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• From: John ReedTuesday, February, 05, 2008 at 12:40 AM

  Also, a company called EcoTimber, based here in Marin County, California, has been selling sustainably-harvested woods since 1992. They also work with the Forest Stewardship Council and have lovely products. The also have a new, Woven Bamboo flooring product in 2 colors. Thank you.

• From: Dan MeyerTuesday, February, 05, 2008 at 11:09 PM

  I support the effort to go green, but several of the recommended flooring products don’t match the objective, and the facts are jumbled. Pardon the long comment to follow, but if you only read Palmer’s article, you won’t be making an informed decision about eco-friendly flooring. First, FSC doesn’t technically certify hardwood flooring, it certifies the wood fiber in it. Thus an “FSC floor” does not guarantee any less VOC off-gassing than any other floor. FSC has nothing to do with the manufacturing process, nor the adhesives and finishes used. Secondly, bamboo can be an environmental nightmare, and many bamboo flooring products from China (where most of it originates) are among the products with the highest formaldehyde content. Bamboo flooring is an engineered product made up of many small pieces glued together. On two visits to China in the last year, engineered flooring manufacturers told me they have to use a high-formaldehyde-content glue because they glue up the pieces in the green state, and low-formaldehyde glues won’t adhere given the high moisture content. Certainly Chinese manufacturers are moving towards better products in an effort to meet California’s CARB requirements, but it’s pretty much buyer beware at this point. Bamboo is grown in monoculture plantations (no diversity, little habitat value, no recreation or aesthetic value), often after the natural forests are removed (see 2005 Dovetail Partners report on the web). Reaching the phenomenal production rates often touted in the media (5 to 7-year harvest rotations) requires huge inputs of fertilizers and herbicides. Finally, the “embodied energy” in a bamboo product transported from the other side of the globe trumps any perceived environmental benefit of bamboo’s “rapid renewability,” the characteristic for which the U.S. Green Building Council (not the “U.S. Building Council” as stated in the article) currently gives bamboo credit as a green building choice. Note also that the USGBC is a private advocacy NGO; that is, it is not associated with the U.S. government in any way. Third, cork originates from the bark of the cork oak tree, not the cork tree. It can be harvested every 9-12 years from the same tree. Interestingly, hardwood forests in the eastern U.S. (which are made up of more oak trees than any other species) can be selectively and sustainably harvested every 10 years. Same genus, same production rotation, different products. Why would you consider cork flooring more eco-friendly than solid oak flooring? Like many eco-product claims, these make no sense when you dig into the facts, and none of these facts are difficult to verify. Bamboo and cork have less-than-stellar performance characteristics (check out the recent Consumer Reports testing), and bamboo is far from the environmental panacea its proponents have led the public to believe. FSC certification can enhance the environmental credibility of wood sourced from some parts of the world, but understand that FSC-stamped products from distant lands are no more environmentally friendly (and sometimes much less so) than good old North American solid hardwood floors…with or without the stamp. Even FSC officials and certifiers have said U.S. forests are not generally of concern with regards to sustainability and legality of harvesting. Just over half of the net growth (total growth minus natural mortality) of hardwood timber is harvested every year, and it has been that way since at least 1952 (check out the publicly available forest inventory volume histories from the USDA Forest Service, www.fia.fs.fed.us)! We now have twice the volume of standing hardwood timber we did 55 years ago, despite the public perception that we’re running out of trees. Furthermore, hardwood trees naturally regenerate 93% of the time, with no tillage, fertilizer or herbicide inputs required. The truth is that hardwood forests have been sustainably managed for decades, long before FSC or SFI or PEFC or CSA came along to verify it for those willing to pay the price of certification. I’ve done my homework, and it turns out the most eco-friendly flooring “alternative” is the same one my grandmother laid down 50 years ago.

• From: Ian KingWednesday, February, 13, 2008 at 02:17 AM

  Sure sounds like someone works for the North American Wood Flooring Association. You need to remember that cork flooring is an alternative chiefly to other resilient flooring types like vinyl. I think anything is better than a vinyl floor - and certainly cork would be my first choice for a resilient floor and has been for me as a designer and builder. Remember that when you buy cork- you are supporting a very long-standing traditional harvest in Portugal and Spain. You are protecting precious habitats and preserving a centuries-old way of life. DuroDesign, for one supplies their cork with adhesives and finish that are both low-VOC, free of vinyl and formaldehydes. So you have a high-density cork floor that lasts decades and is installed in a very environmentally responsible way.

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