Organizers of Surfaces 2005, scheduled for Jan. 26-28 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, have announced that registration and housing arrangements are now live and can be completed online at www.SurfacesExpo.com.

Lord Corp., a supplier of coatings technology for the surfaces, panels and flooring industries, has acquired acrylic ultraviolet (UV) and waterborne coatings for wood products manufacturer L/T Technologies LLC.

Flooring America has launched its redesigned website, FlooringAmerica.com, providing visitors with the visual appeal and content they want, and the easy access and navigation they need, according to the company.

The Washington State Floor Covering Association (WSFCA) will host a Ceramic Tile Seminar Oct. 26-28 at Sound Floor Coverings in Seattle.

The fifth annual George Buckhardt Memorial Golf Outing will be hosted by George's Flooring Supplies, now part of Carpet Cushions and Supplies, at Colonial Oaks Golf Course in Fort Wayne, Ind.

To accommodate the more than 10,500 athletes who arrived in Athens, Greece, for Olympic competition, new athletic facilities and an Olympic Village needed to be constructed before the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. Tarkett Commercial supplied flooring for many of these new facilities -- including the locations where basketball, volleyball, beach volleyball, softball, handball, boxing, equestrian, weightlifting, fencing, field hockey, tennis and shooting events are being held.

Effective Sept. 13, the Dow Emulsion Polymers business is increasing the prices of all latex sold into the carpet industry by 5 cents per pound (dry) in the United States and Canada. This increase is in addition to the 5 cents-per-pound August price increase.

Hartwig Siemerling, formerly CEO of Witex USA, has left the company. Board member and lead director, Herb Biggers, will assume the CEO duties.

Dalton, Ga.-based commercial floor covering manufacturer Tandus Group Inc. has announced that it will close its broadloom carpet manufacturing plant in Santa Ana, Calif., and transfer most of those assets to its existing Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, facility.

Q.E.P. Co. has acquired substantially all the assets of Naperville, Ill.-based Tuplex Corp., the manufacturer and distributor of the Harmony and Tuplex brands of underlayment for use under all laminate and engineered hardwood floating floors.