Forbo Linoleum & Custom Designs With Water Jet Method

Water Jet Cut linoleum for a Texas end-user. We can do this for your commercial application as well.

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Green, Green, Green… A LEED AP’s Perspective

Where does it start and where does it end?

Here is where I’m fishing for comments. Let me get the ball rolling. The above logos were printed on a brochure for a Bio Diesel conference I was invited to attend. Yep, I’m a biodiesel geek. But they tell a great story. Soy ink, windpower, FSC certification, Recycled content, waterless printing and full recyclability were all wrapped up in one brochure. And it was only a brochure! But what a brochure it was…
And I’m not alone.
72% of our flooring customers are concerned about environmental issues.
88% are interested in learning about eco-friendly products.
78% want to make a conscious effort to recycle in their homes.
It only makes good business sense to meet our customers where they are.

From our perspective in the flooring business, green flooring products range from “this fiber is recyclable”… not really that impressive, to “we’re a zero-landfill facility and we mean green!”
We are, by the way, a zero-landfill business. That said, the products we carry cover the entire spectrum.

Reclaimed hardwood – started as a tree, turned into a building, beer cask, railroad car, or something else… now it’s a floor. It’s the “third-life” principle that really takes going green to the next level.
Undyed wool carpet with natural latex backing –  very green. Wool is already renewable since it just keeps growing and I’m sure the sheep are happy to contribute, especially in the summer.
Cork flooring – If you’ve read my posts about cork, and how happy I am to have it in my own kitchen and sunroom, you know it’s a renewable resource from the bark of the cork oak tree. It’s waterproof (cork bobbers, anyone?) and won’t encourage microbial growth. It’s also the best insulator and amazingly quiet and warm.
No- or Low-VOC adhesives – we have adhesives that will not emit harmful VOC’s upon install. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. If you are sensitive to them, you already know what they are.
Recycled pad – often called rebond, this pad is made from scraps from the cushions used in the furniture industry, or from recycled carpet cushion.

Carbon Footprint consideration in manufacturing – some suppliers can provide information regarding the carbon footprint of their products. They, in a word, rock! Bamboo flooring is great… but if it takes twice as much energy to transport it from China, it’s not really a truly-green product. That said, bamboo is technically a grass, hence it’s a renewable resource par excellence.

And Carpet One offers our exclusive Green Select program.

Here are the Green Select Product Definitions and Criteria
GRN 1 = Recycled Content: CCA Global requires a minimum percentage of recycled content to be classified as Green Select based on specific criteria for each category. Suppliers must identify the specific materials and percentage of recycled (pre or post consumer) content.

Criteria:
Carpet – Minimum of 10% face fiber
Anso Green Edge
PET polyester 80% Recycled Bottles
Laminate – Minimum of 70% core board
Mannington

GRN 2 = Recyclable: CCA Global requires that carpet products are Fiber-to-Fiber recyclable, NOT Down-Cycled to be classified as green. At this time, CCA Global does not classify any hard surface products as recyclable.

Criteria:
Carpet – Fiber-to-Fiber Recyclable
Anso Green Edge
Nylon Type 6 from manufacturers who are making extra efforts to recycle (Shaw, Natiq/Nylene Fiber, etc.)

GRN 3 = Natural or Sustained: CCA Global requires minimum percentages of natural, sustainable, quickly renewable product content by category to be classified as green. Suppliers must identify these materials and their percentage of the product.

Criteria:
Carpet – Minimum of 35% of face fiber
Natural fibers such as Wool, Sisal, Seagrass, Cotton, Silk
Sorona – 38% corn-based
Linoleum
Armstrong and Forbo
Bamboo
US Floors, Teragren, Mannington, Columbia, Anderson
Cork
Wicanders, Natural Cork, Montado

As you can see, there is a lot to consider and I am purposely cutting this post short because I would love to get the comments rolling.

So, comment away!

Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Commercial Carpets of America
703-370-0000
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Mohawk’s Sorona Smartstrand Carpet Fiber

Sorona Smartstrand Fiber For Carpet – The Next Best Thing…

Below you’ll find information about this fascinating, soft and extremely-durable carpet fiber we’ve installed in our showroom for you to try out. Whatever your flooring needs, give us a call at 703-370-0000 or send an email. You’ll be glad you did!
Contact Chris Moline, LEED AP, our Residential Group Manager, for any flooring-related questions.
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From the Mohawk site -
“Mohawk leads innovation in sustainable flooring with SmartStrand® carpet with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer. In a partnership withDuPont, this carpet exclusively offers fiber made with Bio-PDO™ (the key Sorona® ingredient), which is produced from corn sugar.

By utilizing this new ingredient, 37 percent of Sorona® is being made from renewable resources. This marks the first time that a luxuriously soft carpet offers durability and stain protection, while also making less of an environmental impact.
Why is this carpet environmentally smart?

DuPont™ Sorona® plays a major role in the worldwide objective of a renewable economy and represents a new frontier in sustainability. This carpet is environmentally smart because:
The production of Sorona® polymer requires 30 percent less energy than the production of an equal amount of nylon.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the production of Sorona® are 63 percent lower than nylon manufacturing.
This energy reduction results in approximately one gallon of gasoline saved per every seven square yards of carpet.

The superior stain resistance of SmartStrand® carpet is engineered into the fiber and will never wear or wash off, meaning consumers will never need to retreat the carpet with stain protectors after steam cleaning. And this engineered-in stain resistance reaches new levels of protection, allowing tough stains such as mustard, red wine, and cherry Kool-Aid® to be removed simply with warm water and a mild detergent, or with Mohawk FloorCare™ Essentials. The fiber even resists discoloration from bleach.”

At Alexandria Carpet One, we provide our customers with thousands of square feet of this wonderfully-soft, durable carpet each month. In fact, it’s on our showroom floor with 5 different types of cushion underneath to give you a real-world idea of what it will feel like with different cushions… and how it will hold up. That’s because our showroom is extremely busy and we chose to put it to the test.
It’s performing flawlessly!

Contact Chris Moline, LEED AP,

Not ashamed to be a tree-hugger!

our Residential Group Manager,
for any questions about
Sorona Smartstrand fiber
in your home or office!
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Carpet One’s Green Select Program

Environmental Awareness

Encouraging and helping others to follow in their ecological footprints.
by Chris Moline, LEED AP

At Alexandria Carpet One Floor & Home, we play a role in CCA’s proactive, engaged approach to environmentalism.

As a part of CCA Global Partners, we realize our industry’s worldwide impact on the environment, which is why we have wholeheartedly embraced the “green movement” through the Green Select program.

The Green Select program was designed to show the importance of championing green products, and demonstrating how easy it is to make a difference by “going green” in every day operations — reducing waste, conserving resources, and increasing recycling.

In order for a product to earn classification as Green Select, there are several criteria that must be met. It must be recyclable, contain a minimum percentage of recycled material or be made from a natural, sustainable, quickly renewable resource. The definitions, criteria and green products will be constantly evaluated and updated based on industry changes and technological advances. We are steadfast in our mission: bettering our environment by our own actions and through our relationships with our member community, suppliers, and employees.

CCA is following through on this commitment by educating our employees and members to the importance of implementing Green Select standards. We also strongly encourage partnerships and employee volunteerism with environmentally focused non-profit organizations.

As part of this deep obligation to “greening” our industry and our world, CCA Global pledges to:
SEEK ways to expand our exclusive line of Green Select products.
MODEL a commitment to examine all of our business and procurement practices and to acquire and use resources as respectfully and thoughtfully as possible.
GUIDE our member community to help them operate their businesses in an environmentally responsible manner.
PARTNER with our suppliers to help them continue to provide the highest quality and value, with enhanced environmental responsibility.
MENTOR our employees and member community, and provide educational resources to help them make environmentally conscious decisions.

In Alexandria, we have a specific area dedicated to truly-green flooring choices. You’ll see cork, bamboo, Marmoleum, wool carpet over recycled pad, undyed wool carpet with natural latex in the backing, reclaimed hardwood, and so much more.
Chris

Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Alexandria Carpet One
Commercial Carpets of America
Email
703-370-0000

Not ashamed to be a dog and tree-hugger!

Glossary of Terms

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND RESOURCES TO EXPLORE

Natural Resources: Resources that exist naturally in the world.

Quickly Renewable Resource: Resources that, if consumed responsibly at a rate that does not exceed growth, can quickly replenish themselves.

Recyclable: A product or package that can be recovered from the solid waste stream for reuse, or in the manufacturing or assembly of another package or product through an established recycling program. — http://www.ftc.gov

Recycled Content: Materials that have been recovered and otherwise diverted from the waste stream, either during the manufacturing process (pre-consumer), or after consumer use (post-consumer). — http://www.ftc.gov

Sustainability: Material or energy sources which, if managed carefully, will provide the needs of a community or society indefinitely, without depriving future generations of their needs.— http://www.worldwatch.org

Links to Green Educational Websites:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

http://www.epa.gov

USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council):

http://www.usgbc.org/

CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort):

http://www.carpetrecovery.org/

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council):

http://www.fscus.org/

CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission):

http://www.cpsc.gov/

Cork Flooring – Warm, Resilient & Easy On The Planet.

by Chris Moline, LEED AP

I’ve had cork flooring in my sun room and kitchen for almost two years now. What’s the verdict?
Well, my wife and I, along with our children ages 7, 8 and 11… and our 75-lb German shepherd… absolutely love it. In fact, we recently installed it in her home-based physical therapy office as well.
We’re active (to say the least) and there is so much about this type of flooring that goes with our lifestyle. In fact, cork has been used for flooring since the mid-1800’s. Stop by some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s homes and you’ll see cork everywhere from the kitchen to the bathrooms.
Cork is well-suited to commercial applications, too. Chicago’s First Congregational Church, the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and Lafayette College in Easton, PA, are just a few of the places you’ll find it.

Click HERE
for a Free Estimate!

Here are some great reasons to look into cork for your flooring choice:

It’s warm
- Our 300 s.f. sunroom is built over a crawl space. It’s also got a 12-foot cathedral ceiling and I didn’t want to run ductwork for heat. So I installed R-45 insulation, radiant subfloor heat and the cork.  We do not have a problem staying warm, even though the three sides of the sunroom are all glass (triple-pane, Low-E).
Here is a picture of our sunroom:

It’s quiet
- Cork is the most efficient insulating material. Humans have tried, and failed, to make something better. But cork’s bajillion-cell-per-cubic-inch structure (ok, so I’m not a numbers guy) insulates wonderfully well against the sound of 3 kids and a dog when the adults are trying to relax.

It’s great camoflauge!
- Ever notice how hotels and restaurants always have patterned carpet and other types of flooring? It’s really quite simple to explain. Every floor will get dirty, but if you can’t see it, the time-lag to cleaning doesn’t bother you as much. Cork definitely offers that hands-down.
The natural appearance of cork is very, well, varied. Heaven forbid that I drop something small on the floor… it’ll be hard to find! And that, my friend, is just what I need given our hectic lifestyle.
But even though it’s great for hiding spills and other household ills, it also cleans up very easily. Personally, I use Windex for spot-cleaning, and Alba, our cleaning person, for weekly cleaning. Alba, however, uses Mr. Clean for hardwood floors. Cork, after all, is made from the the bark of the Cork Oak tree.

Cork is very green
- Cork comes from the bark of the cork oak tree. It is a renewable and sustainable resource with a very small carbon footprint. In cork oak plantations the first cork bark is not harvested from a tree until it is 25-30 years old.  The process of stripping off the bark in sections is traditionally done by hand, the way it’s been done for hundreds of years. The tree is not damaged and the bark regrows completely. The bark is harvested every nine years and a cork oak can live for 150-200 years, so it can be safely harvested up to 20 times during its life cycle.
According to Natural Cork, “Cork’s structure is very similar to that of a honeycomb: each square centimetre is composed of 40 million cells (a more accurate figure than a bajillion). These cells, as well as the spaces between them, are filled with a gaseous mixture similar to air. That is what makes cork so remarkable. The unique structure of cork creates the three most important characteristics in its application as flooring: Thermal Insulation, Sound Reduction and Elasticity.”
That’s why you can place a grand piano on your cork floor and it will bounce back when you move it.  Also, if you do happen to gouge it, repairs are much more easy to conceal since the finish is so varied in color and texture.

We’ve just installed a hundred square feet of cork in our showroom in Alexandria, Virginia. Come on by and give it a walk. Go ahead, take your shoes off!

Chris

Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Commercial Carpets of America
703-370-0000
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Introducing our new line of NO-VOC Environmentally-Friendly Hardwood Flooring By Catalina.

In the Northern Virginia area we are the exclusive source for this exciting product – Catalina Engineered Hardwood. Why is it so special?
It’s PEFC certified – on par with FSC and GBC certification (not LEED-compliant, but a good certification to have.)
Vegetable-based finish – very green.
Color-through stain process means the coloration goes below the top “skin” for amazing durability and appearance retention.
We’ve got some on the way to install in our showroom, but I recorded our representative talking about the product so you can learn more.
Give us a call or email if you’d like some more information.

Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Commercial Carpets of America
703-370-0000
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Installation of Marmoleum Click floating flooring into our Alexandria, Virginia showroom.

Marmoleum is the only flooring certified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation.
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Christopher Moline, LEED AP
Residential Group Manager
Commercial Carpets of America
703-370-0000
Email Blog Facebook Twitter

Some in-progress shots of our “green” area installation.

Here is Earl rolling out 1/8 cork underlayment before installing the floating Marmoleum Click planks and tiles.

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