One of the best kept secrets of the sustainable design industry is recycled tire flooring. As the demand for green building designs and construction materials continues to grow, developers are turning to many different solutions. Reducing how much energy is needed, bolstering the insulation of spaces, cutting down on water usage and avoiding chemicals are all excellent and well-known ways to reduce a building’s imprint on the environment. The use of recycled tire flooring is a much less well-known aspect of green design but one that makes a crucial difference in how green a design really is.
Each year millions of tires are discarded in the United States alone. Worldwide it’s almost incalculable. These tires can easily become a problem. When taken off on the roadside they’re often just left there as litter. If put into landfills they can take decades to start to break down, wasting valuable space that’s urgently needed. Luckily there are companies that make a point of collecting discarded and abandoned tires and putting them back into use again as recycled tire flooring.
Rubber is actually a natural material, not a plastic, which is surprising to many people. It’s derived from the sap of special rubber trees, then processed into the super-durable material everyone is familiar with. Since it’s not made from chemicals and lasts a very long time, in many ways it is the ideal green building material. But the carbon footprint, environmental cost and price tag of rubber flooring is further reduced when it is made from recycled tires.
What kind of flooring does this produce? Recycled tire flooring is usually made into rubber floor tiles, or sometimes into large rolls of flooring. When rubber flooring is installed in a space it can be a beautiful design element, available in virtually any color or style. There are speckled rubber floor tiles made by blending chips of different colors of rubber together, and there are also some very attractive and convincing faux wood, granite and marble looks that can truly add character to a space. Different textures can be imprinted into the rubber for a more modern look. All of these options come together to make recycled tire flooring one of the most versatile materials on the market.
Of course the main reason people love rubber flooring is because of its amazing properties: it lasts for years without scuffs and scratches, it requires no maintenance, and it naturally resists stains, water, dirt and mildew. Rubber flooringis the ultimate no-fuss floor material as well as being eco-friendly.
If you’re looking for ways to add more sustainability to a design project, take a look at recycled tire flooring . It’s one of the best options on the market.
