Being more conscious of the impact we have on the environment and taking steps to reduce it has been pushed more to the forefront of the average consumer’s mind than ever before. If you’re looking to take steps to reduce your environmental impact, one of the things you can do is to make environmentally friendly changes to your home when you do any renovations, including your flooring.
Engineered Wood
There is some concern about how sustainable your average hardwood floors are, given that they tend to use wood that is sourced from relatively slow-growing trees. Engineered wood offers a more eco-friendly option since only a thin top layer is made from this type of wood. The rest of it is top quality plywood that is sourced from trees that tend to grow faster by comparison. If you want a real wood floor but want an eco-friendly option, engineered wood is the better way to go.
Laminate
Laminate has been around for decades. Like engineered wood, this flooring material is also made up of layers. Those layers are a major factor in what makes it an eco-friendly option. Laminate has three layers: a base layer, made from mostly recycled material such as wood by-products and glue, an image layer, made from embossed paper, and a wear layer, which is made from a thin sheet of durable plastic. As an added bonus, the image layer gives laminate the look of other more expensive, and sometimes less eco-friendly floorings without the environmental impact or cost associated with them.
Vinyl
While it’s true that some vinyl flooring might not be eco-friendly, the best of it is. The concern is that vinyl is made from plastic. While that may not inherently sound very eco-friendly, vinyl’s durability makes up for it. Vinyl flooring can last for ages, which means less replacement and a reduced environmental impact. If you want eco-friendly vinyl flooring, just make sure that it’s FloorScore-certified, which means it will be in compliance with California’s VOC emissions standards.
Making the switch to more eco-friendly flooring doesn’t have to be a major adjustment. There are plenty of comfortable, quality eco-friendly floorings out there. Some of them may even surprise you. Whether being eco-friendly is at the forefront of your thoughts as you choose your new flooring or just an added bonus, you’re sure to find an option that suits your needs.
Fluent Floors is proud to offer FloorScore certified products, which is just one of the reasons why you should choose Fluent Floors flooring products.
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