Consider: Area Rugs, Bamboo Flooring, Carpet Installation, Carpeting, Ceramic Flooring, Cork Flooring, Floor Repair, Flooring Installations, Flooring Structure, Hard Wood Flooring, Install Wood Flooring, Kitchen Design and Renovation, Laminate Flooring, Marble, Terrazzo, and Stone Flooring, Radiant Floor Heat, Rubber Flooring, Tile Floor, and Vinyl Flooring.
The new generation of Eco-friendly flooring gives you a lot of options. Here are 5 sample materials for you to review:
- Bamboo - Bamboo is technically a woody grass and grows very quickly. It’s renewable about every five years, instead of the 30+ years for hardwood, because in five years it can grow up to 60 feet tall. Available in natural or carmelized colors, They actually heat up the bamboo so that the natural sugars in it carmelize, and it has a warmer brown tone rather than the more typical blonde tone.
- Reclaimed wood flooring - There’s a little bit of everything available here, from antique heart pine to reclaimed Australian chestnut. This is the most eco-friendly option out there as long as chemical strippers and sealants aren’t used in the process.
- Linoleum - While linoleum is often confused with vinyl flooring, it’s actually a very eco-friendly option made from flax seed oil. It was originally developed for use as flooring on battleships, but didn’t get very far in that field due to it’s high flammability. It comes in a diverse range of colors, and is great for kitchens and bathrooms.
- Recycled Glass Tile - Glass is already a pretty eco-friendly material when compared to a lot of other materials. But when it’s recycled, it’s especially green.
- Reclaimed Brick Pavers and Remnant Stone Tile - Since quarrying stone can be very un-environmentally friendly, there are salvaged materials from old brick roads and even counter top manufacturers that cut down the remnants into tiles.
The right home improvement products, techniques, and services:
Contractors, home improvement stores, and specialty shops in your area may not yet have a complete familiarity with the ‘green’ opportunities, products, system integration, and overall savings potential. So, you may get some resistance, since people in general are typically more comfortable recommending something that they are already familiar with rather than something new. To help break the inertia, use the information across this website like our Return on Investment Master ROI Table. Also feel free to post a question in our forum on the message board about a particular need for your home relative to your area. Our team has spent multiple years aggregating research from public and private sector performance reports and from manufacturers and homeowners across the country in order to provide you with the perspective you may need to see the initial payback and long term advantages. Environmental enthusiasts and leading institutions like the American Institute of Architects and the National Association of Realtors, see the value and link into our resources to support their members.
The Green Home:
For your overall home improvement, you can save money, improve your family’s health, and save the planet. Find out for free how much it will cost to do different types of home improvement in your home from a qualified and member approved contractor in your area. Get a FREE Quote . Plus, regardless of the size and scope of your home improvement project, save money and keep your home clean with the top rated chemical free and concentrated Green Home Cleaning Products.
Home Improvement Basics:
When it comes to home improvement basics, look for interior home improvements like creating a clean, safe, and healthy home through sustainable ‘green’ furniture, home décor, zero VOC and Interior Paint, plus ENERGY STAR Appliances and Electronics. For energy and utility savings you can focus on insulation and air sealing, windows, doors, lighting and skylights, water saving plumbing opportunities, and high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems. On the outside of your house, look for exterior home improvement opportunities through landscape design and gardening plus solar energy, wind and other power sources. If you are undertaking a major home renovation, an additions, or building a new home, then take the lead to ‘go green’ in as many ways as possible to save money and the environment.
