Browsed by
Tag: Eco Materials

Eco Materials for Decorating Your Eco Home

Eco Materials for Decorating Your Eco Home

One of the ways you can make your eco house as environmentally friendly as possible is to decorate it using natural eco materials. Whether it’s the type of glass, paint or wood varnish you use, there are plenty of eco materials you can use for smartening up your eco home and looking after the environment at the same time.

Using eco materials is also beneficial for the construction industry because they’re easy and cheap to produce. Eco materials contain natural, rather than synthetic, substances, so they can be harvested over and over again. And because they’re also biodegradable they can be easily disposed of, rather than pollute the earth after being dumped in a landfill site.

Eco Glass

Eco glass generally comprises of 95% recycled glass and plastic, and can be used as a hard wearing surface for kitchen worktops. Eco glass worktops are available in a range of finishes to resemble marble, quartz or granite, and match conventional glass for practicality and style.

Eco fabrics

Natural eco fabrics are the environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic cloth because they’re made from renewable plant fibres. The two most popular eco fabrics are cotton and jute (also called hessian), and other types include hemp, recycled polyester, organic leather, wool, felt and fair trade silks.

Eco fabric can be used for armchair coverings, carpets, curtains and rugs in your eco home. As well as being more environmentally friendly and biodegradable, eco fabrics are more breathable than synthetic cloth.

Eco Paints

Conventional lead based paint emits harmful chemicals into the air, such as pesticides, herbicides and toxins, which are referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOC). These chemicals are damaging to the environment and people’s health. In fact, conventional paint is blamed for causing asthma, chest complaints and sick building syndrome.

Eco paints, on the other hand, contain fewer or no toxins at all, in which case they’re labelled as being VOC free. Eco paints are odourless and popular types are milk, plant, water or soy based, rather than lead.

If anybody in your family suffers from asthma or other breathing problems then you should consider switching to using eco paint to decorate your eco home.

Eco varnish

When decorating wooden surfaces in your eco home, you should consider using varnish with a natural, rather than synthetic, resin. Conventional synthetic varnishes contain acrylic, vinyl and algid, which are environmentally damaging to manufacture and dispose of.

Eco varnishes, however, contain a plant based resin. Popular types contain resin from dammar, copal and rosin trees. Eco varnishes are therefore more environmentally friendly to manufacture because the resin can be harvested over and over again, making them the green friendly eco material for protecting wooden surfaces in your eco home.

Top 4 Eco Flooring Materials for Your Eco Home

Top 4 Eco Flooring Materials for Your Eco Home

Eco flooring for your eco home needs to provide the perfect balance between comfort, appearance and, of course, the minimal impact on the environment. Made from materials that are either recycled or harvested sustainably, there is a variety of eco flooring types to choose from:

Bamboo

Bamboo is a great environmentally friendly alternative to hardwood for flooring your eco house. Trees take 15-20 years to regenerate, whilst bamboo takes a mere 3-5 years to return to its previous state. This means it can be harvested more regularly with less damage to the environment.

Bamboo is exceptionally strong, with a hardness that’s closer to steel than it is to hardwood. Coupled with this is that bamboo easily matches the natural beauty of timber. And bamboo eco flooring is available in a range of earthy tones and colours.

The only drawback is that bamboo can warp in moist environments, which means it maybe shouldn’t be your first choice as eco flooring in your bathroom or laundry room.

Cork

Cork is harvested from stripping the bark from oak cork trees. The bark can be stripped without causing permanent damage and will grow back within 10 years, making it an exceptionally environmentally friendly eco flooring material.

Cork offers excellent heat and sound insulation. And its durability makes it ideal for busy areas, such as lounges and hallways, in your eco house. Exceptionally flexible, cork will spring back to shape after people have walked across it. Cork is also water and stain resistant, making it perfect for bathrooms and other rooms with a lot of moisture.

Available in a range of colours and patterns, cork is an attractive and durable eco flooring choice for your eco home.

Marmoleum

Marmoleum is a particular brand of linoleum made from cork, linseed oil, rosin, jute and limestone. These are all natural products and 100% biodegradable.

The properties of marmoleum are often compared to those of vinyl, with one big exception being that vinyl is totally synthetic. In the creation of vinyl a lot of toxic pollutants are created, which are very damaging to the environment. It’s for this reason that marmoleum is becoming a popular alternative.

Marmoleum is very hard wearing, so it’s ideal for eco homes with pets and children. The only drawback is that it can excrete a slight aroma of linseed oil, which might irritate some people.

Available in a wide range of colours, marmoleum is an excellent environmentally friendly and durable eco flooring material.

Carpet

Most carpets are made from synthetic materials (such as nylon and polyester) and account for an estimated 2% of the waste in landfill sites. However, environmentally friendly carpets for eco homes are now available, made form natural fibres like wool, jute and coconut husk.

Eco friendly carpets also often have a hessian backing, which makes them a completely natural eco flooring option.  They can be easily recycled, which can give them a greater stain resistance than synthetic carpets.

Eco friendly carpets offer warmth, comfort and the reassurance knowing that when it needs to be replaced you won’t be contributing to our already overflowing toxic landfills.