Green Flooring Alternatives: Standing On What You Could Stand Up For
At Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning, we love carpets. They’re soft, wonderful to walk on, and can really tie a room together. Of course, not ever room should have carpet – sometimes it just doesn’t work in certain areas. Maybe it’s the use of the room, like a kitchen or bathroom, or the look you’re going for, but carpet won’t always be right.
Thankfully, there are plenty of flooring alternatives that both look great and are environmentally friendly. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular green floors out there today:
Linoleum: When people think of linoleum, their first thought generally isn’t “green.” Linoleum hardly seems like a healthy floor alternative, but that’s because we mentally group it with vinyl flooring. In truth, linoleum is made from linseed oil, wood flour, minerals, and a burlap or canvas backing – all renewable, bio-friendly materials. Marmoleum®, a variety of linoleum, is especially nice, as it has low or no VOCs, is bio-degradable, anti-microbial, and anti-static. To see some great samples of this type of flooring, click here.
Cork: Where does cork come from? If you said “wine bottles,” stop being clever. Cork comes from the Quercus suber, the cork oak. This plant has a naturally thick bark that, once every decade or so, can be harvested from a tree. The process doesn’t hurt the tree, which will continue to produce more and more cork, often for more than a hundred years. And while we may think of cork as a “weak” product, it’s anything but that. While it is soft underfoot – and quite pleasant – the material is highly resilient and can be treated to make it even tougher. Cork resists mold, moisture, rot, and bacteria; it’s a sound-insulator; and it provides heat insulation. And as you can see, it’s also quite attractive.
Bamboo: Did you know that bamboo is actually a grass? And did you also know it’s stronger than most oaks? What’s more, where it can take hardwoods decades and decades to mature (20-120 years), bamboo takes 3 to 5 years. It also absorbs more carbon from the air than trees do! It’s easy to see why demand is high for bamboo floors, but that also means you need to be careful when picking your supplier. Go with companies who practice sustainable harvesting methods and use low VOC seals and glues. To see examples of bamboo floors, click here.
Whether you end up going with linoleum, cork, or bamboo, try to find companies and suppliers who practice environmentally friendly methods. And if you end up going with carpets, just remember that our green carpet cleaning methods can take care of your spots and spills quickly, easily, and safely.
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If you need a carpet cleaning quote or just want some carpet cleaning coupons, visit OxiFresh.com! If you’re interested in our carpet cleaning franchise opportunity, please visit OxiFreshFranchise.com.
Thanks to wisegeek.com, wikipedia.org, sustainableflooring.com, greenhome.com, corkfloor.com, and basementquestions.com for the great information about green flooring options.
