Natural and renewable
From Floor Coverings
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What Does Natural and Renewable flooring Really Mean?
Is Cork Flooring natural and renewable?
Most people think of natural as something which is minimally processed, whether it's the food you buy or the textiles you use in clothing and floor coverings and upholstery. Being natural does not mean that it is automatically renewable, although both are often used together, especially for floor coverings. Natural and renewable products that you might use on your floors, would include naturally colored bamboo flooring that uses a resin that comes from nature. Another natural and renewable flooring is common timber that is cultivated and which grows fairly rapidly (not cut from rainforests), such as pine or other hardwoods. Real wood floors certainly enhance your home, last a long time, and are reasonably easy to take care of. Other natural and renewable resources can include cotton area rugs that may be washed and do not contain a lot of chemicals or dyes, or other simply process materials that you can use in drapes and upholstery. While stone tiles are gorgeous and much sought after, although they may be natural, they aren't renewable. The earth does not make any more rock, except after a very long period of time. Cork from cork oak trees is another renewable, and often natural, resource. The tree gives it up then grows some more. No harm, no foul, in the harvesting.
Is Natural Always Renewable?
If you think of a highly renewable resource for your floor and other items in your home, Giant Bamboo is probably what comes to mind. It grows so rapidly, because it's a grass. Farmers cultivate groves of Giant Bamboo and then peel off strips, from which the bamboo planks are created. It too, can be a natural as well as a renewable resource. Bamboo Flooring these days can be made both naturally and by the standard method, which does use chemicals. Even if a consumer wants a natural product for their home and floors, and the product is not renewable, they can use a natural and recycled product. That's an alternative to just using up more and more resources. Taking old hardwood or other found wood and making it into planks for your floor, perhaps sealing it with a natural varnish, gives you floors and furniture a wonderful and unique look. And if you can get the wood for free, so much the better. All it needs is a bit of elbow grease to get it ready for your floors.
Where to Use These Products in Your Home
Besides using natural and renewable products for your floors, they can be used outside on a patio, inside as furniture and upholstery, and because they are renewable, it doesn't matter if your family is hard on some of them. Better a renewable or recycled product that you wear out frequently and that will be able to be replaced easily without adding to your carbon footprint, than something that has used up a few of earth's precious resources, and that will use even more when you go to replace it. All that's needed is a bit of looking around for the natural and renewable products you want to use.
