Eco-Friendly Flooring Options
Wondering how your floors affect the environment? When choosing your floors, you’re looking for a quality floor that lasts a lifetime. With so many flooring options to choose from, at Totta Hardwoods, we’ve got you covered. Many flooring options have the environment at heart, even before being installed. If you’re wondering what flooring is best for the Earth– and your home, we’re here to help!
Whether it’s a restored hardwood or a stylish tile made of earthly elements, look at the following flooring options to help your home go green –
- Refinish Current Hardwood
- Onsite Hardwood Installation
- Prefinished Hardwood
- Concrete Flooring
- Tile
Just because you are going green does not mean you are limited in your choices, there are a ton of environmentally friendly flooring options that offer a wide range of options so you don’t have to compromise on style.
Refinished Current Hardwood
If your home currently has hardwood floors, a great eco-friendly flooring option would be restoring your old floors to look new again. Refinishing your current wood flooring may already be the best eco-friendly flooring option, especially if you don’t have the time for a lengthier install.
Original house wood planks can be sanded down and refinished as well. Consider refinishing old hardwood before going with a new floor, and give your home a fresh new look without having to do an entire installation. You can customize your wood color and finishes as well, making for a uniquely vintage look with a freshly updated finish.
Onsite Finished Hardwood
We know Onsite hardwood installation involves using wood, which many believe leads to deforestation. However, in the United States, hardwood forests that provide flooring products are growing more than twice as fast as they are being harvested. Onsite hardwoods also can last an incredibly long time with maintenance and cleaning. If you’re looking for a revamp, there are also refinishing options to change your hardwood’s color and finish for an update. This makes hardwood flooring a great option for a home, allowing for updates without the need to totally replace the floor.
The easiest way to be eco-friendly with Onsite Hardwood is by selecting an already eco-friendly hardwood to install. There are many options for hardwood flooring, so you can select a strong hardwood that is being planted regularly to combat deforestation or a less common wood that isn’t overused. Take it an extra step with reclaimed wood found from an old barn or schoolhouse. Just because you are installing hardwood doesn’t mean you need to use lumber that has been cut down recently.
Interested in Hardwood installation and want to be eco-friendly, check out some great examples like Reclaimed Wood, Oak Wood, or Salvaged wood found at the bottom of bodies of water.
Prefinished Hardwood
If you’re looking for eco-friendly hardwood, then prefinished hardwood flooring is a great option for you. There are many popular pre-finished options such as bamboo flooring, oak wood, & teakwood. Since prefinished installations have been cured long before the installation, the floors take only a few days to install.
After your prefinished flooring is installed, it is incredibly durable with easy maintenance and cleaning. With all the great options available in this hardwood style, prefinished hardwood is a great choice for eco-friendly wood flooring with a quick installation.
Concrete Flooring
Steering away from hardwood, another eco-friendly flooring option is concrete. You may be thinking, “how is concrete eco-friendly?” and you’re not the only one wondering! Concrete is a natural product. It’s created by taking rocks, clay, and sand, grounding it down to a powder, and then mixing it to a semi-liquid form. What’s more natural than Earth itself?
Concrete is durable and low maintenance. With its long-lasting strength, you can have a sleek industrial design in your home, while also being eco-friendly. Concrete is also great at maintaining temperatures. Whether it’s a cold winter night or a hot summer day, concrete can help regulate the temperature in your home. A well-regulated temperature can help not only your energy bill but the environment as well.
Lastly, some concretes can be broken down into a powder to be recycled and reused once again. If you’re worried about general wear and tear, you can put a refinishing on your concrete, or a polish to revamp it over time.
Tile
With many eco-friendly flooring options like hardwoods, refinishing, and concrete, many overlook tile. But these stylish floors are hard to ignore. Tiling is an excellent eco-friendly option for your home. Tile is usually made of very natural ingredients like clay and water. Some tiles are even made of recycled clay using old tiles.
With the occasional maintenance, your tiles can remain in remarkable condition for decades. This eclectic style of flooring can be customized to have colors or patterns that match your home’s style, and they do it without taking too big of a toll on the environment.
Tile rewards your home by making it unique. However, this option can have a higher price tag, but it’s worth it to have a floor like no other that also comes straight from the earth.
The Choice is Yours
flooring that’s safe for the environment can be a very personal choice. Being eco-conscious can be great for our planet, and for our day-to-day home life. Choose your floors knowing that you’ve picked a great look for your home, and for the planet!
Totta Hardwoods will always find a way to give you beautifully finished floors while also looking out for the environment. If you already have a hardwood floor, your best option could be repairing or refinishing your original floors. If you’re looking to do an installation, the next best option is onsite installation. With many alternative wood options available, prefinished hardwood floors are an excellent choice for more experimental types of wood. Keep it as eco-friendly as possible with reclaimed hardwood and get an even more unique hardwood floor.
Concrete and tile are great alternatives to wood flooring. They are both made from materials that come directly from the earth. These options do a great job at keeping your energy bill low, and your home stylish. The originality and unique style of these floors will last decades.
Questions? Schedule a Consultation
If you’re wondering about repairing or maintaining your current hardwood floors, feel free to set up a consultation. We will gladly talk about the environmental impact of hardwood repair and installations.