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Mohawk Industries Inc. (Dalton, Ga.) has purchased two prefinished solid plants and two engineered flooring plants from Columbia Forest Products (Danville, Va.). The solid plants are in Holden, W.V. and Melbourne, Ark., and the engineered plants are in Danville, Va., and Sungai Petani, Malaysia. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007. Currently, these plants produce approximately $180 million in annual sales, yet are operating at a loss at half their potential capacity. "Over the next two years we will invest some additional capital to achieve a low-cost position in the market," said Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum, chairman and CEO of Mohawk, in a statement.

"Columbia has been a supplier to Mohawk since the company began distributing hardwood flooring products," Lorberbaum said. "We will continue to support the Columbia brands sold through independent distributors and enhance the product portfolio." Lorberbaum anticipates that Mohawk will now occupy the No. 1 or No. 2 position in the wood, carpet, ceramic, laminate, stone and rug markets. The NWFA partnered with the American Hardwood Export Council to hold an Installation, Sand and Finish school in Mexico City June 6-8. NWFA Technical Director Steve Seabaugh, assisted by Technical Services Advisor Frank Kroupa, led the instruction of 60 students, along with Carlos Sema and Roberto Torres of the American Hardwood Export Council. Volunteer instructors included Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings; Darin Nesline, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Gianfranco De Vecchi, Bostik Inc.; Daniel Boone, Everwood Floors Inc.; Ismael Ibarra, New England Custom Floors LLC; and Tony Robison, Washington Wood Floors Inc.

The NWFA also teamed up with the Wood Floor Covering Association to host an Advanced Installation School in Anaheim, Calif., June 20-22. Steve Marley of Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring represented the NWFA as lead instructor to the 22 attending students. Volunteer instructors included Jennifer Hansen, 3M; Brian Pruitt and Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings; Ken Hintz and Frank Szubart, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Jon Namba, CFI; David Marzalek, DM Hardwood Designs; Alan Blake, ElkCorp.; Drew Kern, Flooring Works; Roger H. Barker, Fortifiber Building Systems Group; Tom Anderson, Kimbrough-Carpenter Inc.; Manny E. Serrano, Manuel E. Serrano; Mike DeFriese, Norton Abrasives; Craig Anderson, Stahl USA; Michael Longshore, Synteko Floor Finishes; Mike Hodges and Larry Subervi, UFloor Systems Inc.; Dave Stark, Virginia Abrasives Corp.; and Scott Greenwood, Virginia Hardwood Co. Armstrong North American Floor Products (Lancaster, Pa.) President and CEO Frank Ready was elected to the Tropical Forest Foundation Board of Directors for a term extending through December 2009.

Real Wood Floors (West Plains, Mo.) is donating hardwood flooring for three houses being built in China for orphans that the Chinese government is unable to care for. These orphans often suffer health problems and receive help from American doctors who travel to the country. Real Wood Floors would like to assemble a team of contractors to travel to China to install the flooring. Those interested in helping can contact Sam Cobb at samuel.cobb@gmail.com or 405/948-0063.

Moxon and Company (Brisbane, Australia) has received chain of custody certification from the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) for its Australian cypress flooring. Moxon sources its products from NRW Forest Products, a Queensland government agency that manages native forests on state lands. NRW is certified by AFS, which is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.

Margaritelli USA Inc. (Brockton, Mass.) opened its fourth U.S. Listone Giordano showroom at 55 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101 in June. The company is also planning to open showrooms in Miami and New York to add to its 586 existing showrooms around the world.

FN Neuhofer Holz (Zell am Moos, Austria) has received an extension on its ISO 9001 certification for governing quality management and its ISO 14001 certification for avoidance and improvement of environmental impact. Lanham Hardwood Flooring Co. (Louisville, Ky.) celebrated its 100^th year of business with 175 people in June. Celebratory festivities included a baseball game at Louisville Slugger Field, a day at Churchill Downs, an open house with a barbeque dinner and several giveaways, including iPods and an ATV. New England Wood Floors Supply (Marshfield, Mass.), a subsidiary of Durable Athletic Systems Inc., celebrated the grand opening of its new two-story design center, located at 864 Plain St., Route 139, Marshfield, MA 02050, on June 9. The Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce presided at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, while visitors enjoyed food and prizes. Mapei Corporation (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) has named Jeff Leone director of strategic marketing. He most recently worked for BASF/Basell Polyolefins.

Airlanco (Falls City, Neb.), designer and manufacturer of air management equipment, has promoted Doug Watkins to operations manager. The company also promoted Leon Huning to research and development engineer, and Jake Farwell to engineering manager. New residential sales of single-family houses in May 2007 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915,000 units, according to the U. S. Commerce Department. This is 1.6 percent below the revised April rate of 930,000 units and is 15.8 percent below the May 2006 estimate of 1,087,000. The NWFA will hold a Wood Flooring Inspection School September 24-28 at its training facility in St. Louis. For more information, e-mail installationschools@nwfa.org or visit www.nwfa.org. Dhomus Fine Flooring Corp. (Miami) is seeking a national sales coordinator located in the Miami/Dade/Broward area. This person will be responsible for increasing sales on a local and national level. Candidates should have experience in marketing and selling hardwood flooring and decking. Résumés and salary history should be e-mailed to edward@dhomusfineflooring.com or faxed to 305/675-0519.

Heritage Wide Plank Flooring (Riverhead, N.Y.) is looking for experienced sales representatives for territories in Manhattan, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York’s Westchester County. There is also an opening for an experienced molder operator. Excellent compensation packages are available for all positions. Résumés should be faxed to 631/727-4935 or e-mailed to clanieri@hwpf.com. A profitable hardwood floor refinish company located in southeast Ohio is for sale. Its business includes commercial, residential and school projects. It comes ready with an experienced crew and has a great reputation, as well as thousands of dollars contracted for 2007. The gross is approximately $300,000 with a 45 to 50 percent profit. For more information, contact Grover Rutter at 419/427-1564 or grutter@gruttercpas.com. If you haven’t returned your form to update your listing in the 2008 NWFA Resource Book and Networking Guide, please do so immediately. If you need a new form, please contact Pam Walker at 800/722-8764, ext. 117; or by e-mail at pam@hardwoodfloorsmag.com. The "Wood Floor of the Year: Rest of the Best" section in the June/July 2007 issue of Hardwood Floors incorrectly listed the location of Every Step of the Way, which should have been Athens, Ala. The company was entered in the Entry/Foyer, Restoration and Kitchen/Dining Room categories.

In the previous issue of Hardwood Floors’ E-News, two companies were left off the Merle B. Smith (Burr Ridge, Ill.) list of vendors present at its Customer Appreciation Day: Basic Coatings (Toledo, Ohio) and Norton Abrasives (Sanborn, N.Y.).

The NWFA is offering its members a new sales promotion program called Floor It that provides cost-effective, easy-to-use marketing campaigns custom-designed to fit companies’ needs. Campaigns are targeted toward five distinct markets including residential, architects, builders, designers and Main Street commercial. Individual programs include direct mail, advertising, public relations, case study sheets and Web sites. For more information, contact the NWFA by phone at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), by e-mail at installationschools@nwfa.org or visit www.nwfa.org.