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On May 22, 2008 Congress passed the Lacey Act which prohibits the importing of illegally harvested wood and wood products. This legislation sets a ground breaking precedent for the global trade in wood flooring and other wood related products and was widely supported by environmental, industry and trade organizations.

This new law leads the way in supporting other countries’ efforts to govern their own natural resources to ensure that only legally logged timber for flooring and furniture is sold into the United States. The Act goes a long way to putting in place powerful incentives for timber  producing countries such as China, Russia and Honduras to trade in wood products that come from legally logged sources or risk paying huge penalties . This is the world’s first such legislation and according to a Greenpeace spokesperson “is the most important piece of US forestry legislation passed in the past decade”. According to industry experts there is no doubt that the Lacey Act will have a significant impact on the sales of wood flooring in the United States for many years.

According to Alexander von Bismarck, Executive Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) “Passage of this law marks a new phase in the global fight to transform the timber trade”. The EIA has been actively engaged in the investigation of illegal logging for the past ten years and through their efforts were able to bring the coalition together. The EIA estimated that in 2006 10% or $3.8 billion dollars of US wood imports were derived from illegally logged timber. According to the EIA video “Increasingly China is the first stop for high risk timber” It goes on to state that “China relies on a constant stream of imported material much of this comes from the world’s illegal logging hotspots like the temperate forests of Russian where according the EIA is the location of some of the most lawless logging found anywhere on earth. According to published material enough illegal logs cross the Russia/China border each day to fill 3 ½ football fields.

Some industry officials state that the problem may even be worst in South America where up to 50% of the timber is illegally logged. With this legislation the flow of illegally logged timber will slow and then with tighter enforcement hopefully be eliminated. As Mr. Bismarck stated “the world’s biggest consumer nation has sent a message that will be heard in forest communities around the world”.

The Lacey Act provisions have been in effect since May 22, 2008 however the full impact will be after December 15^th, 2008 when all importers are required to provide a basic declaration. This declaration will accompany every shipment of wood or wood products. The purpose of these declarations is to increase transparency about the wood and wood products trade and enable the U.S. government to better enforce the law. The declaration must contain: 1. The scientific name of any species used 2. The country of harvest, 3. The quantity and measure, and 4.The value.

The new legislation will be enforced by a combination of Federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture (APIS) and US department of the Interior supported by the Department of Homeland Security, which controls U.S. customs and monitors the borders through Customs and Border Protection The Act allows for penalties up to $500,000 for corporation, $250,000 for individual, or twice maximum gain/loss from transaction and possible prison for up to five years. In the case where a buyer unknowingly purchases illegal wood then the penalty would only be a Forfeiture of goods.

So what can flooring retailers protect themselves?  According to Elinor Colbourn, Senior Trial Attorney, US Department of Justice all buyers of wood flooring and wood products must exercise “due care” by asking suppliers questions in order to comply with all relevant laws” .She suggest that “companies should implement solid supply chain principles and where ever possible verify the legality of your wood”. This may involve asking for proof from suppliers that the product was legally sourced and have them provide verification. Another method to ensure compliance is for flooring retailers to purchase FSC certified wood flooring from an approved supplier. All FSC suppliers are Chain of Custody certified meaning that the product is legally logged.

For more information contact the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Peter is the founder and president of Magnum Floors (www.magnumfloors.com), Charleston, SC – one of the Nation’s leading sources for certified green wood flooring products.

Over his 25+ years of International flooring experience Peter has achieved a leading role in developing new markets for muli-national flooring companies. His industry uccesses include:

Under an exclusive agreement with UNILIN DÉCOR’s, Belgium, (US annual sales $80,000,000) Mr. Rundle introduced UNICLIC laminate products to North America. In 2006 Unilin was purchase by Mohawk Industries (Dalton, GA.) for $2.3 billion.

Entered into an exclusive agreement with Mannington Mills (annual sales $500,000,000) to introduce their wood products into Europe and later became the first European distributor.
Acted in the capacity of the senior consultant to Sultan Vicwood (K. T. Chong) to bring their African timber and Chinese manufactured flooring products to the US markets. Vicwood has significant timber holdings in Africa (estimated at 8 million hectares) 4,000 employees in China and commercial real estate in Hong Kong.

Develop the strategy and then arranged for the first shipments of Chinese hardwood flooring to CCA Global (US flooring sales $2 billion annually).

Developed the first North American laminate program with Weyerhaeuser (annual sales $21.9 billion in 2006). First year laminate sales were in excess of $12,000,000.

Owned and developed the Easy Lock Laminate flooring brand which was later introduced to LOWES HOME CENTER and sold to Kronotex

Introduced prefinished solid wood flooring into the United Kingdom and Ireland by establishing relationships with Canada’s largest solid wood flooring manufactures

This guest post was written by New York Wood Floors
New York Wood Floors:

Installing new wood floors – The amount of traffic in the room and it’s affect on the choice of wood:

The amount of foot traffic in the designated room will directly affect the color and finish of any wood floors. Natural light wood colors like oak and maple are less affected than dark color wood floors, which tend to wear and show traffic marks sooner. In areas with high traffic extra attention is recommended as far as recoating.  New York Wood Floors are often being coated 1-2 full coats every 6 month to a year and glossy finishes are not being used at all. Such areas are sanded lightly before coating.

Thanks to New York Wood Floors for your advice!

Rob McNealy from Ask A Floor Guy interviewed the president of the WFCA (World Floor Covering Association) on his site www.askafloorguy.com.

Rob McNealy has more then 10 years of construction experience under his tool belt, and more than three years running a flooring company in Colorado, called Natural Wood Floors.

In addition to running a successful flooring business, Rob has also been providing social media consulting through his company called Contrived Media, and is an advocate for small business through his small business and startup podcast, called Startup Story Radio.

You can hear the podcast here. Look for more interesting interviews on his site.

Paul from Rugsale.com has written a guest post to give us some insight on hand tufted area rugs and hand tufted area rugs. Look for tomorrows post on hand tufted area rugs! Thanks, Paul!

Hand Tufted Area Rugs

While most handmade rugs are of the hand knotted type there is a different weaving process that doesn’t involve any knots whatsoever. It is know as the hand-tufted process. Hand-tufted rugs were very fashionable in the 1920’s and 1930’s and though they are not as popular today they do offer people a less expensive option to hand tied rugs.

The base material in a hand-tufted rug is primarily a pre-woven canvas. The pile of these rugs can consist of wool, silk and synthetic fibers.

Hand-tufted rugs can be mistaken for hand-knotted rugs because they can share similar properties, however they’re not as durable as hand knotted rugs but they cost considerably less. The main reason hand-tufted rugs are cheaper then hand-knotted is they are much easier and quicker to make. Hand-tufted rugs aren’t made by forming little knots; instead they’re made by forming little tufts using specific tools.

The process starts by cutting the backing material into the correct size and shape so that it can be stretched over a backing frame at which point the craftsman can commence. A drawing of the proposed area rug is created so that its image can be projected onto the material and the area rugs design can be traced. Like a paint-by-numbers kit, numbers are given to each area to represent the colors to be used. The correct color yarns are than pushed, with the use of a unique device called a tufting gun, through the backing. Latex glue is then applied to hold each tuft to the backing. The looped tufts are then cut to create the pile. A layer of latex is then laminated on the back of the rug along with a layer of a material designed to protect the floor in the homes where the area rugs will be placed.

While not as durable or valuable, hand tufted rugs do come in similar styles to hand knotted and at a price more consumers can afford.

This article was produced exclusively for Floor Talk! by the staff of RugSale.com an online retailer.

Paul from Rugsale.com has written a guest post to give us some insight on hand woven area rugs and hand tufted area rugs. Look for tomorrows post on hand tufted area rugs! Thanks, Paul!

Hand Woven Area Rugs

Although power machinery turns out most of the carpets sold today, it has not eliminated the ancient craft of hand weaving. Rugs were listed as valued belongings in Persian literature as early as the 6th century. They were most likely coarse flat-woven fabrics produced on looms in much the same way that other plain textiles were made at the time. Hand-knotted rugs were created later, possibly by nomad tribes of Turkestan or the Caucasus. The weaving of hand-knotted rugs spread throughout the Orient, and Persia became the predominant center of manufacture. Most handmade rugs are Orientals and are still made in the Middle and Far East.

Oriental rugs are usually classed geographically. They are referred to as Persian, Turkish, Caucasian, Turkoman, Indian, or Chinese. The different varieties within these groups may be named for towns in the various weaving districts and marketing centers.

Hand tied rugs are constructed on a special form of loom which consists of evenly spaced pegs on long, parallel beams. Most hand tied rugs are made with wool which is spun and died to the specifications of the rug pattern and planned color pallet. Some higher end rugs use silk for highlights in the pattern.

The base components of the rug are called the warp, weft, and Tufts. The stands of warp run parallel to the length of the rug and stick out each end to create the fringe. The spun bunches of wool, known as tufts, are hand tied to the warp stands. After a row of tufts are tied, a weft strand is woven perpendicular to and through the warp strands and then pushed together to create a denser pile. This meticulous time consuming process is then repeated until the rug is complete. The tufts (wool bunches) are then trimmed to create an even pile. This whole process can take a small group of people three years or more to finish but the results can be fabulous. There is nothing like the durability and artistry of a genuine hand tied area rug.

This article was produced exclusively for Floor Talk! by the staff of RugSale.com an online retailer.