Sustainable flooring choices and you

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If you’re interested in pursuing environmentally friendly design, one of the choices you can make for your home is to use sustainable flooring. Every room in your home or office has a floor, so these products make up a substantial part of the materials you’ll be using. A lot of carpet tiles, carpet, and wood choices are not so good for Mother Nature, so by consciously using green options you will greatly reducing the carbon footprint of your home thereby helping to ensure a greener Planet.

Sustainable flooring is any type of flooring that is environmentally friendly, because they are made using renewable or recycled materials, thereby reducing our demand on the environment and also helps to make buildings healthier to live in as less harmful compounds are used in the manufacturing and installation process. 

Certain companies have gone through the effort to be certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council. FSC-certified wood is harvested in accordance to strict standards. Getting certified can be very expensive, so there are small timber mills you may want to check on their harvesting and manufacturing processes. They might be just as environmentally friendly as FCS-certified mills but cannot afford to go through the certification process.

Many types of sustainable carpet are manufactured from plant fibres, such as jute, sisal or wool. Other carpets that are made from synthetic fibres may be considered sustainable depending on the source of the materials.

Sustainable flooring can refer to a wide range of products that are made from renewable, ecologically sound resources. The main purpose of sustainable flooring is to avoid depleting natural resources by using a variety of functional alternatives. There are several categories of sustainable flooring, including hardwood substitutes, natural fibres carpets, and linoleums. Rubber floors can also be sustainable if they are not made from petroleum products. Using these types of flooring materials can help create sustainable buildings when used in conjunction with other efforts.

The various types of sustainable floors are often contrasted with traditional floorings made from non renewable resources. Wood that is traditionally used for flooring typically takes a very long time to mature, rendering them an unsustainable resource. Several alternatives are available that can offer comparable functionality and looks. Bamboo flooring is one sustainable option that is made from a quick growing grass. It offers good durability, pleasant aesthetics, and relatively easy installation.

A variety of non-wood flooring options are also sustainable. One choice is natural cork, which is obtained from the bark of a particular type of Oak tree. The cork oak can usually be harvested about once a decade without harming it, so this type of flooring requires no logging at all. Another woody plant that can be used for sustainable flooring is the rubber tree. The sap of these trees can be harvested for natural latex, which may be turned into a durable and resilient flooring material (refer to our previous article on cork flooring).

Which would you have? Solid wood or engineered wood flooring

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We have been asked this question many times over the years, so let’s see if we can help with a little information. If you are still undecided, just send us an email and we will give you our unbiased opinion as we are not tied to any manufacturer, we deal with all of the major flooring manufacturers, from Quick Step, Khars, Xylo, Kersaint Cobb, Boen, Junkers and many more.

 It can be difficult to choose between solid and engineered wood flooring, because there is such a wide range in the qualities of wood flooring.

Engineered wood floors are constructed from three layers of wood (the top layer is the wood, the middle layer or core is made of a soft wood and the bottom layer or backing is a thin layer of soft wood). This form of construction makes engineered wood floors very stable.

Engineered wood floors are mainly pre-finished

Engineered wood floors are installed with underlay giving your home added insulation.

With the patented installation systems such the click method, this allows you to replace individual planks easily and the flooring can actually be moved easily to a different location.

Solid wood floors mostly have a bevelled edge affecting the appearance when it is laid.

Solid wood floor come regularly unfinished.

Solid floors on average have a thicker top layer (the wood above the tongue) giving it a thicker sanding surface.

Due to the thickness of the planks, solid wood floors are installed by nailing the planks to the sub floor.

The limitations of solid wood floors are that they must not be installed directly onto concrete sub floor

It is not wise to have it installed in basements or in areas with under floor heating.

Solid wood floors come in planks making them susceptible to opening leaving gaps between the planks and if they are of a poor quality, regularly warp giving them an uneven finish.

The top layer of either flooring is made of the same wood giving them the same level of hardness and durability; however solid wood floors can be sanded more times than an engineered floor.

Since engineered floors are fitted as a floating floor they are easier to repair. The cost of fitting solid floors is typically more than the engineered equivalent. Engineered floors are substantially more stable than their equivalent in solid wood floors. Engineered floor planks are generally longer, wider and uniform where as solid wood floors normally come in random lengths and narrower planks.

Please take a few moments to ensure your flooring comes from managed forests.

For further information email us at info@carpetplusflooruk.com

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What type of Wood Flooring are you going to choose?

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With several choices from

-      The type of wood

-      The width of the planks of wood flooring

-      The thickness of the wood flooring planks

-      The installation methods, floating or nailed

The choices may seem unlimited. It is true you will have a wide assortment to choose from, but your considerations should include

-      What finish? - lacquered or oiled

-      What pattern? – parquet or planks

-      What type of wood flooring? – Solid or Engineered

-      What type of sub floor? Wood or concrete

-      How much wear?

-      What is your budget?

-      Does your choice of wood flooring come from managed forests?

Each wood type will provide its own unique advantages and appearance. The most common types of wood flooring are Oak, Maple, Cherry, Larch and Walnut. As for colour and pattern you will have choices such lacquered which give the flooring a shiny finish or oiled which leaves a matt finish, others finishes will vary depending on which colour stain you decide on.

Solid wood flooring is milled from single piece of timber, comes in a wide range of dimensions and styles and is available finished (lacquered, oiled and hand scraped) or unfinished (the final finish is applied in situ) as strips and as planks.

Engineered wood flooring is composed of layers of wood in the form of a plank. The top layer is the wood, then a middle layer (the core) and finally a backing. This form of wood floor construction makes the flooring extremely stable.

Choosing unfinished flooring may save you some money with your initial purchase. However you will need to sand your floors before you will be able to apply a stain and finish and this process will cost you extra.

Pre-finished wood flooring will cost you more to purchase but you will not have to worry about sanding, staining and finishing and sometimes you are not guaranteed a perfect finish as you will do with machine finished wood flooring.

Remember wood flooring is a lasting investment which compliments either an old, period or a modern house, giving you, family and your home many years of enjoyment.

KNOWING HOW WELL YOUR ROOM WILL PERFORM

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Picturing what a change of interior will do to your home can be tricky, that’s why at Carpet Plus Floor we have included a design room on our website. This inter active part of our website gives you the opportunity to see what different types of floor finishes and colours will look in a room.

The living room matters because when people come to your house the area they are going to notice most is definitely your living room. This is why you would need to put special attention to choosing the right floor covering for your living room. If you value your own personal image, then you would need to choose the most exquisite carpet, wood or laminate flooring to compliment your living room furniture, colours, window dressing and wall hangings.

Your bedroom should normally be a serene oasis where the worries of the day melt away. Let the choice of carpet or wood flooring set the tone, while big furniture, accent pieces, lighting, and wall colour define your personal style and taste.

Formal dining areas tend to be in a separate room, while informal dining areas are more commonly open plan —frequently attached to the kitchen or other living areas. Dining room floors should be inspired by a sense of grandeur, impression, and elegance. To truly make a dining room formal you need to pay attention to details from the window treatments down to the place mats. These can be colour co ordinate with the carpet or type of flooring in the dining room.

When visiting and using our inter active design room, you have to decide which room is being designed – living room, dining room or bedroom – click on your choice. Next decide what type of floor covering – carpet, wood or laminate – click on your choice. Finally choose the colour from the colour palette – click on it and see the room with your choice. 

KNOWING HOW WELL YOU PERFORM

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Not long ago, I came across a statistic, and I was quite shocked!

When a sportsman starts assessing his achievements regularly,

his success rate is at least 20% greater!!!

 

No extra trainings, no new equipment... nothing changes at all.

Think about this, just KNOWING HOW WELL YOU PERFORM, makes you do even better!

Now if this is true in sports, it could pretty much be true for anything else.

Well, I won't promise that your children will grow faster if you measure their height each day

And, remember what I told you before: regular checks ADD UP 20% TO

YOUR SUCCESS.