In addition to quality and price, another key consideration with hardwood flooring is sustainability. Many of the popular hardwoods used for flooring come from exotic woods that are harvested from our diminishing rain forests around the world.

With the growing interest around sustainable building materials, coconut wood flooring provides a luxurious hardwood flooring solution that is also environmentally friendly.

Coconut wood comes from the palm family. Coconut palms are some of the fastest growing trees in the world. They rejuvenate much faster than most hardwood species, growing to full maturity in 5 to 6 years. This makes the Coconut Palm a sustainable resource.

Coconut wood for flooring is harvested from coconut palm plantations at the end of the tree’s coconut bearing years. Typically, coconut palms produce nuts (coconuts) for up to 80 years. At the end of their coconut bearing life span, the palm trees are then harvested for their wood, and replaced with new palms.

It’s interesting to note that the coconut timber byproduct from felled coconut palms that have reached the end of their effective nut producing years, has had no developed secondary market. This useful and renewable hardwood resource has frequently gone unused prior to more recent trends to leverage the wood for coconut flooring products and other palmwood applications.

Coconut wood can vary widely in density and hardness. The hardest coconut wood is found at the perimeter or outer ring of the palm trunk. The closer you get to the center of the Palm stem, the softer the wood. For durability, it’s important that you find a coconut flooring manufacturer that uses only the hardest wood from the outer perimeter of the palm stem.

Coconut wood flooring products are manufactured in a similar manner to bamboo flooring. Coconut wood is naturally a light tan color, and the darker honey-brown colors are achieved through “carbonized” coloring processes. The flooring is offered in vertical, horizontal or strand configurations, also similar to the bamboo flooring products.

Durapalm®, a palmwood flooring product from Smith & Fong, is manufactured from plantation grown coconut palms, which are abundant throughout the world.

Coconut palm lumber can vary greatly in color and density. Smith & Fong uses only the hard, dark palm for a luxurious look and superior durable surface.

Better quality palmwood can range in price up to $9.00 per square foot or more.

Compared to other traditional hardwood flooring solutions, high quality coconut wood flooring may be better suited for the more expensive home remodeling projects.

For more hardwood flooring ideas, contact Z.Z. Daily Construction about your next home remodeling project.

Cleanboard, a San Francisco based drywall startup, is a new company with a slightly different twist on a drywall product manufactured using a more environmentally friendly process. Cleanboard promotes their ecology friendly drywall product as “the most environmentally friendly drywall on earth“.

CleanBoard has created a solar powered system that uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays on a heat collector which heats a transfer fluid to store the sun’s radiant energy. The heated transfer fluid heats the drywall baking ovens up to 200 degrees Celsius. And the transfer fluid can store the heat in pressurized chambers up to 24 hours enabling the company to manufacture drywall even on days when the sun isn’t shining.

The traditional gypsum drywall manufacturing process typically relies on fuel expensive gas fired ovens that represent a significant carbon footprint. Moving to a solar based technology to heat the ovens provides a carbon free solution and should reduce the energy costs to manufacture the drywall by more than 50%.

The solar powered drywall facility will be based in the Mojave Desert where an almost year-round supply of radiant sunshine is available. CleanBoard expects to be in full production able to produce 2 million square feet of drywall in 2010, with projections to expand production to 10 million square feet of drywall in 2011, and the ability to produce a peak volume of 100 million square feet of drywall.

Today’s homeowners are not just interested in remodeling their homes for beauty, comfort and convenience. Improving the energy efficiency in their homes and protecting the environment are becoming increasingly important home improvement considerations as well.

Keeping an eye out for environmentally friendly and energy efficient building materials will help you make the best green remodeling decisions for your next home improvement project.

One such company, Serious Materials, has released a new drywall product they call EcoRock. The company claims this is the first significant change in the way that sheetrock is manufactured in over 100 years, and has recently won the Popular Science GreenTech award for best of what’s new in ’08.

For environmentally conscious home builders and home remodelers that are looking for better sustainable building materials solutions, EcoRock may be an interesting advancement worth looking into.

EcoRock improves on traditional gypsum sheetrock in several ways.

• Uses 80% less energy to manufacture than gypsum drywall.  Traditional gypsum wallboard manufacturing processes uses energy intensive drying ovens to fabricate drywall. EcoRock is naturally dried and cured using an oven-free process that consumes much less energy to manufacturer.
• Made of 80% recycled materials - made using recycled industrial waste products including waste from steel and cement plants. No gypsum is used to manufacture EcoRock.
• Mold and Termite resistant – outperforms all other mold resistant drywall as much as 50%. And no harsh anti-fungal chemicals are used to make EcoRock.
• Can be fully recycled at end of life – can be used as a pH additive for soils and can be returned to the production of EcoRock and other building materials as a useful raw material. And unlike gypsum drywall materials, EcoRock can be safely disposed of in landfills if necessary.

According to the manufacturer, EcoRock should be available from building material suppliers in the Western states later in 2009. The manufacturer indicates there is no difference in hanging, taping and installing EcoRock over standard drywall products.  The cost for the new drywall building material is not currently published, but expect it to be higher priced than gypsum based wallboard.

Creative Green Remodeling Ideas

There are so many creative ways to apply green home improvement ideas. For example, if you enjoy a climate like we do here in Southern California that promotes the integration of an indoor and outdoor lifestyle, consider the following creative application of an outdoor shower.

This concept, courtesy of Jeremy Levine Design, provides an enclosed open-air shower off of the indoor bathroom.  The outdoor shower offers a serene exposure to the open air while protecting your personal privacy.

The green friendly design recycles the shower water into a grey water garden outside. An aesthetic and pleasing lifestyle design that is smart for the environment as well!

photo credit: Jeremy Levine Design

The possibilities for green remodeling concepts are wide-open, but most homeowners choose to start with the basics first. Here are five of the more common green remodeling improvements that you might consider for your next remodeling project.

Five Green Home Improvements That Save You Money

• High Efficiency Heating System – Depending on where you live, heating your home can consume as much as 35% of your overall home energy bill. Today, new high-efficiency heating systems can significantly reduce your heating costs, sometimes by as much as 50%. Look for units with AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency ratings defined by the US Department of Energy) of 90 or better. And don’t forget the insulation in your home. Upgrading your heating system for energy efficiency is a waste if poor insulation simply allows the heat to escape.
• High Efficiency Air Conditioner – If you live in a warm climate, air conditioning is a must have. Surprisingly, air conditioning in the US accounts for approximately 5% of the total energy consumption and costs American homeowners $11 billion annualy. Many of the modern air conditioning systems are designed for much improved energy efficiency and can save significant costs on your monthly energy bill. Energy Star rated units are required to have SEER ratings of 13 or higher. Some of the highest energy efficient air conditioning models on the market today actually have SEER ratings of 20 and higher. Higher SEER ratings means you save more money!
• High Efficiency Replacement Windows – One of the most popular home improvement upgrades, modern energy efficient windows can reduce your home energy usage by as much as 50% year round. And today’s window upgrades will add beauty, comfort, convenience and security to your home. With this kind of energy conservation performance, upgrading the windows in your home can often pay for itself in a few short years. Look for Low-E coatings, multiple-paned windows, insulated frames and remember that proper installation is important to get good results.
• High Efficiency Insulation – One of the often overlooked opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of your home and reduce your monthly bill is home insulation. Don’t make the mistake of putting your investment in high efficiency furnaces, air conditioning systems and windows without attending to the insulation as well. Leaky windows and doors and poorly insulated attics cost you money and are good places to start. A professional can help you determine where your biggest insulation opportunities reside in your home.
• High Efficiency Appliances – your home appliances consume a big chunk of your energy usage each month. Today’s modern appliances, including dish washers, refrigerators, ovens, washing machines and dryers, can reduce energy consumption by as much as 45%. When choosing your appliances, look for the Energy Star rating to determine the level of energy efficiency.

Going green is a smart, win-win move all the way around. You not only save money on your monthly bills, you will benefit the environment and help better preserve our precious resources.

And don’t forget, many of the energy efficient green remodeling upgrades will qualify for tax credits, which make these green improvements even more compelling.

To find out more how you can benefit from green remodeling, contact Z.Z. Daily Construction today!