Material Resource Sustainability: Sub-Floor

The sub-floor is the planks or plywood that is installed above the floor joists or beams. The sub-floor provides an important foundation for the higher level of the floor and is consequently one of the most important elements to the interior of any home. Covering choices for a sub-floor can include: laminates, carpeting, linoleum or bamboo flooring. The underlayment is that layer beneath the sub-floor and its covering. The underlayment and the various materials utilized on top of the sub-floor create a finished, even and steady surface.

For optimum material resource efficiency, the underlayment of a sub-floor must be produced from either natural cork or other 100% recycled materials. The unique natural properties of cork, which feature 200 million fully sealed air filled cells per cubic inch, make it ideal for the control of sound transmission and to a certain extent temperature loss as well. Cork is a sustainable resource, as trees are not felled in order to create cork products and laws protect them in Portugal and other harvesting countries. Cork production is a process that results in a close to zero waste stream and no toxic emissions.

A materially efficient sub-floor can contain an underlayment prepared from a variety of other materials. Strawboard and recycled paper-based floorboard are some of them. These resource-efficient materials make great substitutes for more conventional wood bases, such as lauan plywood, which typically is from Indonesia and other places with limited rain forest resources.

The stableness of the underlayment level will ascertain the longevity of a sub-floor. No matter how costly the chosen finish is, badly set up sub-floors can ruin an entire flooring system. Previously, straight or diagonal planks of wood comprised sub-floors but today plywood is much more frequently used because it is cheaper, lighter and simpler to install.

The finish you intend to use depends upon the sub-floor you have laid. When deciding to renovate, you must take into consideration the kind of sub-floor you presently have before making any decisions about the floor coverings you choose.

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