Floor Talk!

What exactly is the difference between vinyl, resilient flooring and linoleum?

There are HUGE differences:

Vinyl flooring is a synthetic product made of chlorinated petrochemicals and linoleum is made from raw and natural ingredients!

All vinyl floors are resilient but not all resilient floors are vinyl. However, the most common type of resilient flooring is vinyl. There are two types of vinyl flooring: sheet vinyl and vinyl composition tiles (VCT). (more…)

With all of the focus on natural products and “green” floors, it’s no surprise that floors are being made from peach pits/pips. Talk about recycling!

According to Inhabitat, the floor consists of peach pips that are packed by hand onto a glued surface and filled with a silica sand and resin mixture, then sealed. The sharp edges of the pips are sanded off to expose the red hue of the pips and give the floor a natural wood feeling - making it warm, therapeutic and comfortable to walk on with bare feet. The floors are uniquely South African, natural and the design and color can be customized.

The house in Paarl is currently run as an art gallery (The Orange Mill) by Allah le Roux with his partner. After numerous requests and compliments regarding the floor, he decided to take it a step further and enter production of peach pip tiles as a business concept in the First National Bank Enablis Business Plan Competition, in which he was a finalist. In February 2007 the tile design and concept was registered. Today the endeavor is in progress as Stone Fruit Floors, creating job opportunities in the production of flooring rooted in sustainable materials and a traditional aesthetic.

Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Bamboo Flooring

• Another environmentally sound choice for flooring is bamboo. Bamboo is manufactured from processed strips of cane and compressed to be as hard and durable as a regular hardwood floor.

• Some bamboo is supplied in North America if the environmental impact of transportation is a concern.

Considerations:

• Bamboo floors that are less expensive may not have the highest quality UV protective finish as other floors.

• Radiant flooring can be used under bamboo flooring.

• Bamboo is technically a grass and not a hardwood tree. Don’t let this discourage you from purchasing because the manufacturing techniques make bamboo a strong, hard, durable and dimensionally stable surface.

• To give you an idea of the strength of bamboo, it has been rated to be almost as hard as red oak to slightly harder than red oak. The darker bamboo floors are reported to be softer than the lighter shades because of the heating process that darkens the color.

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History

• Cork is not a new fad, it can be traced back to ancient Egypt. In the 18th century, Dom Perignon used cork for champagne making it a significant discovery that would lead to many other uses of cork.

• A law in the 1930’s called “The 9 Year Law” was passed to keep cork from being harvested any sooner than every 9 years. The tree has to reach 60 cm in circumference before it can be harvested. The first harvest from a cork tree can only occur at age 25.

• Portugal is the largest producer of cork today.

Harvesting

• Cork is harvested by hand from the bark of the cork oak tree (Quercus Suber) that grows primarily around the Mediterranean Basin no less than every 9 years.

• After the cork is stripped, the planks are sorted and stacked for 6 months in the forest. The exposure to air, sun, rain and wind during this time trigger chemical transformations that improve the quality of the cork. Then the bark of the mature cork trees are ground up, mixed with resin, processed into blocks, baked, compressed and cut into tiles or planks.

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RESPECT FOR NATURE AND PASSION FOR WOOD
MAKE FOR BEAUTIFUL FLOORS

I’m Lindsay Barczuk with the Denver Office of Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. I have to be honest and tell you that when I started with Carlisle, I didn’t know the difference between oak and birch, a strip hardwood floor or a wide plank floor. Now after more than three years, I’ve learned so much about how trees grow, how to selectively harvest timber, and what goes into making a long-lasting and beautiful floor.

Stable Boards Come From Responsible Harvesters

I’d like to take this opportunity to write a little about custom crafted wide plank floors and, more importantly, what you need to know when you are looking to find a responsible provider of wide plank wood floors. Many consumers view wood as a commodity, and while some companies treat it as such, others recognize that this natural resource is much more than that. When you find a company that understands the value and beauty of wood, you will most likely find that their procurement, manufacturing, and finishing techniques differ from the mass producers. (more…)