Champaign IL Information and Resources

Give the rooms in your home a new beginning by installing rich, stylish and polished hardwood floors. Popular, durable, and cost effective, hardwood flooring is a compelling choice for a number of reasons:

1. Looks great and fits easily into any decor with it's timeless appeal and beauty.
2. Lasts a lifetime and will add value at the time of resale.
3. One of the most ecologically sound decisions you can make for your home. Wood is the healthiest option for indoor air quality.
4. More cost effective than you may think and well worth the investment.
5. Easy to maintain and if kept properly, will only look better with age.

Durability:

If durability is an important part of your decision, consider staying away from woods like white pine, fir, and chestnut for your flooring. These softer woods can easily dent and not support large amounts of force. Varieties like walnut, cherry, and teak ranked the highest on hardness and durability tests conducted within the industry. (Janka hardness test)

Cost:

When considering price, it is important to remember that plank size, color, and finish all play a role in how expensive your hardwood flooring will be. Typically, exotic woods like Brazilian cherry or Australian cypress can run upwards of $13.00 a square foot, while more common and readily available woods like Maple, Pine, or Bamboo will generally cost between $4-6 a square foot. It is also important to remember to add on at least $2-4 a square foot for labor and installation.

Color:

Variety is also a large part of what makes hardwoods so appealing. The wood grains, board widths, and different types of wood all factor into the color of hardwood floors. Below is a small chart to help you break down what woods would fall under the categorization of light, medium, or dark.

Light	Medium	Dark
Ash	American Cherry	American Walnut
Beech	Hickory	Bloodwood
Birch	Red Oak	Brazilian Mesquite
Maple	BirdsEye Maple	Brazilian Teak
White Oak	Brazilian Cherry	Brazilian Koa
Pine	Bolivian Rosewood	Purple Heart
Natural Bamboo	Australian Cypress	Santos Mahogany
Eastern White Pine	Strand Bamboo	Carbonized Bamboo

The investment that you make will increase the value of your home, lend comfort and warmth, and instantly add character and polish to your floors.

Estimate your Square Footage

In order to estimate how much hardwood flooring installation will cost you, apply this formula:

1. Measure the Length and width of the area (work in inches for convenience)
2. Multiply the length * width
3. Add 10% to the total. This will give you room for error
4. Divide the total by 144
5. The answer will give you the total square footage of your room

• Your grill, gas or charcoal, should be cleaned after every use with a stiff wire brush. The black buildup that forms on the grates could be full of carcinogens.
• Consider an electric starter or chimney starter instead of lighter fluid. These handy devices conserve money and make your meat taste better.
• Brining, the act of submerging your meat in saltwater for several hours before cooking, infuses meat and poultry with additional flavor and moisture. Brine meat for roughly an hour and make sure that your water (or any other liquid of your choice) has 1 cup of table salt to each gallon of water. Creating a brine is only limited to your imagination. In addition to water, mix in juices, beer, wine, or any spices to add extra flavor and punch.
• Consider a cooking spray like the Weber Grill'N Spray. Safe to use on a hot grill or open flame, this cooking spray helps coat the grill making cooking easier as well as less food residue to deal with at clean up.

Temperature Control: it can make a difference!

• Searing: the way to go for a crusty exterior and cooler center. Start your grill at a high temperature to sear the surface of the meat, then lower the temperature to finish it off. This is a great method for pork chops, chicken, and roasts.
• Slow roasting: slow and low is the way for getting your meat fall off the bone tender. Great for pork butts and chicken, roasting should be done on a grill using indirect heat. If using charcoal you want to bank coals on both sides of the grill, and if using gas or gas powered infrared, use the outer racks.
• Medium/high heat: the most popular and consistent temperature to grill meat. Perfect for steaks, cooking over direct heat is an easy and quick way to get the job done. With a well oiled grate, lay the steak down and cook a few minutes on each side until done to your liking.

• The smartest time to buy a grill, charcoal or gas, is late summer when stores are slashing prices in order to clear inventory space. Try finding these discounted grills at Home Depot through Home Life Perks and receive between 1.5% and 3.75% cash back perks..
• There are a few vital accessories you need to accompany your grill. Try cooking.com's Kingsford BBQ set. Purchase through Home Life Perks and receive between 1.0% to 3.5% cash back perks.
• A brass bristle cleaning brush removes food reside without damaging your grates.Try Sur la Table's Ash and charcoal hoe through Home Life Perks and receive 3.5% cash back perks with this purchase.
• If you use a charcoal grill, a chimney starter is an easy and efficient way to light and heat charcoal before adding it to the grill.
• A durable spatula will allow you to lift and turn food on the grill without losing flavorful juices. Purchase this at Home Life Perks through cooking.com's and earn 2.5% cash back perks.
• Silicone brushes, used for basting, saucing, and mopping food, are heat resistant. Try the La Crueset basting brush through cooking.com's on Home Life Perks and earn 2.5% cash back.