Replacing or updating your floors is a big investment. There are many functional and attractive flooring materials available. Before you purchase, consider selecting a material that is environmentally friendly. Some options that are available include cork, bamboo, tile, concrete, linoleum, brick, terrazzo, stone, and wood.

Vendors are one of the easiest ways to help you identify what is green and what makes it green. With so many choices, how do you begin to make a selection? A good place to start is to ask “how will this material perform for the activities conducted in the room?” For example: the material that you use in your kitchen may not be what you would use in your bedroom. Consider these three factors:

1. Cost – In addition to the price, what are the environmental and social impacts?
2. Maintenance and Durability – How long will this product last?
3. Health – How will this product affect my indoor air quality?

Even with the increasing desire to explore and utilize environmentally friendly products, wood continues to be a top choice for consumers. With this mind, here are a few quick tips to help you evaluate a wood product.

• Look for vendors that offer products made of salvaged wood.
• Look for the FSC label
• Reconsider purchasing exotic woods.
• Buy floors that are factory sealed. This minimizes the use of chemicals.
• Use low VOC sealants for unfinished floors.
• Make sure the engineered wood has low levels of urea formaldehyde. This information can be found on the OSHA Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

Whatever material you decide to purchase, do the research and ask the right questions.

Additional Resources

http://www.fsc.org

 http://pinellas.ifas.ufl.edu/sustainability/Sustainable%20Living%20Glossary%20-%20Engage%20output/engage.html

 http://pinellas.ifas.ufl.edu/sustainability/green_purchasing.shtml