Green and Clean: Ecofriendly Bath Floors
Foot-massaging pebble tile, beautiful recycled glass and more can help make your bathroom beautiful and earth friendly
Michelle Jeresek
August 6, 2012
Bath floors play host to splashed water, wet feet, potty spills and makeup marks, so durability and hygiene are essential. However, that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice on style. Maintain those paramount qualities and amplify your bathroom's look with these ecofriendly flooring choices.
Concrete floors. The ultimate multitasker, concrete can act as both the finish material and structural floor. Simplifying a complex flooring system to a single material is smart, efficient and cost effective. Green your concrete with recycled aggregates such as glass, porcelain or coal fly ash (though skip the fly ash if coal isn't produced in your region, as the transportation energy negates any green cred).
This bath handsomely warms up concrete's cool vibe with a slatted wood floor overlay outside the shower.
This bath handsomely warms up concrete's cool vibe with a slatted wood floor overlay outside the shower.
Pebble tile floors. Smooth stones underfoot gently massage tired toes and lend a spalike quality to your bath. While most conventional pebble tiles are derived from mining stone, the folks at Modwalls have created a 100 percent recycled glass version of pebble tiles, called ModRocks, that lend the spa vibe without harming the environment.
Terrazzo floors. Seemingly indestructible, terrazzo gets high marks for durability and good looks. This material, made of chips of marble or granite set in concrete and polished, also can score high for sustainability if you use no- or low-VOC sealers and low-impact aggregates such as recycled glass. Although terrazzo can be pricey, a bathroom, with its relatively small footprint, can be a great place to splurge on this top-notch material.
Linoleum floors. Linoleum is often confused with sheet vinyl, but the two have little in common. True linoleum is made of natural materials, including linseed oil, and is inherently antimicrobial — perfect for combating mold and mildew in the bathroom. To boot, linoleum is scratch resistant, fire resistant and water resistant, and has even been known to strengthen over time, earning the nickname “40-year floor.”
Linoleum is available in sheets, tiles or planks. If you're not creating a pattern with tiles as in this charming bathroom, I recommend using sheets, as you'll have fewer joints and fewer places for the floor to show its age. Make sure that any adhesives are free of solvents and labeled "no-VOC."
Linoleum is available in sheets, tiles or planks. If you're not creating a pattern with tiles as in this charming bathroom, I recommend using sheets, as you'll have fewer joints and fewer places for the floor to show its age. Make sure that any adhesives are free of solvents and labeled "no-VOC."
Recycled glass tile floors. Recycled glass tile, with its jewellike qualities and bevy of color options, makes greening your bath a breeze. Nearly all of Oceanside Glasstile's products contain recycled content, ranging from 30 to 97 percent of the tile's composition. This bath employs Oceanside's Tessera series in Spruce, which is 95 percent recycled glass.
Ceramic tile floors. Ann Sacks' Savoy series (one of its Eco-Thinking lines), is made from 21 percent post-industrial recycled content, including ceramic waste material from discarded clay and tableware pieces. The refined Savoy series is affordable and broad, plying you with all the field tiles and mosaics a bath could want.
Cork floors. Cork touts a lot of green cred: It's a rapidly renewable and carefully protected resource. Every nine years, producers in Portugal and Spain strip the thin bark of cork trees into long, wide slabs, using care not to damage the tree. Wine corks are stamped out first, and the scraps are then ground and pressed to make flooring and bulletin boards, so that every bit harvested is used. Make your cork water resistant with a low- or no-VOC sealer.
Modwalls has boosted cork's ecofriendly reputation with its charming CorkDotz Mosaic Penny Round, created from the cork stopper industry's by-product.
More on cork flooring
Modwalls has boosted cork's ecofriendly reputation with its charming CorkDotz Mosaic Penny Round, created from the cork stopper industry's by-product.
More on cork flooring
Wood floors. Designers and architects are eschewing the notion that wood floors don't belong in the bath. Instead, wood flooring is extended throughout homes and into bathrooms like this one, lending a seamless look. When properly sealed (with no- or low-VOC sealers, please), wood floors in the bath need not present any added challenges.
Just remember that, ecologically speaking, wood can be the best or the worst of materials. It can be almost perfect when harvested sustainably. It's durable, it has a long life cycle and milling can be simple and requires little energy. However, wood that's not harvested sustainably can be environmentally destructive. When choosing wood floors, look for the following to ensure you're making the most sustainable choice:
10 Top Tips for Getting Bathroom Tile Right
Cork Flooring 101: Warm Up to a Natural Wonder
More guides to ecofriendly design
Just remember that, ecologically speaking, wood can be the best or the worst of materials. It can be almost perfect when harvested sustainably. It's durable, it has a long life cycle and milling can be simple and requires little energy. However, wood that's not harvested sustainably can be environmentally destructive. When choosing wood floors, look for the following to ensure you're making the most sustainable choice:
- FSC-certified: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent agency that provides certification, or approval, to wood that's been harvested in a responsible manner. Think of it as wood's equivalent of organic.
- Local species: Wood harvested locally minimizes transportation-related energy, supports the local economy and reinforces the sense of place.
- Salvaged: The only thing better than recycling is upcycling, or repurposing salvaged materials. Doing so sets the bar high for sustainability and is an opportunity to bring some history and personality to your kitchen. Salvaged beams from a 100-year-old warehouse roof were milled into tongue and groove flooring for this home.
10 Top Tips for Getting Bathroom Tile Right
Cork Flooring 101: Warm Up to a Natural Wonder
More guides to ecofriendly design
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Sustainable designer here to tell you all that concrete leaves a HUGE carbon footprint and is one of the LEAST sustainable products one can use, next to plastics! There are a few manufacturers that use alternative fillers, reducing the carbon footprint, but please be careful what you read and believe. This article is misleading.