Green Flooring Choices for Your Home

Numerous home improvement projects today have a focus of being environmentally friendly. There are many different methods that you can take to achieve the goal of environmentally conscious home improvement projects. As talked about previously, many "green" home improvement projects focus on saving your utility usage.

Appliances such as front load washing machines, hot water heater, low flow toilets and so on all aim at conserving water usage. By conserving water usage, you preserve the natural resource while also saving money on your water bill.

However, there are other types of home improvement projects that you can do that are also environmentally friendly with a "green" focus. Many of these projects focus on utilizing renewable resources throughout a home improvement project.

A great example of renewable resources that you can use in your home is two very popular flooring options. These options, typically chosen as an alternative to hardwood floors include bamboo and cork.

Both bamboo and cork flooring have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Each flooring option has its advantages and disadvantages which will be touched upon later, but the real reason for their surging demand is that both bamboo and cork are easily re-grown at a rate that far exceeds hardwoods.

Bamboo grows mainly in China but also is found in numerous other parts of the world. When bamboo is harvested for floors, it is harvested from mature plants. Since bamboo can grow at rates exceeding a foot per day, the growth that is harvested can be replaced in just months. For comparison, a harvested hardwood tree will die when harvesting is complete. A new tree could take 50 or more years to replace it and reach harvesting size.

Cork flooring, on the other hand, is made from the bark of the cork tree. The bark is stripped from the tree. However, the robust tree does not die when it loses its bark. Instead, it grows new bark back and can be ready for harvesting again in just a few years.

These renewable flooring option aren't chosen simply for the "green" appeal. Both also are beautiful and unique in their own way. Bamboo is nearly as hard as hardwood floors and is much more stable to humidity changes. It is less hard than some woods and therefore may dent more easily, but is a suitable replacement for oak floors.

Cork is a resilient flooring that resists impact. Its soft under foot and provides good sound insulation. However, cork can be gouged under impact because it is very soft in comparison to hardwoods.

Both "green" flooring options are environmentally friendly, cost effective, and beautiful choices for your next home improvement flooring project. They are great replacements for hardwood flooring and lessen the overall impact on the environment. Bamboo and cork are functional, beautiful, and environmentally sound choices for you flooring needs.