It starts when you find the collector This video talks about what happens to your old carpet after it is taken by a collector to a recycler. There are now more than 100 carpet collection companies that prepare your old carpet and padding to be sent off to a recycler. Many flooring companies that replace [...]

The power of the people must come into play for carpet recycling effort to bump to the next level, outgoing director says Listen up people: The next time you tear out old carpet, think before you put it out for the trash collector and send it to a landfill where it will pollute the planet [...]

Today’s hardwood flooring finish choices should include low-  and zero-VOC products “Why are you testing dye or beeswax or tree sap?” For a moment, Tom Helwig, field supervisor at  Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors, thinks we’ve gone over the edge. “Because,” we tell him, “a growing number of customers don’t want chemical emissions in [...]

Unique accent walls and backsplashes are a natural fit for some flooring stores I wasn’t looking for tile, mosaics or recycled glass when I went to the Buddy’s Flooring America store on Ridge Avenue in Cincinnati. But there was something magnetic about the eye-catching colors and textures on display. This is a flooring store, I [...]

Rising interest in less-toxic hardwood floor finishes has some installers testing and expanding the choices The site-finished hardwood floor has long been touted as virtually indestructible.  It will show scratches and wear over time, but all you have to do then is have it recoated with finish. This sounds simple enough. But with today’s emphasis [...]

But a natural oil hardwood finish means that pretty soon you won’t There is something we like about natural hardwood floor finishes even more than the fact that they are low odor and low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound), says Roy Young, quality control manager for Schumacher & Co Custom Hardwood Floors in Cincinnati, OH. “It’s [...]

                                                               A style for every room As Designer Candace Olson shows us in this video, today’s cork floors don’t look like bulletin boards. Rather, the looks range from that of hardwood planks to mosiac tiles. And cork is suitable in almost any room environment.

Popularity of natural fiber rugs and wall coverings increases with availability and a quest for the natural aesthetic                                                    Natural wood, natural stone, accented with wool, sisal, jute or seagrass. Add a little leather, or maybe some cheena. While design trends have not turned back to thatched roofs and dirt floors, there is something distinctly desirable about a [...]

Where efficient energy  abounds, along with trendy, sustainable floors The main purpose of this building is to let design and building professionals see the latest “green” technologies in action. But when you enter, the floors might be the first thing to catch your attention. The floors at greensource CINCINNATI, originally built in 1875, include linoleum, [...]

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 [...]

Authentic reclaimed hardwood can have advantages over wood that is made to look old “Distressed or old?” A designer that I work with was going back and forth about reclaimed hardwood and hardwood flooring that is purposefully distressed to make it appear old. “I like the idea of reducing wastefulness and landfill mass by making [...]

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 [...]

Past and present green building trends mean 2012 will bring increased interest in healthy indoor air quality, reclaimed and recycled products, and smaller homes Residents on the West Coast have been walking the green building walk longer. But even in the Midwest, which often lags behind, people who build or remodel in the New Year [...]

Year in review shows Natural Interiors visitors focus first on style and indoor-air-quality, then concern for planet health We couldn’t head into a New Year without a baby. Fortunately, the winner of our Natural Housewife Contest – one of our Top 10 traffic generators for 2011 – now has one. 1.  Sara Eickhoff reports that [...]

Green Label Plus certification remains the most used, stringent standard for limits on chemical emissions from carpet The cynics among us have not always embraced the idea of a carpet trade organization – the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) — being in charge of testing and certifying carpet as having low chemical emissions. In our [...]

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. [...]

More than a decade after its U.S. entry, Nature’s Carpet gets mainstream attention and could be part of a market that is “ready to explode” Some rolled their eyes and suppressed laughter at the idea that a chemical-free, biodegradable, un-dyed carpet could make it in mainstream America. But when Brian Cox saw Nature’s Carpet in [...]

Once available only in glue down tiles, floating floor construction widens the market for high-fashion, recycled leather flooring It wasn’t the kind of job that a flooring retailer sees every day. The customer was an accountant who worked from her home. She wanted a distinctive floor for her home office, where she meets with clients. [...]

Recycled leather offers a high-fashion look that can also be planet- and indoor-air friendly Unique. Trendy. Upscale. We’re not talking about a leather sectional. The customer who is building a home in Florida wants leather on the floor and walls. And Mike Smith, an account manager at ProSource Wholesale Flooring, says he will be delivering [...]

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 [...]

USFloors Bamboo flooring installation by Carpetland Carpet One meets all of the owner’s expectations The new meeting-room floor installed more than a year ago at the Evergreen Holistic Learning Center had to promote health and stimulate positive, meaningful conversation. Brazilian Cherry simply would not do, Joan Barlage, Evergreen co-director, recalls thinking when she was looking at [...]

Cincinnati flooring expert says “green” can also mean affordable and durable It used to be hard to find a “green” carpet product that was reliable and durable – in addition to being affordable. If you told me you were concerned about chemical emissions and indoor-air quality, I would tell you about all-natural wool carpeting, and [...]

Allergens, dust mites, pet accidents and mold are defeated by new carpet installation methods  It’s a mold inhibitor, not a cleaning product. But I wondered what it would do in the aftermath of a flood that left mold growing on my friend’s basement stairs.  HealthinEx ™ is a component of an exclusive program  from  Carpet [...]

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 [...]

                                              Proper steam cleaning means no water gets through the carpet – even Nature’s Carpet® that has no plastic backings

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 [...]

Recycled rubber underlayment and flooring lessen burden on landfills and curb illegal dumping If you’re working with a flooring company that has explained proper installation, you already know that you need a durable underlayment for your new floating floor. If that company happens to be focused on durable “green” products, you also know that one [...]

  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 [...]

The KW Flooring Group has just joined the Natural Interiors Marketing Group. Check back for their blogs soon.

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 [...]