Nuts and Bolts: Fab Floors

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Bamboo flooring from Plyboo is sustainable and stylish, with exquisite grain.

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Your choice of flooring can reflect both your style and your convictions, defining the personality of your entire house. Today’s beautiful, environmentally friendly alternatives—including bamboo, reclaimed or sustainably harvested wood, cork and natural linoleum—make it easy to find a floor that suits your needs.

You can use nontoxic installation methods for these floors, too. Nail down bamboo and wood, or install any of these options as “floating” floors—meaning they’re not glued or nailed down but “float” atop subfloors so they can accommodate the room’s humidity changes.

If you elect to use an adhesive, look for a less toxic, water-based version with low- or no-VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions. And make sure to read the directions to ensure that the adhesive works on your product and in your climate.

Bamboo: Grows like a weed

Bamboo looks so graceful and willowy it’s hard to believe that some varieties are tougher than hardwoods. Bamboo looks a lot like hardwood; but while trees take decades to replenish, bamboo is a quick-growing grass—some species shoot up three feet a day. The downside? Most is imported from Asia, although U.S. sources are emerging as bamboo’s popularity grows.

To make bamboo into flooring, producers cut the plant into strips, boil it to eliminate sugars and insects, and often dry it in a kiln. Then they glue the strips together to make a solid surface. Some manufacturers degrade the sustainability of their bamboo by using adhesives with toxic urea-formaldehyde. The less expensive the bamboo, the more likely it is to have a high formaldehyde content. Always ask the manufacturer or distributor whether formaldehyde is used—or check the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which manufacturers are required by law to provide, and which is often available online. Some distributors offer floors made completely without formaldehyde; other companies comply with Europe’s E1 standard, which limits formaldehyde concentrations to 0.1 parts per million (ppm).

Saving forests: Reclaimed and sustainable wood

If you want hardwood, look for salvaged wood flooring or flooring certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

In recent years, people have sought reclaimed old wood—often from salvaged buildings or standing dead trees—for flooring with history and character. Old wood tends to be irregularly sized in wide planks with nail holes and knots.

You can find recycled-wood floors at salvage stores, including Habitat for Humanity ReStores, where people donate old demolition materials (www.Habitat.org). Locate wood from barn teardowns in newspaper classified sections or from companies such as Aged Woods, which specializes in recycled, remilled woods from barns and warehouses (www.AgedWoods.com). Locally sourced salvaged wood eliminates transportation costs and energy.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print