Having hardwood floors is good for your indoor atmosphere, good for the environment, and can give your home classic beauty in just about any style, color, and design. Hardwood flooring is a sustainable choice, but there are design choices you can make to ensure that no part of the tree goes to waste for your floors.
Minimizing waste
There have been some dire reports lately about the state of our planet. Minimizing waste and pollution is essential, and every little bit counts. Hardwood flooring is a sustainable and responsible flooring choice. However, there are ways to make it even more sustainable.
Reclaimed flooring
There is so much wood out there that is ready and waiting to be repurposed. Using reclaimed wood for flooring is a way to increase the sustainability of your floors, minimizing waste and the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing hardwood floors. Reclaimed wood comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors so that you can get the style of flooring that fits your style and your home without having to harvest new wood.
Multi-width and length of planks
Using reclaimed wood is the ultimate sustainable choice in flooring.
Most people choose one width for their planks and use that width throughout the home for cohesiveness. However, you can create unique and beautiful hardwood floors by using a mixture of widths and lengths. By using a combination of widths and lengths, you can utilize more of the tree and minimize waste.
Installation
With a mixture of widths and lengths, you will need to be a bit more careful when you install your floors. You want to be very strategic in how you install the planks to create a smooth and even look. If you don’t plan out your floors ahead of time, you could end up creating some weird illusions. Spread out your planks in the right way, and you can have floors that have character and style.
Talk to a hardwood flooring expert at T&G Flooring about ways to minimize waste and reduce your carbon footprint when installing hardwood floors.