Green flooring options
2009-12-16

Our health are closely related with the material of home decor. You know, we live at home over half a day at least, if you choose a flooring send potentially harmful chemicals, it will be harmful to you and your families.

To ensure that products qualify as a green or environmentally friendly building material, builders should evaluate each one before purchasing. Ask the following questions:

• Do the products have low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to reduce harmful off-gassing after installation?
• Are the products made from rapidly renewable and sustainable materials?
• Where were the products were made? Were large amounts of natural resources consumed in shipping them to the final job site?
• Will the materials be durable enough to last at least as long as traditional flooring materials?

Each flooring type has green solutions.

Bamboo

Bamboo is a rapidly renewing resource that matures in latest years. There currently is no bamboo certified as meeting various environmental production or preservation standards, so it is important to try to learn as much as you can about the bamboo you are interested in before purchasing it. Most bamboo is grown in Asia and the impact of transporting it to the United States market should be considered.

Green Benefits of Bamboo:

• Rapidly renewing
• Quickly matures
• Regenerates without replanting
• Requires minimal fertilization or pesticides

Stone

There is no generally accepted data on the environmental impacts of using stone as a building material. Likely impacts relate to water and energy consumption, yields from raw materials, recyclability, and other measures that are considered in life cycle assessments, as well as energy used in transportation, processing, and selling the material.

Green Benefits of Stone:

• Natural product
• Enduring lifecycle
• Easy to maintain
• Recyclable
• Quarry and manufacturing use best practices
• Can be reclaimed

Hardwood is a great green flooring choice because of its natural, renewable, and recyclable properties. Not all hardwoods, however, are automatically environmentally friendly. Hardwoods that are harvested without replanting the forest can lead to an adverse impact on the environment. There are a variety of programs that certify which hardwood products are environmentally friendly. The key is to look for the certification label or materials to verify that a product meets green standards.

Green Benefits of Hardwood:

• Natural Resource
• Enduring lifecycle
• Renewable
• Recyclable
• Suitable for a “healthy home” environment
• Forests are managed for replanting

Ceramic tile

Ceramic tile can be viewed as more green in some lights than in others. Its weight uses more fuel for transportation than other products, which leaves its overall green value unclear.

Green Benefits of Ceramic Tile: