Corey’s Green Home Project: The Floors (part #3)

As you may have read in parts #1 and #2 of our flooring install odyssey, we decided to go with river-recovered and reclaimed floors for our home.

But not for all of our home.

We would go with wood for our kitchen, living spaces and bedrooms, but I wasn’t convinced it was the most practical choice for our laundry/utility room (which also currently houses our furnace and water-heater).

We considered tile and cork but kept coming back to low-maintenance, high-durability and long life-span. (Of course, we were looking for sustainable, too.)

One option kept rising to the top: Marmoleum.

I became a head-over-heels fan of Marmoleum the first time I laid eyes on the colorful 12 x 12 tiles lined up like modern art at my local Green Depot (photo above).

Absolute eye-candy.

Years before I ever owned a home, I poured over Marmoleum’s catalog, dreaming of all the cool patterns I could create in my someday-abode. The floor in the kids’ playroom would feature bright, fairy-tale colors in a quilt-like pattern. My country kitchen would have black and white “tiles” (of course). So many possibilities…

Never mind the fact that Marmoleum is a great, green flooring solution. Made from raw, natural materials (such as linseed oil, cork flour, jute and pine rosins) and eco-friendly pigments (no thanks to the heavy metals), Marmoleum also is naturally anti-microbial—a bonus for moms (like me!) who want a healthy home, naturally. And unlike carpet, Marmoleum doesn’t collect dirt, pollen and dust, all of which inflame my daughter’s asthma.

(BTW, Marmoleum is the antidote to vinyl flooring. Vinyl, while durable and “easy-care,” is the opposite of healthy-for-family-and-planet. Read more on why experts recommend steering clear of vinyl flooring in the home).

The bathrooms in our very first home, a 1970′s rambler, were covered in ancient linoleum (vinyl). It was impossible to pinpoint what color they had been originally, but my best guess would be a shade between a pea green and a muddy beige. At least they had likely done most of their off-gassing. Still, they were stained and warped and simply not save-able. We would need to replace it all. But the idea of cold tile on my baby’s feet wasn’t warming my heart. Now was my chance to realize my Marmoleum dreams! Our bathrooms were soon outfitted with Marmoleum: one with tiles, one with sheets. The result was everything I had ever hoped for.

Flash forward to our current home. Our reno project de jour. Our new laundry/utility room would need floors too (its was though 30-year-old vinyl, was stalking us!). Here’s the before picture:

We picked out our color (“Graphite”), measured and placed or order. A week later, the floors were in.

Here’s the after pic:

Time to install the washer and dryer.

… Next on to installing the wood floors! Hold onto your horses, it’s going to be quite a ride!

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Why we chose Marmoleum: Beautiful, natural, healthy, functional, durable, easy-install (we were told anyone “hand” can do it; alas, this doesn’t describe Hubby and I).

Where to buy: www.GreenDepot.com

To find out more: www.forbo-flooring.us

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