The Secret to Going Green With Your Flooring

It's a great thing that more and more homeowners are taking a proactive approach to “going green” with their property. Often, the usual energy efficient approaches are changing to LED and CFL lightbulbs, installing low flow water fixtures, or installing a programmable thermostat to regulate your HVAC system.

Many homeowners take energy efficiency and eco-consciousness to the next level by installing new windows, boosting wall and attic insulation, and possibly changing out asphalt shingles to a reflective metal roof. All these things considered, there's still one area that is still often overlooked when it comes to green-friendly home products – the flooring.

Is It Possible to Go Green With Home Flooring?

There are two main ways in which flooring can be harmful to the environment – 1) by producing harmful toxins and using valuable natural resources when being manufactured and 2) actually emitting dangerous VOCs after installation. Some flooring shipped from overseas has actually been found to emit dangerous levels of formaldehyde into the home, not exactly reassuring as kids and pets are crawling there. Also, any flooring that uses adhesive (laminate, vinyl etc) is going to have some amounts of volatile organic compounds present.

Hardwood flooring is a very eco-friendly product because it is a solid piece of wood, not glued or laminated. The manufacturing process of hardwood floor also releases minimal toxins and is constantly improving to lower the amount of natural resources used.

Using Up Wood Isn't Sustainable Though, Is It?

Logging out a forest for hardwood floors doesn't seem like the most friendly practice for the environment at first glance. The truth is the life span of solid hardwood is what makes it arguably the most sustainable flooring type in the industry (aside from possibly stone).

A solid hardwood floor can legitimately last upwards of 100 years when you consider the ability to sand and refinish the planks multiple times. This means an Easiklip floor can be the last one you ever buy. You aren't driving up production needs (manufacturing toxins) for vinyl, tile, or laminate every 15-20 years and aren't filling landfills with the discarded items. Speaking of, hardwood never has to be sent to the landfill at the end of its life as there are numerous ways to reclaim it in a positive manner.

The Benefits of Pre-finished Easiklip Floors

Even if you install other hardwood floors in your home, there can be harmful toxins released as you stain the planks and apply protective polyurethane coatings. This emits into your home and requires excessive ventilation and air circulation to ensure your safety.

Easiklip floors come pre-stained and pre-finished from a controlled manufactured environment. After acclimated, the planks can be installed and walked on immediately.

There it is laid out plain and simple. Easiklip is one of the most eco-friendly flooring options in the industry from manufacturing to installation and extending over the entire lifespan of your home. When thinking about long-term environmental consciousness, Easiklip is the “Easi Choice”.