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Health Makes Flooring Eco-Friendly?

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We talked about what makes a product sustainable, and therefore environmentally friendly.  The second main feature that defines a “green” product is health.  This refers to the health of the ecosystem, the manufacturers, and the end user. Health Makes Flooring Eco-Friendly.

The questions you must ask when evaluating how healthy a flooring option is are these:

  • Were any toxic chemicals released into the air, water, or soil during the manufacturing process?
  • After installation, were any toxic chemicals released into the home or business space?

Obviously, the fewer toxic emissions, the better.  Staybull Flooring™ is recycled wood flooring that is VOC free. That means that each plank uses no formaldehyde or other harmful adhesives in the manufacturing process. In addition, we only use the Eco-Shield™ finish which gives off zero harmful emissions after installation.  Staybull Flooring™ is safe for both you and the environment.

Learn more about why recycled  Staybull Flooring™ is eco-friendly flooring.

How to Replace Carpet in your Home or Office

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Many homes come with carpets already installed.  While carpeting offers many benefits such as warmth, softness, and sound dampening, it also comes with a host of problems including dirt retention and off-gasing of potentially harmful chemicals.  Here are some tips on how to replace carpet in your home or office, so you can avoid these problems.

There are several options for hardwood flooring, but we recommend Staybull’s eco-friendly flooring brand the most, since it combines the beauty and strength of solid wood with the stability of engineered flooring.  Here is how you replace carpet with Staybull recycled wood flooring:

  1. Using a flatbar and hammer, take out the base trim.  If you intend on keeping the original trim, then be careful not to break it, and mark each piece somehow so you know where it came from.

  2. Slide the flatbar under the old carpet using a hammer, and pull up on it until you can grab it with your hands.  Proceed to pull up the carpet, rolling it up as you go.   If there is foam padding underneath the carpet, pull it up as well.

  3. Underneath the carpet you will find tack strips, thin pieces of wood with tiny spikes to hold the carpet down.  Again, using your flatbar and hammer, remove and dispose of these.

  4. Now just clean up the bare surface.  This may involve pulling out or nailing down old nails, and sweeping up any debris.  You also may have to sand down bumps or fill depressions.

  5. Now it is time to install your new hardwood floor.  There are a few ways to go about this.  The recommended methods are detailed here:  Install Hardwood Flooring.

When you are done, you will have a healthier, longer-lasting floor that will never go out of style.

The New Standard in Flooring is Recycled Brazilian Cherry

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The New Standard in Flooring is Recycled Brazilian Cherry from Staybull Flooring®. Whether you value beauty, performance, or eco-friendliness, our line of Brazilian Cherry excels.

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At the time of installation, recycled Brazilian Cherry ranges in color from an orange brown to salmon red, but over time this fiery assortment matures and unifies into a sublime brick red tone with a golden luster.  What this does for your space is to create a rich, classy atmosphere that will enhance your quality of life.

As far as hardwood flooring goes, Brazilian Cherry is a very sturdy option.  Boasting a Janka rating of 2820 and an extremely high shock resistance, this floor will hold up admirably for decades.  You also have less to fear from stability issues, thanks to Staybull Flooring’s unique manufacturing method.  Your flooring planks are less likely to warp, cup, or buckle.

Finally, because Staybull’s brand of recycled hardwood flooring uses “wasted” timbers, our Brazilian Cherry flooring is one of the most eco-friendly options you can buy.  Even after we obtain the wood, we use environmentally safe glues and finishes that are healthy for both you and your environment.

Reasons to Choose Hardwood Flooring

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When choosing a floor for their home, many people immediately consider how it will look, feel, or sound, but something that they may not consider right away is how it will effect their health. Unfortunately, many common flooring options do not rate very well in this area. Here are some reasons to choose hardwood flooring.

These unhealthy flooring choices emit substances called VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds).  These are chemicals that turn into gas at room temperature, and many of them have negative impacts on people’s health.  Carpet, vinyl, laminate, and bamboo floors are all VOC-emitting culprits, and having them in your home can lead to problems such as headaches, nausea, asthma, and even cancer.  Even plywood, found in many subfloors, can emit VOC’s.

Where do these VOC’s come from?  Some options, like vinyl flooring, are made up of them.  In wood flooring products like bamboo, VOC’s usually come from the adhesives or other additives.  In such cases, it is possible to find VOC free products, so long as the manufacturer has not used VOC-emitting glues or finishes.  With regard to plywood subfloors, there are alternative materials you can use, or you can investigate sealants to keep the gases from escaping into your living area.

So how can you be sure that you are not bringing VOC’s into your home?  Eco-Friendly Staybull Flooring uses safe glues to create its recycled wood flooring, and protects it with the VOC free Eco-Shield finish.  We promise that our flooring is completely free of any VOC-emitting additives, making it the perfect healthy choice for your home and family.

Using Gypcrete, Vinyl, and Radiant Heat as Subflooring

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In our last post, we discussed the different types of subfloors over which you could install the Staybull® brand of eco-friendly wood flooring.  This time, we will take a look at using Gypcrete, Vinyl, and Radiant Heat as subflooring as well. However, these subfloor options are not recommended for our brand of recycled hardwood flooring.  If you choose to install Staybull® over one of these subfloors, you do so at your own risk.  We cannot honor the warranty for the reasons outlined below.

Gypcrete

Gypcrete is like lightweight concrete, and is relatively weaker than a traditional concrete subfloor. Many people who glued down a wood floor on top of gypsum concrete reported that changing moisture levels caused it to expand and contract.  Some people even reported that the subfloor itself was brittle enough to be torn apart under the pressure.  Because of this, if you’re 100% certain you want to use this product, we recommend other flooring options that are suitable for floating installations.  Because Staybull Flooring® is unsuitable for floating installations, we do not recommend using a gypcrete subfloor.

Vinyl

We do not recommend vinyl subfloors underneath Staybull Flooring®, either.  Vinyl can trap moisture beneath the floor, and further aggravate that problem by preventing the wood from breathing on the bottom side.

Radiant Heat

Heat and moisture can cause countless problems with hardwood flooring.  That is one reason why we do not recommend radiant heat subfloors for Staybull Flooring®.  The rapid heating that occurs over radiant heat subfloors can cause rapid moisture changes, which leads to warping, buckling, and cracking.  Only floating installations are suitable over radiant heat subfloors, and Staybull Flooring® is unsuitable for such installations.  We’ve discussed this with engineers and people who know wood inside and out and they tell us time and again that it’s just not a good idea to install ANY hardwood floor over a radiant heat source. Too many things can go wrong and you can end up throwing a lot of money at the resulting problems.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask using the comment form below.