Environmental Benefits of Wood Flooring
If you are wanting to add a sustainable flooring to your home, then look no further than wood flooring. There are programs in place that are sponsored by the federal government and the states that focus on regrowing trees so that we have a continual supply. In short, we harvest fewer trees per year than we replant. In fact, when logging companies harvest trees they are required to replant 1.66 times more than they take. Since trees are measured in cubic feet, if you harvest one cubic foot of tree then you must replant trees that will yield 1.66 cubic feet.
There are other benefits of installing a wood floor in your house.
- First, wood is a heat sink and when properly installed, it helps add to the insulation of your home’s flooring. That means lower energy bills during peak energy consumption periods.
- Secondly, wood floors are easier to keep clean, especially in comparison to carpeting. If you sweep wood floors often, then there is less particulate that becomes air born and that means fewer allergens are pushed around by your HVAC system. What happens when you shake a carpet? Even with the best vacuum cleaner, it is difficult to get all of the debris out of a carpet.
- Thirdly, wood floors can last for hundreds of years. There are homes in the Eastern Part of this nation that have original wood floors and those floors were installed in the 1600’s. Other flooring choices might need replacing every ten years or so. Carpeting is a great example of a flooring with a shorter lifespan.
There is a long list of benefits that wood flooring offers to homeowners. Adding value to your home is yet another. If you’d like more information about the types of wood that Design Custom Homes uses in our home designs then just reach out to our design team for information that is customized to your building needs.