It’s a word you probably hear all the time. In fact, you probably hear it so often that you might’ve forgotten that you don’t actually know what it means.

What is vinyl? Is it a type of plastic? Fake leather? It’s in your flooring. Your couch. The seats and the dashboard of your car. It’s even in your record collection. How has it crept so universally into our lives without our knowledge? And how do none of us know what it is?

Vinyl – aka polyvinyl chloride – is a commonly used synthetic plastic. Yes, it’s true – vinyl is a type of plastic. Due to its usefulness, toughness, and durability, it’s suitable for a wide range of applications, and is known to be one of the world’s most versatile materials. That’s is probably why you can find it in just about everything around your home and in your car.

Caring for Vinyl

Part of what makes vinyl so popular is that good quality vinyl can really take a beating. Even in the most highly-trafficked areas of your home and your vehicle, it’s generally hardy, durable, and long-lasting.

However, because it’s so versatile, vinyl can be a bit of a pain to take care of – obviously, you don’t maintain a vinyl sofa in the same way you maintain vinyl floorboards! Here are a few common applications for vinyl and some tips for taking care of it.

Flooring

When it comes to cleaning vinyl flooring, good general practices include 1) avoiding dropping or moving heavy objects and 2) keeping it clean. Sounds obvious, I know, but it’s not always easy!

If you’re moving furniture from one part of the room to another, for example, be cautious to avoid dragging – despite it’s durability, vinyl isn’t immune to scratches and dings! As far as cleanliness goes, we’d suggest vacuuming and mopping once per week, where possible. When mopping, use a vinyl cleaning product additive mixed into the water, which helps effectively clean without leaving soapy film.

Furniture

Vinyl furniture, such as sofas and chairs, needs semi-regular upkeep in order to stay clean. It’s a good idea to wipe sofas gently with a damp, soapy cloth to remove harmful dust and debris, which can cause scratches or stains if left alone. After that, it’s best to leave it to air dry.

It’s also a good idea to consider what clothes you’re wearing when you sit on it. Are you wearing pants with lots of buttons that might leave scratches? Is your shirt dirty? It sounds silly, but a little extra caution goes a long way.

Car Seats and Interiors

Due to their shape, the nooks and crannies of car seats may occasionally require a more in-depth makeover to get them clean, such as vacuuming, brushing, and soap. When it comes to vinyl elements of the dashboard, the same applies – cleaning gently with water and soap can go a long way in prolonging the quality of your car’s interior.

Vinyl in cars is also susceptible to damage from the sun, which can cause fading, or even cracking. Park your car indoors, if you can – if not, consider using a shade across your windshield.

Need a Hand with Vinyl Repairs?

New Creations specializes in vinyl! We can fix ripped flooring, damaged seats and furniture, and more. Vinyl is everywhere, which means it can get damaged or scratched in many different ways. Our flexible, mobile work allows us to work around your schedule and come to you – no matter how busy you are!

Get in touch for more details!

Choosing a sofa: Your sofa plays a big role making your house feel like your home. A good couch takes comfort, function, and aesthetics, and rolls them all together, which means it can be difficult to choose which type of sofa to get!

So, if you’re in the market for a new sofa, how can you avoid making the wrong choice? How can you know what is best? And, perhaps most importantly, how can you know which sofa will last the longest? After all, a good sofa is a long-term investment.

Several factors go into deciding what kind of furniture to purchase. Here are a few questions that may help you determine which sofa will best suit your needs.

What’s your budget?

Only you know how much money you are prepared to spend, but the important thing is getting quality within each price range. Modern sofas can include many interesting or unusual features, including reclining seats, storage compartments, built-in reading lights, USB plugs, massage functions, and much more.

These features will affect the price of the piece, of course; however, more bells and whistles don’t always denote higher quality. Decide which features are the most important to you and make sure you prioritize them when choosing a sofa.

How will you use your sofa?  

Is this furniture going into a formal living room? A “man-cave?” A rumpus room that doubles as a daycare? What are the everyday activities that your sofa will be expected to host? TV watching? Reclining? Naps? Or will it only be used occasionally for formal events? A more-formal sofa might sacrifice comfort for aesthetics, while an informal sofa might cost less, but wear out quickly.

What is the style of the room?

Choose a style which complements the other furnishings in the room and the home. That teal sofa may be a good deal, but it may not match your red easy chair.

What’s the size of the room/other furniture/the people using it?

Scale is important for a variety of reasons. If you have existing furniture, you want everything to fit well without impeding traffic flow within the room. Moreover, make sure that the sofa fits you. Some people have a leg length that simply doesn’t fit the sofa or knees that don’t fit comfortably around the edge of the seat.

Another area of concern is lumbar support. Make sure that when sitting in the chair, your lower back feels adequately supported. You aren’t paying for back pain.

What material should we go with?

The feel of the upholstery will be important. Some people will sit on a sofa and feel like they are sliding off the front of the chair, or conversely, they feel like the upholstery grabs their clothes and they can’t move around. When choosing a sofa, make sure to be aware of material as you sit in the store models. Most furniture stores won’t let you return pieces for comfort issues like this.

Who will be using it?

If you expect pets, kids, or teens, to be using the sofa on a daily basis, it’s pretty important that you choose something that’s easy to clean and will hold up to wear. Microfiber is often a good choice because it is easy to clean, looks nice, and repairs well. Leather also hold up fairly well to day-to-day wear and tear.

What is the real material in the sofa?

Many people believe they have purchased a leather couch only to find out it’s a synthetic or human-made product. The industry is not well regulated regarding the definition of the word ‘leather’: In fact, some manufacturers mix in 15% leather shavings to the polyurethane coating of the upholstery so they can call it leather (instead of vinyl). As you can imagine, this product does not wear nearly as well long-term as full grain leather upholstery.

Many sofas have full leather on the seating surfaces, but the side panels and rear panels are made of a very well-matched vinyl. A mixed material sofa can be a perfectly acceptable compromise to the higher cost associated with a fully upholstered leather sofa, as long as you are aware of what you are buying.

Repair. Restore. Renew.

After all that work looking for a sofa you love, wouldn’t it be great if it lasted forever?

 New Creations can’t guarantee your sofa’s eternal life, but we do have the skills to extend the life of your furniture with quality repairs. Many cosmetic and comfort issues can be repaired, restored, or renewed by a New Creations mobile technician including sofa frames, springs, electrical components, pull handles, padding issues, tears, faded leather, and even recovering worn sections with the factory supplied upholstery.

Get in touch for more info!

Wooden Cupboards

There’s little more that adds class and function to your kitchen than wooden cupboards. They look great, and their natural wood grain adds a unique, classically vintage appeal to your home. They can be made from lots of different types of wood, such as simple pine, oak, and maple, to more elegant selections like mahogany.

If you’re like most people, your kitchen is widely seen by many guests and visitors, so it’s in your best interest for it to look great. Counters wiped and free of crumbs. Floors mopped. Everything put away properly. However, cleanliness is one thing, but what if something in your kitchen is actually damaged?

Nothing wooden in your home is entirely immune to damage – especially if you have kids, pets, or a large family! There are no guarantees that the wooden surfaces of your cabinets won’t get chipped, scratched, gouged, or even burned – after all, your kitchen is a busy place.

Fixing Damage

Picture this: you just moved into a new home, and it’s fantastic. It’s in good shape overall, and has everything you’ve ever wanted in a home. However, it needs a little work here and there; most notably, the kitchen cabinets have areas where they’re scratched and chipped. As much as you’d like to just ignore the damage, it’s a little too glaring. What can you do?

A common solution to this problem (one that many homeowners employ) is to simply paint the cupboards white. It’s quick and relatively inexpensive – definitely less pricey and less work than just getting new cabinets – so it’s probably a safe bet, right?

Though white wooden cupboards can certainly look nice, it’s too much of a shame to rob yourself of the natural wood look in your home. Not only do you lose sight of the original wood grain, but you also now have cabinets that will show the original colours underneath if they are damaged again. Those are just two reasons out of many why, in the event of minor damage such as scratches, nicks, or mild burns, we recommend getting your cabinets repaired rather than getting it painted.

At New Creations, we’re happy to give you a hand getting your dream home looking just a little more pristine. Our mobile technicians are able to come visit your home and make quick, effective repairs to complicated problems – including cosmetically damaged wood. Our methods are cost effective, safe, and environmentally friendly. 

Get in touch if you’d like more info!

Hardwood floor repairs: When it comes to giving your home a classic yet modern look, there’s little that makes more overall difference than the addition of hardwood flooring – and for good reason! Wooden floors are easily the most popular and widely used flooring in residential settings. Though carpeting can be quite popular as well, it simply can’t compare to hardwood in terms of functionality, durability, and looks.

That being said, hardwood flooring isn’t without its own maintenance headaches. They can get scratched, damaged, warped, or faded. And though damage isn’t always easy to avoid, there are almost always ways to get it fixed. Let’s take a look at some common causes of damage to wooden floors.

The Sun

When it comes to hardwood floor repairs, the sun is one of the biggest culprits, yet many homeowners don’t realize it. Prolonged exposure to the warmth and light of the sun can cause the wood to fade, resulting in uneven colouration of your floors.

There’s not much you can do to prevent sun-faded hardwood floors – it’s not as though you can move your entire floor out of the sun! However, keeping your blinds closed during the day (or at least when you aren’t using that room) can go a long way in keeping your hardwood floors looking clean and tidy.

Furniture and Pets

Wooden floors can be very sensitive to scratching – especially if you have pets. Dog’s nails, in particular, are known to cause scratches in floors. Haphazardly moving furniture can be even worse, causing long scratches in your fine wood finish. When it comes to avoiding scratching your floors, the best practice is generally just to be as cautious as possible when moving furniture – and try to keep your dog’s fingernails nice and short, if you can!

“My Floor is Damaged. What Can I Do?”

When it comes to hardwood floor repairs – especially repairing sun-fading and scratching – we believe it’s important to consider replacing, not repairing. 

Unless your floor has severely warped boards or water damage, New Creations can come take a look and help you get it fixed. Not only will this save you tons of time and effort, but it can save you a lot of money. Our innovative tools and expert technicians know how to get your floor looking new again! Get in touch today for more info.

Jokes aside, it’s an extremely common question, asked daily by homeowners and business owners alike when something breaks. Couples and families argue regularly over whether something damaged “isn’t too bad”, or whether they should just buy a new one. In business, where time often equals money, it may seem more immediately feasible to replace the damaged item than to take the time to have it professionally restored

Nowadays, it’s sadly true that some things are simply not built durably. As such, the “repair vs replace” debate is one that’s impossible to avoid. When something in your home or business is damaged, restoring it doesn’t always seem like the right way to go. It might seem too time consuming, too costly, or too difficult – especially if several different things need repairs at once!

In most cases, however, the repairs that New Creations offers can be done quickly and easily. So before you look into buying a new couch, bathtub, or dresser, take a look at a few reasons that you should consider restoring what you already have:

1) Restorations are less expensive

Regarding cosmetic-type repairs, restorations are very rarely more expensive than replacements! When it comes time to repair the seats or exterior of a car, the cushions of a leather sofa, or the basin of a sink, for example, the cost of hiring one of our technicians is likely to help you save some money. In fact, in many cases, our repairs cost less than 10% of the cost of replacement.

2) Restorations are better for the environment

Imagine there’s a crack in your bathtub. It’s minor, but if it grows any longer, it’s likely to become a big problem! You might be tempted to tear it out entirely and get rid of it, but disposing of something as large as a bathtub might incur significant costs and negatively affect your environmental footprint. Remember, you are not only disposing of the item itself — you’re disposing of everything attached to it, which in this case includes drywall, tile, grout, and more.

3) Believe it or not, restorations are usually quicker!

Everyone is busy nowadays, and it’s hard to fit everything into your schedule! Buying new furniture to replace damaged dressers, tables, sofas, and couches is not only expensive, but takes a lot of time. However, depending on the extent of the damage, our mobile technicians can come to you when you’re free and complete work quickly and quietly.

4) Restorations are less work (for you)

Let us take some work off your hands! Instead of juggling everything going on in your life while also trying to selectively replace the siding of your home or the hardwood boards in your floor (for example), you can call the New Creations branch nearest you and we’ll get you the help you need ASAP. You can also save yourself potentially backbreaking physical work from having to carry heavy items in and out of the house and up and down stairs.

5) Our restoration teams can restore many, many different types of materials and furniture

Imagine you need a lot of things repaired. Perhaps you run a furniture store and need some minor work done to repair wood, leather, vinyl, and fabric. Perhaps you’re a new homeowner and you want to deodorize your new house while also repairing some flooring that got damaged in the move. Either way, New Creations tackles a broad variety of different materials, meaning that there’s no need for you to hire a whole slew of different contractors – we can do it all!

Need Help?

The importance of repairing instead of replacing is the bedrock on which New Creations was founded in 1988. Born from a desire to reduce waste and promote the value of restorations, New Creations has since evolved into a national company and has drastically increased what materials we are capable of restoring.

If you have something that you’d like quickly and professionally restored, get in touch! We’d love to help you out.

Imagine you start seeing chips & cracks form in your bathtub. Maybe someone in your family accidentally dropped something heavy in there. Maybe you just knocked over the shampoo bottle one too many times! Either way, now you’ve got a problem that needs to be fixed ASAP if you want to keep water — and mold — from getting into your walls and floors.

Bathtubs

Consider what a sink or bathtub actually is: a basin for running water. Water that can seriously harm your home if it manages to escape its basin in ways it shouldn’t – like through cracks.

Modern bathtubs are generally made of one of four materials: acrylic, steel, porcelain, or fiberglass. Fiberglass is extremely common because it’s lightweight and durable, but it’s also fairly flexible, which means if it’s installed in such a way that does not fully support its weight, cracks can form rather easily if anything is dropped on it.

The use of aggressive cleaners (like bleach) can also cause problems in your bathtub. They can erode the finish of your tub, which allows moisture in and forms cracks over time. The longer a crack is allowed to remain in your tub, the larger it grows, possibly leading to mold in the drywall.

Sinks

Sinks (especially bathroom sinks) aren’t invincible either. Too many heavy items dropped can cause tiny dings and dents that are virtually invisible unless you’re looking for them. Left unfixed, these cracks can cause mold in your cupboards, or even cause the sink to simply break.

Get Them Fixed!

If your bathtub or sink is chipped or cracked, you may be tempted to tear it out, throw away the entire thing, and just replace it. It may seem easier, but it’s also expensive, and it isn’t exactly environmentally friendly to dispose of so much material!

New Creations can handle plenty of types of restoration work across a broad spectrum of materials and mediums. If your bathtub or sink is chipped, cracked, or otherwise damaged, we’d love to take a look! Get in touch if you’d like more info, or take a look at some more before/after pics.

Major Damage to Your Home’s Exterior

Picture this: you’re a homeowner whose house has just been hit by a terrible summer storm. Giant hailstones have broken windows and siding. Wind has torn shingles off from your roof. You have leaks in your ceiling.

The primary cause of exterior damage (especially in the prairies!) is storms. A summer storm can ravage your house’s exterior and leave you no choice but to file an insurance claim. The major benefit of the New Creations process is that, in most cases, we can work with your insurance company, restoration company, or whoever is responsible, to restore your home to its former glory without replacing everything!

Why is that beneficial? For starters, it’s less expensive. Less materials and fewer repairs equal less cost. The other major benefit is environmental. Imagine, for example, that the siding on all sides of your home is damaged beyond reason. While tearing out and replacing the entire side of your house may seem easier, more plausible, and more likely to provide a seamless fix, all the damaged material will go directly into a landfill. 

The world of home ownership and exterior restorations is an unpredictable place, and not all damage to your home is as disastrous as a storm. Perhaps a dog chews a decorative beam. A delivery man may scrape your wooden door while moving something inside. Maybe your teenage son damages the baseboards with a weed whacker. Maybe, even, a rogue golf ball flies over from the nearby golf course and breaks a piece off your stone feature wall.

Not all damage to your home is the end of the world. In the case of minor damage (such as the examples listed above), we recommend you call New Creations directly instead of your insurance provider to keep your insurance premiums down. In most cases, New Creations can come in and fix minor damage in an afternoon!

If you’re seeking repairs on the exteriors of your home, please contact us for an estimate!

Pet Stains and Odours – What Kind of Restorations Can We Do?

The word “restorations” may conjure up different images for different people. For most, it’s likely someone working diligently on some wooden furniture, like a table or dresser. For another, repairing damaged cars might be the image that springs to mind. It can refer to a great many different types of work – in fact, that’s one of the things that we love most about it: the variety and flexibility of projects that we’re afforded at New Creations!

That being said, there are a great many people who aren’t aware that “restorations” can mean so many different things, and that at New Creations, we can do most of those things! Car interiors and exteriors? Check. Home exteriors? Check. Furniture, countertops, and flooring? Check. Vinyl, fabric, and leather? Check!

However, we’d like to draw your attention now to an often-overlooked facet of restorations work: deodorizing and stain removal.

Our Business

When our business first began in 1988, we didn’t offer nearly as many types of restoration. In fact, we were largely limited to cloth, fabric, leather repair, and deodorizing! Now, after nearly thirty-three years in business, deodorizing is something we’ve gotten pretty comfortable doing, and our mobile technicians can quickly come out to you, give you a quote, and get to work on making your home or vehicle smell normal once more.

Is the problem worse than just the smell of old smoke? Are there pet odours and stains, as well? Not a problem – we can help with that too. Our innovative tools and techniques make it possible for us to help you deal with just about any type of stain or spill that might mar your home or vehicle.  

We’ve become industry leaders due to the breadth of different restorations we’re able to tackle. We’ve evolved and changed a lot over the years, so we can repair or fix up plenty of different things that many people wouldn’t think to talk to us about!

If you’re interested in deodorizing or stain removal services, consider getting in touch!

Hiring Too Many Companies?

If you’re a business owner or a homeowner, you likely have a lot of needs. There’s always more work to be done around your home or business – things that need to be touched up, repaired, renovated, or restored in order to live up to its full value. Day-to-day life is harder on homes, vehicles, and furniture than most people realize, and keeping up can be a real challenge sometimes!

However, you might be getting tired of having to hire so many different people to fulfill your repair needs. Let’s say, for example, that you own a furniture warehouse. You’ve likely separately hired different repair companies for just about everything: leather, vinyl, wood, metal, plastics, and general repair. Having to hire so many different specialist companies is expensive, time consuming, and stressful.

If you need repair or restorations work done around your house or in your vehicle, you likely feel the same way. Imagine that you have wood flooring in need of repairs, a burn mark on your granite countertop, a crack in your bathtub, and scratches on your car. Most people’s first instinct is that they’ll need to hire a myriad of different companies to get it all fixed, because it would be extremely difficult to find someone who’s able to repair all of these different materials – right?

What Can We Do?

You’re probably busy. Maybe you have a family, a job, a business, and/or pets that keep you occupied every day from sunup to sundown. Whatever it is, you likely don’t have the time or the energy to hire all these different people to come in on different days. Moreover, with COVID-19 protocols in place, you likely want to keep the amount of people coming in and out of your home to a minimum.

At New Creations, our mobile technicians can come out to you quickly and fulfill all your restoration needs at once! That means fewer interruptions, less noise, and more convenience for you. 

When our company first began, we were only able to perform minor restorations on vinyl, leather, and cloth. but our innovative and adaptive business model has allowed us to expand now to repair hundreds of different things. We’re proud to be a one-stop shop for repairs! Get in touch if you’d like more information.

Car interiors are often ignored or neglected as part of a functioning vehicle. After all – who cares how messy your car is, as long as it runs, right? However, the truth is a little more complicated.

Keeping Your Interior Pristine

If you have a car, you likely use it every day. Even if you only use it on your way to and from work every day, you probably spend more time driving than you realize. In fact, the average Canadian drives for 380 hours a year – nearly sixteen full days!

When you spend sixteen or more days a year in your car, it’s bound to get a little messy! Just like any area in your home, it’s subject to wear and tear. Dashboard components fade or break. Upholstery rips. Drinks get spilled and food gets dropped on the floor. If you have pets, seats can get scratched, dirty, and hairy.

Damage is hard to avoid, but if you don’t fix it when it happens, it’ll only get worse! Your car may be all good under the hood, so to speak, but if the interior is messy, stained, covered in burn marks, smelly, or otherwise damaged, it can cause you lots of problems down the road.

Of course, there are some basic steps you can take that will help keep your car clean, like staying on top of removing garbage and crumbs. However, keeping the interior of your car tidy and undamaged takes a more in-depth commitment than many people realize!

Why should I get my car interior repaired?

Do you have an older car that runs perfectly but is starting to see get a little worn in the interior? Here are some reasons you should consider cleaning it up and/or get it repaired.

1) A clean interior increases resale value

 Do you eat and drink in your car? Probably — most people do! It may seem harmless, but food and drinks can cause stains and smells. One small stain may not be a big deal, but a dozen small stains will cause problems going forward! Moreover, if you frequently smoke or take pets in your car, your car’s interior may be subject to bigger stains, scratches, burn marks, and odors.

If you’re looking to sell your car, you should definitely consider getting it cleaned and getting damage repaired. A potential buyer may see burn marks, fading, tears, etc. and ask themselves: “if this person doesn’t keep the inside of their car clean, can I trust that they took care of the car mechanically?”

2) A small problem quickly becomes a big problem

A common issue in older vehicles is tears in the vinyl or cushions. When a rip first appears, it may be extremely small – perhaps even unnoticeable. However, the longer you ignore a rip in the seat, the larger it’s likely to grow, until repair suddenly becomes a much larger task as seats begin to deteriorate and lose their stuffing.

The same principle goes for many different areas of your car. Seemingly minor issues, when not taken care of immediately, can quickly become huge, expensive repair jobs.

3) A dirty car can be an operational and health hazard

Believe it or not, an unclean or damaged interior can cause health problems when it gets really bad. Dirty air vents, for example, can spread dust and dirt around the cabin for occupants to breathe in. Dirty and grime buildup can cause dashboard buttons and knobs to fail. Worst case scenario, filmy buildup on mirrors and windows can be a driving/safety hazard. Basic cleaning and maintenance habits can mitigate severe long-term problems!

How Can We Help?

Everyone knows that your car’s exterior takes a beating every day, but they don’t consider that the interior gets hit pretty hard, too! Even if it still drives perfectly, it’s difficult to spend time in an vehicle that’s slowly deteriorating around you,

New Creations sees a lot of cars with damaged interiors, but we rarely come across anything we can’t fix. We specialize in repairing interior components like leather, cloth, vinyl, plastic, and wood, and have done work on steering wheels, trim panels, armrests, consoles, headliners, upholstery, dashboards, seats, vinyl, leather, and more! We can also help remove stains and odours and get your car looking nice and fresh if you’re planning to sell.

Need more info? Consider getting in touch!