Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors achieves Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) certification

Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors in Milford, OH, has become the only flooring retailer in southwestern Ohio to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) to supply hardwood flooring that qualifies as certified wood under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system.

FSC is the only certification accepted for sustainably certified wood under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rules. Meeting these rules governs whether a commercial or residential building project achieves LEED certification, which can qualify the owner for tax abatements.

In order for FSC wood to qualify for LEED credit, the retailer who sells the wood also must be certified, said Bobby Ammerman, Chain-of-Custody (CoC) administrator for the Center for Forest and Wood Certification, based in Lexington, KY.

“FSC certification ensures that the chain of custody, from the forest to the jobsite, is not broken,” Ammerman said. “Schumacher’s certification means it has procedures in place to order and receive FSC-certified goods, and get them to the jobsite and installed, in a manner that guarantees the goods have not been altered or mixed with non-FSC products.” Read the rest of this entry »

FSC is the top indicator of sustainable harvesting, but it’s hard to find on a finished flooring product

Forest  Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification.  It is synonymous with wood that meets the most rigorous standards of sustainable harvesting.

It remains the only certification the U.S. Green Building Council will use for certified wood in the latest version of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, and it is lauded for everything from protecting forests to keeping toxic chemicals out of our groundwater.

But aside from a few, higher-end hardwood floors like DuChateau or USFloors Navarre, you won’t find the FSC-certified label on standard, finished hardwood flooring products – even those from manufacturers that have FSC-certified factories.  The chain of custody documentation, from the forest to the distributor, required by FSC is costly, and in some cases, logistically impossible.

“We sell though a large number of independent distributors like Wanke Cascade,” says Ron Gade, western regional sales manager for Columbia and Century Flooring. “We see it as difficult to obtain FSC certification for this group of distributors.” Read the rest of this entry »