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).