Best Green Flooring Options

There was a time where building a home provided only a handful of flooring options – mainly hardwood, tile, carpet and linoleum. Over the past several years, thanks in large part to an increased focus on “going green”, flooring options have grown to include a number of eco floors. Some of the most popular green flooring options that general contractors in Maine are seeing include:

• Bamboo is a naturally sustainable material that grows quickly in nature, which makes it an excellent flooring choice. Bamboo flooring offers all the benefits of traditional hardwood flooring but is a much more eco friendly choice due to its sustainability.

• Cork is another renewable resource and green flooring option. It is harvested from the outer bark of the cork tree without cutting down the tree, making it completely sustainable and easily recyclable. Cork is durable as well as sound and thermally insulating. This eco floor choice comes in dozens of colors.

• Natural Linoleum has significant advantages over traditional linoleum. This type of eco floor is made up of a combination of linseed, cork, tree rosin, limestone, and jute. Natural linoleum is biodegradable and non toxic but retains many of the advantages of traditional linoleum like easy maintenance and a wide variety of colors and patterns.

• Recycled Carpet offers a great green flooring option for those who just aren’t willing to live without carpet. There are a variety of brands on the market with varying degrees of recycled content and bio-based content. Much of the recycled material in this type of eco flooring comes from something we have an overabundance of in this country – plastic bottles.

• Reclaimed Hardwood is an eco floor that can give your living space a one of a kind look. Because it is reclaimed (taken from a demolished or expired space and reused), this green flooring option often has an antique look and unique imperfections.

• Sustainable Hardwood comes from forests that are rapidly renewable instead of traditional hardwood which may come from depleting forests.

With so many green flooring options on the market, it is easy to find an eco floor that meets your design and performance needs. Additionally, most general contractors in Maine will tell you that an eco floor isn’t just good for the environment – it is also good for your health. It’s another piece of the puzzle that contributes to good indoor air quality in your home. Because the above green flooring options are natural and or recycled, they lack much if not all of the harmful VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) that are found in traditional flooring materials.

To find out more about green flooring options and green building in general, contact Built By Adams today.