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Is Recycled Wood Flooring a Good Green Floor Option?

Jul

There are so many green floor options; it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Do you choose bamboo flooring? What about cork? What about recycled flooring products like Staybull Flooring™? Heck, I’ve even heard linoleum flooring trying to latch onto the eco-friendly bandwagon.

In the hunt to find the best green flooring option, it’s still very important not to settle.

Sure, cork flooring is eco-friendly, but because this product has a relatively new place in the general flooring market, it’s not proven to last as long as you need it to. Add to the fact that cork is a softer, very photosensitive, and porous, you can find evidence that a cork floor might need replacing in as little as 5 years. At the very least, you might have to add a new coat of polyurethane during that time to ensure that your cork floor doesn’t start deteriorating even faster. One last thing to consider about cork flooring is that you have to be cautious when installing it in an area that will receive high or heavy traffic. It’s also not recommended that you mop over this kind of flooring. These drawbacks still don’t make cork flooring un-eco-friendly. It just might be a hassle to maintain. That’s not good news if you expect to get at least a couple of decades out of your hard-earned investment.

What about bamboo flooring? This is the kind of flooring that people generally think of first when considering green flooring options. The general consensus out there is that because bamboo grows fast it is eco-friendly. It must be noted that most bamboo flooring looks pretty much the same. So, if a homogenous look is what you crave, you might consider it. However, it’s vital to understand that the cultivation and harvesting processes are just one factor in green eco-flooring. Just one.

While bamboo flooring is popular, and in the lead when it comes to being an eco-friendly flooring option, there is a growing concern in the industry and in the public that a bamboo floor is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Why? Well, when you look past the eco-friendly label, you’ll discover that the process by which a bamboo floor is made is very suspect. You see, an overwhelming majority of the bamboo flooring that you find sold in the large retail stores and online was manufactured in China where the use of formaldehyde based glues and non-regulated chemicals is ever present. The chemicals in bamboo flooring also can be found in claims of the pungent smell that these floors emit.

There have been substantiated claims of this chemical causing many respiratory issues. The biggest problem that formaldehyde presents to you and I? Cancer. Governments around the world warn its people that there is sufficient evidence that formaldehyde can be linked to respiratory-based cancers in humans. This is not hyperbole. This is based on 30 years of scientific research that has been backed up time and again. Even if a bamboo floor does not emit that acrid smell, the fact that many manufactures choose to import this product and dare call it eco-friendly should be a real eye-opener.

So, before you select a bamboo supplier, get the answer to this critical question, “Was this brand of bamboo flooring manufactured in China?” If the answer is yes, you may want to consider a different eco-flooring option.

There’s another green flooring choice that can be refinished, has less maintenance issues and is also reliable. There is a product on the market that claims to take solid hardwood flooring to make floors that are unique and eco-friendly. By using sustainably harvested reclaimed wood strips, this product has taken the lead when it comes to creating a viable alternative to cork, bamboo, and hardwood flooring. Using formaldehyde-free glues and a proven eco-friendly aluminum oxide finishing process, each plank of Staybull Flooring™ will last longer and provide a much more natural look to your home. So, if you’re in the market for recycled wood flooring that provides greater durability, and a look that goes with all design styles, a green floor made of Staybull Flooring might be worth your consideration.

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About the Author:
Learn more about http://www.staybullflooring.com” title=”recycled wood flooring”>recycled wood flooring. Noah Jordan is a hardwood and eco-flooring expert.
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