December 17, 2009 on 7:51 am | In Green Bulding, Home Buying Tips | No Comments
Tags: american olean, bamboo, bamboo flooring, carpet, ceramic tile, crossville, dal tile, flooring', green, green building, green carpet, green flooring, green friendly, hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, mohawk, new homes, new homes tampa, shaw, sustainability, sustainable future, tampa new homes
Lot’s of claims are being made as to which flooring is the most green. If you are to believe most of the Green trend publications bamboo flooring probably is top of mind. But we must be careful to do our own homework and not believe the hype. Just because it is in writing does not make it so. There are five main types of flooring commonly available on the market today. They are wood laminates, ceramic tile, hardwood flooring, carpet and bamboo. For purposes of this discussion we’ll have to agree that vinyl flooring is not environmentally friendly. New homes are offering many of the most advances options in environmentally friendly floorings. This is another great reason why new homes are a better choice over existing homes because of the ability to take advantage of the newest and most advanced products on the market.
There are a lot of considerations in determining whether something is environmentally friendly such as how often it has to be replaced and whether the replaced material can be recycled, what VOC’s (volatile organic compounds are used), what cleaning products must be used to clean it, where did the material come from and what carbon footprint was left as a result of that transportation, etc.
Wood laminates are an engineered product that used mostly recycled material which reduces the environmental impact of cutting down trees but used binders and adhesives that give off VOC’s.
Hardwood is tough, renewable, and requires relatively low maintenance. However, often these products are harvested in Canada, loaded on ships to China, milled by low paid workers, and shipped back to the end user. This of course leaves a huge environmental footprint.
Bamboo is the hot ticket right now but depending on the species of bamboo and the type of coating used, some bamboo floors last only a few years. It also uses a heavy amount of formaldehydes. That being said it is a highly renewable product because of the ease in which it is grown.
Carpet is the product most commonly known but the least Green friendly at this time. Up to 120 chemicals can be used in the manufacturing of carpet, some of which are highly toxic. Only recently have manufacturers started using recycled materials. There are some products that use natural fibers such as sisal, wool, or jute but the vast majority don’t stand up to Green standards. Progress is being made though.
Finally we come to ceramic tile. Ceramic tile will outlast most of us and many of these products will maintain their finishes for generations. Unfortunately consumers tear out and replace tile flooring long before it has run its life cycle. The primary reason is because of grout. A good investment to protect the grout and ensure it does not need to be replaced is to seal every year or two.
These are the broad strokes of Green flooring. We have to look beyond the product itself and determine how did we get the product, at what cost to the environment, and what cost to the environment at the end of its life cycle and during its life cycle. Your flooring professional can provide you all of the information to make the best decision but do some research and decide what is important to you first.
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