There is nothing warmer and more pleasing to the eye than brand new wall-to-wall carpet. With freshly- painted walls the space becomes as new as the day it was first built and decorated. However, carpet is also associated with giving off chemicals which can affect peoples' allergies and immune systems. This so-called “new carpet smell” is called “off-gassing” and is a by-product of the manufacturing process.

With the rise in knowledge of environmental diseases and asthma it is no wonder that homeowners are looking to other products for floor covering. A new trend is to replace the existing carpet with “green” products such as reclaimed wood, linoleum, cork or bamboo, products that reduce wastage while providing a lasting beauty to any room.

Reusable Wood

Wood is one of those products that becomes more beautiful as it ages. Even wood planking that has mars from use or rust stains from old nails can either be re-planed and finished or just lightly sanded and clear-coated before being put down as flooring. This adds character to a feature room such as a library, office or den. These products are available from second-hand building supply depots.

Another trend in flooring is the cross-cutting of old square barn beams in to 1” thick pieces. These “tiles,” sometimes as big as 8” X 8,” are then glued down to a floor and evened out with a drum sander. The fine sawdust fills the cracks and then the floor is finished like any wood floor. What you have is a one-of-a-kind floor.

Cork

Cork flooring originates from the cork oak tree. The cork itself is actually the bark and is harvested by peeling it off the trunk and branches. This harvesting of the bark is done about every ten years but does not hurt the tree so it will be ready again for another batch down the road. Cork trees have been known to live for 200 or more years so it is a truly renewable resource.

1. Insulation: unlike other types of hard flooring cork has a natural insulating quality that adds to heat retention and lowers fuel bills.

2. Sound Inhibitor: Like carpet sound will not reverberate on a cork floor making the home quieter.

3. Hypoallegenic: Unlike carpet cork will not trap particles which can trigger allergies.

4. Shock Absorption: Being soft cork will not aggravate or incite back and feet problems. Dishes and glasses that are accidentally dropped are not as likely to shatter.

Bamboo

Technically speaking, bamboo is not really a wood: it is a grass. And being a grass it grows quickly and not in danger being wiped out by deforestation. The usually harvesting period is three years and then the land can be used to grow more bamboo. It is also very hard and extremely strong, so much so that Asians have been using bamboo for scaffolding for centuries.

To get the proper flooring the round stalks are cut into strips and boiled to remove the starch. The dried strips are then pressed into sold boards and milled to fit the requirements of floor installers. Coloring is added to suit the market demands.

Types of Bamboo Flooring

1. Solid Plank

2. Distressed Plank: This process gives an effect like any distressed floor design but the result is unique to bamboo.

3. Hand-Scraped Plank: This like the distressed plank only the design is more uniform.

4. Strand Woven: Long strands of bamboo are pressed together into a super-hard planking.

5. Engineered: This is a snap-together product that is very user-friendly.

Linoleum-type floor covering started out as oiled canvas that was spun into patterns. Then in 1863 Fredrick Walton , a rubber manufacturer, observed that a skin formed on linseed oil-based paint that sat for a long time and received a British patent for the forerunner of linoleum. His inspiration was to come up with a cheaper substitute for a rubber composition called Kamptulicon. A Scotsman named Michael Nairn introduced the first patterning. Then vinyl replaced the linoleum compounds ion the 1960's However, traditional vinyl linoleums cannot be recycled because of the glues and oil-based composites.

So now a new formula is paving the way floor floor coverings. Made of the same linseed oil that Walton used almost 140 years ago, there is the addition of cork, tree rosin, limestone, and jute to form a biodegradable floor covering that is non-toxic, easy to maintain and anti-bacterial. And this new material is not solely limited to the floor. Wallcoverings are also being made of this composite.

Using Fredrick Walton's observations used linseed oil is aged in a succession of thin, rubbery films and thickened by heating. The resulting spongy material is ground up and mixed with mixed with wood pulp and other ingredients – like pulverized corn husks and other organic byproducts - and rolled out into sheets.

For more information on these products contact your nearest flooring contractor or flooring business that specializes in “green” products.