flooring

The average person spends 80% of their lives indoors. Public awareness about the health effects of poor Indoor Air Quality has increased demand for building products that do not pollute the air in our home or office.

Conventional paints, finishes, flooring, adhesives, cleaning products and carpeting are known to contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, polybrominated Diphenyl ethers (PBDE), phthalates and many other hazardous chemicals that can result in health problems like allergies and asthma, especially in children.

Using Low- or No-VOC materials, reclaimed or sustainably-harvested wood products, wood alternatives such as bamboo and palm wood, natural flooring, carpets, rugs, and decor can make your house greener.

Building with tested and proved green materials also provides an alternative to products that degrade the environment we want to leave for our children and grandchildren. In buying green building materials, you can cast your economic vote for a better world, personalize your home or office, and make the air you breathe cleaner.

Yet another fabulous shopping weekend looking at eco-friendly products for the house. We discovered the Eco-wise store, which got the Best of Austin 2007 award for the most eco-friendly, green store. Good for them!

We met a very animated, yet friendly sales guy giving us the scoop on eco-friendly/sustainable flooring, countertops and rainwater collection.

Basically, there are several types of flooring:

• Bamboo flooring, which is a fast growing type of grass that is easily grown and harvested, but shipped from China. Bamboo is hard, resilient and can be made into many different beautiful patterns. There's a variety of quality, so be careful what you pay for!
• Cork flooring, which is made from the bark of cork oak trees, and when stripped, does not destroy the tree. Advantages are that they are softer on the feet, especially in an area where you stand a lot (i.e., kitchen), and are recycled and have no VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
• Linoleum flooring, which is an all natural, non-toxic flooring made of linseed oil, produced by pressing seeds from flax, an easy to cultivate and abundant plant. They are usually warm and softer on the feet than cold tile flooring and come in a variety of colors. The problem is the look of it, in my opinion, as it has that 70s retro look that doesn't evoke beauty to me, but hey, beauty is the eye of the beholder :-).
• Local or reclaimed wood, specific to your area. Check out wood that has been taken from buildings that were demolished. You can sometimes find great deals in reusing it for your flooring, banisters, ceiling beams, etc! We are checking out using hickory, which is a near diamond hard wood that is found in Arkansas and milled locally in the Hill Country. It is a beautiful wood that can be stained to your desired color and will last decades.
• Stained concrete with fly ash, which is basically the mineral residue resulting from coal plants and when mixed your concrete, greatly reduces cement production and therefore eliminating much of the carbon emissions. They are quite fashionable in homes nowadays, as it can make your home look very modern by staining or creating patterns in the concrete. It also provide a large thermal mass for your home. A thermal mass is some sort of structure (i.e. stone) that keeps a constant temperature and thereby positively affects the temperature in your home. Concrete floors are relatively cheap, as they can be part of your foundation, and you can then stain it, and then instantly have your floor ready. You can easily repair them if they crack and are durable, but the only problem is that concrete can be hard on the feet and unforgiving if you drop something on the floor.

We also looked into concrete countertops with varying degrees of recycled glass in them or using sorghum or bamboo as a countertop as opposed to concrete. There are even countertops made of recycled paper that are even stain, scratch and heat resistant! You have a lot of options to create the look you desire.... MORE HERE...

We've just published another installment in our continuing effort to bring you in-depth information on every product, designer, material, method and expert mentioned on the show. In our guide to Episode Eight: Floors & Closets, you can learn how to build health and happiness starting with beautiful, earth-friendly materials underfoot. From high-tech concrete and natural stains and finishes, to natural carpet and recycled sheep barn flooring. Discover the possibilities alongside Kevin.

Clean your closet, clear your mind? Did you know that a clean, well-organized closet can reduce stress? Interior designer Vanessa Grant explains how to keep your home's inner life organized.

So many exhibitors, so little time.

That must be what most West Coast Green attendees were thinking this weekend. Another thought might have been: Green remodeling is on the rise.

While there were plenty of builders, and there was plenty of prefab, and all the solar power one would expect, there was also row after row of exhibitors offering products and services that are designed to help the average homeowner green their existing property.

Want to paint? We enjoyed chatting with the people at Green Planet Paints. Their mineral-pigmented, clay based paint has a uniquely soft, rustic finish. A few rows away, YOLO Colorhouse's wide range of colors were on display next to Berkeley-based EcoHome Improvement's booth (where Bay Area residents, conveniently, can purchase YOLO's zero-VOC paints).

We saw beautiful reclaimed wood flooring at TerraMai's booth, marmoleum at Forbo Flooring and a whole host of other green flooring options (recycled-fiber rugs, for one) at Marin Flooring Company.

On the less-mainstream side of things, we found The Aqus, a system that captures water from the bathroom sink and routes it to the toilet bowl so that it can be reused for flushing.

In short, we were overwhelmed by all the green building/remodeling resources. And, while we don't have enough space to mention them all right here, right now, we'll be keeping an eye on a lot of the exhibitors and reporting back here in the future.

Still hungry for more? West Coast Green may be over, but you can see a full list of exhibitors right here.

Image via www.westcoastgreen.com

Widely promoted customizable carpeting company InterfaceFLOR can now earn builders up to two extra LEED points via Innovation in Design credits.The "Innovation in Design" credits are awarded for products that have net zero greenhouse gas impact under the LEED Green Building Rating System.

"The availability of this new credit provides further incentive for manufacturers to reduce the environmental footprint of their products," said David Hobbs, president of InterfaceFLOR.

"We have long taken ownership of the impact of our products across their entire life cycle, so we invest to offset the impacts from the rest of our supply chain. We are pleased that the USGBC has taken this step to ensure recognition for qualified, third-party analysis of products' environmental claims."

Interface has two different lines - one for commercial usage and another for homes. Though we aren't working to achieve LEED certification while building and designing our own homes, the USGBC's new design credit system will help drive companies big and small to continue to advance their sustainable processes and products.

[via ENN]

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If you've been put off by the thought that all cork products look like a bulletin board from the 1970s, think again. The new focus on sustainable materials has inspired new designs: This week Ecofabulous profiles Daniel Michalik, a designer who is building elegant, high end furniture out of cork, making it do "things that only it can do." Cork's sensuality is particularly interesting when combined with a sleek, modern aesthetic. Design Within Reach carries an eco-friendly cork stool (pictured) by designer Jasper Morrison that would be at home in any Neutra House, and Gaiam sells a cork lamp that would be a conversation piece in any environment.

If your taste is more traditional, The Cork House offers a gorgeous line of cork upholstery fabric and furnishings, as well as cork wall coverings and floorings.

Cork is a harvestable, sustainable material that is also sensual to the touch and beautiful to look at. It comes from Cork Oak trees, which are the sheep of forestry products--the trees are sheared of their bark, and grow another layer in a few years' time.

One of the hallmarks of Cork is its resiliency; cork floors are forgiving of falls, making them great for homes with children or the elderly. And it's sturdier than you might think, with plenty varieties that are suitable for kitchens and other wet areas.

Globus Cork has a wonderful line of snap-in floating floors (think Pergo) that come in an array of colors and tile shapes to suit any decor theme.

Just because cork is trendy doesn't mean it's new. Wicanders has been making and selling cork flooring in the prime cork-growing regions of Portugal since the 1800s.