Eco-friendly flooring and sustainable building practices are things that many Portland area consumers are interested in at some level. In fact, when given the choice, the majority of Portland homeowners tend to choose options that support sustainability or eco-friendly products that uphold an environmentally conscious approach. This is one of many things that makes Portlanders unique and we applaud it.
At the top of the eco-friendly construction pyramid is something called LEED. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” and consists of a highly sophisticated certification process that ensures that a construction project or community is designed and built using sustainable strategies that reduce energy, water usage, promote better indoor air quality, and improve quality of life. This certification process tends to be very expensive and time-consuming, therefore most homeowners are unable to afford its implementation at the consumer level.
However, many homeowners are making actionable choices about the products and services they put into their home. Eco-friendly floor, construction materials, as well as products manufactured using sustainable methods and sources like furniture and even lighting options are some examples of ways many Portland homeowners that are remodeling or building a new home are making conscious eco-friendly choices.
Sustainable Eco-Friendly Flooring Options
When you are searching for flooring products that offer sustainable eco-friendly options, you may be surprised to discover that you have a lot to choose from. In fact, there has never been a time when the consumer has had the number of flooring options with ecofriendly characteristics as we have today. Our Portland flooring store has several sustainable flooring products that enable you to make environmentally conscious construction choices and we will cover some of the many options available to you below.
Environmentally Friendly Carpeting
Many people don’t readily consider carpeting to be an eco-friendly flooring option, but you may need to change your thinking. The carpet lines that we carry are environmentally friendly because they contain 10% pre-consumer recycled content, which means unlike normal carpet, it has a reduced impact on the environment. Because of the carpet manufacturing process used with the carpet we sell, it is certified Green Label Plus, which ensures customers the very lowest emitting carpeting products on the market. Furthermore, the eco-friendly carpeting we carry in our Portland flooring store is all suitable for LEED projects.
Sustainable Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo flooring offers many benefits that fit within the eco-friendly, sustainable flooring option for consumers. The unique properties and growth characteristics of Bamboo provides a highly durable flooring material that comes from a sustainable source. In fact, since bamboo is technically a grass, and can completely regenerate what is harvested within 3 to 5 years, it has sustainable flooring factors far beyond typical timber. Through careful harvesting methods, bamboo flooring can actually result in leaving a healthier bamboo forest by providing more sunlight to reach the younger plants, helping stimulate and nurture the shoots. Though quality bamboo flooring is extremely eco-friendly it can be a bit more expensive than other wood flooring types due to the unique manufacturing requirements of bamboo flooring.
Eco-Friendly Tile Flooring
Did you know that you have eco-friendly tile floor options today? We have sustainable tile flooring options that contain 40% post-industrial recycled content that would not only surprise you but give you an environmentally friendly tile floor choice that does not compromise on style, durability or color. Our eco-friendly floor tile options come in a range of styles and colors that include amazing wood floor patterns that give you impeccable wood grain looks that fool the senses! In many cases, we offer tile flooring products from manufacturers that produce products with recycled content and/or employ manufacturing practices that reflect their concern for the environment, making some of our Tile Floor environmentally conscious options for our customers.
Eco-Friendly Engineered Wood Floors
Is Engineered hardwood flooring environmentally friendly? Well, that depends on the type of engineered flooring you are considering. Many of the engineered wood floor brands and products we carry are manufactured with an inner core board that is constructed using faster-growing, sustainable and renewable forest products. Additionally, many of our engineered hardwood flooring products only use slower-growing less sustainable trees for the top layer. In fact, we have engineered wood floor product lines which are “Forest Stewardship Council” (FSC) certified. FSC certification is considered the “gold standard” designation for wood harvested from forests that are responsibly managed, socially beneficial, environmentally conscious and economically viable.
Sustainable Wood Flooring
Eucalyptus is a fast-growing renewable, eco-friendly wood flooring material that offers a sustainable wood floor option that not only provides a rich look for your home design, but also another environmentally friendly flooring option. Eucalyptus flooring can often provide a lower-priced wood floor option over traditional wood flooring and is harvested from a nearly inexhaustible forest crop. As a long-lasting alternative to classic hardwood flooring, eucalyptus has the look of a more expensive tropical mahogany, however, is manufactured from trees that mature in just about 14 years, while traditional hardwood species may take more than fifty years to grow to maturity.
Eco-Friendly Luxury Vinyl Flooring
It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but we can assure you that there are environmentally friendly vinyl flooring options that are not only eco-friendly but deliver on that promise in a huge way. Sometimes referred to as Engineered Vinyl Plank (EVP), Engineered Vinyl Flooring, Vinyl Composite Core (VCC) or Luxury Vinyl Tile, we carry vinyl flooring products that incorporate recycled wood and bamboo content into a waterproof core with an attached cork underlayment, which is even eligible for LEED credits for Rapidly Renewable Materials, Recycled Content, and Low Emitting Materials. Try that with your average vinyl tile flooring product! Not only are there LVT flooring options that consider the environment, the luxury high-end look, feel and styling will surprise even the most discerning designers.
Portland homeowners need to know that they have many environmentally friendly flooring options for their home. Our commitment to having multiple choices for our customers that reflect the level of importance we place on having a diverse eco-friendly flooring selection is clear. In every type of flooring we sell, we ensure that our customers have sustainable flooring, eco-friendly options that conform to our Portland area culture and we are proud of that!
