Increasingly, there has been an interest in “going green” with wood flooring and other aspects of home construction. In the Denver hardwood flooring industry, I’ve personally seen an increase in customers looking for greener options for finishes and hardwood flooring materials. In addition to private residences, commercial projects are looking for various environmental certifications, including LEED certification.

What are the options in Denver for greening your flooring project?

• Choose low VOC hardwood floor finish options like a water based finish made by BonaKemi.  Their floor finishing systems are GREENGUARD-certified for indoor air quality.
• Choose a flooring material that that is either reclaimed or sustainable.  Examples include:
  • Beetle-kill pine – Pine bark beetles are destroying vast areas of pine forest right here in Colorado.  The massive amount of dead wood in Colorado forests is leading to increased dangers of forest fires in some ares.  By milling beetle-kill pine for flooring, these dead trees are being put to good use locally, and the distinctive blue streaking found in beetle-kill pine is creating some truly beautiful and distinctive flooring options without cutting down living trees.
  • Bamboo – Bamboo is technically a grass, which grows rapidly, and matures in just 3 years.  It doesn’t require fertilizers or pesticides to grow, and it regenerates itself without requiring replanting.  These qualities make bamboo a popular sustainable flooring choice.
  • Cork – Cork is harvest from the cork oak tree, and cork is a sustainable product because you don’t need to cut down the tree to harvest it.  When the cork is removed, the trees simply grow new bark to replace it.
  • Reclaimed lumber – Flooring milled from reclaimed lumber reuses old building materials that would otherwise end up in land fills.  Reclaimed lumber has it’s own unique character and feel, and every reclaimed flooring project is unique.
• Refinish your existing floor.  While choosing sustainable products is a good choice for a new flooring installation, if you already have a wood floor that is in reasonable condition, the “greenest” choice is usually refinishing.  Ripping out an existing floor creates a large amount of waste.  Even damaged floors can be repaired in many cases.  If you need a new look, a low VOC stain can be used during the refinish process to update your floor’s style.