Fabulous floors

Few items in your home have the impact of your floors. They can be a big budget item, and their visual presence is substantial. The good news is that this is a part of your house that it's relatively easy to do sustainably.

I knew I wanted the bulk of my floor square footage to be wood. I struggled a little with species selection. Visually, pine was my favorite, specifically eastern white pine, but many people I talked to said it's a bad idea from a wear-and-tear perspective. Additionally, it's cheap (even in wider baords) and can be purchased locally. I looked at some other species, especially maple and birch, but kept going back to the pine.

I live by myself, don't have a big dog, and thought I could get people to take off their shoes, so decided to go with the pine. I began my search in earnest for a supplier, with a strong preference for FSC certified wood. I found that in a VT firm. Their prices were a bit steep, though (roughly $6 sq ft.). I poked around on the web to find local suppliers. I found a mill in central MA with really cheap wood. I inquired about sustainable certification and they said no, but it was locally havested and manufactured, so I decided to give it a go. They were nice enough. I asked where the wood was harvested and they said "right here." I got a sample and drove away to contemplate further. On the way out, I noticed that all the land along the drive that I had originally thought was agricultural land was actually a clear cut. That just didn't sit well with me. Although the development pressures in central MA aren't nearly what they are further east, I feared the clearcut was a precursor to housing development.

I headed off to Lumber Liquidators at the suggestion of my builder. It was their big sale day. I wandered around the showroom looking for the FSC label, but didn't see any. I asked a sales guy if they had any sustainably certified product. He said "it all is." I responded that there were not labels. The next sales guy told me I needed to call national customer service. I did. They answered "Listen, it's our biggest sale of the year. I don't have the time to work on this." To which I said "Fine, I'll just take my business elsewhere."

My boss suggested I look into the Mass Woodlands Coop, headed by the former Commissioner of Agriculture in MA. They didn't respond to my inquiry, but did respond to my builder's. He reported that they didn't appear to be used to dealing with the building trade, but eventually we decided to purchase FSC-certified eastern white pine for about $2.50 sq ft. It looks great, but yes, is EXTREMELY susceptible to denting. Not for the timid!

The next challenge was what to use to finish the floors. I wanted a water-based product, but again, heard questions about durability. Ultimately, I just decided I had to do it. Again, if anyone is going to be easy on floors, it's going to be me. My urethane supplier (I bought AFM Safecoat Polyureseal BP at a pricey $85/gallon) recommended a specific sequence of 50-50 water-gloss urethane as a seal coat, 1st coat gloss, 2d and 3d satin. I carefully wrote this out for my builder to share with the flooring installer. I subsequently saw the printed instructions lying around the house. They worked several days on installing and sanding (another long story unrelated to green building), and I arrived home with excitement the first night after they had applied finish. I opened the door and immediately smelled toxic fumes. The pile of used materials also prompted concern. There was a empty can of oil-based product and both satin and gloss from my product had been used. There was no scenario under which this could have been correct.

I called my builder over the next morning to go over what had happened. The floor guy had applied a first coat of oil-based lacquer ("because that's what he uses to seal"). The 1st full coat was 50-50 satin-gloss. I asked how this could have happened. "I don't know," he said. I said "is it possible the floor guy doesn't read english?" (I had met him and english obviously was not his native language.) "Uh, yeah, but we did go over it with him." ARGGGHHHH!! I was too timid to require them to sand it all off. I don't have multiple chemical sensitivities or anything. But I worked so hard to be clear about this and it was extremely frustrating. Changing people's normal course of business is hard!

Time will tell regarding the durability of all this, but the initial impression is certainly great and I feel really good about what I've done.

Incidentally, I was recently at Home Depot and saw several wood floor selections that had FSC labels on them. Great news!