The Benefits of Going Carpet Free

We’ve been getting asked a lot lately why we chose to use hard surface flooring throughout our whole house. It seems lots of people think our home will look and feel cold without wall-to-wall carpeting. I’m here to tell you it won’t!

Here’s why we decided to forgo the fuzzy floors:

Off-gassing- There are a lot of chemicals that make up the face fibers, primary backing, and secondary backing of carpeting. These pollutants are off-gassed into the air for quite some time after the carpet is installed. Some of these gases are even considered toxic—to both the environment and homeowners themselves.

Allergens- Dust, pollen, pesticides and soil are tracked in and kept in wall-to-wall carpeting through the bottoms of shoes—and it’s next to impossible to eliminate these offenders. Inefficient vacuums even cause dust and allergens to become airborne.

To remind you, this is what we’ve chosen for our flooring as an alternative to wall-to-wall carpeting:

First floor living area, first floor bathroom and second floor bathroom: We’ll be installing Vermont slate in these areas as it's sourced locally, takes advantage of the passive solar design and incorporates additional thermal mass. Our radiant heating coupled with warmth from the sun means our floors should be nice and toasty!

First floor kitchen and guest bedroom: Cork flooring will go in these rooms. We chose cork as it’s natural, durable, anti-allergenic and thermally insulated. That’s right—cork will reduce heat loss in rooms and even body heat loss through your feet. It also naturally maintains a comfortable median temperature.

Second floor office, hallway and bedroom: We loved the look of hardwood, so opted for fast-growing bamboo rather than using wood from disappearing forests. It’s sustainable, durable and attractive. Radiant heating will keep these rooms from feeling frosty underfoot!

If you're still worried, don't be. The house will "feel" even warmer when we throw down some cheery area rugs!

P.S. You can see photos of our flooring choices in this previous post.

Change is Good

At least that’s what I keep telling myself…because the past couple weeks have brought plenty of changes. There have been changes to our wood stove venting, and therefore our solar panel layout; our kitchen appliances; our first floor bathroom; our flooring; and our well allowance.

Wood stove venting- By order of the fire marshal, our interior wood stove vent cannot bend twice at 45 degree angles before exiting the home. It’s too hard to clean and you can’t have more than 15 degree angles inside the home. Venting needs to run straight up and out. This modified design also throws a wrench into our solar panel layout.

Solar panel layout- Solar Wind Electric had sent us a clean-looking solar design that accommodated all 12 panels and positioned them in a way that made brushing off snow a bit easier. Because our wood stove vent will now run straight up the south wall and exit the roof lower than we planned, our panels will have to be reconfigured away from the heat source.

Kitchen appliances- Originally, our U-shaped kitchen layout called for an electric slide-in range facing south. I fell in love with the idea of cooking meals while admiring the mountains. Really, just being able to glance at the view from anywhere in the kitchen! Alas, our home is so air tight, it’s highly recommended we vent our stove. I hate the idea of a huge hunk of metal obstructing our view. Instead, we’re opting for a stove that has a built-in downdraft. Unfortunately, we found no induction stoves with this option (which crushed my soon-to-be husband’s dream of being the coolest kids around). In fact, there’s essentially only one kind of slide in range with a downdraft: Jenn Air. And from what we’ve seen, they’re never on sale. Our only option at this point is to buy a cook top and wall oven as two separate appliances. The cook top will remain at the south end of the kitchen, but because of the downdraft venting, the wall oven won’t fit underneath. After much arranging and rearranging our kitchen plan, we came to the conclusion that the north wall is the best (really, only) spot for it.

First floor bathroom- When we designed our home, we thought it would be practical to have two full bathrooms—one shower upstairs next to the master bedroom, one shower downstairs next to the guest bedroom. What we didn’t think of at the time was accommodating children. And children take baths, not showers. Our first floor bathroom is now a standard tub shower.

Flooring- We got the quote back for our flooring options, and it’s over budget…by a fair amount. Our first floor has a pretty big area that will be slate, which is driving our price up quite a bit. But because it will work so well with our passive solar design (not to mention look nice!), we’d like to keep it in the plans and compromise somewhere else. Perhaps we’ll forgo the bamboo flooring on the second floor in favor of cork.

Well allowance- The original quote for our home included a $7,000 allowance for digging a well. Nobody realized we’d need to dig to China to strike water. Really, our well is 600-feet deep! And $4,000 over budget.

Fortunately, we saved $4,000 by switching from Marvin to Pella brand on certain windows. (Windows that didn’t compare spec by spec were not changed.) We also saved $500 by switching the first floor bathroom to a tub instead of shower. We’re crossing our fingers that the hearth quote comes in low, so we can save money there as well.

It comforts me to think that all home builders likely go through this same process and share our stress. I don’t want to sound callous. I just want to know that we’re not the only ones juggling money and making compromises!

Progress & Green Flooring Options

Believe it or not, our weekend in New Hampshire was ridiculously productive. Well, believe it. Here's a rundown of what we accomplished in a few brief days.

We spent all day Friday with our builder to make the final decisions on all of the exterior options. In no particular order, we will have:

• HardiePanel Cedarmill® Siding with batten strips in "Heathered Moss”


• Window, door and roof trim in "Navajo Beige”


• AZEK decking in "Fawn"


• Ideal brand Americana series metal roof in "Tan"

We also finalized the location of our sun tunnel in the master bathroom. The rest of the day was spent visiting a lumber yard, flooring showroom and an eco-friendly home store. We are now fairly confident our flooring will consist of:

Living and Dining Room (south facing): Vermont slate (shown below)


Kitchen and First Floor Bedroom: “Mache Style” Cork from Eco Friendly Flooring (shown below)


Stairs, Master Bedroom and Second Floor Bedroom: “Natural Fiberstrand” Bamboo from Eco Friendly Flooring (shown below)


First Floor and Second Floor Bathrooms: Vermont slate

Why are we choosing cork (source: Interiors Green)?

• It’s natural- Most of the benefits of cork are derived from its specialized cellular structure. Cork has a honeycomb cellular structure and each cubic centimeter contains roughly 40 million hexagonal cells.



• It’s durable- The softness and give of a cork floor causes less of a grinding action to occur with normal foot traffic than on harder surfaces such as hardwood floors. Cork flooring has a very long life and can be repaired if damaged.



• It’s soft- The air contained in the millions of cork cells provides a cushioned feel underfoot. It provides noticeable relief for those who stand on their feet for many hours—making it ideal for kitchens.



• It’s thermally insulated- Cork reduces heat loss in rooms and even body heat loss through the feet. Cork naturally maintains a comfortable median temperature, never getting very hot or very cool. Walk barefoot on a cork floor and the warmth is immediately apparent.



• It’s anti-allergenic and insect resistant- Bugs, mold, mites and even termites are repelled by cork due to a naturally occurring substance in cork called Suberin. This waxy substance also prevents cork from rotting even when completely submerged under water for long periods of time.


Why are we choosing bamboo (source: Interiors Green)?


• It makes sense. By using bamboo, hardwood forests that have taken decades to mature are not diminished. Bamboo produces new shoots each year and individual stems are harvested from controlled forests every three to five years. If bamboo is not harvested after five years it falls over, unable to continue growing.



• It’s durable- Bamboo is an average of 13 percent harder than maple. It is 27 percent harder than northern red oak and expands and contracts 50 percent less.



• It’s made sensibly- After at least three years of growth the bamboo's hollow round shoots are sliced into strips, which are boiled to remove the starch. The strips are dried and laminated into solid boards, which are then milled into flooring boards.


I should also mention that I was impressed with both the look and feel of the Vermont slate available at the local flooring store. There was none of the flaking and chipping I’ve seen on the slate at large retail stores. This was a natural, local stone that won’t snag your socks if you walk around shoeless. In winter, thermal mass in the Vermont slate will absorb radiant heat from the sun. During the night, the heat will be gradually released back into the rooms as the air temperature drops, reducing the need for supplementary heating during early evening.