Natural Environment Blog

Now that many designers and manufacturers have gone green, there are more environmentally friendly products for the home than ever before. When it comes to floors, consumers now have many sustainable options for their homes and businesses that are affordable, durable, and attractive. You can achieve a designer look for your floor and still maintain your commitment to work with eco-friendly materials.

Traditional Bamboo

Moso bamboo is most typically used in bamboo flooring materials. Bamboo is a highly sustainable and durable material that has become the darling of the green flooring trend. Because bamboo is easily renewable on bamboo farms, it is one of the most eco-friendly solutions you can choose for your home. Moreover, its similarity to hardwood makes it a favorite choice among designers. Bamboo is also water and insect resistant and, despite being a grass, can be just as durable as many tough woods.

Strandwoven Bamboo

Shredded and compressed, tough strandwoven bamboo is a solid choice of flooring for commercial areas or floors that see a lot of foot traffic. The intense pressure and green adhesives used to manufacture strandwoven bamboo create a material that is twice as hard as oak and more durable than traditional bamboo. Its high performance rating has made it a popular choice for schools, malls, stores, and other commercial locations as well as for residential situations.

Strandwoven Wood

Using strandwoven timber scraps for flooring is a great sustainable option. Made from recycled wood scraps, strandwoven wood flooring is a compelling choice for an authentic wood floor. Strandwoven wood floors are made from discarded wood materials from the furniture-making and pulp industries. Recycling this material to make flooring is a brilliant way to produce a quality product with a unique look.

Eucalyptus

As a fast-growing hard wood, eucalyptus is an environmentally responsible flooring option. Eucalyptus can be harvested at fourteen years; although it isn’t as quickly replaced as bamboo at four years, it is still much quicker than traditional hard woods. Often compared in appearance to tropical mahogany, eucalyptus is extremely durable and affordable.

Tile

Many tiles are now created with recycled materials like glass, stone, and even plastic. Because a tile floor can last for decades—even fifty years—it is regarded as an eco-friendly flooring option. Tile floors are strong and easy to maintain; cleaning with green products will enhance your tile floor and keep it looking attractive for years to come. Modern tiles come in a plethora of styles and designs; from elegant to rustic, you can achieve a top-notch design look and still achieve a green floor that is easy on the environment.

Concrete

Because it can last a lifetime and eliminate the need for other flooring, concrete floors can be a wonderfully durable and earth-friendly choice. Since concrete is made with limestone—one of the most abundant minerals on the planet—it is regarded as a greener option than traditional wood floors. Today’s concrete is often made with waste by-products that are typically available locally. Concrete can also be enhanced with colors and patterns to achieve a great design look for any home.

Cork

Cork flooring is made from the cork oak’s bark; safely removing the bark does not harm the tree. Because it absorbs moisture, cork is not a recommended option for bathrooms, but it is a favorite flooring material for high traffic area because of its ability to “spring” back into shape. Sustainable and comfortable to walk on, cork is a solid choice for an earth-friendly material.

Carpets

When composed entirely of renewable materials like wool or seagrass, carpeting can be a very green choice of flooring for your home. There are also highly innovative carpets made from such items as recycled bicycle inner tubes and even old carpets. Carpeting and rugs made from recycled materials can be just as decorative and comfortable as traditional carpets.

By choosing a green option to fulfill your flooring needs, you can positively impact the earth and set a responsible example for all who come into contact with it. By selecting any of these flooring materials, you can create the look you want at an affordable price. By choosing a green floor, you sacrifice nothing in the looks or durability departments and you gain your own healthy corner of the planet.

Author Bio: Guest post contributed by Kris Rayner, for Empire Today.

Did you know that more concrete is made each year than any other man-made material? It’s second only to water as the most consumed substance on the planet. It’s been reported that each year, more than one ton of concrete is produced for each person on earth!

Hempcrete is being billed as an eco-friendly alternative to concrete. Hempcrete is a generic term for a hemp-based building material that can be used in place of concrete. It consists of a mixture of hemp, lime, sand, plaster, and cement, and can be used in the same way as concrete.

There are a number of trademarked variations for hempcrete. Here are some of them:

Hemcrete

Hemcrete, or Tradical Hemcrete, is a trademarked version of hempcrete produced by Lime Technology in the UK.

Canobiote

Canobiote consists of hemp hurds coated with mineral salts. Canobiote is intended to provide insulation for wood-framed, closed lofts and floors . It’s particularly ideal for those that receive regular use.

Canobiote was patented by a group called La Chanvriere de L’Aube (LCDA). LCDA is a French company that specializes in production and processing of industrial hemp. Established in 1973, LCDA works together with many hemp farmers located in Champagne - the vineyard region in Eastern France.

Canosmose

Also patented by LCDA, Canosmose is a light-weight concrete made with hemp hurds and natural lime. Canosmose is intended for non-load bearing masonry, such as walls sectioned with wooden supports.

Isochanvre

Isochanvre was created by France Périer, who previously worked for LCDA promoting Canobiote. Like Canobiote, Isochanvre is typically used for acoustic and thermal insulation. It is also increasingly being used as a construction material.

The Difference?

These products appear to be quite similar. Isochanvre and Canobiote are slanted towards insulation, while Canosmose and Hemcrete are promoted as a construction material.

As with many proprietary products, it’s not absolutely clear what the technical difference is between these products. What we do know is that they are all hemp-based, and used for housing construction. We also know that hempcrete has some great benefits over concrete.

The Future of Concrete?

Who knows what the future of concrete will be. Given the sheer scale of the concrete industry, I think it’s unlikely that one solution will completely replace concrete. I suspect we’ll see more and more environmentally friendly versions of concrete. Hempcrete will be one of the many. But one thing’s for sure; hempcrete won’t make any headway in the U.S. until the U.S. government finally recognizes hemp for its outstanding potential.