Idea's for a Green Home Renovation Part I FLOORING
Saturday, September 27, 2008

Posted in In The Family Room

Since Doug and I are in the process of looking for and buying an older home, I've been doing LOTS of homework to come up with ideas to gradually renovate it using less toxic greener ways in order to aide us in a cleaner home and environment while also encouraging natural growth outside.  As I research and post my thoughts for future use, I pray that I may also help many of you who are also looking to do the same.

These are just ideas.  Some may be too expensive to accomplish, or may be something we'll be saving up to do.  Whatever the case, we plan to work on sustainablility for ourselves in our own home.  In all actuality, it would be nice to be "off the grid" have our own livestock and food, flower as well as herb garden for natural growth.

We'd like to come as close as we possibly can while being realistic and good stewards with what God has given us.

Floors

 I absolutely LOVE hardwood floors.  If I had to choose, I'd choose wide plank pines throughout the home.  They are extremely expensive and for my own benefit, I can't see cutting down more tree's. We need them for the very air we breathe, it would take several years to replace the ones that were cut for my own benefit.  Now I know I'm starting to sound like a tree-hugger.  I bet it would be hard to believe that I'm actually not.    There ARE alternatives out there.  One would be to buy old wide woodplanked pines.  Our pockets just don't have that kind of money. 

Plyboo Bamboo Flooring in DARK

One option I've honestly fallen inlove with is Plyboo Bamboo Flooring PlybooStrand by Smith.  With a hardness rating of 3,000 psi, twice that of red oak, PlybooStrand is the hardest bamboo flooring on the market .  Another good side to it is that it doesn't contain as much formaldehyde as many others on the market today.

The cost is over 4.00 a square foot and is still pretty pricey, but bamboo is much stronger and will take a beating without denting or chipping off the wood, while the bamboo also easily continues to grow.

sample of what a cork floor looks like

Another option would be to use a more pricey alternative like Cork Floor by Globus.  cork is harvested only from the bark of cork oak trees every 9 years, it is a renewable resource.  Another great alternative, Cork is soft to the touch and cushiony for those tired feet.  In using Cork it's considered to be fire-resistant, reduces heat loss, mold- and bug-repellent, and reduces sound and vibration. I can think of MANY uses for this including using it for dougs dream movie room to keep the sound quality and also keep me from having headaches when he and his buddies watch the games.

Cork is MUCH more expensive than cork. But the pro's are pretty worth the price.  If we ever wanted it, we'd DEFINATELY need to save our money. The price is between 6.00-9.00 depending on the style, color and room size.

As for regular "environmentally friendly" plush carpeting, I'm still looking our there for somewhat reasonably priced carpets without all the chemicals.  I'll post as soon as I find something.

Blessings!

Rebekah

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