We used Mari at Flooring Alternatives 15 years ago to install a cork floor in our kitchen. Everything was great. The original floor wore out and we opted to replace it using Flooring Alternatives once again. We chose a 12x12 solid cork floor. The replacement process has ended up with a poor quality installation, not worthy of the price. --There are uneven tile edges in numerous places that are noticeable when your shoe or foot catches. These raised edges will break off at some point. --There are gaps at the edges by the cabinets. --There are numerous places where 4 tiles meet and are off center. Mari's installer Fito returned to inspect the floor at our request and reported the problems to Mari. Mari came out to look for herself and was unable to figure out what or why. She promised to contact the manufacturer of the floor and adhesive. She has not responded in months. I've sent emails, texts and left voice messages. I will be filing a small claims suit shortly because I have no alternative so long as she is unwilling to respond. I think Mari was nearing retirement and working from her home when we hired her this year and may be out of business but her website is still up. I can post a dozen pictures if people are interested. Mari has them and knows very well the floor install is substandard. read more

It is coming up on one year since we chose to have our kitchen flooring and having it installed by Flooring Alternatives. I did a lot of research and found that Marmoleum (Forbo's linoleum brand) is eco-friendly, made with non-toxic materials and also feels wonderful beneath bare feet. We decided on White Chocolate which has flecks of real cocoa hulls embedded in the material. It is a light-coloured shade to keep the kitchen looking bright and clean. Some people might choose a floor that hides the dirt, but with this colour floor you can't get away with that. It really helps keep me on my toes for keeping the floor clean. Fito did an excellent job with demo and installation of our sheet marmoleum flooring. The underlayment has to be perfectly smooth and clean. Any dirt or bumps will eventually translate to the marmoleum. It was an all day job for him, but at the end of the day we felt very good about the install. It looks amazing with our new cabinets and after having lived with it for almost a year, there have had no issues with sweeping, mopping or cleaning. Despite the challenges with Covid, Mari and Keegan were great in communicating with us. Everything was timely and we did not experience any significant delays with shipping or installation. Much praise for everyone on the team! read more

See all

My husband and I got Cali Bamboo Fossilized 5-in Vintage Moonlight flooring from Flooring Alternatives and could not be happier! The personalized attention and really helpful tips from knowledgeable staff made us feel prepared and excited to install the flooring ourselves - once we finish the baseboard and transition strip, onto the backsplash! read more

Flooring Alternatives - after - Flooring Near Me - Berkeley, California

See all

Mari, the proprietor was quite helpful initially in helping us pick out some natural linoleum for our bathroom. She even allowed us to take home as many preview samples as we wanted (we live close by) and then bring them right back. We placed an order with her for the material and the pricing was retail prices with no discounting which we were fine with. But there was also quite a high extra freight charge to have it delivered to the store, which surprised us. We also felt that Flooring Alternatives could have been a bit more communicative about when our order would arrive and letting us know that it did. We had asked for them to call us as well as let the third party recommended installer know when it came in but they only called the installer so we were a bit out of the loop until the installer phoned us to schedule the install. Since we had prepaid for the order, we should have been kept in the loop every step of the way but this is a pretty small complaint since in the end, the transaction work out. We did get the flooring on time and the order was correct. In the future we feel comfortable using Flooring Alternatives again. read more

We needed new flooring for a rental unit in the building we also live in. We were looking for a combination of affordable, durable, and environmentally friendly and found it all at Flooring Alternatives. The staff were incredibly helpful, offering good advice and lots of different options within our budget. We ended up having them install wool carpet in 2 bedrooms and buying cork planks and underlayment that we had someone else install.. We're very happy with the results and highly recommend them to anyone else. read more

After we decided to replace the carpet in our loft with a new cork floor, we looked around for a company that was experienced with cork, including installation. Most flooring businesses that do cork treat it as a niche market, I suppose because it isn't as common as other types of floors, and typically expect you to install it yourself. We were drawn to Flooring Alternatives because cork seemed to be their specialty, and they've had years of experience with it, and had their own installers. As other reviewers have already noted, Mari (the owner) as well as the staff, was very knowledgable and patient. Soon after we got the estimate from their in-house installer, FA told us that they are no longer using an in-house installer and our project would be turned over to an independent installer. This of course raised a big red flag, but I trusted FA because I certainly didn't know anything about picking an installer, and we really wanted to move forward. We ended up with Artex Flooring, Inc. who did an excellent installation job (for less money) with no additional delay. In fact, they finished ahead of schedule (3.5 days) and the result is fantastic. We absolutely love our new cork floor, and would recommend Flooring Alternatives to anyone who is considering cork, or bamboo, or where environmental considerations are important. And it always feels good to work with a small local business that cares about their customers and takes pride in what they do. read more

I am negligent in writing a review for this fine company. In 2012, we did an energy upgrade of our house, which included tearing out the old spruce kitchen flooring, laying down a better vapor barrier, and installing new flooring. We wanted something that looked historic to our 1923 Craftsman, so we visited Flooring Alternatives for some ideas. After falling in love with about five things which really weren't historical, we realized that what we were seeking was more of the original spruce boards. They look right, and they are softer under foot than a hardwood floor. Mari was able to find a supplier, and had the product shipped directly to us, at a very reasonable cost. We let the wood acclimate to our house for a week, so that it reached the same temperature and humidity levels. Then, it was installed, sanded, and finished with four coats of clear water-based polyurethane. It has gradually developed the natural dings and bumps that these early wood floors would get, giving it the historic look and feel we were after. The poly has held up well, so we won't need to refinish the floor for quite a few more years. Nothing our dogs have done to the floor have damaged it at all. We are so pleased with this, and for the excellent service provided by Mari Strain of Flooring Alternatives. read more

We needed to replace carpet in two bedrooms and find a flooring solution for the entryway that could handle high traffic in an El Nino year, preferably with an eco-friendly linoleum. For anyone interested in a vintage patterns or historic style, it can be frustrating that the majority of linoleum today is designed to look like wood, concrete, laminate, or anything but linoleum. We were grateful to have Flooring Alternatives in our area and they had a fantastic selection of Forbo Marmoleum. While Forbo doesn't make vintage patterns of yesteryear, at least their product looks like linoleum. Plus, it is all natural and offered in a variety of fun colorways. Flooring Alternatives owner Mari was incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and communicative throughout the entire process. She sent regular emails updating us on the timing of site visits, quotes, and materials delivery. The Flooring Alternatives 100% wool carpets were lovely but out of reach for our budget. However, the marmoleum was a dream come true! Depending on the style you pick, Forbo ships to Berkeley from Reno or from back East in PA, so delivery time can vary. Not only is the quality of the marmoleum impressive, it doesn't off-gas a nasty chemical smell. Instead it smells yummy for a few days, like flaxseed or linseed oil. Also, I can't say enough good things about the Flooring Alternative's independent linoleum installer Ross Cordero. Marmoleum has some natural give so you need an expert to install it properly and he did an artful job. Ross is old school and schedules by phone (no email) but he is absolute joy to work with and welcome into your home. I encourage anyone looking to install linoleum to seek him out. Thanks again Ross and Mari! read more

Flooring Alternatives - Ross did a fantastic job installing the Forbo Marmoleum "Painter's Palette" in entryway mudroom. (Photo taken in low natural light). - Flooring Near Me - Berkeley, California

Called this place last month and asked for pricing, but the girl who answered was short and rude! I asked price for price per square foot and was told $8-$9 per square foot. After I said Home Depot and other companies charge only 1/4 of that she stated in a rude way "we actually pay are people well". Umm excuse me?! I'm all for paying people well, but $8-$9 per square foot is more than what high end boutiques charge. Overall I would never EVER recommend this place to anyone or give them any business. Keep your $8-$9 per square foot and I found a company who had better reviews, more reviews for half the price. read more

I'll be with you in a moment. Are these such difficult words to say? Apparently they are or perhaps your conversation with your coworker is of such earth shattering importance that completely ignoring customers is okay. Also the place is a mess and the flooring is ripped up in the doorway that makes wheelchair access nerve wracking. read more

We recently bought a home in the Oakland Hills - and it was a fixer. The home is a 1940's era Oakland home with great bones, but was in dire need of a makeover. One of the selling points for us was the original hardwood flooring. It was in pretty bad shape, but we thought they might look better with some work. We followed a contractor's recommendation and called Cynthia at Flooring Alternatives. They took the job with an honest and appropriate bid, and they were at work in a matter of days. It took just 1 week and the result was tremendous. The floors look beautiful, as if brand new. The first thing our guests say now when they enter our house is "Wow, the floors are beautiful!" Even more impressively, during the middle of the job we decided to completely rip out and replace the kitchen flooring, which was rotted linoleum. They added the demo and floor installation quickly, on-the-fly, and added just one day to the total of the job. The house, and kitchen, look great. We will definitely use the Flooring Alternatives team again. They are great, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and very nice. read more

AWESOME! Man I sure cam to the right place. My wife and I have a 2200 sq ft home in Mill Valley. We wanted Walnut floors, wide width planks and a lot of it! Marin is a genius. She worked with us shoulder to shoulder providing clear information, logical choices and made things a breeze for our contractor! Love this company! THANK YOU MARI & FLOORING ALTERNATIVES! read more

My partner and I cruised in here on Saturday afternoon knowing basically nothing about hardwood floors (other than that we like how they look)--Mari patiently answered our numerous questions, guided us towards a type of flooring that fulfilled our requirements and provided us with a (super reasonable) quote for hardwood. read more

Mari was pretty nice and helpful while we selecting our floor and helped us identify attractive but not too expensive options. Be careful in choosing the amount of your order (do not rely on the staff to calculate it for you) and ask if there is any return policy that applies specifically to your particular order because the policy is different for different distributors that they sell. read more

It took me more than a year to decide what to put on the floor of my condo. Every month or so, I showed up here, and Mari always treated me graciously even though she was probably convinced that her time was being wasted on me. Like another reviewer wrote, she really knows her stuff. She steered me clear of certain options that she thought would not work in my situation. I ended up with a beautiful cork tile floor and I am very happy with it. Don't be fooled by the small sIze of the shop. It has the best selection of cork that I found, and a great variety of sustainable flooring. read more

I recently has hardwood floors (floating wood composite) installed in my first floor condo. The choice of a composite floor was due to the underfloor being slurry concrete. The choice of flooring (red oak by Plank) and the installation was outstanding. I highly recommend calling and talking to Mari, the owner, if you have any interest in a quality installation. read more

We were looking for cork flooring to replace the wall-to-wall carpet in our new condo and satisfy the HOA rules for noise dampening. Mari at Flooring Alternatives was the most knowledgable person I found after calling around a lot of businesses, so we headed to Berkeley. Fortunately the flooring material we liked best was on clearance from the manufacturer, and Flooring Alternatives passed the discount on to us. Mari helped us get all the information required by our HOA, and also lined up workers to get the job done so we could complete our move and not pay double rent any longer than necessary. The workers did a beautiful job. I'd definitely recommend this company if you want to work with people who really know what they're doing with eco-friendly flooring materials. read more

I recently had a beautiful (Orosi) hardwood floor and bamboo floor installed by Flooring Alternatives. The installation was for a Master bedroom and large walk-in closet as well as a Master bathroom. They get 5 stars because they did everything exactly as expected and a couple of things better than expected. First, they started and finished the job on schedule. The floors were installed perfectly. In fact, where the hardwood and bamboo floors met (at the bathroom door) they were supposed to install a T-molding to make the transition between the floors look clean. However, the installer was so good he did not need it. The two floors mated perfectly. It was a nice, unexpected touch. Finally, after the job was completed, and I reviewed the work, there was some confusion between the installer and my general contractor about how the edge of the floor should meet the shower pan in the bathroom. Cynthia, who runs the installation business, came out and personally looked at the issue and had her team back on site to resolve it to my satisfaction. I appreciated her professionalism and willingness to make me happy without any fuss. I am now having them refinish some other floors in the house. (I also purchased the floors from Alternative Flooring as well. It was nice to have a full service shop.) read more

I really had a good experience here! What it is, is a small, helpful office, with one or two people around. When you enter they give you their total attention, and are willing to discuss what it takes to help you. There is a variety of flooring, I am always drawn to Marmoleum. Anyway, I highly recommend it. read more

Mari was great. Very patient and knows her stuff. Our realtor re-introduced us to her and turned us on to Marmoleum, an all natural linoleum for our kitchen floor. It looks and feels great under foot. Softer than tile for our kids and better suited to our wood cabinets than a wood or bamboo floor would be. Stays clean and looks sharp. I was very very happy with our installer. He was second on Mari's list but first class in my book. The seam between the two lengths is almost invisible, the floor and subfloor perfectly flat and his price reasonable. Tony Torres with Pinole Floor Coverings 510 758 0736. read more

I own a third floor condo in a building whose regs require carpeting on every floor over the first. My shaggy collie sheds like crazy so I was able to get permission to replace the carpet with a cork floor , a product which is as sound absorbant and much cleaner and easier to maintain if considerably more expensive. Given the expense, I was anxious that the replacement floor come out exactly right. Both Cynthia and Mari were extremely helpful and patient in answering my questions and providing samples through several months of decision making on my part. Their workers were prompt, careful and persevering and the look of the finished project was exactly what I was looking for. Although a bit more expensive than some suppliers and installers, these folks know exactly what their doing. Flooring Alternatives was worth it. I am happy to give them a five star rating. read more

In and out the door with our fabulous floating cork floor in less than 25 minutes at closing time! Mari was great & the selection of green flooring is as good as anything I found online. read more

We are still in the process of picking out which direction we are going with floors, but I was gobsmacked by the thorough and personable service and selection they had when we came in yesterday. Mari was the terrific woman who helped us. It felt like an intimate little party-she let us check out a a large variety of samples, talked us through the virtues of different materials and gave aesthetic input as we talked about kitchen trends, etc. I would tell anyone to go there-we have made the rounds and there is no better floor shopping experience in the immediate area. read more

The staff is extremely knowledgeable, courteous, friendly, and very helpful. Wish they had more carpet alternatives, but I would definitely recommend working with them. read more

Flooring Alternatives has the best selection of cork of all of the stores that I visited and did a great job leveling the floor in my old building and installing new cork. read more

As part of our kitchen remodel we purchased new cork flooring from Flooring Alternatives. Sales, service, support and coordination with our installer was superb. read more

I was interested in Marmoleum for my kitchen remodel. Flooring Alternatives had a great selection. Mari was very helpful and a pleasure to work with. By letting me use her computer, I accessed my email to get the designer's specs which Mari used to calculate the number of squares per color for my design. Her math skills were amazing! The order was very accurate and I am very happy with the results. Mari was knowledgeable about the products and she provided wonderful customer service. read more

Mari was a joy to work with and was extremely helpful, talked me through all the options and gave me a crash course education on different types of flooring materials. Although I didn't end up working with her for logistical reasons, I would be glad to buy from her in the future and I suggest everyone give her store a try. read more

We worked with Mari Strain. She had a connection with a contractor who had a LOT of reclaimed Fir T & G flooring. It was in good condition and worked out perfectly for our needs. Mari was VERY nice to work with and the contractor was also very helpful and flexible. read more

I recently attended a workshop on installing floors at Flooring Alternatives. It was quite informative and the instructor answered all my questions thoroughly. They have a lot of different floors available. Wood, cork, Marmoleum, carpet. But it is all more eco-friendly and less smelly. They had some great suggestions for our situation. The storefront still needs some work, because they just moved to a larger space, but I am sure that it will be spiffy soon. They are part of the Design Loop in Berkeley, which is where people go when they are working on their houses. It is really great that there are so many useful stores so close together. We also visited Omega Lighting and Omega Salvage during the same trip. read more

I purchased my condo and needed a floor fast before moving in so I was in a time crunch. I knew what I wanted which was a rich, dark wide plank bamboo floor. The estimator came out to measure and recommended a number of products but given that I had a time table to keep, she steered me towards what was in stock locally. Plus I was on a budget. Ultimately I didn't end up purchasing the flooring material from Flooring Alternatives, but I used them to do the installation which was superb. They removed the carpet and hauled it away. They brought the wood from another shop to my place and installed it. The bamboo floor looks perfect and elegant in every way. I was extremely happy with my decision. read more