Wood flooring: The green flooring option

During the past few years, public awareness about environmental issues has reached an all-time  high, and builders, architects, specifier and designers are increasingly doing their part by attempting to choose products for their projects that have a minimal impact on the environment. This is because as consumers become more ecologically conscious, they are demanding the use of sustainable and renewable building products in their homes and businesses.

  When it comes to flooring, the facts are clear: Wood flooring is the only flooring option available that is completely renewable, and with industry-accepted guidelines promoting responsible forest management, wood flooring has become the flooring option of choice among many eco-friendly builders, architects, specifiers, designers, consumers and retailers.

  Wood flooring is the most abundantly  renewable flooring material available. Sustainable forest management makes it possible to harvest would without any serious impact on the environment because trees are a renewable resource that can be replaced time and time again.

 How is that possible> Wood is produced in a factory called a forest by renewable source of energy called the sun. Nonrenewable flooring and building materials must be produced in man-made factories. This requires large input of fossil fuels, resulting in high carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. In other words, all other alternative flooring options are more harmful to the environment than wood. The answer to using environmentally friendly building materials, then, is not to use less wood but to grow more trees and promote renewable forests.

  This is exactly what is happening in the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the average annual net growth for hardwoods in the U.S. is greater than the average annual removals. IN fact, for every cubic foot of hardwood removed from U.S. hardwood forests, 1.66 cubic feet are added in its place. In all, the USDA Forest Service reports that standing hardwood volume in the U.S. currently is 328 billion cubic feet, an increase of nearly 90% since 1953.  Obviously, U.S. hardwood forests are renewable, making hardwood products a sustainable resource and obvious choice for the environmentally conscious.

For more information call us at 1-800-489-7847 or e-mail at fashion816@optonline.net or visit our web site at  fashion-carpets .com

The virtues of vinyl

Fashionable, sustainable and value-able

Many resilient flooring products are made vinyl. Durable and time-tested,  vinyl maintains its beauty under heavy traffic and extreme use. Vinyl reduces noise and provides underfoot comfort. Because it is moisture and stain resistant, spills can be easily removed. When compared with alternative materials, vinyl offers an attractive installed cost and economical maintenance oer the life of the floor.

  But what about vinyl’s environmental impact? The principal raw material for vinyl is derived from common salt, an abundant and inexpensive natural resource, according to Dean Thompson, president of the Resilient Floor Covering institute. “Vinyl resin takes less energy to produce than most competing raw materials, resulting in a lower level of greenhouse emissions over its life. And vinyl is inherently recycled annually.”

  Vinyl resilient flooring has become a valued design tool for many interior designers and architects, Thompson said. “Its durability is legendary, an important environmental benefit, as flooring with a long life cycle conserves the energy and materials expended to manufacture replacement products. Many vinyl floors carry the FloorScore certification that is accepted by Leed and other environmental programs as an indicator of in door air quality.”

  Terry Murphy, a designer and a consultant to the Vinyl Institute’s Vinyl in Design program, travels the country to meet with design firms and educate specifier about vinyl. “There is a lot of misinformation out there about vinyl but also many studies that substantiate the safe use of it,” she said. ”It’s not your mother’s vinyl anymore. Manufacturers now use water-based solvents and recycled content and test to standards such as FloorScore, California 1350 and stringent fire codes. A lot of vinyl is going into LEED-certified buildings.”

  One of  the biggest surprises for designers is that vinyl is primarily derived from salt, Murphy said, “Another surprise is how fashionable vinyl flooring has become. There are so many authentic options that didn’t exist in the past, such as resilient flooring that looks like glass, bamboo, woven fibers, metals and beaded materials. Some are high in recycled content. All are extremely durable. Designers are choosing vinyl because of the combination of fashion and performance. Our goal as designers is to have the floor look as good five years from now as it did the day it was installed.”

For more info. give us a call at 1800-489-7847 or e-mail fashion816@optonline.net or visit our website at fashion-carpets.com

Carpet: Separating truth and myth about carpet and allergies

Eco-friendly flooring contributes to be a healthy environment

From being able recycle itself to being re-used as a key component in other products to using bio-based or other post-consumer waste products, carpet is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly building and decorating products around.

  But there’s more. contrary to popular belief, carpet is one of the healthiest indoor furnishings-residential or commercial- in the world. So what’s a salesperson to do with a customer who refuses to give the beautiful carpet selections a second glance because of a belief it is not a healthy product?

  Despite public perception that broadloom can be detriment to indoor air quality (IAQ), especially for people with asthma or allergies or sensitive to chemicals, there are several studies that actually disapprove any correlation.

  The most famous of these is a 15-year Swedish study that found no link between  carpet usage and the incidence of allergy  or asthma. Begun in 1975, the research tracked the product’s use through 1990 and compared it with the country’s allergy and asthma rates during this same period. During the course of the study, carpets market dropped percipitously-at the start it hovered around 40% and by 1992 had fallen to 2%. The reasons for this drop are many but the main culprit was a public outcry about carpet being the source of increasing allergy and asthma attacks in the country.

  But while the overall use of broadloom throughout the country shrunk to almost nothing, allergy and asthma not only continued to climb, but by the mid-1980s allergic reactions began to skyrocket. By this point, the amount of carpet used each year had already dropped in half since the start of the research project. Put simply, over the 15-year period, carpet usage in Sweden decreased 70% while allergy reactions increased 30%.

  Adding to the Swedish study’s findings, in 2002  and 18-nation study of nearly 20,000 people found a statistical relationship between carpeted bedrooms and reduced asthma and allergy symptoms and improved breathing. A year later, a study of more than 4,600 school children in New Jersey found that having carpet in a child’s bedroom was associated with fewer missed school days and less need for asthma medication.

  The fact is much of today’s carpet is made from harmless materials-polyester, nylon and olefin fibers. Then there are the natural fibers such as wool.

  Another bit of common sense is to point out the reason why carpet can actually improve the  indoor air quality. Thanks to something everyone is familiar with, gravity, common household particles such as dust, pollen, and pet and insect dander fall to the floor. In the case of carpet, the fibers trap these particles and reduce their ability to circulate in the air.

  Remember, the only way for a person to get an allergic reaction or asthma attack is to breath in the allergen . So, people have literally stick their faces into the carpet and suck everything in for a period a time to be affected by any type of allergen.

  Other misperceptions about carpet involved mold, when the truth is mold grows in any moist environment where dirt and dust provide nutrients.. When carpet is kept clean and dry, mold simply cannot grow on synthetic fibers. In most cases, the mold people associate with carpet is actually from the subfloor.

  Again, common sense would dictate why. When mold is present, it is usually found underneath the carpet. The fact is it is very hard to grow mold on carpet.

For more information call us at 1-800-489-7847 or e-mail us fashion816@optonline.net or visit our website www.fashion-carpets.com

Green Definitions

Green Speak–
Emissions: Particles and gasses released into the air as byproducts.
Energy efficient: Products and systems that use less energy to perform as well or better than standard products.

?OTD

?OTD: When you think of “Green Flooring” what comes to mind?

Green Flooring? Yes, there is such a thing

Claims of green abound, but is there such a thing as environmentally friendly flooring? Interestingly enough, the answer is most certainly yes.

  What is it?  That’s a harder question to answer. While new ways of measuring and studying green are making it easier to come up with a definition, currently there is no standard for what constitutes being green.

  Still, there are some generally accepted methods for classifying something as being environmentally friendly, and it just so happens the flooring industry as a whole is way ahead of the curve in this field.

  When one looks at the manufacturing said of the industry in total, you see that many of the raw materials used come from natural, renewable sources; have the ability to be recycled over and over-like paper and aluminum cans-are from other products that would end up in the landfill, or can be reused by other industries instead of going to the dump.

  Generally speaking, the flooring industry not only leaves a small carbon footprint compared to its size and scope, it provides some of the friendliest, healthiest products in the building industry.

  Raw Materials

It depends on the category of flooring one is talking about, but every segment of the industry utilizes some type of eco-friendly raw material.

 Looking more closely, some manufacturers have the ability to take post-consumer carpet, and convert it back into new carpet without any degradation of quality to performance or styling.  Many are investing in this area and more are being able to do this with each other.

 Talk about salvaged products. For example, some hardwood flooring manufacturers are reclaiming product from riverbeds, dilapidated buildings and old wine casks. Carpet is also one of the biggest re-users of plastic soda and water bottles-breaking them down to their original polyester plastic stage and turning them into carpet. In fact, there is new facility currently under construction, and when it comes fully online the industry will be using approximately half of the bottles the country throws out each year. In resilient, mills are taking items such as used drywall and incorporating them  into their products.

Installation

Here again, the industry not only shines, it leads the way and has been at the forefront of innovation. In fact, flooring has set the standard when it comes to eco-friendly installation methods, some of which are being copied by other industries.

 While makers of the actual floor covering product, are the ones often in the spotlight, the adhesives side of the industry has been leading the way for years in developing eco-senstitive products. Whether it is no-or low-emitting volatile organic compounds to water-based formulas, today’s glues are as green as can be, all while maintaining their strength and durability.

  Beyond glue, there is the use of mechanical locking, or click, systems. These  applications are eliminate the need for adhesives and also cut down on the amount of tools and other resources traditionally needed to install a floor.

  First used in the laminate category, locking systems can now be found in virtually every category. In fact, in wood, click systems are now used with approximately 15% of all the engineered products produced and the percentage is rapidly rising.

Maintenance and daily use

As with any product in life, flooring must be properly maintained to get the most use out of it-you not only have to bring your car in for a tune-up, you need to clean off the debris so as not to damage the exterior.

 In addition, the floor chosen must meet the lifestyle it will be used for otherwise it will quickly fail. For instance, you wouldn’t put an elegant wood floor in a room used by three large dogs.

 The old saying, “you get what you pay for,” could not be more true of a statement when it comets to flooring. The cheaper the product, the less durable it will be and the quicker it will need to be replaced. The longer a floor can stay in use, less overall energy is consumed having to make a new product and the less material is wasted from ripping up the old surface.

 Cleaning and maintenance is of the utmost importance in every flooring category. In fact, some carpet manufacturers take the issue so seriously, they have incorporated proper maintenance as a stipulation to uphold the product’s warranty.

 In other categories, mills have started to “finish” the product in the factory instead of it being done on-site. This avoids particles from flying around the indoor environment as well as any chemical off-gasping. So, when the floor comes to the home it is ready to use with no worries of indoor air quality being disturbed.

Green Definitions

Green Speak–
Certified: Acknowledging that a product is genuine to what it claims, typically having gone through a third-party process
Eco-friendly: An alternative to goods usually bought in most stores. These products are made with the environment in mind.

Green Definitions

Green Speak–
LEED : Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A leading certification process by the U.S. Green Building Council that evaluates buildings constructed to approved standards.

QOTD:

Quote of the day: The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Going Green VS. Installations

The interior furnishings building market is plunging headfirst into the green movement of environmentally responsible fixtures, furnishings, construction and building operations. From homes to high rises the world is going green. We have to ask ourselves: How green is green, what is green and how much of it is a green farce? Space only permits a glimpse  at the answers.

  The flooring industry-carpet in particular-is a leader in the green movement.  Polyester carpet is largely made from recycled plastic bottles, with Mohawk being one of the largest recyclers of them. Tandus recycles old carpet tiles to remake new ones. Shaw has invested capital in recycling plants.  Dow has tapped the Dalton landfills for methane gas to power its plant. UTT uses soy bean oil in its polyurethane backings on carpet.

  More and more, you’re going to see recycled content in the flooring products you sell. Other industries may say they’re green but the carpet industry really is. You have to separate the farce from fact when listening to the green story and that’s not always easy to do. Everyone wants to jump on the green bandwagon.

  Of course, going green will have its challenges. Many of the new backings on wide width goods using recycled content are non-premeable and if they are installed over a concrete slab that contains moisture, the flooring could lift and form buckles, wrinkles and bubbles. These products may also increase the challenges of installation, which is why you have to follow the manufacturers’ instructions explicitly for proper installation.

  You will also be seeing several new installation technologies and backings systems. These will drastically change the way carpet and flooring material is installed. One system already in use is Free Lay, which employs an attached cushion backing with an applied polymer, ultimately eliminating the need for adhesives, cushion or tack strip. Fewer components used for installation help make flooring green.

  Aside from using recycled content and technologies that use less energy and fewer materials, the easiest and best way to go is green to prevent  waste in the first place. It’s really a very easy way thing to do. The key is to sell or specify the right product into the right place and install onto a properly prepared substrate in an environment conditioned to maintain the integrity of the product and safety of the occupants. What this means is simple: Sell or install the correct product that will deliver years of service-that being appearance retention and performance-so that it does not have to be prematurely replaced.

  Flooring material replaced prematurely, whether someone was ignorant, in a hurry or had no common sense by laying in conditions that force replacement, is the single largest source of waste. Avoiding this would prevent flooring from going into landfills that shouldn’t and from ripping up installations that failed because the job had to be finished at the speed of light. Funny how there’s  no time to do it right but time enough to fix it.

   With the economy and business being slow there’s no reason to race to get things done.  No one’s so busy that there’s a dire need to rush . Haste makes waste and waste ain’t being green.

  Saying something is green doesn’t make it so. There’s a lot of talk going on that isn’t necessarily true. The bottom line is that being truly green means not wasting resources, energy and time.

 For more information call us at 1-800-489-7847 or

e-mail fashion816@optonline.net or vist our website

www.fashion-carpets.com