Lets face it, everyone is all about “going green” these days. Being environmentally-friendly has become a way of life for many people. Today, we have a million options when it comes to what we purchase. If we want our food, drinks, or products to be eco-friendly, most likely there is an option for that. Even when it comes to your home, you have many eco-friendly product options. If you’ve been considering installing new floors, but would like to keep with the eco-friendly theme, we have a few suggestions:
1- Bamboo: Bamboo is a great flooring option for homeowners looking to be more eco-friendly. Bamboo makes for a great alternative. It looks like hardwood, but it technically a woody grass that tends to grow very quickly. Bamboo is durable, typically easy to install and is structurally quite stable. It’s also a very easy type of flooring to maintain, which is just an added bonus feature for those eco-friendly homeowners looking for new flooring options.
2- Cork: Cork flooring is an all natural product which has been harvested from the bark of a cork oak tree. This particular tree’s bark is the only tree whose bark can regenerate itself after harvest, which leaves the tree unharmed. There’s the eco-friendly part! What’s great about cork flooring is that it provides a multitude of benefits. It is appreciated for its patterns and colors, acoustic and thermal benefits, softness, and resilience. It’s another easy install flooring, as it can be installed directly over existing flooring and is typically a tongue and groove floating floor plank.
3- Reclaimed wood: Don’t worry, there are some great wood options to consider. Reclaimed wood makes for a great eco-friendly flooring. Reclaimed flooring refers to building materials that are taken from demolished buildings and are then used in new projects. Typically, reclaimed wood comes from structural beams or timbers that were apart of large warehouses and factories from much earlier decades. This type of flooring is usually free of any chemical strippers or sealants, since that is not used in the process of reclaiming this type of hardwood for new flooring. It’s environmentally friendly and is aesthetically pleasing. Homeowners who like reclaimed flooring note the unique imperfections.
4- Sustainable wood: Sustainable flooring is another great eco-friendly flooring option. Sustainable flooring ensures that the wood is harvested from forests that are renewable, not depleting. There are a wide variety of options of sustainable wood including Oak, Maple, Mesquite, and Hickory. Eco-friendly homeowners can feel safe knowing that choosing a sustainable wood means they are helping the environment.
5- Eco-friendly carpeting: This is probably the strangest of the bunch, but eco-friendly carpeting is also a great option. Eco-friendly carpeting is great for homeowners who are looking for a safe, chemical-free carpeting option. Believe it or not, but indoor carpeting can be hazardous to your health. Environmentalists have spoken out and tested multiple types of carpeting for harmful emissions and have found that many indoor carpeting choices produced harmful chemical emissions. With eco-friendly carpeting, emission of harmful chemicals is not a concern. Any carpeting that has been stamped with a Green Label Plus Certification means that that particular carpeting is safe and free from any harmful chemicals. It’s definitely something to consider if you are considering going with carpeting in any room of your home.
Choosing flooring can be a difficult choice, especially if you are looking to install flooring that is eco-friendly. Luckily, there are quite a few options available for flooring that not only looks great, but is environmentally-friendly. Do you know of any other great eco-friendly flooring choices? Leave us a comment below or contact us.
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