It may seem contradictory at first but engineered hardwood flooring does help save the environment. You might be wondering how that is, since hardwood flooring requires timber, logging, and logging practices like clear-cutting, which can have devastating effects on local ecosystems. Well, there is an environmental cost to consider when you choose which flooring to install in your home.
Hardwood Flooring Versus Other Forms of Flooring
There are many forms of flooring you can choose from. The most environmentally friendly and safe for you and your family is engineered hardwood flooring. Carpeting can include toxic chemicals, left over from the manufacturing process. Vinyl flooring can release asbestos or mercury into your home, which can have devastating effects on your health, and more importantly, that of your family. Ceramic tiles may look lovely on your floors, and may in fact help save heating costs due to their heat absorbent properties, but the manufacturing process requires that they are heated in a kiln, which may release carbon dioxide in the air.
With hardwood flooring however, every part of the tree is used, and its environmental impact, especially when regarding your health, is minimal, when compared to other forms of flooring.
Hardwood Flooring and Energy Conservation
The major issues in the fight to save the environment are issues of water shortage and gas production. Everyone talks about the fact that millions of people cannot find clean drinking water, or have issues heating their homes during long winters. However, an environmental issue just as important is one of energy conservation.
We have all wasted energy at one time or another. Usually, we do not know any better at first. We have all left our cars running for a minute while we run and get a hotdog, or left our computers plugged in while not using them. It is a common mistake that many realize and do not continue.
While most of us care about preventing energy waste due to the fact that it is expensive, wasting energy also leads to the increased consumption of fossil fuels, air pollution, and the subsequent destruction practices like these bring to local ecosystems. Engineered hardwood flooring absorbs heat well. It is a conductor, which means it absorbs heat and releases it to other objects it touches, regardless of the difference in temperature. The better your flooring is at conducting heat, the less energy demands your home will have.
When you stand barefoot on hardwood flooring, you will notice it is slightly warm. This is the heat the hardwood flooring absorbed, which is being transferred to you, as well as circulating through your home. A well heated home often requires less energy consumption, which helps your wallet and, more importantly, the environment.
Hardwood Flooring’s Positive Environmental Impact
While hardwood flooring does result in trees being cut down, loggers and environmental lobbyists understand that, once a natural and renewable resource is gone, it is no longer profitable to them. This is why trees are constantly being planted and trees are specially selected for removal to ensure that logging practices do not endanger the forests in which they occur.
In fact, in some instances, some conservationist groups are actually asking logging companies to clear trees, due to the growth of invasive species, which threaten an existing ecosystem. Similar to how hunters are also significant donors to animal rights causes; loggers are often directly involved with environmental preservation and growth. When you purchase and install engineered hardwood flooring in your home, you are helping such environmental protection campaigns take place, as well as ensuring you are choosing one of the least impactful forms of flooring for the environment.
If you are interested in helping the environment and want a natural form of flooring for your home or office, choose hardwood flooring from Invision Hardwood & Décor. We have satisfied customers and clients in and around Toronto, the GTA, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Woodbridge, and Vaughan. Please visit us at our website to learn more, as well as to purchase hardwood flooring today.
