Standing on Green Principles: Sustainable Flooring Choices and Life Cycle Assessment

Innovative technologies, as well as tried-and-true materials, contribute to sustainable flooring from
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Sponsored by Amorim Flooring North America, Forbo Flooring Systems and Teragren® Fine Bamboo Flooring, Panels & Veneer
C.C. Sullivan

LCA STAGE FOUR:
OCCUPANCY AND MAINTENANCE

Choices made in design, construction and specification continue to have consequences throughout the life of the building, and beyond. Even a choice as simple as the flooring product will affect the occupants and the building's required maintenance day to day, every day. Comfort, durability, noise reduction, and dust reduction are some of the other qualities to consider for the occupancy phase.

Anyone with experience with wood flooring knows that it requires some maintenance. Assessments must include the embodied energy of cleaning, sanding, and refinishing over the expected life span of the floor. Resilient flooring and special finish treatments may offer reduced maintenance and refurbishment needs. On the other hand, all adhesive-attached products are difficult to separate for disposal or recycling. Consideration of indoor air quality, whether or not LEED credits are sought, means inclusion of VOC emission levels in assessments of occupant health and safety. Stains and sealants, even used on natural wood, should be checked to ensure healthy levels of VOC emissions.

Cork: Another benefit of cork, rubber, linoleum and other resilient products is that, like some carpeting, they offer comfort as health benefits to regular building users. "Cork is like a cushion, which contracts and responds to pressure," says Amorim's Nogueira, adding that scientific studies in Europe have shown that cork floor is good for the posture of occupants who stand or walk for extended periods of time, such as cashiers at retail counters. "With twenty-first-century technologies we can apply a finish which will make the cork as resilient as anything else," he adds. Due to these performance attributes, some cork flooring comes with 15-year wear warranties and minimal maintenance regimens.

Other resilient products are soft on the feet as well, providing benefits to posture and energy level of the building users.

Bamboo: The strong bamboo product presents a different sort of benefit for the fourth stage of LCA. For instance, 5/8-inch bamboo flooring compares to 3/4-inch fir in terms of long-term wear, says Teragren's Knight. Both will last through four or five sandings, and perhaps up to five decades. Fir is softer and more prone to gouging, as opposed to properly treated Moso bamboo, which stands up to heavy abuse. Moso also resists moisture well, an important factor for some humid and coastal climates.

Adhesives for bamboo flooring include four-part and three-part varieties; the four-part adhesive may improve the floor installation's resistance to cupping, warping and delaminating. Other choices made in harvesting and treating bamboo-for example, species harvested, the time elapsed before treatment, additives used in treatment-have consequences at this stage. Dialogue with the manufacturer or distributor and the flooring contractor is essential for an accurate assessment strategy.

Linoleum and tile: With composites, VOC emission data is essential. Spotting a "Floor Score" seal or similar qualifications is a good start. A very thorough assessment will include a close look at the supporting data and even the testing method. An LCA at the occupancy stage should indicate any health hazards associated with tile and sheet flooring components.

Assessing bio-based products will often reveal competitive VOC emission levels, while often remaining competitive with other tile products, such as vinyl, in terms of both cost and performance. New technologies are helping manufacturers create floors that are durable, deflective, impact- and stain-resistant, long-lasting and, of course, attractive. Thismeans that these floorsmight score well in maintenance assessment, as well as occupancy.

LCA STAGES FIVE & SIX:
DEMOLITION, DISPOSAL, REUSE AND RECYCLING

In the cradle-to-cradle LCA approach, there is no end to the life cycle, but rather a beginning. As recycling technologies improve, there are fewer and fewer excuses for materials disposal of any kind. Wood flooring can be removed from a decommissioned building, reused in others-as flooring, possibly, or as anything a handy designer and carpenter can devise-or recycled, usually accomplished by pulverizing the wood to be used in any number of ways. Many other flooring materials are now in demand for downstream applications using the products as base materials for new uses.

The building professional must include many aspects of the flooring product in the final LCA stages.What is the energy cost represented by removal of the reusable/recyclable material? Will there be any health risks associated with the removal? Are any of these offset by the benefits of recycling and reuse? As usual, themore questions asked, the more accurate the assessment.

It is also worth noting that the LCA stage five, demolition, should be assessed for sustainability in much the same way that construction was assessed. Consider this stage to be "de-construction," rather than demolition, and one may find that the assessment strategies for both have similarities: both require energy, labor, waste management, and the like. Then one can assess what the impact of a flooring choice may be at this stage.

Cork and bamboo: Both of these products are likely to be assessed comparably to wood in the final life cycle stages, although cork tile and roll products might be similar in LCA to other tile and roll products. As withmost flooring, it is possible that replacement will be required before the end of the life of the building, so be certain to incorporate whatever consequences and embedded energy are associated with replacement. Manufacturers will usually happily provide information regarding recycling and reuse strategies for cork and bamboo products.

Linoleum and tile: Composite material has the potential to be 100 percent recyclable. To close the loop on cradle-to-cradle LCA, manufacturers are studying whether their linoleum scrap can be composted, and some have indicated that their processes will eventually be certified. "In the future, flooring dealers and general contractors will have dedicated locations for composting scrap waste of linoleum, wood and more," says Cole from Forbo Floor Systems. "The material can then be recycled into new products."

The potential for sustainable recycling programs is evident in many flooring products, and recycled material as a resource to be harvested is becoming increasingly cost-effective for the manufacturer. It is possible that, within our lifetime, we could see a wide embrace of cradleto- cradle thinking in the building industry. For now we can start with the floor, but hopefully soon we'll reach through the ceiling.

 

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Originally published in GreenSource
Originally published in April 2008

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