Why do you harp on Indoor Air Quality Certifications? Q. If cork flooring is a natural material, why do you put so much emphasis on whether the manufacturer has gotten the flooring certified through chemical emissions testing? A. There are many natural flooring products on the market. But very few of them are made without [...]

New looks, including stone, wood and textiles, expand uses for cork flooring What is that? Just when we thought we had seen every style and color of cork flooring available today, Wicanders has thrown us a curve. Some of it looks like stone. Some of it looks like marble, granite, wood and textiles. But it [...]

Requirements for damp basements might challenge use of all natural, chemical free carpet pads Q. I want to put carpet that has low chemical emissions in my basement. I also had planned on using a natural fiber carpet pad. I have not ever had water leak into the basement, but there is some moisture, due [...]

Competition in strand bamboo means quality products and competitive pricing from many manufacturers Not long ago, we would have told you that there were just a few reliable brands and several hard-and-fast rules to follow when choosing a strand bamboo floor. But as sales of strand, stained and hand-scraped styles have soared and now dominate in the [...]

Yellow cast on new linoleum is no cause for alarm Q. I wanted to install Marmoleum Click flooring in my daughter’s room because it is supposed to be very good for healthy indoor air quality, and my daughter has allergies. But when the installer from the flooring company started taking the flooring out of the [...]

Bargain hunting for flooring installation can cost more in the long run Q. I thought I was getting a great deal on the prefinished, FSC-certified hardwood floor I want to put in my family room and kitchen, until the salesperson figured in installation. This added about $3 per square foot to the total, and the [...]

Styling, price and performance determine engineered hardwood flooring sales, though environmental attributes abound If you’re thinking about putting engineered hardwood flooring in your home, style, performance and price – rather than the product’s planet friendliness – are probably the points you are pondering. “More people in the Midwest are choosing engineered hardwood because of a [...]

Part I: Engineered hardwood flooring can be a greener option than solid, but there are many factors to consider before you buy We knew the day would come. Many of us in the green products industry pushed engineered wood floors because they require less premium wood to manufacturer than solid hardwood floors. Many customers resisted. [...]

How do I choose the right cork floor? Q. I have decided to put cork flooring in my kitchen and throughout most of the first floor of my home. What I am not sure about is whether I should buy solid or engineered flooring. What is the difference, and is there a brand that stands [...]

A word of warning about spray polyurethane foam Winter is coming again, and so are all of the e-newsletters about insulation, weatherization tips and and energy savings. Spray polyurethane foam (SPF) is big this year because it stops air flow — around that water pipe or that vent through the roof — when other insulations [...]

Proper equipment, settings and training are needed to keep water away from carpet pad and subfloors, where lingering moisture could fuel mold We gave the expert in this week’s Natural Interiors® TV episode an ultimate challenge. We asked him to demonstrate his steam-cleaning on a piece of Nature’s Carpet – an all-natural wool carpet that [...]

Oil-based polyurethane, water-based polyurethane or natural oil? Q. We are building a new home, and our builder is insisting that our hardwood flooring should be finished with oil-based polyurethane. He says it is the best, but we want a low-VOC finish, either with a water-based or natural oil finish. Is there some reason our builder [...]

  KW Flooring companies divert 2 million pounds of carpet from landfills annually, while some have never heard of the Carpet America Recovery Effort   What is the flooring contractor who’s about to replace your carpet going to do with the old carpet he takes out of your home? Are you afraid to ask? Do [...]

WE Cork demonstrates that “Eco” also stands for economics They have said it themselves: The newest line from WE Cork is the “Eco”-Nomical series. So when they mention that it is made of recycled wine stoppers, remember that this is not the thrust. All cork flooring is made from the waste of the wine-stopper industry. [...]

Measuring moisture content in strand bamboo can puzzle even experienced hardwood flooring installers Q: In Part I: Bamboo 2011-Style, you told consumers to consider their climate and the humidity of the environment before installing strand bamboo flooring. What you didn’t talk about is that the typical moisture meter a flooring contractor has on hand might [...]

From narrow planks that look like hardwood to large, defined tiles, cork’s design possibilities keep increasing As this year began, two manufacturers anticipated huge consumer attention on their newest products – cork flooring planks designed to look like wood. With this introduction, Wicanders Cork  and USFloors revolutionized the appearance of cork floors, which until then, [...]

Demand for traditional bamboo fizzles while strand draws attention It’s official: traditional, vertical- and horizontal-grain bamboo flooring is dated. Despite its popularity five years ago, it appears this fad was destined to fade. Strand bamboo, on the other hand, is here for the long-haul, flooring experts say. “There is almost no interest in traditional bamboo [...]

Natural Housewives: Send in your tips for a chance to win! The Natural Housewife says, “Enough! We don’t keep our homes healthy or stylish with toxic chemicals, furnishings or decorating products. And contributing to landfill waste unnecessarily is just so uncool!” Join this conversation, and you could win prizes that include $500 in Nature’s Carpet [...]

Sales – not standards – will determine the success of FSC, SFI, PEFC and other certified wood labels, even though Forest Steward rocks Forest Steward gives me a look that’s somewhere between angry and sad when I tell him we have to do another take. Now that Part Two of When Labels Talk is running [...]

Top Ten DIY Weatherization projects can still be done this New Year Are you wishing that you had protected your home from drafts and lost energy, now that the snow and New Year are upon us? If you delayed because you didn’t know where to start, here’s my simple, Top 10 DIY Weatherization project list. It’s not [...]

Consider origin, construction, chemical emissions, innovation and responsiveness when you choose cork flooring The call was one no flooring retailer wants.  The customer was furious. Her husband had damaged the cork flooring Cline’s Carpets had just installed in her home outside of West Lafayette, Ind. “She was really honked off, not at us, but at her [...]

Does a material that naturally resists mold need Microban? The definitive answer isn’t proven. But USFloors has made up its mind. USFloors, in addition to Qu-Cork supplier Global Market Partners, added Microban – a mold inhibitor – to their cork flooring products some time ago. While Qu-Cork still feels this was a cutting-edge move, USFloors has decided [...]

CFLs, LEDs and Plasma Induction all reduce utility bills, but which one is right for you? By Heather Curless The Department of Energy estimates that electric lighting accounts for about 11 percent of a home’s energy usage.  This percentage can be more for businesses as they use artificial lighting for longer periods of time each [...]

Understanding how solar power is harnessed — in addition to determining which financial incentives are available — is easier than you might think By Nancy Kibbee Even the Sun was intimidated when he heard the word “photovoltaic” during the Cincinnati Solar Tour a few weeks ago. But this is just a big word for producing [...]

Part One: A Focus on the Finish By Nancy Kibbee You might not see it.  But when you inspect the most popular cork floors, you’ll feel the difference. The surfaces on prefinished cork floors range from rough to smooth. The looks range from stone-like to clear and natural. Only the leaders have obtained “green” certifications [...]

The water bill might be okay with you, but it’s time to think about the planet By Heather Curless  More than 70 percent of the Earth is water. So why worry when your water pressure rises, and your sprinkler waters your driveway in addition to your lawn?  Because almost 97 percent of the world’s water [...]

Counter Strategies for the Snooty Neighbor Dear Heather: My neighbor, I’ll call her “Nina,” is gloating about her new granite countertops. She has come up with a number of reasons lately to invite the women in our subdivision into her kitchen. It’s clearly a status thing for her, and her constant show-off style is annoying. [...]

How To Choose “Green” Carpet Carpet gives us a great demonstration of the many levels of “green” that exist in today’s marketplace. If you remember that “green” is defined as better for human health or the planet’s health, the Nature’s Carpet featured in this week’s episode of Natural Interiors® TV qualifies on both points. But [...]

Part Three: Choosing a Salesperson There are a few hints sales people drop that can mean they know little or nothing about bamboo flooring. The first is failure to include bamboo in the choices he or she shows you when you say you’re looking for hardwood flooring. But this is not reason in itself to bolt. [...]

Part Two: Formaldehyde Alternatives Can Pose Dangers, Too It has been observed that in trying to solve a problem, we often create another. The U.S. Green Building Council was trying to solve a problem in 2007 when it clamped down on Urea Formaldehyde – an ingredient in the adhesive used in many bamboo and engineered [...]

Bamboo  2010 Style  Part One: Urea Formaldehyde  I was taken aback. “Respected” brands of bamboo, two of them were named, don’t contain Formaldehyde, read a recent article in a respected “green” products magazine. I don’t mean to criticize the author. The landscape of bamboo manufacturers and formaldehyde adhesives used in their products has changed quite [...]

Tell Us Your Story Many businesses – “green” and not — claim they are dedicated to the safety, fair treatment and welfare of their workers, customers and the planet. What happens when they’re not? We become victims of unnatural exposure. Something seemingly as innocent as a carpet deodorizer used by housekeepers at your hotel might [...]

  What the Video Didn’t Tell You: Look under the Carpet If you are trying to eliminate chemicals from the products you use to furnish your home, you need a deeper understanding of what the CRI Green Label Plus label means, particularly when it comes to carpet pad Yes, as this week’s Natural Interiors® TV [...]

Play Ball! Matt Wallar of Milford, OH, is thrilled with the flooring he bought from Carpetland Carpet One Floor & Home. Prefinished maple flooring from Somerset — which has FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification — was installed throughout the first floor. And the basement is now home to a floor designed to look like a [...]

FloorScore® vs. GREENGUARD, FSC® vs. SFI® – more details about this week’s Natural Interiors® TV Forest Steward, you rock! But it might be time to change your thinking. The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification you represent in the July 19, 2010 episode of Natural Interiors® TV is the true, independent third-party certification we have all [...]