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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood Floors Offer Exquisite Styling And Enhanced Performance

Captures Design Trends for Office, Retail, Hospitality and Institutional Settings

Building on its leadership in flooring design and selection, Armstrong Commercial Floors offers a portfolio of exotic and domestic wood species crafted to perform beautifully in commercial interiors. From silky smooth to hand-scraped and distressed rustics, Armstrong offers a variety of surface textures that accent the floor with custom, hand-crafted looks.

Pre-finished engineered floors also feature protective finishes that are easy to maintain. Acrylic-impregnated products are exceptionally durable significantly more resistant to indentation than non-impregnated wood.

Armstrong is the largest producer of hardwood flooring in the world. “Our size allows us to offer customers a complete hardwood portfolio, including acrylic-impregnated products with enhanced performance, premium exotics, and domestic species with hand-sculpted, distressed, or traditional visuals,” says Daniel Call, general manager, Armstrong Hardwood Floors.

Armstrong’s wood floor collections are attuned to the needs of the commercial market. Notes Principal Designer Sara M. Babinski: “Commercial designers want to create interiors that are warm, inviting and stimulating – especially for signature spaces and retail selling environments. Wood grain, texture, contrast and color all add drama. These are what we emphasize in the Armstrong hardwood portfolio because these are what lift the eyes and the emotions.”

“We see a wide range of structures, species and colors being used in the commercial environment, almost as diverse as on the residential side. In response, our Commercial Hardwood portfolio was developed to give the designer a plethora of design choices for a variety of applications,” says Babinski. “As in residential, we see many visuals gaining popularity based on the various looks the design community would like to convey. One example is the strong growth in distressed visuals, which is both a beautiful, popular visual and has the ability to help camouflage life's little accidents. Also, the move to dark, rich stains in corporate applications have gained in popularity.”

The ‘green’ movement also has affected commercial wood specs, notes Call. “In commercial, as in residential, customers are looking for products from companies who support proper forest management practices. Armstrong has had corporate purchasing policies which support this for many years. We also work closely with the Tropical Forest Foundation to provide education on, and promote, environmentally friendly harvesting and re-planting techniques. We’re also well on the way to planting 506,000 hardwood trees this year in the U.S. as part of our commitment to sustainable forest management practices. Our tree planting project is in partnership with the Hardwood Forest Foundation.”

Armstrong’s engineered floors, made of 100% hardwood, are high performance products. They are made by bonding several wood layers together, with the feature species on the surface. Engineered wood flooring can be used virtually anywhere, even over concrete or below grade. The unique cross-ply construction of an engineered floor controls the floor’s natural tendency to expand and contract, enabling glue down or floating installation. Transitions and other finishing accessories integrate with other design elements in the overall décor, as well as other flooring.

The hardwood collections borrow or adapt the best from proven residential styles and give commercial designers a wider palette than before. Each carries a three-year commercial warranty and lifetime structural warranty. Additional warranties are offered on some collections.

Armstrong offers six exciting collections of Commercial Hardwood Flooring, crafted to offer exquisite styling and enhanced performance in commercial spaces.

• The centerpiece of the Armstrong Commercial Hardwood portfolio is Premier Performance™ Hardwood, formerly Pattern Plus™. With acrylic impregnation and a Permion® finish, this floor sets the industry standard for commercial hardwood durability. Armstrong’s exclusive Permion® Finish provides ultimate surface protection, cost-effective installations and easy maintenance. The UV-cured urethane coating contains crystalline aluminum oxide for an extra-hard, durable, protective finish. Premier Performance hardwood floors are more crush resistant than unprotected wood of the same species, protecting against dents and damage and creating unprecedented indentation and wear resistance. The factory-finished hardwood boards install without any additional surface preparation needed, saving installation in materials, labor and time. Maintenance is easy. Routine dust mopping or vacuuming and periodic buffing are all that’s required. Hardwood planks range in width from 3 to 5 1/4 inches. Floors feature luxurious textures and beautiful wood grain patterns in a variety of species and colors. Using a combination of widths and lengths creates a unique, individual look that adds a custom touch. Armstrong also injects stain pigments completely through the wear surface of each acrylic impregnated hardwood board. The result is brilliant, consistent through-color. This is color that won’t wear down, walk out or wash off. The 100% genuine hardwood engineered board is more stable and less susceptible to shrinking and expanding than solid wood, allowing wood installations in spaces and on grade levels where solid hardwood is not recommended.

• Armstrong Locking Hardwood offers a comprehensive collection of exotic and domestic species in plank and strip visuals. Hand-crafted, sleek and exotic and traditional species feature the exclusive NextGen™ patented technology, an ingenious locking system that eliminates the need for glue, staples or nails and reduces installation time. It also allows faster access to the area following installation. Similar to “click” laminate floors where the individual product boards are joined together without glue, NextGen™ is the result of nearly three years of research and development and offers a substantial reduction in the length of time required for installation. Armstrong’s goal is to develop not only better technology but better looking floors. Locking hardwood floors from Armstrong are 100 percent real hardwood, with cross-ply engineered construction for a durable, rigid surface that won’t shift or buckle and can be installed in any level of a home, including the basement. The engineered construction controls the floor’s natural tendency to expand and contract, so these floors can be installed over a variety of subfloors including wood, concrete and even existing vinyl. Available species include Australian wormy chestnut, oak, merbau and bamboo.

• The Heritage Classics™ Collection of distressed 5-inch plank in oak, maple and hickory add rustic charm and beauty to any commercial space. (Oak also is available in 3-inch planks.) The natural characteristics of wood are accented with proprietary staining and distressing techniques to recreate the rustic charm of aged, handcrafted hardwoods. A low-gloss Permion® finish makes Heritage Classics durable and easy to maintain. Construction: 3/8” engineered hardwood.

• Century Farm™ a distinctive, one-of-a-kind floor, is the result of a passion for old-world craftsmanship coupled with an understanding of the real-world requirements of everyday life. Suggesting the simplicity and honesty of another time, a blend of technology and artisan craftsmanship are forged to bring to life the rich timeworn look of this classic floor. Each piece of wood is sculpted by hand, just as craftsmen have done for centuries. Five-inch planks of hickory, maple or birch are cut into varying lengths and the edges are beveled for an authentic look. When paired with Armstrong’s rigorous quality standards and Permion® finish, the Century Farm™ Hand-sculpted Collection is more durable and more authentic in appearance than other wood floor brands.

• Metro Classics™ features a sophisticated, filled-face surface with a piano-smooth finish. The collection in birch, pecan and maple, offers the rich color and graining of natural hardwood as well as micro-beveled edges and ends. The floor offers the Permion® finish and a lifetime construction and adhesive bond warranty in 5-ply engineered hardwood construction.

• The Beckford Plank™ Collection offers a choice of 3-inch and 5-inch oak planks in five tonal finishes, including natural. This 3/8” engineered hardwood flooring is as fashionable as it is functional. It features an extra-smooth , streamlined finish. Planks feature micro-beveled edges and ends and the Permion® finish.

• Valenza™ Exotics Engineered Hardwood. The interior design community continues to influence demand for unique hardwood flooring choices. The inspiration for the Valenza™ Collection comes from nature and then builds on cutting-edge interior design trends. Exotic hardwoods from around the world create design excitement for distinctive commercial interiors. Tropical exotic hardwoods remain popular in the marketplace for their inherent hardness and unique color and graining. The hardwoods in the collection combine exceptional quality with the natural beauty of exotic species including cabreuva, jatoba, kempas, lapacho and tigerwood. Varying lengths add to the design intrigue. Available in the popular 3 ½-inch planks, the Valenza Collection™ has micro-beveled edges and ends. As an engineered hardwood floor, it uses only a fraction of the raw materials required for 3/4" solid hardwood floor. Armstrong is working with the Tropical Forest Foundation and is committed to protecting forests and responsible forest management practices.

The Finish Line

For extra durability, these new Commercial Hardwoods feature Armstrong’s highly protective Permion® finish – an extra-hard urethane coating with aluminum oxide technology. Ideal for demanding commercial applications, this finish helps preserve long-lasting beauty. “Permion is the ideal finishing system for commercial applications,” says Call, “and factory finishing reduces installation costs and assures consistently high quality.” Extra-hard crystalline minerals, suspended in ultraviolet-cured urethane, deliver optimum durability.

The Armstrong commercial flooring portfolio also encompasses Armstrong linoleum, BioBased Tile, sheet, VCT, and LVT. “That’s a tremendous advantage, because most commercial jobs require flooring from more than one category,” adds Call. “Armstrong is the most comprehensive source for commercial flooring in the world.”

More information about Armstrong Commercial Flooring is available on the Internet at www.armstrong.com/flooring.

LINKS TO HI-RES PHOTOS:

Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Premier Performance 5.25" Micro Bevel Walnut EHP5011 bronze
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Premier Performance 4.25" Square Edge Walnut bronze EPP4111 (Carolinas Imaging Center & Charlotte Radiology Breast Center in Charlotte, NC)
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Heritage Classics Collection, antique natural HCH411AN
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Armstrong Locking Commercial Hardwood: Australian Wormy Chestnut EL5AW12BULG butterscotch
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Metro Classics 5" Pecan plank MCP441MS molasses
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Beckford 3" Plank Harvest Oak
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Century Farm Hand-sculpted Collection Cobbler Brown
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Valenza Collection Tigerwood natural TG422NA
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Armstrong Commercial Hardwood: Valenza Collection LA422NA Lapacho natural - SportsNet Headquarters
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For more information and tips, visit www.armstrong.com or call 1-800-527-5903.

About Armstrong

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of floors, ceilings and cabinets. In 2006, Armstrong’s consolidated net sales totaled approximately $3.4 billion. Based in Lancaster, Pa., Armstrong operates 39 plants in 10 countries and has approximately 13,000 employees worldwide.  For more information, visit www.armstrong.com.

All trademarks owned by AWI Licensing Company or Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Company.  FloorScore is a trademark of The Resilient Floor Covering Institute.  LEED® is a registered trademark of USGBC.

Contact: Michele Zelman Cherry Leaf Communications mjzelman@cherryleaf.net phone: (718) 859-6766	Contact: Carlene Moloney General Manager - Direct Consumer & Trade Marketing cfmoloney@armstrong.com phone: 717-396-5579 fax:  717-396-5029