Toilet flooring play host to water that is drinkable, wet feet, potty clogs and cosmetics marks, so durability and hygiene are crucial. However, that does not mean that you have to sacrifice on personality. Keep those qualities and enhance your bathroom’s appearance with these flooring choices.
Concrete flooring. The ultimate multitasker, concrete may behave as both the end material and structural floor. Adding a intricate flooring system to one substance is smart, efficient and cost effective. Green your concrete with recycled aggregates such as ceramic, glass or coal fly ash (though bypass the fly ash if coal is not produced in your area, since the transport energy negates any green cred).
This bath handsomely warms up concrete’s cool vibe with a slatted hardwood flooring overlay beyond the shower.
Contemporary Tile
Pebble tile flooring. Smooth stones underfoot gently massage weary toes and lend a spalike quality for your bath. While most conventional pebble tiles derive from mining stone, the folks at Modwalls have created a 100 percent recycled glass version of pebble tiles, called ModRocks, that lend the spa vibe without harming the environment.
FORMA Design
Terrazzo flooring. Apparently indestructible, terrazzo receives high marks for durability and great looks. This material, made of chips of granite or marble set in concrete and polished, and can score high to sustainability if you use no- or low-VOC sealers and low-impact aggregates such as recycled glass. Though terrazzo can be pricey, a toilet, with its relatively small footprint, may be a fantastic place to splurge with this elite substance.
The Gaines Group Architects
Linoleum flooring. Linoleum is often mistaken with sheet vinyl, however, the two have little in common. True linoleum is constructed of natural materials, such as jojoba oil, also is inherently antimicrobial — ideal for combating mold and mildew in the bathroom. To boot, linoleum is scratch resistant, fire resistant and water resistant, and has been proven to strengthen over time, earning the nickname “40-year floor.”
Linoleum is available in sheets, tiles or boards. If you are not creating a pattern with tiles like in this charming toilet, I suggest using sheets, since you’ll have fewer joints and fewer areas to the floor to reveal its age. Make sure that any adhesives are free of solvents and labeled “no-VOC.”
Birdseye Design
Recycled glass tile flooring. Recycled glass tile, with its jewellike attributes and bevy of color choices, makes greening your bath a cinch. Nearly all of the products of Oceanside Glasstile contain recycled content, ranging from 30 to 97 percent of the composition of the tile. This tub employs Oceanside’s Tessera string in Spruce, which is 95 percent recycled glass.
TTM Development Company
Ceramic tile flooring. Ann Sacks’ Savoy series (among its Eco-Thinking traces), is made from 21 percent post-industrial recycled content, such as ceramic waste substance from discarded clay and tableware pieces. The refined Savoy series is broad and affordable, plying you with all the field tiles and mosaics a tub could desire.
Modwalls Tile Company
CorkDotz Mosaic Penny Tile – $18.95
Cork flooring. Cork touts a great deal of green cred: It’s a fast renewable and carefully protected resource. Each nine decades, producers in Portugal and Spain strip the bark of cork trees to long, wide slabs, using care to not damage the tree. Wine corks are made out first, along with the bits are subsequently pressed and ground to earn flooring and bulletin boards, so that every bit harvested is utilized. Ensure that your cork water resistant with a non- or no-VOC sealer.
Modwalls has fostered cork’s ecofriendly reputation with its charming CorkDotz Mosaic Penny Round, made from the cork stopper industry’s by-product.
More on bamboo floors
Rauser Design
Wood flooring. Designers and architects are eschewing the idea that wood flooring do not belong in the tub. Instead, wood flooring is extended throughout houses and into bathrooms like this one, lending a seamless appearance. When properly sealed (with no- or low-VOC sealers, please), wood flooring in the bathtub need not pose any additional challenges.
Just bear in mind that, ecologically speaking, wood may be the very best or the worst of materials. It can be almost ideal when harvested. It’s durable, it has a very long life cycle and milling may be easy and requires very little energy. However, wood that is not harvested sustainably could be environmentally harmful. When choosing wood flooring, start looking for the next to make certain you’re making the most sustainable choice:
FSC-certified: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent service that offers certification, or consent, to wood that has been chosen in a responsible manner. Think of it as wood’s equal of organic. Local species: Wood harvested locally reduces transportation-related energy, supports the local economy and strengthens the feeling of place. Salvaged: The only thing better than recycling is upcycling, or repurposing salvaged materials. Doing this sets the bar high for sustainability and is a chance to bring some history and personality for your kitchen. Salvaged beams from a 100-year-old warehouse roof were milled into tongue and groove flooring for this particular home. More:
10 Best Tips for Getting Bathroom Tile Right
Cork Floors 101: Warm Up to a Natural Wonder
More guides to ecofriendly design