Green Building and Eco Friendly Products Category Archive
Sam Lindstrom, a homeowner and customer from Lakewood, Washington, installed his own Carlisle floor recently, with the help of his uncle. He was kind enough to send along these "before and after" photos of the project, showing his once-tiled floors now turned into a beautiful Antique Oak. ("Before" is above and "After" is below.) We think the makeover works beautifully, don't you?
Sam came to Carlisle for his floors back in December and began the installation in February or March of this year. He wanted the Antique Oak to match an existing floor in the circa-1949 house that a previous owner had installed. That floor actually came from an old ship! The previous owner had taken the ship's boards and had them cut into flooring. Reclaimed wood! We like that here at Carlisle.
Here's how we describe our Antique Oak:
Taken from old timbers found primarily in barns along the Ohio River Valley, our Antique Oak flooring has an extremely fine and figured grain structure, referred to as "tigering." This handsome Oak wood radiates warm and "nutty" English brown tones, giving each Antique Oak floor a distinguished Old World look. You can almost feel the events witnessed by this Antique Oak. It exhibits rift grain, occasional knots and nail holes, while retaining the rigid strength of new oak.
Got a question for us? Write us here by clicking onto "comments" just below.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: June 12, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Back on March 25, we told you about Cheryl Parker and Marc Batcheldor and how they are building one of the greenest homes in the country, over in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, not so far from our Carlisle headquarters. We're quite proud to be part of this project, which is now about to be revealed to the public in the Portsmouth Sustainability Tour. Cheryl and Marc's house is featured on the May 16 "Sustainability at Home" tour featuring homes and organizations that are demonstrating sustainable building materials or other energy saving practices. Their home appears on this map as #7: The Zero Net Energy Home! Cheryl and Marc intend that their home will achieve platinum level LEED certification and their zero net energy designation means they will produce as much energy as they use. Their home is a 1,350-square-foot passive solar that they designed and engineered themselves. Each material they used in their home was considered for where it was manufactured, its chemical content and its sustainability--and that's why they chose Carlisle Wide Plank Antique Heart Pine, crafted in 4-inch to 10-inch random widths. March and Cheryl installed the floor themselves.
If you're in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire neighborhood on May 16, why not drop in to the Sustainability at Home tour and see Marc and Cheryl's home up close?
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: May 11, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Filed under: DIY - Do It Yourself, Events, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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We were quite honored to have supplied the floors for the Hermitage Inn in West Dover, Vermont recently. The top photo shows the dining room of the inn, and the bottom shows the pub area.
The inn was looking for a floor that was historically accurate to the time period -- the structure dates back to the 1840s--and that was sustainably harvested to be in step with the inn's Green Initiative. As Glen Renagan, our sales and design consultant, says, we were able to meet the inn's needs on both counts. We did about 2500 square feet of the restoration project in Carlisle's 10 to 17-inch Old Growth Eastern White Pine and another 2,500 square feet was in the 8 to 12-inch Old Growth Heart Pine. Read more about how Carlisle's floors are sustainably grown.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: April 29, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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We're pretty excited to be partnering with Jewett Farms & Company and Jewett Farms Studio, a hand-crafted design studio based in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for an "Earth Fest" event that links great green companies and products with great green eats. The trip to Newburyport is worth it at any time--it's such a fun, port city--so this event is bound to be icing on the cake. From April 24 to 26, Jewett Farm is hosting an open house with a green theme. Visitors can stroll through the studios to get ideas on period kitchen redesigns or custom office cabinetry (see here for just a sample), all the while being awed by the Carlisle floors underfoot. Jewett's products, like ours, are made form sustainably grown wood. We've partnered with Jewett since 2008 because the craftsmen there show the same attention to craft and detail as we try to maintain in our products.
The Earth Fest events at Jewett will feature appetizers and drinks on Friday and Saturday evening, brunch and drinks on Saturday morning, and brunch and drinks on Sunday morning. The food will be prepared by one of the best restaurants around and will be all natural. All the events are open to the public, but attendees should RSVP to earthfest@jewettfarms.com.
You might want to check out the Eco Collaborative, the Newburyport-based organization behind the Earth Fest celebrations that weekend.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 30, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Tags: Carlisle, Earth Day, environmental, green, Jewett Farms
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A showcase home in Rhode Island, designed to showcase "green" products, will be featuring Carlisle's Wide Plan Floors very soon. The Green Life Smart Life (tm) home is intended to help homeowners and builders what is necessary for a home to achieve LEED-H certification. Carlisle is one of six new partners in the project, along with companies that offer eco-friendly roofs, stone, siding and deck options.
Carlisle Wide Plank Floors is supplying custom-made FSC-certified antique reclaimed hardwood wide plank floors to Green Life Smart Life. The wood for the floors will be harvested from an old abandoned barn in New England. Carlisle is working closely with the Green Life Smart Life team to find just the right local barn that captures the family essence of the project. The Carlisle floors will cover more than 45 percent of the home's floor surface area, which will qualify Green Life Smart Life for full LEED-H points. Reclaimed wood from old barns slated for demolition reduces the overall embodied energy of the floor, eliminates the need to harvest new trees, and provides the home with a beautiful design element.
Read more about the Green Life Smart Life project.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 27, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Cheryl Parker and Marc Batcheldor came to Carlisle in July of 2008 intent on finding a floor product that fit with the theme of the home they were building in Portsmouth, New Hampshire--GREEN. Not the color, but the earth-friendly idea of energy saving and energy efficient. In fact, their developing home is so green, it's been the subject of local media stories. The photo above is from Foster's Daily Democrat and fosters.com.
Our Flooring Design Consultant Sharon Sterrett says these two are very much involved in constructing their home, even though they both have full-time jobs elsewhere. The pair recently came on over to our Stoddard, New Hampshire offices and picked up the floor they had chosen--a Wide Plank Antique Heart Pine, crafted in 4-inch to 10-inch random widths. Then they set out to
Continue reading "One of the "greenest" homes in the country will have Carlisle reclaimed wood floors" »
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 25, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Tags: pine floors, reclaimed wood, wood floors
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Anybody in the greater Boston area should be sure to come on down to the Seaport World Trade Center there April 1 or 2 and talk floors with us! Public hours are 4 to 8 p.m., April 1 and 4 to 7 p.m. April 2. Carlisle folks will be in booth #353. Once again, we partner with our friends at Crown Point Cabinetry in providing floors for their booths and they provide cabinets for ours. You can read more about what happens at this really big show here. Homebuilder? Remodeler? This show is for you. You can meet and greet the folks who can help with your projects and get their industry-insider perspectives. It's not just exhibits, but workshops and special events. Some of those events are listed here. Admission is free, you're in the happenin' town of Boston and it's springtime! What more could anyone ask?
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 23, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Filed under: Events, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Building and Contracting
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Tags: Boston, Crown Point, New Hampshire, reclaimed wood, wide planking flooring, wood floors
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We'll be in New York at the end of March and we hope to see you there. You can see our floors in our booth, but you can also see them on display with Crown Point Cabinets at the show.
Here are all the details:
Architectural Digest Home Design Show
Pier 94 - 12th Ave at 55th Street
New York City, NY
Booth # 960
Exhibit Hours
Friday, March 27 - Sunday, March 29
10:00am-6:00pm
You can order tickets on-line if you like. Members of the trades are admitted free with proper credentials, as are students of design.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 18, 2009 at 10:35 AM
Filed under: Events, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Building and Contracting
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Earlier here on "Surface," we talked about how we partner with Crown Point Cabinetry, a company in our very own homestate of New Hampshire, in providing reclaimed woods they use to make some of their cabinets. You can see these antique woods in action in cabinets here. Talking with the Crown Point gang got us to thinking how cabinets and floors are inter-related, or not. Here's our design and sales consultant, Lynn Rafuse, on choosing cabinets to go with floors, and vice versa.
Q: In a major kitchen remodel or new construction, would you decide the floors or the cabinets first?
Lynne: When customers come to us, we always tell them that if it's at all possible, they want to choose their floors first. Of course, with some remodels or small projects, that's just not possible. Or, they may be totally in love with their cabinets, but need new floors. But when possible, it's best to go "floors first" because the floors are the largest "backdrop" in the space and the one most likely to remain longer than any other. It's one of the biggest surfaces in your home. Almost everything else is more "changeable."
Q: So, after that's decided, what are the other considerations when matching cabinets to floors and floors to cabinets?
Lynn: Of course, it's the style of their home. Is it a timberframe, an 1800s farmhouse in New England or a modern high rise in Chicago . This will somewhat narrow down the flooring choices (though these days, almost "anything goes" in décor; see below). Then there are considerations
Continue reading "Choosing a Carlisle floor to go with your cabinets" »
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 16, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Decor, Home Flooring Choices
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Tags: Crown Point, kitchen cabinets, New Hampshire
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Many of you know that Carlisle collaborates with Crown Point Cabinetry--just up the road apiece from our Stoddard, NH headquarters, in Claremont, NH--to use our reclaimed wood in their lovely cabinets. In fact, they love to write about cabinets as much as we love to write about floors, and they do so over in their blog Wood Shavings.
Crown Point also helps Carlisle when we need to showcase our floors in a real setting involving a kitchen. For example, Crown Point Cabinetry is used in each of our Design Centers, pictured below. In the Los Angeles and Chicago centers, the cabinetry shown is Crown Point using our Antique Chestnut wood, and in Washington D.C., we've used another in Crown Point's line of premium custom cabinetry options.
Take a look below and we hope someday you'll have a chance to visit us in our Design Centers. We also partner with Crown Point in creating our trade show booths. More on that in a few days.
Below, in order, are the Carlisle Los Angeles Design Center, the Washington D.C. Design Center and the Chicago Design Center--all using Crown Point cabinets.
Got questions? Feel free to drop in here with your comments or questions by clicking onto "View or post your comments here" below.
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: March 3, 2009 at 9:16 AM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Decor
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Dan O'Neil, our Flooring Design & Sales Consultant in the West Hollywood Design Center, sent us news of Carlisle's participation in the first conventionally constructed home in Los Angeles that is Platinum LEED Certified.
The house, a custom 1920s Spanish style home, was designed to meet the highest level of LEED certification while still showcasing the fact that "green" building can be architecturally interesting in addition to technologically innovative.
The floors Carlisle installed were all reclaimed Antique Oak with random widths from 3" to 9 " and the planks had been recovered from an old barn.
Richard Byrd, the developer of the house and CEO of Byrd Development, Inc. in Los Angeles, used Carlisle floors for all the wood floors in the house. Carlisle's Dan says he had met Byrd at last year's Super Bowl game and later Byrd's assistant tracked down Carlisle asa company that could supply the reclaimed wood floors they wanted for the house project. See more photos of the entire house, including more Carlisle floors, here.
Construction of the house was featured on the Planet Green channel's show "Alter Eco," and our very own Dan O'Neil says he got to be on the set every now and then as well. (Sorry, he doesn't show up in this video.)
A fundraising tour and party was held in December at the home to benefit the nonprofit environmental organization Global Green.
Here's Byrd giving a video tour of the house. He's moving pretty fast but you can catch a glimpse of those Carlisle floors all along the way.
This is the first time Byrd had used Carlisle floors in one of his projects. Byrd said, "It was one of the sustainable products that didn't compromise quality, design or performance. I have found a lot of green products do not have the resiliency that traditional products have. Carlisle is not one of them."
Author's Name: Christine Halvorson
Posted Date: February 25, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Tags: antique flooring, green, LEED, reclaimed woods
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Tender is the new steakhouse at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas! Carlisle worked with the designers on the project. Here's what Jason Wolfe, Carlisle sales person from the West Hollywood office, had to say about his participation in the project.
"We all decided that to complete the restaurant’s masculine look would be to use our 400 year old Original Gray Exterior Barn Siding, random widths of 5-12” wide and very long boards (nothing shorter than about 10’). The design team is based out here in Los Angeles (great ladies!) and my builder is located in Vegas. Pretty cool project… in a wicked cool setting."
Here's one of Tender's ads
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: November 5, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Regions, True Hardwood Story, Wood Grains & Styles
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Tags: commercial projects
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Here's a nice letter and photos that we received from client's of ours. They purchased our FSC Antique Oak floors and beams.
Hello,
Wanted to let you know our room is done and came out really nice. Attached are some pictures of the room prior to the furniture coming in. I installed some puck lights in the beams so light is cast onto the ceiling when activated. One question my wife had is what do you recommend for general cleaning of the floors. Any product that you recommend would be appreciated. Thanks again for all your help in the entire process. We are very pleased.
Todd and Gina Neddermann
P.S...We recommend weekly vacuuming (or sweeping) and a capfull of white vinegar to warm water for damp mopping!
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: November 3, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Filed under: Customer Letters, Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Regions
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Carlisle's Denver Design Center has been participating in the sponsor festivities with Mountain Living at their Natural Dream Home in Cordillera, Colorado. Our FSC Certified Antique Ash floors (with a stain) were used throughout the first level of the home. The home is now open through November, for tours!
Here's a close up of the FSC Antique Ash with the brown stain, also check out the interview with sales person, Laura Leier! This article can be found in the November/December issue of
Mountain Living on page 70!
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: October 31, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Building and Contracting, True Hardwood Story, Wood Grains & Styles
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We've been working with Classic Hardwood Floors for over ten years now. Here's a nice letter from owner, Joe Boos.
Although it is my profession and can be challenging and stressful at times, I thoroughly enjoy being the owner/operator of Classic Hardwood Floors. In 1998 my brother Eric and I formed our business and had the best time of our life working together for 10 years. A person seriously could write a book about all of our experiences. We did have a few employees throughout the years, most notably our other two brothers and our father. Imagine a customers surprise after contracting us to work in their million dollar + houses based only on phone conversations and a written proposal; only to have a truckload of 18-24 year olds show up at their door on day one to install a beautiful, expensive wide plank floor. I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked how old I am, when my dad or boss was showing up, or where is the guy I talked to on the phone. Of course the outstanding results continue to be a testament to the beauty of Carlisle’s wood and our commitment to perfection. Eric has recently moved on to bigger and better things (design consultant for this company called Carlisle Wide Plank Floors), however I still enjoy installing floors with my employees Jeff and Eddie.
Originally our business was a general wood floor operation (strip flooring, sand and poly, refinishing, etc). Thanks to the expertise and knowledge of so many at Carlisle we transformed into specializing in the installation and finishing of wide plank floors. Many quickly conclude they are one and the same, and although wide plank flooring contains many of the same aspects of “wood flooring”, in my opinion it is in a league of its own. You could liken it to the difference between arithmetic and algebra. A mathematician cannot learn algebra before the groundwork or basics are laid (arithmetic,etc). I feel as if we went from being nailers and sanders to craftsmen and artists. We went from installing and finishing floors that looked good to creating timepieces that make a house.
The first floor we did with Carlisle was a face nailed, stained, and tung oiled eastern white pine for John and Randee Malmberg. Randee could not find the floor she had seen in a magazine picture. No one in the area could. After extensive searching we stumbled upon Carlisle. Todd Waterman and Chris Sy were tireless in their efforts to insure we gave Randee the floor she wanted. Thank goodness they were! What a difference this floor was from what we were used to. No conventional sanding? No way! Face nail the face of the boards with antique square cut nails? No way! However, it turned out great and because of our commitment to quality and a number of referrals from Carlisle and the Malmbergs our wide plank career took off.
Since the Malmbergs we have installed and finished 111 wide plank floors for Carlisle. We have done many eastern white pine and heart pine, along with red and white oak, hickory, maple, ash, walnut, cherry, antique woods, saw kerf surface, hand scraped surface, barnboard, and many others that I am likely forgetting.
Among my favorites are the antique woods. The warmth and character in antique wood cannot be beat. One of my all time favorites is probably the antique sweetgum (an extremely rare antique wood with grain and color being similar to a mix of hickory and cherry) we installed in Lakeside, MI. Beautiful!
We also, because of being specialists, have had the privilege of working a large territory and discovering so many great places to visit, restaurants, and wonderful people. Carlisle floors have brought us to downtown Chicago, many of the suburbs, on the lake in Michigan, and rural Wisconsin, and many other places.
Over the past 10 years we have worked with so many great people at Carlisle. I truly view it a privilege and honor to be a part of crafting your beautiful floors and working with you guys. Without your help and support we would never had made it, and we sincerely thank you for everything! The relationships formed through the years are far more than simple business ties. We view you all as friends and family. So here is to 111 or more outstanding works of art!
THANK YOU!
Here's a few photos of floors that Classic Hardwood Floors' has installed over the years!
Birch
Hand Scraped White Oak with Stain
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: October 28, 2008 at 9:57 AM
Filed under: Customer Letters, Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Hardwood Flooring, Home Building and Contracting, Jen Fox, Regions, Restoration Projects, True Hardwood Story, Wood Grains & Styles
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Tags: chicago floors, relationships
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Bill from Warmboard stopped by for a visit during the Log and Timber Show! We have partnered with Warmboard in the past on events and email marketing as our products are a great fit together. Bill works with the girls from our DC office, Janel and Hannah.
Here's a radiant heat panel that Warmboard let us borrow during the show!
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: at 9:44 AM
Filed under: Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Home Building and Contracting, Home Decor, Megan Sprague, Regions
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Tags: chantilly show, relationships, subfloor radiant heat
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This customer is in the process of having her FSC Antique Oak floors installed.
Here's a nice letter she sent to Dana Tuscher of our New York sales team...
Thank you very much for the lovely picture - the wood is drop dead gorgeous!
I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. Each time I have called your company I have been handled in a first class kind of way by each person I have spoken to - what a luxury. Please tell your staff their
kindness goes a long way and makes a lasting impression. It is a pleasure dealing with Carlisle.
Best....
Carol
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: October 21, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Filed under: Customer Letters, Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Here's a note from Lauren Power of our Midwest Sales team:
Thought you might like to take a look at this amazing PREFINISHED floor
we made for homeowners in PA.
It's a mix of 4-8" 'country' White Oak and all 8" 'country' rift and
quarter sawn white oak with gingerbread stain!
The best news is that the builder is now needing about 2000 SF of
prefinished Cherry for another home he's working on. This is a builder
who was VERY hesitant about our terms and didn't want to pay for the
floor before he saw it. I guess we proved ourselves the first time
around- thank you to everyone involved in crafting this beauty!
Enjoy
LP
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: at 4:05 PM
Filed under: Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Hardwood Flooring, Home Building and Contracting, Home Decor, Regions, Wood Grains & Styles
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Over the years, we've partnered with Deltec Homes of Asheville, NC on many projects. One of the largest was the sponsorship of an Extreme Makeover Home Edition Home in New Orleans last year!
We received this letter and photos from David Ide of Deltec Homes this week. Our floors are featured in their model home!
Glen,
I need some more Carlisle literature to put on display. We have handed out all that I had left over from my parade from last year. We have had so many people asking about the floors, they are truly the highlight of the house.
I have attached some photos for you. I can’t tell you how happy we are with how the floor came out.
David Ide
Director of Customer Relations
Deltec Homes, Inc.
69 Bingham Rd
Asheville, NC 28806
1-800-368-7401
www.deltechomes.com
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: October 17, 2008 at 9:58 AM
Filed under: Customer Service, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Hardwood Flooring, Home Decor, Home Flooring Choices, Regions, Wood Grains & Styles
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Building Products magazine had their first annual Green Ribbon Product Awards and Carlisle won the flooring award for our FSC Certified Antique Reclaimed Wood!
Carlisle's FSC Certified Antique Reclaimed Hickory
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: October 2, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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Tags: building products magazine, fsc wood, green awards
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It was an exciting event and drew sixty people to the seminar held in Palo Alto. The 30-minute presentation format allowed for each company’s educational snippet and a thorough question and answer session—where the audience was very enthusiastic and involved.
The speakers were: Amy Dryden from Build It Green (a LEED-like organization), Terry Alsberg of Warmboard, Paul Izenstark also of Warmboard (on the subject of solar heat) and Dan O’Neill from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.
John Noble, also a member of the Warmboard group, gave me these details, “We diligently held to the speaker’s 30 minute allotment, as it became clear we’d blow past the time we had committed. We had two speakers go, then took a short bio break, and got right back to work. We decorated the walls with some plan sets that Jennifer (Build It Green) printed- a nice array of projects and I observed many people checking them out before the start and during the break. The room was extremely attentive and packed. Excellent questions were asked, the audience was clearly engaged in the material.”
“This was a very strong event. Because I spoke last, I had time to mingle and gauge the interest levels and subjects that people were in attendance to learn about. The group was very diverse with professionals, and different levels of knowledge on the various subjects. One of the most positive things was the amount of questions and interaction throughout,” shares Dan O’Neill Regional Manager of Carlisle’s West Hollywood location
Author's Name: Megan Sprague
Posted Date: August 21, 2008 at 9:06 AM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products
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By Albert Waitt
Carpenters often refer to salvaged materials as coming from "the industrial forest." This somewhat comical slang indicates a growing awareness in the building industry of the importance of recycling classic wood and lumber. The US Forest Service reported:
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the equivalent of 250, 000 single-family homes is disposed of each year in the United States. This represents nearly 1 billion board feet of salvageable structural lumber per year, equivalent to about 3% of the current US softwood harvest. Much of the lumber available for salvage through deconstruction is from decades of old-growth harvest and represents a resource largely unavailable from any other source. As a result, much of the wood is of higher structural and aesthetic quality (higher density, slower grown, fewer defects) than is the lumber produced today."
Hardwood used in wide plank flooring can be salvaged from a wide range of sources. It has come from turn-of-the-century homes, old hotels, dilapidated mills, and even a 120 year-old, decommissioned 15 story grain elevator containing "the equivalent of an entire forest of antique, old-growth white pine in its walls." Where once this wood might have been seen as junk and discarded or burned, it is now recognized for what it is: An extremely rare natural commodity.
The wood salvage industry has expanded to harvest this bounty. The 2005 Forest Service study identified approximately 1400 businesses involved in salvaging, restoring, and building with reclaimed wood. It is a number that has steadily climbed.
Demand for reclaimed antique wood has also grown as homeowners have become aware of the look and ambiance it can provide. A National Hardwood Floor Association survey found that 56% of decorators and designers noted an increase in the demand for antique wood flooring over the past two years.
To meet this need, the hardwood flooring industry looks to the industrial forest. It's there that they can glean materials that are nearly impossible to find anywhere else. The American chestnut tree is nearly extinct, but one can enjoy the warmth it offers a home through salvage and restoration. Old growth pine harvested from a turn-of-the century farmhouse will show a dense wood grain with a tight ring pattern that just doesn't appear in virgin lumber. The aesthetics offered in reclaimed antique flooring are inimitable.
Barns that were once left to fall and rot are now seen as a valuable resource. Old houses that may have crumbled in disrepair are mined for irreplaceable flooring and fixtures. If one wants to create a period feel to a room or home, the most effective way to do so is with the materials of that period. Thanks to the industrial forest, the floors of the past live on today-and look as beautiful as ever.
(Survey results are available from The National Hardwood Floor Association:
http://woodfloors.org/consumer/contact.aspx)
Author's Name: Guest Blogger
Posted Date: August 10, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Hardwood Flooring, Home Building and Contracting, Home Flooring Choices, Wood Grains & Styles
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Tags: Antique Lumber, Barn Deconstruction, Reclaimed Floor, Recycled Wood, Sustainable Building Materials, Wide Plank Hardwood Flooring
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By Albert Waitt
If a homeowner is environmentally conscious and chooses to install a wide plank hardwood floor, it's easy for them to remain consistent and "go green" when caring for that floor and keeping it looking its best. Whether one has chosen a responsibly forested white pine or an antique reclaimed hickory, a green approach to upkeep and cleaning will benefit the homeowner and their wood floor.
When considering how to maintain and clean hardwood floors,
The American Hardwood Information Center offers the following advice:
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Place floor mats and throw rugs at entrances to trap dirt.
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Sweep floors weekly with brooms that have fine, exploded ends.
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Weekly vacuuming will also keep hardwood floors clean.
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Wipe up spills, pet accidents, and other liquid mishaps as soon as possible.
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It is important to remember that water exposure can harm a hardwood floor.
Instead of relying on commercial floor cleaners that may have toxic ingredients, the consumer has green alternatives when choosing materials to keep a wood floor clean and lustrous. The first step is to determine what kind of finish is on the hardwood floor.
For hardwood floors finished with polyurethane, Greenerchoices.org, thedailygreen.com, and Martha Stewart recommend damp mopping with a solution of one cup of vinegar per gallon of water. The mop should be barely wet, just enough to pick up dust and dirt, but not enough to leave water streaking on the floor itself.
For wide plank hardwood floors and soft wood floors with a penetrating finish, such as Carlisle's Tung Oil Finish, water should be avoided during maintenance. In addition to sweeping, dry-mopping, and vacuuming, Care2.com's Live Green Producer
Melissa Breyer recommends a natural
Citrus Solvent be sprayed on the floor in a light film and then dry mopped off with a micro-fiber or regular dust mop.
New green cleaning products are being rolled out on a daily basis and there's no doubt that consumers will have more choices in green floor care in the coming years. But the tips offered here (and now) are safe and effective. Through these simple practices, a homeowner can preserve their floor and protect their planet at the same time.
Author's Name: Guest Blogger
Posted Date: August 9, 2008 at 8:05 AM
Filed under: Authors, DIY - Do It Yourself, Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Guest, Hardwood Flooring, Home Flooring Choices
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Tags: Carlisle Floor products, green cleaning, green floor cleaning, green flooring, green products, hardwood floor cleaning, hardwood floors, Tung Oil
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By Matt Cardin
It's no secret that radiant heat is one of the fastest growing green trends in the construction business. Its location underfoot means it transfers heat directly to the individual instead of dispersing it into the air. Radiant heat systems also reduce the amount of heat lost when external doors are opened. And as anybody who has walked on a heated floor can tell you, they're unbelievably wonderful in cold weather.
Now it turns out that radiant heat combined with hardwood flooring results in an especially efficient heating situation that dramatically reduces a building's carbon footprint. We're not talking about some sort of special voodoo between the wood and the heat that makes them act differently. We're just talking about simple common sense. As documented and explained copiously by Carlisle and others, hardwood flooring is the only type that's 100 percent ecologically sustainable. The green benefits of radiant heat, for its part, are undisputed. So pairing them is a simple matter of 2 + 2 = 4.
As described in an April 15 press release from the National Wood Flooring Association, "Eco-conscious consumers can reduce their carbon footprint even further by installing radiant heat under wood floors. Because wood floors are sustainable and renewable, they increase radiant heat's benefits." Of particular interest to people thinking about going this direction is the fact that radiant heat can work with wide plank floors. A Google search combining them turns up many recommendations to use strip flooring, but these are a bit like the old saw that you can't install hardwood floors over concrete, when in fact you can. Using radiant heat effectively beneath wide plank flooring simply calls for an installation process involving a floating plywood subfloor.
Note that Carlisle has an FAQ about wood flooring choices where the first question deals with this very issue. Readers who are interested in both hardwood floors and environmentally sound living could do worse than to consider Carlisle's emphatic assertion that radiant heat is "our favorite heat source with our floors!"
Author's Name: Guest Blogger
Posted Date: August 4, 2008 at 3:33 PM
Filed under: Green Building and Eco Friendly Products, Guest, Hardwood Flooring, Home Building and Contracting, Home Flooring Choices
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Tags: Energey Efficient, Green Wide Plank Hardwood Flooring, Home Heating, Radiant Heat, Sustainable Floors
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