Posted on 03/02/2015 9:34:30 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Lumber Liquidators shares are getting smoked after a report aired on "60 Minutes" Sunday night that showed major issues at some of the company's factories in China.
Near 11:15 a.m. ET on Monday, shares of the company were down more than 22%.
In premarket trade Monday, shares of Lumber Liquidators — North America's largest specialty retailer of hardwood floor — were down as much as 24%.
At the opening bell on Monday, shares of the company were halted, news pending.
Just after 11:00 a.m. ET, the company released a statement regarding the "60 Minutes" report, saying the newsmagazine used an improper testing method.
The "60 Minutes" report showed a factory in China making laminate flooring for Lumber Liquidators that was deliberately mislabeled to show that it complied with California regulations when it did not.
The report centered on elevated levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, in Lumber Liquidators laminate flooring products sold in California.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
You can buy brand-new unlocked, no-contract iPhones directly from Apple. iPhone 4 8GB is $549 (plus tax) iPhone 4S 16GB is $649 (plus tax) iPhone 4S 32GB is $749 (plus tax) iPhone 4S 64GB is $849 (plus tax)
The fact that Karl Marx liked free trade for his own reasons doesn't mean that Keynes and Friedman were wrong. Marx was wrong about a lot of things. If he was wrong about the ultimate victory of Marxism, why would anyone assume that he is right about free trade being an asset to his cause?
Labor cost per unit is hardly the only factor behind Apple's move overseas. Give this NYTimes article a read and see if anything rings true.
Yes. You re correct. The chicoms must be drowning in formaldehyde.
You may not believe this but there are Idiots who look for every opportunity to call Apple product users idiots.
It is cheap flooring made cheaply.
But if you are the type that wants to change your floors constantly to redecorate then yeah it will work. But it is not made for the long haul.
And building materials made in China is a game of craps at best.
Jimmy Wah: "Ba Muy Ba beer best beer in Vietnam."
Garlick: "Ba Muy Ba beer only beer in Vietnam."
Jimmy Wah: "Try it. Oh, what happened?"
Cronauer: "What happened?"
Jimmy Wah: "Formaldehyde. We put in just a touch of formaldehyde for flavor. Some people get sick, yeah. So if you have to be rushed to a holpital, then when you return, I give you a free salad."
Cronauer: "Well, that seams fair. It really does."
Garlick: "You'll get used to it."
Cronauer: "Maybe."
Yep. Been in the flooring business since the mid 80s. There is no high quality laminate flooring, only high priced laminate flooring. It is all cheaply made stuff.
This whole story seemed suspect from the beginning...
The Janka Hardness Scale ratings:
Popular 300
Black Cherry 950
Burmese Teak 1050
Red Oak 1290
White Oak 1360
Hickory(the hardest North American Species) 1850
Brazilian Cherry(Jatoba) 2850
African Ebony 3250
Cumaru 3540
IPE 3600
This means that IPE is roughly twice as dense(hard) as Hickory and three times as hard as Red Oak. IPE and Cumaru are very difficult to work with, even with carbide tipped blades and pneumatic equipment. I distinctly remember breaking off Stainless Steel deck screws even after predrilling the holes when I last worked with IPE. The next time I used PVC.
I have genuine hardwood floors. They need refinishing but you make it sound like this real floor is better than laminate. Laminates never need refinishing right?
> FYI, Cumaru is the second hardest/densest species of wood,
> commercially manufactured on the planet.
Heh. The guys that installed it were burning out saw blades. It was making sparks as they cut it. It’s as if they were cutting petrified wood.
But it is a beautiful floor. We had it installed diagonally. For some reason, when were trying to determine the best orientation, laying it out straight in either direction had a “train station” look.
The workmen weren’t happy when we told them we wanted it diagonal, but they were really happy with the results and took photos of it for their portfolios. :)
Unfortunately, IF you want to put wood over radiant floor heating, you have to put down laminate. If not, the manufacturer will not warrantee the floor. You can not put 3/4” solid wood over radiant heat. That is the only time I would ever use laminate. As you mentioned, generally laminate is crapola. You really do get what you pay for.
It is a lot more work and waste to lay it diagonally. Same thing when laying tile.
My Mom saw the report last night and of course had a major freak out. Im in California so Lumber Liquidators are HUGE here..we have wood flooring in our house, my sister has laminate in her house(Bedroom, living room, etc) she did not get it from Lumber Liquidators but with many wood stores, they often buy from each other so who knows where the place she got it from got their flooring..My sister is about to have a baby so of course my Mom worries what kind of cancer causing chemicals she might be exposing the baby to
We've had free trade for the past 80 years, with US tariffs being systematically lower than comparable industrialized nations and the republic still stands. American companies continue to be at the forefront of innovation and quality, to the point that they occupy the topmost ranks of the most profitable companies in the world. KFC, not some Chinese company, is the largest restaurant chain in China. Bottom line is that these protectionist talking points don't hold much water. To be competitive, a company not only has to come up with new things, it's got to hold the line on costs so that it can survive periods when its products are not up to snuff relative to the competition's. This is why all American companies have moved assembly work overseas, whether it's China, India or some other country. Because the competition, whether in Europe or Japan (and Korea), has done the same.
Detroit's Big 3 have kept assembly work stateside, and the result of the UAW's obscene pay scales and work rules is systematically lower reliability ratings than their Japanese counterparts. Because the cost difference has to be paid for, and Detroit has done that by chintzing out on parts specifications, such that the original parts on Japanese cars are still going strong even after their American equivalents have had a second generation of replacement parts bolted on (after the original and the first generation of replacement parts were replaced).
Laminates are just plywood where the top veneer is the appearance wood you see. The bottom veneers are other wood species. They have the benefit that they do not shrink and swell like real 3/4” thick wood. You may be able to sand a laminate floor once and refinish it. However, it is probably cheaper just to tear it up and replace it.
What has changed in wood flooring in the last 10-15 years is the introduction of Aluminum Oxide into the polyurethane finish coating. Aluminum Oxide is the second hardest material used today. Second only to diamonds. They make most sand paper with aluminum oxide grit. This has led manufactures to offer 50 year or lifetime warranties on the finish. With some of the denser woods, they will not dent if walked on with stiletto heals. This is why more people are putting wood floors in places in your home where in the past you would only put down tile or stone.
More precisely you really cant refinish laminate flooring. Real wood floors you put varnish or lacquer or polyurethane to "finish" the floor. Laminate is more of chemically made product. Most of it is is made of fiber board with a laminated wood finish on top and then a sealer finish which is usually made of resin. Now the thing to understand is the resin can be made really good and it can take a lot of punishment BUT that is not the problem.
There is an old saw in the flooring world that goes basically "A floor is only as good as what is underneath it."
The resins they use are really good on the surface. BUT the fiber board underneath the resin layer and the wood pattern, is not really sealed it just has lots of resin mixed in it and is water "Resistant" not water proof.
Look up the term delamination.
They will all do it and if they get very wet (soaked as in pipe leaks or really big spills) they will fall apart fairly quickly. First they will pucker on the edges and then they will further deteriorate. And once the puckering starts any time even a bit of water gets in those puckers it will further delaminate the bonds.
And eventually laminate will draw moisture into the fiberboard layer no matter how good the resin on top is.
Your real wood floor can get wet. It will swell and hoove-up BUT unless it is totally cracked in the process it will usually shrink back down once you dry it out and can be refinished and look like a million bucks again. There is no fixing laminate once the bonds of the layers are broken, you must replace it once it starts delaminating.
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