Wall-to-Wall in decline, flat line or rising

[your_good_sons]

I can't figure this out, but think about it a lot. At Home Depot I saw laminate wood flooring as cheap as "good" peel-n-stick vinyl. As a builder, would I choose laminate floor because it has a higher perceived value than carpet? I think in any home or condo valued over $100,000 I would. If I was building with the intention of making it all low end, Section 8 and various skippers, I'd still stick with wall-to-wall. If I was building commercial, wall-to-wall or VCT. Looking at some real estate web sites, I see less and less wall-to-wall in properties for sale. Sure, 1965-1995 was wall-to-wall's heyday in middle class and upper middle class homes. Today, I don't think so.
I see so many places selling area rugs. I'm thinking about approaching my local Business Improvement District for some of these long-term un-rented commercial spaces to put a "rug spa" in. Build out a frame or two with 2x4's. Line with 6 mil PVC sheeting. Scrub with a side to side machine. Rinse with a portable. Extract with a portable. I even have one in mind, EDIC Galaxy Pro™ 2700FX-HR because it has 17 gallons, 210" WL and who cares if it is probably only 100 CFMs? Probably going to run no more than a 25' hose on it. The price is right.
http://www.edic-usa.com/index.php/produ ... r-306.html
I have a carpenter who will barter assembly of a drying rack if I provide the timber, for doing a CC on his house. About 2 hours of my time for 3-4 of his is a deal I will take. If I can rent some basement crap hole for under $400 a month, it might be in my price range.
I also really need to get into wood floor refinishing at some point as well. I think we can all agree diversification is good, but if I were to make a guess, it would be residential wall-to-wall is on a slight decline, not plummeting or anything. Commercial wall-to-wall is probably flat lined with the potential to expand in commercial markets once/if the economy rebounds in a meaningful way. What do you think?

 

[Ron Werner]

Carpet may be on the decline but there are a couple developments here, one with 700 houses, one with 1/2Mil condos, in both carpet is still very present. The condos have the bedrooms and stairs carpeted, the houses have the stairs and whole upstairs carpeted. The hard surface is either laminate or hardwood or t&g.

 

[Dmreed4311]

The trend in my area is carpet in the bedrooms and tile or wood floors in the rest of the areas.
This is great for me, i still get the carpets to clean and then the possibility of cleaning the tile.

 

[RGH269]

Here track homes all carpet and vinyl for most of them, you will see a little laminate to try and dress it up some. These are below $250,000. The average price home here is $250,000, you start seeing some wood mostly pre-finished in a formal area like a DR or entry foyer. When they go $400,00 and up most of the carpet is in BR's and bonus areas and the wood is site finished. The majority of houses her are built over a crawl space so we don't have as much tile only in bathrooms, laundry areas and an occasional kitchen. Nothing like the amount you see in Florida or California and the Southwest parts of the country.

Peter if you do decide to go into the hardwood area, just stick to a recoat system such as Basic Coatings and Bona or maybe Chemspecs, I think these are among the best. I have used the Bridgepoint system and it is easier to work with than those but I question the durability of the finish compared to those other ones. I made the mistake of spending about $12,000 on a dust containment Bona system 6 or 7 years ago, It is not an easy skill to learn and it is best if you do it often, I turned out great looking floors but because I didn't do it often I was slow but still made money on it. $2.50SF to sand & finish multiple days work vs $1.00 - $1.25 to recoat done in one day or less.

 

[FB7777]

The last thing I want to do is go back to the days when EVERyThInG was carpeted, including the kitchen!

My largest ticket jobs are always a mix of carpet, area rugs, furniture and/or tile

 

[John Buxton]

My vinyl village builders are wall to wall, my high end builders only have carpet in bedrooms, and basements. Retirement condos are wall to wall.

 

[ACE]

Around here, home ownership is on the decline and rentals are carpet 95+% of the time.

 

[jcooper]

As a builder, would I choose laminate floor because it has a higher perceived value than carpet?

Well yea cuz most large home builders put in the cheapest thing possible.



Depends where you live. When we lived in AZ, not every home had carpets. Now in IL and every home has lots of carpet.

 

[J Scott W]

According to industry figures I saw for 2010, carpet sales declined over all and as a percentage of the entire flooring market. I have not seen numbers for 2011.

Ceramic is growing at the fastest percentage in the USA. For last year, ceramic tile sales only amounted to 9% of the total dollars spent on flooring. There seems to be a lot of room for growth. In Italy 60 to 70% of flooring is ceramic tile. For most of Europe tile is 27%. That is 3 times the percentage in USA.

Figures are from Floor Focus magazine April 2012.

 

[Ken Snow]

Flooring News
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Issue Date: February 6/13, 2012, Posted On: 2/9/2012

2011 ends with mixed results

The U.S. floor coverings market showed mixed results in 2011, according to Catalina Research. There was a sharp drop in residential wall-to-wall carpet sales, while sales of hard surface flooring and area rugs showed positive gains in both square feet and dollars.
Commercial carpet sales also received a boost from the growing use of carpet tile. In 2011, U.S. sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) of hard surface flooring and area rugs are estimated to have increased by 5.1 percent in dollars and 2.2 percent in square feet. Sales gains in dollars and square feet were sharpest in the ceramic tile, wood flooring, resilient flooring and area rug sectors.

However, dollar and unit sales of laminate flooring are estimated to have declined in 2011. Meanwhile, reported Catalina Research, the sharpest decline in industry sales has been in the residential wall-to-wall carpet market. Domestic sales of residential wall-to-wall carpet are estimated to have declined by 6.1 percent in dollars and by 10.5 percent in square feet in 2011 (factoring out growing export shipments.) On the other hand, commercial carpet sales in dollars are estimated to have increased by 4.4 percent, while square foot sales were flat. Carpet tile sales outpaced these trends resulting in an increase in dollar and square foot sales for this product line. The growth in carpet tile sales can be seen in the results of Interface, the leader in this market segment, which experienced an 8 percent increase in modular carpet sales in the Americas over the first three quarters of 2011.

The sharp drop in residential wall-to-wall carpet sales contributed to carpet and area rugs’ continuing drop in share of the overall U.S. floor coverings market. In 2011, carpet and area rugs are estimated to decline to 58.3 percent of total U.S. floor coverings square foot sales, down from 59.9 percent in 2010. Some of the loss in square foot share could be attributed to potential buyer’s negative reaction to the sharp increase in carpet and area rug prices in 2011 as manufacturers pushed through rising material costs. Average carpet and area rug prices are estimated to have increased by 5.7 percent in 2011 as fiber prices soared along with oil prices. Carpet price increases seem to have contributed to homeowners increasing their usage of hard surface flooring, despite wall-to-wall carpet remaining the low cost residential flooring material on an installed basis.

Consumer’s perception of soft and hard surface flooring may also be fueling the shift to hard surface flooring. Some in the industry feel the growing use of polyester, which is used to make softer and softer carpet, has caused consumers to see wall-to-wall carpet as a bedroom product and less as flooring for use in family areas of the home. At the same time, homeowners, who are staying in their homes longer due to tight credit standards and declining home prices, are seeing the benefits in investing in longer lasting hard surface flooring. This attitude is offsetting the higher initial cost of installing a hard surface floor.

Resilient flooring manufacturers and marketers also pushed through relatively sharp price increases as soaring oil prices caused plastic resin prices to jump sharply. However, resilient flooring demand did not experience the drop seen in residential carpet sales. In fact, resilient flooring square foot sales remained on an upward trend due to the growing popularity of luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and fiberglass-backed sheet vinyl product lines. Meanwhile, ceramic tile and wood flooring made additional inroads in the U.S. flooring market since these sectors were able to hold the line on prices since the cost of materials in these sectors was relatively tame in 2011.

The increase in material costs in the U.S. floor coverings industry is estimated to have resulted in a 4.2 percent increase in average floor coverings manufacturer prices in 2011. This is the sharpest gain in average industry prices since 2006, and caused total floor coverings dollar sales to increase by 2.8 percent in 2011 to $17.6 billion. Square foot sales are estimated to have declined by 1.6 percent to 17.5 billion square feet.

However, a number of factors have turned positive in the fall of 2011, which could indicate that U.S. floor coverings sales could increase in dollars and square feet in 2012. The primary reason for this optimistic outlook is the double-digit increase in U.S. housing demand since the third quarter of 2011. U.S. housing demand could have risen as the sharp drop in housing prices and mortgage rates has made a home purchase the most affordable in decades. In addition, the U.S. employment picture is beginning to brighten, adding to consumer confidence. At the same time, homeowner remodeling spending is beginning to increase, which has contributed to sales increases at building material dealers and specialty floor coverings stores. This could cause total square foot manufacturer sales to increase by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012 as retailers replenish inventories. This would be the first increase in total U.S. floor coverings manufacturer square foot sales in five quarters.

 

[Ken Snow]

Flooring News
Home : : Articles : Send to Friend

Issue Date: February 6/13, 2012, Posted On: 2/9/2012

2011 ends with mixed results

The U.S. floor coverings market showed mixed results in 2011, according to Catalina Research. There was a sharp drop in residential wall-to-wall carpet sales, while sales of hard surface flooring and area rugs showed positive gains in both square feet and dollars.
Commercial carpet sales also received a boost from the growing use of carpet tile. In 2011, U.S. sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) of hard surface flooring and area rugs are estimated to have increased by 5.1 percent in dollars and 2.2 percent in square feet. Sales gains in dollars and square feet were sharpest in the ceramic tile, wood flooring, resilient flooring and area rug sectors.

However, dollar and unit sales of laminate flooring are estimated to have declined in 2011. Meanwhile, reported Catalina Research, the sharpest decline in industry sales has been in the residential wall-to-wall carpet market. Domestic sales of residential wall-to-wall carpet are estimated to have declined by 6.1 percent in dollars and by 10.5 percent in square feet in 2011 (factoring out growing export shipments.) On the other hand, commercial carpet sales in dollars are estimated to have increased by 4.4 percent, while square foot sales were flat. Carpet tile sales outpaced these trends resulting in an increase in dollar and square foot sales for this product line. The growth in carpet tile sales can be seen in the results of Interface, the leader in this market segment, which experienced an 8 percent increase in modular carpet sales in the Americas over the first three quarters of 2011.

The sharp drop in residential wall-to-wall carpet sales contributed to carpet and area rugs’ continuing drop in share of the overall U.S. floor coverings market. In 2011, carpet and area rugs are estimated to decline to 58.3 percent of total U.S. floor coverings square foot sales, down from 59.9 percent in 2010. Some of the loss in square foot share could be attributed to potential buyer’s negative reaction to the sharp increase in carpet and area rug prices in 2011 as manufacturers pushed through rising material costs. Average carpet and area rug prices are estimated to have increased by 5.7 percent in 2011 as fiber prices soared along with oil prices. Carpet price increases seem to have contributed to homeowners increasing their usage of hard surface flooring, despite wall-to-wall carpet remaining the low cost residential flooring material on an installed basis.

Consumer’s perception of soft and hard surface flooring may also be fueling the shift to hard surface flooring. Some in the industry feel the growing use of polyester, which is used to make softer and softer carpet, has caused consumers to see wall-to-wall carpet as a bedroom product and less as flooring for use in family areas of the home. At the same time, homeowners, who are staying in their homes longer due to tight credit standards and declining home prices, are seeing the benefits in investing in longer lasting hard surface flooring. This attitude is offsetting the higher initial cost of installing a hard surface floor.

Resilient flooring manufacturers and marketers also pushed through relatively sharp price increases as soaring oil prices caused plastic resin prices to jump sharply. However, resilient flooring demand did not experience the drop seen in residential carpet sales. In fact, resilient flooring square foot sales remained on an upward trend due to the growing popularity of luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and fiberglass-backed sheet vinyl product lines. Meanwhile, ceramic tile and wood flooring made additional inroads in the U.S. flooring market since these sectors were able to hold the line on prices since the cost of materials in these sectors was relatively tame in 2011.

The increase in material costs in the U.S. floor coverings industry is estimated to have resulted in a 4.2 percent increase in average floor coverings manufacturer prices in 2011. This is the sharpest gain in average industry prices since 2006, and caused total floor coverings dollar sales to increase by 2.8 percent in 2011 to $17.6 billion. Square foot sales are estimated to have declined by 1.6 percent to 17.5 billion square feet.

However, a number of factors have turned positive in the fall of 2011, which could indicate that U.S. floor coverings sales could increase in dollars and square feet in 2012. The primary reason for this optimistic outlook is the double-digit increase in U.S. housing demand since the third quarter of 2011. U.S. housing demand could have risen as the sharp drop in housing prices and mortgage rates has made a home purchase the most affordable in decades. In addition, the U.S. employment picture is beginning to brighten, adding to consumer confidence. At the same time, homeowner remodeling spending is beginning to increase, which has contributed to sales increases at building material dealers and specialty floor coverings stores. This could cause total square foot manufacturer sales to increase by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012 as retailers replenish inventories. This would be the first increase in total U.S. floor coverings manufacturer square foot sales in five quarters.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Much of the laminates down now will be eventually covered with carpet.