Your floor can be a flaunt when it is beautiful and more so when it is eco-friendly. Green living leaves a better example for people and other generations to follow. Your floor is possibly the first part of your home that people notice. The statement of saving the planet is also loud and clear, that you would go the extra mile to lessen your carbon footprint is there for everyone to see.
Green flooring options actually help save energy as well. When you plan about the type of floor that you need based on the type of weather you have in your area you conserve energy.
Several eco-friendly floors are made from recycled or salvaged material, thus lessening waste in landfills. When a building is demolished socially responsible companies and entrepreneurs make use of material to create new and better ones. Flooring is usually made from wood of orchards that need replanting instead of the wood going to the chipper or from the wood that is cleared to preent fires by foresters. They are thus put to much better use.
Types of Green Floors
You have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to green floors.
Salvaged or recycled wood
- ·Urban salvage
- ·Wood from orchard replanting
- ·Industrial forestry salvage
- ·Wood from thinning traditionally disposed of as mulch and useless
- ·Forest deadwood
- ·Wood from city trees
- ·Wood from demolished buildings and structures
- ·Post-agricultural salvage
- ·Salvaged trees dead from natural causes
Recycled materials
- ·Recycled or reclaimed glass – Glass is already quite eco-friendly, and recycling it works well for the environment. A glass floor look beautiful and adds a different dimension to the house.
- ·Reclaimed stone – Stone is preferred by a lot of people but stone quarries are not enironmentally sustainable. To minimize the effect, use reclaimed stone.
- ·Recycled rubber tires – All the numerous tires the drivers around the world throw away each year are utilised by green companies who have been trying since many years to do something useful with them. Green floors is one such solution.
Renewable materials
- ·Linoleum – Linoleum is made from flax seed oil and is highly sustainable and in addition, has the advantage of being available in many colors.
- ·Bamboo -Bamboo grass grows incredibly fast and is a cash-crop for farmers because of this nature. Also, the floors look gorgeous when it is bamboo.