Tips For Choosing Environmentally-Friendly Flooring

Today’s homeowners are more conscious of the environment than homeowners of years past. Many of them are searching for the latest in eco-friendly flooring so they can leave behind a minimal carbon footprint. In your search, you’ll find many options to choose from, such as bamboo, cork and hardwood floors.

Just keep in mind that no flooring is 100% eco-friendly. Some have varying levels of eco-friendliness in regards to their materials, production, and shipping processes. Just do your homework before investing in an environmentally-friendly flooring choice in Richardson.

Criteria for Environmentally-Friendly Flooring

Sustainability is understandably an important factor when remodeling your home. Check out these top factors that will help you determine just how environmentally-friendly your flooring will be.

• Durability: Floors that have longer lifespans don’t have to be replaced as often, which leads to less waste and reduced pollution arising from the manufacturing process. Durable flooring delivers a greater value.
• Place of Origin: Flooring products can be found all over the world, sometimes several places for one product. For example, the materials may be sourced in one country yet manufactured in another. Even if you think you’re buying a product made in the USA, its materials could be sourced overseas. As such, you have to consider the shipping process, which results in high amounts of carbon emissions.
• Recyclability: All flooring has to be replaced at some point. Choosing a product that can be recycled or repurposed is important.
• Raw Materials: Many floors are comprised all or in part of renewable natural resources, which are resources that can be replenished. For example, bamboo and hemp are highly renewable materials because they grow at such a fast rate.
• Domestic vs. Exotic: Domestic hardwoods tend to be more eco-friendly than exotic hardwoods. Most flooring harvested in the U.S. is of the ash variety, which thankfully limits pollution levels arising from transportation. You also pay less for domestic hardwoods than those that come from overseas. Exotic woods like ebony must be imported, which increases their cost.
• VOC Levels: This stands for volatile organic compounds, and these are chemicals produced by industrial manufacturing. Flooring can off-gas these chemicals and spread them throughout your home. Look for products that don’t have VOCs.

Think critically about the flooring you ultimate choose. Consider that even eco-friendly hardwood floors could be treated with stains and resins that give off VOCs. So despite the fact that they are harvested sustainably, they do carry a certain amount of not-so-environmentally-friendly features.

That said, no flooring product is perfect. Just do your best, make the most informed decision possible, and partner with a floor installer in Richardson you can trust.

Contact All Flooring Install

If you would like some guidance as to the best eco-friendly flooring for you, get in touch with us for advice and a free quote with consultation. We install beautiful and sustainable engineered and solid hard wood floors for any home in the Richardson area.