Varnished parquet flooring

HERE are some pictures of the varnished parquet flooring we produce. 

Natural varnish finish

Our fume finish

Opaline finish

Our varnished parquet flooring comes in two different widths of 70 and 90 mm, and is 15mm thick.

The flooring is suitable for gluing to the floor and if you would like an example popping in the post please feel free to email me.

Quality of quatersawn flooring

THE parquet flooring we produce in the factory is manufactured from chestnut logs that are commonly quartersawn.

A log that has been quatersawn is usually much more stable than a piece of wood sawn any other way and this is due to the make up of the wood.

If you look at the end of a log you can see the rings and a quartersawn board takes its strength from this by being cut perpendicular to them.

So if you were to look at the end of a cut piece of flooring then the lines of the rings would be approximately at right angles to the surface of the piece of flooring.

Whilst on the surface of the flooring itself there would be lines running the length of the board and parallel to each other.

And from this comes the strength, because the surface of a quatersawn floorboard will wear evenly and any movement within the piece will be vertical, and naturally very small.

Quartersawn wood is a little different from normal so some suppliers may charge more for it, others may not, and you could buy some strong and lovely looking wood quite cheaply.

The basics of drying wood

WHEN wood is dried it dries from the outside producing an imbalance with the interior of the piece.

But if this imbalance is controlled then any moisture from the interior will be drawn out to the surface and evaporate away, ensuring a balanced drying period.

Should the drying time be rushed then the exterior may dry much quicker than the interior, causing stress and defects within the wood.

Removing the moisture from wood naturally shrinks it so it is important that the moisture is removed allowing any shrinkage before, rather than after, any work is undertaken.

It is important that the drying period is not extended too long as fungi or other damage could occur, so controlling humidity, temperature and air circulation is a key element.

One of the problems faced when drying wood is that the ends dry quicker than the interior and produce small ‘cuts’ in the ends that can ruin the piece.

That is why it is important to control the drying by careful stacking of the timber before being placed in a kiln that is then regularly monitored.

Promoting wood in France

IT was interesting to see this morning on French television an advertisement promoting the use of wood within the construction of homes.

Under the catch line ‘Wood it’s essential’ the advert featured a house being built around a young family and highlighted the different sections made of wood.

The advertising campaign has been funded by bois.com which is an industry body that promotes the use of wood within France, especially in the construction of housing.

On the site there are a number of case studies and features about smaller businesses and the work they undertake.

One article has a Q&A with Robert Eriani who is a specialist in the construction of homes from wood and he answers the question, wooden homes are more expensive than brick built houses.

Other articles look at the education of young people in using wood as well as some practical tips on restoring items and using wooden features around the home.

Using autoresponder services

ONE of the things you should consider when using a website to promote your business is to automate as much of it as possible.

But one of the most time consuming features of your site will be answering emails, which often ask the same old questions.

Well it is possible to set-up an autoresponder on your website that will give potential clients an instant reply if they email you or complete an online form.

And the beauty of this bit of web wizardry is that you can appear to be ‘in the office’ when you could well be ‘sat by the pool’.

It is a simple process to set-up.

You can either buy a small program that you run from within your own site or have a company host the service for you – this is the easiest way.

And it works by someone sending a request to an individual email address you have defined, the autoresponder accepts the message and will reply with your pre-written message.

This could highlight more of what you have on offer at your business, news on late deals or details of the conferences and dates that you will be attending.

Or you could simply say many thanks for your message we will reply within 24 hours.

Consultation paper launched

A CONSULATATION paper has been launched this week to look at how EU proposals for a new licensing scheme to control timber imported into the Europe will affect the UK.

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan sets out a new and innovative approach to tackling illegal logging.

One of its measures requires the European Commission to legislate to prevent imports of illegally logged timber into the European market and negotiate agreements with other wood-producing countries.

These agreements will require partner countries to establish a scheme to license legally produced timber (harvested according to relevant national legislation) exported to the EU. 

This would mean that timber which came from a partner country could not be imported into the EU without such a license.

Over one hundred organisations in the UK will be invited to comment within the three month consultation period ending on the 11th August 2005.

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said: "This is another positive step towards the eradication of this wholly unacceptable trade. Consumer countries must act in partnership with producer countries if we are to make effective progress."

Timber sent to help Indonesia

The U.S. timber industry and two major environmental groups will send wood to Indonesia to prevent depletion of that country's tropical forests by post-tsunami reconstruction, the groups said on Wednesday.

Conservation International and the World Wildlife Fund signed a pact with the American Forest & Paper Association to provide U.S. wood to help Indonesia's Aceh province rebuild homes and schools destroyed in last December's tsunami.

Source: Reuters AlertNet - US timber, green groups team up to help Indonesia

Fitting the flooring

Fixing with glue
THE instructions for the particular glue chosen should be followed to ensure the product is used safely.

The surface should be clean and dry and polyurethane glues can be used as well as vinyl non-water based glues.

It is important to remember that concrete based flooring should be fully dry before gluing occurs.

The humidity level of the concrete must be less than 3% before fitting.

On average a two-week drying period for each centimetre depth of concrete is required.

Fixing with nails
It is easy to fit the parquet flooring with nails, screws or glue to wooden batons attached to the existing floor.

The distance between the batons should be no greater than 45 cm especially if the flooring is to be used in a room with constant use.

The parquet flooring can be gently tapped into place and then attached to the baton beneath using 55 mm nails.

In both cases of fixing a gap of around 1 cm should be left between the end pieces and the surrounding wall to allow for any expansion.  A skirting board is fitted to finish off.

 

History of Parquets Castagné

THE family run Castagné and Sons has been established for over 80 years in the heart of the Dordogne countryside, in the south west of France.

The business was established by Gustave Castagné to manufacture pit props and staves for the coalmines of northern France from the abundant trees in the surrounding forests.

In 1955, as the business grew, it began manufacturing parquet and hardwood flooring and today it employs 45 people, delivering products to wholesalers and merchants in France and Europe.

The factory is still found beside the railway line that once was used to transport the props and staves, but today it is trucks from Spain and Holland that are loaded up not steam trains and wagons.

Illegal logging in Europe

I HAVE recently written about the impact of illegal logging and now the BBC highlights the problems that exist in Bosnia.

The article covers how EU peacekeeping forces are being used to stop the trade which sees much of the wood reach western Europe via Serbia and Italy.

EU peacekeepers (Eufor) have decided to act.
Helicopters with advance surveillance equipment are being used to track the illegal loggers. Random road checkpoints have been set up across the country to intercept wood lorries. Their loads are examined and papers checked.

And the peacekeepers hope that if they tackle this problem it will lead them to war criminals, many of whom are protected by gang leaders.

Impact of illegal logging

A REPORT into the effect that illegal logging has on the US timber market found that prices were driven down and that the industry's reputation was tarnished.

 

The American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) hired Seneca Creek Associates and Wood Resources Institute to write ‘Illegal Logging and Global Wood Markets: The Competitive Impacts on the U.S. Wood Products Industry’.

 

The paper looks at illegal logging in Brazil, Central and West Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Russia and at suspicious forest product imports into China, Europe, and Japan.

 

It also produces findings from a simulation model that analyses the effect of illegal logging on world trade.

 

The authors found: 

• Economic analysis based on simulations from the Global Forest Products Model (GFPM) suggests that illegal material depresses world prices by 7% - 16% on average,
• Illegal forest activity (of the type that rises to a level of international concern) represents between 5% and 10% of global industrial roundwood production – approximately 4% for softwood, but 15% for hardwood. 
• Smuggling, money laundering and other criminal activity in the forest sector have been alleged in some countries and, in some cases, prosecuted.

The paper says that the impact on the public perception that ‘wood is good’ is damaged by the use of illegal lumber and that this should concern the whole industry.

Use your email to boost business

IF you send out a lot of email are you using it to promote your company website and ensure potential customers find out more about you.

A simple way of ensuring your website is seen by people is to put a small ‘signature’ at the end of each email you send.

You can set this automatically if you use Microsoft Outlook, if you don’t just save a text document to your desktop with your ‘signature’ in it.

Then every time you send a message just copy and paste it into your message after you have signed off.

But to set it up in Outlook follow these steps.

Decide what you want to say, make it short and sweet, spell it correctly and make sure the website link is correct.

Save this to a document and then go to Tools, Options in Outlook.

On the tabs across the pop up window click on signature and then tick the small box that says ‘Add signatures to all outgoing messages’.

Then click on New and in the window to the left will appear Signature #1 default signature.

In the box below click the small circle by Text and then in the window to the right paste your short message and website address.

Then click OK.

To test if it has worked, and how it looks, click on New Message and your signature should appear.

So next time you send a message to anyone, your website will be just one click away.

Wood could meet heating needs

THE forthcoming Wood Energy 2005 Conference in Ireland will hear that the country has the potential to develop an alternative fuel supply from forestry and wood industry waste.

David Taylor chief executive of Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) said that wood fuels could be meeting around 5% of Ireland’s heating needs.

Mr Taylor said: “Given the continued threat of climate change, the volatility of oil prices, Ireland’s rising energy demands and the need to find additional secure and affordable sources of energy, refined wood fuels in the form of wood pellets are an attractive fuel for the Irish heat market.”

Wood Energy 2005 takes place at the Marriot’s Druid’s Glen Hotel and Country Club, Co Wicklow on May 19-20, 2005.