If you have a child or family member who has allergies to dust, pollen, and other common allergens, you are probably wondering how you can make your home more allergy-free. Some homeowners consider a whole-house air purifier, others choose certain kinds of bedding, and still other homeowners choose to battle allergies with sprays and spritzers.

But you may be overlooking one of the sneakiest causes of indoor allergies: your flooring!

That’s right. Many homeowners choose carpeting and fancy rugs to brighten up a room and create a warm environment underfoot, all the while sneezing and wheezing. All carpets and rugs are safe havens for allergens like pollen, pet dander, and dust. Even if you take your shoes off at the door to avoid letting plant pollen in, pet dander from beloved pets and every day dust can settle in the fibers of carpet and rugs; when stepped on, these allergens erupt from below right up to our noses. Those with allergies may also experience watery eyes and hives – in addition to sneezing and congestion.

Vinyl flooring can also be a culprit when it comes to irritating your body’s defensive systems. Vinyl can be created using dangerous and noxious chemicals, which can put out irritating fumes. These fumes can tickle the nose and set of a storm of sneezing. Dangerous chemicals in carpet and vinyl tiling can also exacerbate asthma symptoms. In addition to the creation process, certain adhesives that are used to glue carpet and vinyl flooring in place can cause irritation as well.

A few great alternatives to carpet, rugs, and vinyl flooring are stone tiles, bamboo flooring, and ceramic tile. All three of these flooring options can be seen in high-end homes all across the United States – and you certainly cannot beat the durability of stone or ceramic tile.

Both of these flooring options are strong and hold up in many different home environments. If you’re looking for an earthy alternative in areas that see a lot of foot traffic (the entryway, the kitchen, the bathroom, or in a finished basement are all great examples), ceramic or stone tile are wonderful and allergy-free choices.

For areas like a living room, bedroom, or other area where you prefer the look of wood, go with bamboo flooring. This option is sustainable, renewable, and durable. Not to mention allergy-free! The allure of bamboo flooring is sure to draw admirable looks through clear and non-watery eyes.

To speak with one of our design consultants, please call us at 1-800-764-1633.

If you choose hastily, your new floor may leave you with regrets on down the road. Flooring, if chosen incorrectly, will haunt you, your family, and your guest for years to come. Do you or your family members have allergies? Do you enjoy allowing noxious fumes to linger in your home like a business deal gone south?

Green floors are a flooring option that is both environmentally friendly and one that comes with few regrets. Let’s take a look at a few of the flooring options in order to evaluate which options are the greenest ones for your home.

Vinyl
While it is true that vinyl floors will not need harsh chemicals for cleaning this common flooring option, harsh chemicals are used in the construction and the installation. This can mean that you will be feeling (and perhaps even smelling) the effects for years to come as the chemicals break down over time.

Carpet
Another common option is carpet. Carpets and rugs, especially ones that come from Asia, can also contain chemicals that are emitted into the air. These chemicals can be especially irritating for those people who have allergies or who are sensitive to certain smells. Additionally, you will need to replace carpeting after the padding has worn down or when the fibers become too dirty to be cleaned. Shipping from overseas also gobbles up lots of fuel, which means carpet made overseas is less green than its domestic competitors.

Cork Flooring
This flooring option is at the top of the green flooring list. Cork flooring is created by harvesting the bark of the cork tree and processing into a flooring sheet or tiles. Don’t worry though, the bark of the cork tree will be replenished in another nine years, allowing for another harvesting. Cork trees themselves can live for around 200 years, giving farmers many years of cork bark. Cork floors are also made from used wine and champagne corks, which might otherwise be thrown into a landfill. This flooring option is completely renewable and a great choice for those who want to mind their eco-conscience.

Bamboo Flooring
Bamboo flooring is yet another brilliant green flooring that has been making a big splash on the luxury flooring scene. Bamboo is a type of tall grass that matures in only five years. The grass stands are woven together to create a strong and durable floor with a smooth, glossy finish.

To speak with one of our design consultants, please call us at 1-800-764-1633.

Other folks are making a concerted effort to recycle glass, paper, aluminum, and plastics at home. Many cities are even getting in on the act, offering free recycling programs to residents. You can also find many compost piles in homeowners’ yards. This compose is then put to good use in home gardens, with many consumers choosing fresh ingredients from right outside their doors – whether it’s in a home garden or bought from the local farmer’s market.

Perhaps you want to do more for the environment. Have you been fortunate in life and want to somehow give back? Ensure that you are making the most environmentally friendly choice when it comes to decorating your domicile? Then you will definitely want to investigate green flooring options.

Green floors are both environmentally friendly and exquisitely beautiful in their own right. For those consumers who are choosy about what goes into their homes, green flooring is an excellent option that will have all visitors marveling at the beauty underfoot.

Cork flooring and bamboo flooring are both environmentally-friendly products that can be used residentially; both choices are functional, durable, and utterly renewable. Cork can be used where ever you desire a soundproof floor, such as in a basement or on a stairwell.

Bamboo flooring can take on the look of hardwood, so you may want to consider using this elegant flooring option in rooms such as a sitting room, living room, or dining room. Bamboo plants can be harvested about every five years and need no replanting. Cork is harvested from the cork tree’s thick bark, and this does not hurt the tree; it simply re-grows its bark, which allows for re-harvesting in another ten years.

If you want to make a statement in your home while still being mindful of the environment, choose green flooring – a statement in itself.

To speak with one of our design consultants, please call us at 1-800-764-1633.

Mohawk Bamboo Flooring comes in a variety of colors in order to meet their customers’ different needs and desires. Whether you’re considering the natural or baked natural finishes of the Hilea line or the handscraped details of the Kahala line, laying Mohawk Bamboo Flooring throughout your home is a great way to be stylish in your interior’s design while still remaining true to the green movement.

Bamboo is a renewable resource – easily grown and harvested. This means that it can be reproduced on a mass scale without harming the environment. Bamboo is also durable and sustainable, in addition to being eco-friendly.

And Mohawk knows how to go green! These folks have taken the lead on eco-friendly flooring initiatives before when they introduced their flooring made from reclaimed buildings. This exciting, new product, however, seamlessly blends the unique, exotic beauty with reliable durability – ensuring that you will always be supported when you walk on Mohawk Bamboo Flooring.

Whereas traditional hardwood flooring can be taken from trees that may take years to grow to maturity, bamboo is a plant that is harvested in 2-3 years or 5-7 years. Mohawk Bamboo Flooring proves that saving the earth doesn’t mean sacrificing style.

However, just because bamboo is harvested before other traditional hardwood sources, it doesn’t mean that you will have to sacrifice durability either. Mohawk Bamboo Flooring is twice as hard as domestic oak, and is even created through an environmentally-friendly process that uses each bamboo stalk in order to create the bamboo strands.

Eco-friendly adhesive holds these strands together, formed into blocks, and sawn into flooring plants. This means that Mohawk Bamboo Flooring is a great choice for high traffic areas such as the kitchen, living room, entryways, and hallways – or anywhere else that takes a beating by your feet.

Mohawk Bamboo Flooring is a great alternative to commercial flooring as well. This is a great way to wow any clients or guests you may have into your office. An exotic wood flooring just screams power. What does your current flooring say to those who may venture to your office?

To learn more about Mohawk Bamboo Flooring, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

The latest collections at Witex promise to excite and titillate your senses. The collection lines include: “Schlafen,” “Wohnen,” “Arbeiten,” “Objekte,” and “Kuche/Bad.” (That’s “bad” for “bath,” not “not good.”) Each collection is then divided into color, and you may choose your pattern layout for each product (where applicable). Or, check out their new multi-layer flooring system – flooring to meet even the highest of standards. Witex also has an active wall collection, where they offer a multi-functional wall system that includes a wide range of options: filing, sorting, organization, decoration, and variation are all at your fingertips with this innovative wall choice.

Witex is Environmentally Conscious

Witex’s professionals know that without help, the environment won’t last forever. This fragile Earth is home and provider, but those who live here must take resources with care. That’s why Witex’s products consist of 90% wood (a renewable resource) and 10% environmentally friendly resin glue – sustainability is of great value to Witex. Since the wood they use is a renewable resource from sustainable forest management in Germany, they opt to never use only local wood where they can be a part of sustainable practices.

They study the process from manufacturing to disposal in order to make sure each process is environmentally sound. They are the first company to offer a take back system for its used laminate floors, which means a better conservation of resources and less landfill waste. Witex’s floors are returned through special retailers and craftsmen after use, and are re-processed in combined heat and power plants. This is the ultimate in recycling! Witex is leading the way in finding alternate uses for retired laminate; currently, they have found a way to produce electricity with the re-processing cycle.

To learn more about Witex, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

Teragren Bamboo Flooring is a wonderful alternative to traditional hardwood flooring for your home or office. In addition to getting great flooring, you can have confidence in the fact that you have purchased a product that leaves no adverse affects on the environment. Teragren is a company that is both environmentally and socially responsible when lining up their manufacturing and business practices.

Starting out with just solid-strip, traditional bamboo flooring, Teregren has expanded their lineup to include wide-plank and floating floors, natural, caramelized and stained flooring; flooring stair parts and trim; panels and veneers.

Teragren Bamboo Flooring is a purchase that you can feel good about; each floor is FloorScore-certified, which tests the quality of indoor air. When a product is certified, it means that it meets the high standards for 78 volatile organic compounds.

In addition to being one of the largest manufacturers in the world for eco-friendly bamboo flooring, Teragren is leading the way with research and development for these exotic wood floors. The researchers at Teragren have discovered Optimum 5.5 Moso bamboo.

Moso bamboo is just one of over 1,500 bamboo species grown throughout the world. Moso, grown in the Zhejiang province of China, is one of the hardest bamboo species; this particular plant has dense fibers which make for a stronger timber and more reliable hardwood product.

As far as compressive strength goes, it is stronger than concrete and has about the same strength-to-weight ratio as steel in tension. This bamboo is harvested between 5-1/2 and 6 years in order to achieve optimum strength and durability. Bamboo harvested at this particular stage in the shoot’s life ensures that it is strong from the inside out.

Teragren Bamboo Flooring ranges anywhere from 1921 (for the Teragren Signature Naturals flooring) to 3271 (for the Teragren Synergy and Portfolio strand bamboo flooring with Xcora technology) on the Janka scale. To compare, white oak registers at 1360 and North American maple registers at 1450.

To learn more about Teragren Bamboo Flooring, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

Expanko Cork Flooring comes in Traditional Tile, Specialty Tile, Contemporary Tile, and their exclusive Artistico Collection. Each collection has its own unique features that will bring a brand new look to any home.

The Traditional Tile from Expanko Cork Flooring comes in matte polyurethane and unfinished, and ranges in thickness from 3/16″ to 5/16″. The tile size of this collection is either a 12″ x 12″ or a 24″ x 24″. You can even order custom options: any dimension up to 12″ x 36″ or 24″ x 24″ and 1/8″, ¼”, 3/8″, or ½” thickness. This collection comes in Traditional Cork – Light, Traditional Cork – Medium, and Traditional Cork – Dark.

For the Specialty Tile, you can choose either matte polyurethane or unfinished as well. Tile thickness comes in options such as 3/16″ and 5/16″. The tile size available is 12″ x 12″, and custom options here include: any dimension up to 12″ x 36″ or 24″ x 24″ (Mosaic Wide Strip, Mosaic Thin Strip and Ardosia are not available in 24″), and 1/8″, 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″ in thickness (however, Mosaic Wide Strip, Mosaic Thin Strip and Ardosia not available in custom thickness). Products in this collection include: Terra Tile Light, Terra Tile Dark, Wide Mosaic, Serra, Rapado, Lagos, Thin Mosaic, Granito, and Ardosia.

The Contemporary Tile Collection from Expanko Cork Flooring also comes in matte polyurethane and unfinished, and is available in 3/16″ in a tile size of 12″ x 12″. Custom options include dimensions up to 24″ x 24″ and 12″ x 36″ in a 3/16″ thickness. In this collection, you can find such exciting options as: Algarve, Douro, Coreia, Castello, and Strada.

Finally, in the exclusive Artistico Collection from Expanko Cork Flooring, you can explore such lovely choices as Viale, Topazio, and Listra. You will need to inquire about thickness and tile sizes for the specific option you’re interested in.

To learn more about Expanko Cork Flooring, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

Actually it’s over 62 if you consider it can be custom colored too  Any way you lay it, Duro Design can be ordered in any variation of 62 stylish colors.  Have a unique home or exotic taste? This incredibly durable and modern flooring can be tinted to make any room as unique as its owner. Duro Design has its rainbow of colors organized into several categories: vivids, pastels, neutrals, warm woods, dark & rich, and desert sands. Since every customer is sure to find the right hue and texture, it might be easier to choose a floor to match your decor than the other way around.

Of the newer flooring products entering the market in recent years, no one single product has been able to satisfy all of the criteria that make a truly “green” floor. However, bamboo and cork come close. They are at the top of the list when it comes to sustainability and low environmental impact.

In the words of Duro Design, bamboo is a truly sustainable harvested grass. Bamboo can regenerate itself more than eight times faster than traditional hardwood forests. And as an added bonus, harvesting process does not kill the plant. Selected for its hardness and overall strength, and the fact it matures in about six years, Duro Design is steadfast about using mature Moso Bamboo.

Duro Design produces two types of bamboo flooring, Solid Strip flooring and Extra-Wide Engineered Planks. Solid strip bamboo is installed in a similar way to traditional hardwood flooring, usually using nail- or glue-down techniques. The engineered planks can be enjoyed for their width. They are also more versatile and can be installed as a floating floor with a bit more flexibility as to what kind of subfloor is required.

Unequivocally passionate about making a small environmental footprint, Duro Design creates products that meet and exceed industry standards. Their fine selection of bamboo floors is no exception. And with over sixty-two marvelous colors to choose from, Duro Design bamboo floors will certainly make an impression in any home.

To learn more about Duro Design bamboo, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

This customer-centric philosophy brings a quality and dedication to the entire process at Plantation. Their factory in California has state-of-the-art machinery to create the basic forms of the hardwood planking, but the things that make Plantation’s finished product so special are the artisans who meticulously apply finishing touches such as detailed handscraping, which gives the floor that old-world, rustic appearance so popular in today’s designs. But because the details are not done by machine, you’re certain to get a truly unique product for your new home or office.

And if green, eco-friendly practices are of primary importance to you, then Plantation Hardwood Floors is a company you can trust in. First, they make certain that the companies from which they receive their raw materials are in compliance with regulations and employ eco-friendly practices. They recycle their scrap and wood “waste” from their manufacturing process by making interesting and unusual flooring alternatives and samples for customers. Also the company only uses stains and finishes that are either water-based or emit no volatile organic compounds into the air. And because the factory is in California, that reduces overseas transportation emissions, and also helps create and keep jobs in the U.S.

Plantation offers a huge selection of colors, styles, and of course offers unique, custom finishing that is only limited by your imagination. They have several collections, including limited edition lines, in addition to their bases for custom orders. They also have a parquet floor offering that can be custom-made for your personal style and tastes. Plantation hardwoods truly are unique and have a striking appearance, from red oaks available in traditional, classic grains, dark chocolate or red/rust tones to striking walnuts in varying levels of the distressed look to smooth, luxurious gloss.

So definitely take a closer look at what Plantation Hardwood Floors has to offer. You won’t find another company that gives its customers such superior quality in custom looks.

To learn more about Plantation Hardwood, please contact one of our design consultants at 1-800-764-1633.

First and foremost, if you’re looking for a hardwood flooring supplier that has sustainability and environmental protection at its core, look no further than Mirage. They are the upper crust when it comes to protecting the vital natural resources we have at our disposal as well as utilizing every aspect of the raw materials and recycling.

Mirage has actually put into place several programs and procedures that certainly put action to their claims of an eco-friendly endgame, including using a specialized delivery system that makes sure the wood blocks and cardboard corners used in their packaging are returned to their plant to be used again. They’ve actually reused over 500,000 packages since the start of this program. Not only that, the manufacturing “leftovers” are not scrapped at Mirage. They are used to fuel the boilers of their plants, and some is recycled and used as animal bedding or pellets for fuel.

Mirage also finishes its flooring products with nanotechnology, in the form of Nanolinx™. It’s an incredibly durable coating that is five times more wear-resistant than other types of coatings, has a UV protective element that reduces the effects of direct sunlight on the floor, and is transparent and flexible, allowing the natural beauty and function of the floor shine through.

The hardwood flooring at Mirage comes in three different styles and installation types. There’s glueless or “floating” engineered wood flooring, an engineered product that is glued down, and traditional solid wood planks that are typically nailed down.

Once the method of installation is selected, you can then choose from an amazing array of options including sizes from standard 2 ¼” width up to a wide 5″ planking, colors that range from very dark expresso colors to light blond, natural tones.

Also throw in a hand-scraped, raised pattern option, and your choices are almost endless. Find your vision in their elegant choices.