Fireclay is unique from anyone else in that they hand-make every tile to order using recycled materials and sustainable manufacturing practices. They come in tons of shapes and colors using a natural VOC-free pigmenting process.
Environmentally Friendly Flooring
What makes a floor “green”? There are many factors to consider when choosing the best flooring for your home.
Sustainably Sourced Flooring
For many, the most obvious answer is that the material used to make the flooring was sustainably sourced. That would include hardwood flooring sourced from FSC certified forests, or wool carpet from ethically raised sheep, or cork which can be recycled or harvested from trees without harming them, or tile made using recycled materials.
Non Toxic Flooring
For the health of your family, you will want to choose a flooring which was not manufactured using harmful chemicals such as volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). You can find information on low chemical choices in trustworthy green databases. Be sure that you also look at how it is installed with underlayment and adhesives.
Durable Flooring
To be sustainable, flooring needs to be durable. You don’t want to have a long useful life. High quality sustainable flooring will ensure that you enjoy your selection for many years to come. Be sure to look for products which can be easily and safely cleaned and refinished.
Embodied Carbon
Because there is so much volume in the flooring in your house, you will want flooring which is manufactured in a way which makes conscientious use of energy and water. Think about transportation costs to get it to your site as well. Your floors are also a good opportunity to look at opportunities to sequester carbon in your home. For instance, cork which is harvested and minimally processed holds carbon and then the tree pulls more carbon out of the air to make the next generation.
End of Life
You need to consider the entire lifecycle of your flooring. In a ideal case, your flooring would be cradle to cradle certified and be up-cycled into another product? If not, is it recyclable? biodegradable?
Ask a Pro
When choosing your flooring, be sure to purchase from a reputable dealer who understands the health benefits of green flooring. If you don’t feel that you are getting a straight answer, look elsewhere. A room full of toxicity will cost you more that short term savings.
For beautiful and sustainable flooring options, check out our
Eco-Friendly Flooring Product Showcase
Eco Friendly Flooring Product Showcase
As a discerning green homeowner, every choice you make involves a variety of factors. And floors are no exception. You have to love how it looks, like how it feels on your feet, trust that it cleans up without too much effort and lasts a long time – and since you care about the planet that we live on….it needs to be healthy and eco-friendly, too.
Nature’s Carpet Environmentally Friendly Wool Carpet
Nature’s Carpet’s line of carpets has been tailored to the consumer who wishes to make a flooring purchase decision with consideration to its environmental impact, but does not wish to sacrifice quality and style in doing so.
The Pros and Cons of Using Reclaimed Wood
Reclaimed wood is really on trend now. But is it right for your home? Learn the Pros and Cons of reclaimed flooring and how to select what is best for you.
Tesoro Woods Sustainable Flooring
Tesoro Woods is a certified advocate of sourcing sustainable materials and using eco-friendly, low- VOC finishes and glues to minimize the impact on indoor air quality and health.
Teragren Non-Toxic Bamboo Products
Teragren bamboo products reduce dependence on dwindling timber resources. They’re sustainably sourced, promote green building, and are LEED compatible.
Daltile Tile & Stone Walls and Floors
Daltile specializes in wall & floor tiling for any style and any room. Ninety-eight percent of the products contain post-consumer recycled materials, and many of their products can help you earn LEED credits.
The Habitus Collection Sustainable Floor and Wall Materials
Fine and sustainable architectural finish materials Habitus Finishes LLC is proud to offer this curated collection of fine architectural finish materials. Their products and services are offered to both the trade and private customers. Habitus' team of experienced...
APC Cork Sustainable Flooring
APC Cork is one of the top North American distributors of cork flooring, offering a variety of floating floors, residential and commercial glue down tiles, cork underlayments and flooring accessories.
Kirei USA Sustainable Bamboo and Wood Substitutes
Since 2003 Kirei has been dedicated to providing beautiful, sustainable, functional design materials to help innovative interior designers and architects design elegant, creative interiors. Kirei’s goal is continual introduction of new materials for you to design with, while improving business practices to be as sustainable as possible.
Bolefloor Naturally Curved Hardwood Flooring
It wasn’t nature that created straight floorboards, it was the limitations of technology. Bolefloor allows a return to a natural state — floors as nature intended.
Mountain Lumber Reclaimed Wood
For over three decades, Mountain Lumber has traveled the globe searching for rare and beautiful woods within structures that are no longer in use. Every piece of reclaimed wood they mill is hand-selected for its richness in history, character, and beauty before it’s turned over to their experienced craftsmen who de-nail, saw, and kiln dry every board.
Milliken Sustainable Carpet and Flooring
As early as 1900, Milliken was reusing packaging and textile materials in their operations and documented their first recycling policy. By the late 1900’s Milliken developed a comprehensive plan to eliminate waste, increase product performance and preserve resources. This stewardship still guides Milliken’s daily choices and influences innovations in product design, manufacturing, and more.
Florim USA Eco-Friendly Wall and Floor Tiling
Timeless, quality, and Sustainably-manufactured tiling Florim USA is committed to green and social initiatives, placing a particular attention to a environmentally friendly production process. The company is focused on pursuing sustainable development by ensuring that...
Pioneer Millworks Reclaimed & Sustainable Wood Products
environmentally-responsible wood floors, paneling, and custom projects Pioneer's reclaimed wood products are fully manufactured — from sourcing to milling to you — in the USA from their NY and OR facilities. You won’t find anything like Pioneer reclaimed wood at big...
Lauzon FSC-Certified Hardwood Flooring
ECO-FRIENDLY HARDWOOD FLOORING As with master craftspeople, artists, architects and designers through ages, Lauzon has been passionate about revealing the beauty of wood. It is easy to understand why. Every species of tree has its own character. Within species, every...
Trend USA Recycled Mosaic And Tiling
Long before it became fashionable, the Trend Group declared a commitment to implementing real-world processes that protect and preserve the planet’s resources.
Mullican Eco-Friendly Wood Flooring
Gorgeous and sustainably-sourced wood flooring Since its founding in 1985, Mullican Flooring has dedicated itself to creating the highest-quality hardwood flooring in the world. This emphasis on excellence, along with their commitment to environmentally sound...
Eco-Friendly Flooring Sustainable Tiles and Flooring
Gorgeous, earth-friendly flooring and tile for homeowners and design professionals alike Inspired by palettes and décor from other eras as well as objects found in nature, Eco-Friendly's green flooring and tile collections emphasize single-ingredient materials...
Cork Direct Sustainable Cork Flooring
Sustainably Produced Flooring Cork is made from the bark of the cork oak tree, a native tree of Spain, Portugal, and Tunisia. The bark -- and only the bark -- is harvested every nine years, in a process that does not harm the tree. The cork oak tree...
Allegheny Mountain Green Specified Flooring
Allegheny Mountain Hardwood Flooring incorporates the full characteristics of the tree and is more efficient to produce. Do you know the difference between quarter sawn, rift sawn, plain sawn, & live sawn and what part of the log these boards are cut from?
Mbrico Earth-Friendly Tile Deck and Roof Tiles
From the control of emissions to the recycling of waste from the manufacturing process, Mbrico’s approach has always been based on strict ethical principles designed to effectively safeguard our habitat, in order to improve our own quality of life and in particular that of generations to come.
Combimix GREENGUARD Cement Products
Combimix products are engineered to make a project run smoothly and last longer. The revolutionary Calcium Aluminate Technnology found in Combimix cement-based products offers extraordinary jobsite performance and long-term durability, outperforming traditional...
Plyboo Bamboo Flooring & Trim Molding
Why Bamboo From a forestry standpoint, bamboo can be grown with no added fertilizers, pesticides or irrigation and can sequester up to 70% more carbon per year than a hardwood forest. Moso bamboo has an optimal five-year growth cycle and is selectively harvested by...
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