Recycled Oak flooring
We have decided to use reclaimed oak for the floors of the house. This wood comes from old horse fences and other farm structures in Virginia and West Virginia. We had been planning on using bamboo for the floors, but this recycled wood that we found is greener and cheaper, either of which would have been reason enough to choose it. In addition, it's beautiful, and has lots of character.
Reclaimed oak is greener than bamboo because it's recycled and it's local.
Bamboo is sustainable and a great material because it regrows in only 5-7 years before it can be harvested again. The downside of bamboo is that it ships all the way from China, which increases it's carbon footprint. There are also questions about the sustainability of it's harvesting methods, and how it's production is monitored. Bamboo is also a relatively new flooring material, so it is somewhat untested as to its durability, which detracts from it's "green-ness."
Oak in general is durable. Even "new" oak is already very old, because the trees grow slowly. Old, reused oak has already passed the durability test in it's earlier life as a barn or a fence or some other structure. Because it's locally sourced, it doesn't have to travel very far. This also makes it cheaper than bamboo because we will save on the delivery/shipping fee. All of these reasons have earned this product approval as a green material from the US Green Building Council.
Green, durable, cheap and beautiful. What else could one want in a floor?
From Shenandoah Plank:
| Horse Country Oak | |||
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