Environmentally-friendly flooring

When you purchase green wood flooring described as 'FSC-Certified', that means it has passed a rigorous certification process carried out by the Forest Stewardship Council. This organization ensures that timber suppliers work to protect habitat, prevent pollution, plant more trees than are harvested and avoid displacing native peoples or harming wildlife. When you purchase FSC-Certified wood, you don't have to worry about the source of the flooring you're installing in your home or business. FSC-Certified environmentally friendly flooring is available in many of the same types of wood as non-certified flooring including oak, maple and cherry. Bamboo is an environmentally friendly choice for flooring because it's easy to grow, requiring very little fertilizer or pesticides and highly renewable. This grass takes just 5 years to grow back to full height after it's harvested, as opposed to the 50-150 years required by most hardwoods. Not only does bamboo flooring have a beautiful, distinctive striped look, it's also durable and long-lasting. Another environmentally friendly option for wood flooring is reclaimed wood. Flooring that is still in good condition may be salvaged after a renovation or demolition, but wood from other structures, including barn siding or even wine barrels, can also be used. Reclaimed wood flooring is typically kiln-dried, cleaned of metal debris like nails and scrubbed clean. This type of wood flooring tends to have a lot of character, infusing a sense of history into a space. Cork is soft underfoot, resilient, renewable and sustainable. Grown in protected forests in Portugal, Spain, Morocco and other Mediterranean countries, cork is harvested from the trunk of the tree, so the tree doesn't have to be cut down. Naturally waterproof, insulating, sound-absorbing and shock-absorbing, it resists mold and mildew. Cork flooring is available in a wide variety of colors and textures, in both plank and tile form. Carpet is usually one of the least eco-friendly types of flooring, packed with toxic chemicals and producing large amounts of waste. But more and more carpet companies, like Shaw, Beaulieu and FLOR , are now offering carpet that's non-toxic and environmentally responsible. FLOR's modular carpet tiles are made from 85 percent recycled fibers. Beaulieu offers PVC-free Nexterra carpet tiles, made of 53 percent post-consumer waste including PET bottles. Other options include natural, renewable materials like sisal, jute and wool.

Maple Wood Floors, or Something Else? | Bay Area Floor Refinishing

Are you doing a remodeling job in your kitchen or rec room? Are you “souping up” a Bay Area condominium to prepare it for eager buyers? Are you redoing your home now that the kids have “left the nest” – and you want to replace those gnarled, natty rugs in their rooms with beautiful, simple, austere hardwood floors ?

The Huge Variety of Hardwood Floors

White oak maple wood has a relatively uniform texture. It’s quite hard, but it can bend. And its flexibility generally means less wear and tear.

Red oak maple is probably the most common and popular variety. Red oak is extremely hard and heavy. Its stiffness and bendability are right in the “goldilocks zone,” so many people love the red oak variety.

If you’re flooring a room that doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic, you might want to consider pine wood. It’s softer, yes, which means that it can get dented and scratched and dinged-up easier than the hardwood floors we’ve discussed. But it can also be cheaper, and it is reminiscent of an older, more classical era of American craftsmanship.

Other common wood choices include teak, beach, fir, birch, mahogany, and cherry.

Maple wood comes in a surprisingly diverse rainbow of colors – from near pale/white through deep red and brown.

Look, all these choices are great. At least in theory.

But if you spend too much time considering all the various variables, factors, and permutations, you can literally make yourself nuts. Social psychologist Barry Schwartz talks about this kind of “choosing problem” in his remarkable book, The Paradox of Choice. Schwartz argues that when you must choose among, like, 19 different options, you will feel stressed out. Any option you choose will have “something missing” compared with one of the other 18 options you rejected.

The solution is to find an alternative that will satisfy you. In other words, you set the standards before you search. Then you find a hardwood floor alternative that meets all of your standards. Once you’ve done this, just go ahead and make the decision.

If you need help with any aspect of floor care, refinishing, or installation, connect with the team at Elegant Floors at www.elegant-floors.com , or call us at 650-961-1339.

We provide free inspections and estimates, and you can get coupon specials at our website as well as answers to your frequently asked questions about hardwood flooring and remodeling.

Mirage strip hardwood flooring, 3 stains regularly $4.49, now $3.49. Maple and Red Oak. While supplies last! 7,300 sf in stock!!

Hickory, Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Walnut, Oak, Maple, Santos Mahogany, and so many more #hardwood

Maple Hardwood Flooring maple-hardwood-flooring/ Free tips information on Maple Hardwood Flooring.

Hickory, Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Walnut, Oak, Maple, Santos Mahogany, and so many more #hardwood

Hickory, Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Walnut, Oak, Maple, Santos Mahogany, and so many more #hardwood

Wood Flooring, A Complete Guide to Layout, Installation & Finishing

Hardwood floor expert Charles Peterson covers it all in this indispensable guide to the most popular flooring choice around.

Hardwood Floors

Bollinger also provides numerous tips and tricks, and sources of supply. The book is indexed for easy reference.

Building Construction Illustrated

Durable, hard, close-grained species of both hardwood and softwood are used for flooring. Common species of hardwood flooring species include oak, maple, ...

Yearbook of agriculture

Certain hardwoods, because of their high resistance to wear, are more often used than others. Two are oak and maple. Wood flooring is finished with a ...

Sweet's catalogue of building construction

... floor measurements, will be offered special floors to suit each room. We employ the finest grades of foreign and domestic hardwoods: oak, cherry, maple, ...