean, making it a fine choice for kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms and entryways. And because so many Californians have extended their living space with outdoor patios and kitchens, tile has found its way outside, too.

Of course, most of that gorgeous tile was installed a long time ago. When a new tiling project is on the horizon, something “funny” happens when some people lay eyes on the tile section of their favorite home improvement store. Like the finish on some ceramic tile, a glaze often forms – and not on the tile, but over their eyes.

It's easy to become confused over tile, so allow the flooring experts at Experts in Your Home to simplify the distinctions and point out some of the advantages and disadvantages of various tile.

All you know is that you don't want carpeting. After that, you're stumped about which type of flooring is best suited for your next home improvement project. And who could blame you?

A new floor represents an investment in your home, so cost is likely to factor highly in your decision process. So will looks, color and comfort, which must be balanced against practical matters such as the room's function and how much wear and tear the floor will be subjected to on a daily basis. And don't forget maintenance and your own threshold for housekeeping.

Let the Chico flooring specialists at Experts In Your Home walk you through the six most common types of flooring: solid wood, laminate, engineered wood, vinyl, linoleum and ceramic tile:

Pick a surface – any surface – and when it gets dirty, it's tempting to turn to the most ubiquitous cleaning agents around: soap and water.

But when that surface is wood – and in particular, a wood floor – anything more than a damp rag or cloth can damage your wood floor. Wood expands when it's wet and so can crack, splinter and warp.

As the flooring specialists at Experts In Your Home knows, you cannot properly clean a wood floor unless you know which type of wood floor you have installed in your home. Then you can clean it with confidence – and ensure that it gives you years of lasting beauty and durability in return.

It's a rare homeowner who doesn't gravitate to the warm and alluring look of hardwood floors. It's also a rare homeowner who doesn't initially harbor the notion that they're difficult to maintain and so is tempted to turn to tile or carpet instead.

It's a paradox, alright: hardwood floors appear sturdy and vulnerable at the same time. But maintaining them and keeping them looking shiny and new is probably far simpler than you think – and so are worth considering as a beautiful and low-maintenance floor in your home.