Cool, Contemporary & Classy Eco-Flooring

With the New Year upon us, I recently realized that many of my friends are beginning to get out of party mode and into home repair mode.  I thought I would post a couple of flooring ideas for everyone to peruse that would be refreshing and eco-friendly change from traditional flooring.  Let me know if you have tried any of these options.  I am curious as to the long-term user experience with the flooring.

1.  Biodegradeable Hemp and Wool Carpet

Pure Wool Earthweave Untreated Chemical Free Biodegradable Carpets. Stay healthy and avoid toxic treated conventional carpets and the fumes from the foam padding under the carpet . 

This all pure wool untreated natural wool carpet contains no dyes or pesticides (biocides to deter mold ) or stain protection such as scotch guard, and does not have any chemical odors . The all wool carpet has a primary backing of cotton and hemp and a natural adhesive from the rubber tree with jute as secondary backing. When you enter a home with wool carpets untreated and natural you will not get a headache or burning eyes from the toxic contamination of chemicals used to make a regular carpet . Even standard wool carpets use moth ball treatments or fire retardent's. In the bio weave Earthweave pure wool carpets no additives are used. Hemp and cotton are used as a primary backing with consideration for the safety of the clients and the biodegradability of the carpet. Hemp prevents mold and mildew and is a hardy and durable fiber. The wool fibers are locked into place using natural rubber adhesive which is also biodegradable. via: NonToxic.com/purewoolcarpet

2.  Wool and Vegetable Fiber Carpet Padding

INERTIA The wool based carpet padding is a blend of course naturally pigmented wool's mechanically needled into a cotton scrim. The padding is free of dyes, fire retardant, glues, moth proofing. Color will vary from charcoal brown to tan. After 40 or 50 years its can be recycled where it will safely biodegrade while serving as an effective weed barrier and mulch in a garden or in the soil. Over a period of 2-3 seasons the padding in the soil the inertia carpet underlay will completely disappear, adding nitrogen and other nutrients plants need to the soil.

via: nontoxic.com/purwoolcarpets

3.  Cork Flooring

Cork is the environmentally sound choice for flooring. The cork oak tree is not destroyed and then replanted but rather the bark is trimmed from the tree every 9 years, leaving the tree and the forest undamaged. Its not unusual to have a 200 year old tree still producing cork bark. Cork flooring is actually made from the waste of the cork wine stopper manufacturing process so cork flooring is a recycled product.  

Anti-Allergenic and Insect Resistant
Bugs, mold, mites and even termites are repelled by cork due to a naturally occurring substance in cork called Suberin. This waxy substance also prevents cork from rotting even when completely submerged under water for long periods of time.

Fire Resistant
The natural waxy substance Suberin makes cork a natural fire inhibitor. Cork is fire resistant and also does not release any toxic gases on combustion.

via: CorkFlooring.com

4.  Soy Concrete Stain

SoyCretetm Concrete Stain is a non-toxic bio-based chemistry engineered with an advanced soy ester dispersion technology. SoyCretetm is the #1 selling bio-based, semi-transparent, non toxic decorative concrete stain. It is the preferred choice among professional green builders and concrete artisans worldwide. SoyCretetm meets more sustainability attributes than any other concrete stain product by containing renewable resource materials, recycled content and ultra low VOC's.

SoyCretetm is ideal for interior and exterior porous surfaces such as: concrete, masonry, brick, stucco, fiber cement, rammed earth and natural stone surfaces.

5. Marmoleum - a.k.a. Natural Linoleum  

Marmoleum is all natural and unlike typical vinyl floors, it has no foul odors that off-gas into your environment. It is Asthma & Allergy Friendly© certified safe and it's SMART^TM certified as a sustainable product.  Marmoleum is made with natural ingredients without any harmful VOC's or other toxic chemicals. The sheet goods are installed with solvent free adhesives and Marmoleum Click is installed without any adhesive.

The natural bactericidal properties of marmoleum prevent micro-organisms including Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus Aureus from multiplying themselves. It is the continual oxidation of the linseed oil that enables this phenomenon.

These are just a few of the terrific products on the market that give all of us the ability to make better choices for our environments.