Flooring is an aspect of interior design that sometimes doesn’t receive the attention that it should. After all, you use your flooring every single day, and it’s one of the most important aspects of your home’s infrastructure.
Plus, when it comes to flooring, aesthetics matter. Your choice of flooring can make or break the way your home looks (and feels). When it comes to choosing the right flooring options for your home, you want something that is durable, stylish and affordable. But did you know that you can choose eco-friendly flooring that’s good for the environment as well?
Eco-conscious homeowners carefully consider how each material affects the environment in terms of sustainability, from production and transportation to installation and beyond.
There are a number of sustainable flooring options available, and each one has its own unique benefits. If you’re thinking about adding new flooring to your home and prefer sustainable options, contact At Home Pros to make a solid start to your home improvement journey.
Here are some of the most popular eco-friendly flooring choices on the market, and what makes each of them a sustainable, eco-friendly flooring option for today’s homeowners.
What is eco-friendly flooring?
When it comes to flooring, the most common definition of “eco-friendly” is that the material is renewable, produced in a sustainable fashion, leaves a minimal carbon footprint, and/or contains recycled content.
In the past, eco-friendly flooring might have meant putting up with some less-than-lovely aesthetics. However, today’s sustainable flooring choices don’t require sacrificing style.
But it’s not always easy to evaluate the options that are right for your home and for the environment. Some options may seem sustainable when in reality, they’re not.
Bamboo, for example, matures quickly and is easy on the environment to grow, but its production also creates a lot of adhesives and VOC (volatile organic compounds), and the floor doesn’t have a long life-span — around a decade — which means it must be replaced more frequently.
Many interior designers and homeowners agree that sustainability is almost as important as how a floor looks. The major points that break down the definition of this word when applied to floors are:
- Natural, renewable material
- Ethical production and processes
- Life cycle of flooring
- Production of VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
Here are some fantastic options when it comes to sustainable, eco-friendly flooring choices.
Hardwood floors
Hardwood floors are a classic choice for any home. They’re durable, beautiful and easy to care for. There are a few different eco-friendly hardwood flooring options, including reclaimed hardwood and sustainably harvested hardwood.
Sustainable harvesting means the ways in which the wood is collected is as non-invasive as possible, and the process to make the wood into planks doesn’t create hazardous materials. If you choose sustainably harvested hardwood, you can be sure that your floors are made from trees that were harvested responsibly.
Reclaimed hardwood is wood that was once used in another location, then reprocessed and installed in your own home. This eco-friendly option prevents new trees from being harvested, as you are recycling or repurposing wood from another place and putting it to use in a new way.
Cork flooring
Cork is a natural material that is both sustainable and stylish. It used to be used only for bulletin boards and wine corks, but no longer. Now you can choose cork flooring — including floors created from recycled wine corks — as your eco-friendly option.
Cork is harvested by taking a strip out of the bark of a cork tree, but leaving the tree standing and living — a renewable and sustainable practice. Cork is also soft and comfortable underfoot, plus it has excellent sound-proofing properties. This material tends to be the most hypoallergenic and is resistant to mold and mildew, making it an excellent choice for high-impact areas like hallways, family rooms and kitchens.
Bamboo flooring
Bamboo is a fast-growing grass that is often used as an alternative to wood. It’s strong and durable, and it has a beautiful natural finish. Although its production creates volatile organic compounds as by-products, bamboo is still a highly renewable resource, which makes it a viable choice for eco-conscious homeowners.
Linoleum flooring
You might shudder when you hear the word. After all, its outdated designs and overuse in the 1980s caused linoleum to fall out of favor for many years. However, linoleum is a durable and stylish flooring option that has recently experienced a renaissance.
Linoleum is made from natural materials like linseed oil, wood flour and resin, all of which are renewable materials. It’s also easy to clean and maintain. Modern linoleum comes in all different colors and patterns, and is resistant to stains and water damage, making it great for bathrooms and kitchens.
Rubber flooring
Rubber flooring may be rare, but it has a dedicated and growing fanbase. This material is extremely sustainable. In fact, most of the time, rubber flooring is made from recycled car tires that have already had one lifetime of use, then reincarnated as residential flooring.
Rubber flooring is a surprisingly versatile and durable choice. It’s non-slip and easy to clean, plus it’s resistant to mold and mildew. This eco-friendly flooring option is a great choice for high-traffic areas like kitchens and bathrooms.
These are just a few of the many eco-friendly flooring options available for your next project. When choosing flooring for your home, be sure to consider the environmental impact of your choices. By selecting sustainable flooring, you can help to protect the planet and your home at the same time. If you’re in the market for a new floor that has a minimal carbon footprint, contact At Home Pros. We’ll put you in touch with flooring experts in your area who can make the process easier than you ever imagined.