What Can Be The Best Sustainable Flooring Option?

Are you looking for a hard-wearing, eco-friendly flooring option? There are plenty of good environment-friendly flooring materials. But before choosing one, weigh up as to how sustainable they are. In this case, you must hire an inspection team in Australia to help you with the best construction material.

Timber flooring
Wood is the most sustainable option among all flooring options. It is a natural and renewable material for flooring, and is further categorised into various other options. Obviously, sustainability may vary with each material.

Recycled timber
The best option among timber flooring is the recycled boards. Some hardwood timbers take up to 100 years to ripen until they can be finally be used to manufacture such boards. This is why, recycled boards are more sustainable than any other option. However, before installation, it is advised to call a professional sustainability consulting team to understand your building's need based on its geographical location. Recycled timber can be sourced from companies which specialise in reclaimed floorboards.

Look for FSC-certified
The next big option is certified sustainable timber. Major environmental groups recommend installing this material after it has undergone internationally recognised accreditation program to prevent logging of high conservation-value forests around the world. FSC-certified timber flooring are used to significantly reduce the reliance on native forests.

Australian Forestry Standard (AFS)-certified
Like the FSC, timber from Australian Forestry Standard adheres to sustainability principles. While the AFS has federal and state government endorsement, the Australian Conservation Foundation has reservations about the AFS scheme.

The rise of bamboo
Experts say that bamboo has fewer environmental and greenhouse impacts than harvesting timber. Bamboo flooring is often manufactured using glue, thereby attaching each layer one by one on top of another. Most bamboo floorboards available in Australia use low-emission glues (rated E0 or E1 under the Australian Standard for formaldehyde emissions). However, if you're not sure enough, contact a sustainability consulting company to determine its efficiency and sustainability.

Beware false claims
Look out for products with multiple wood layers or components, only which are certified with the FSC or another eco-label program. Engineered timber floorboards, for example, can have a timber veneer and plywood underneath, but not all components are from certified sources. Before you make a purchase, read the certification details carefully. Watch out for false eco-labels or other green claims. Some retailers even develop their own eco-labels to fool customers.

Whether it is a building, dwelling or apartment, flooring is a crucial part of the construction. Hire a sustainability consultant to ensure eco-friendly materials for the construction.

Building Developments And BASIX

Assessment and certification programs are common and crucial to achieve durable, safe and energy efficient homes. A very common name which usually arises in this process is BASIX. How many of you do really know about it? Let's get familiar with BASIX.

BASIX or Building Sustainability Index, is a planning initiative of New South Wales Government. It requires all new buildings to be built and designed in such a manner so that they can achieve a minimum of 40% reduction in water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. BASIX also fixes the minimum performance level for comfortable insulation and thermal power of a building. This is done to both save a significant amount of money per year and improve the comfort level of every resident. This means it is a valuable contribution for the sustainability of every building and future of our communities.

What is the use of BASIX certification?

BASIX Certification identifies the sustainability features that are essential for a building's design. The features may include rainwater tanks, recycled water, native landscaping, AAA-rated shower-heads and taps, heat pumps or solar water heaters, roof eaves/awnings, wall/ceiling insulation and many more.

BASIX assessment is done depending on the building orientation, location, size, type of construction, window size and types, appliances to be used, etc. The assessment also considers thermal comfort to reduce the amount of energy used by buildings in order to keep them at a comfortable level.

BASIX Certification is a part of the documentation which is required to submit to the council when applying for a Development Application in NSW.

All of the new developments and complying development applications that are associated with new residential buildings must meet the BASIX standards, including:

• Dual occupancy dwellings
• Single dwellings
• Villas
• Unit & Multi unit developments
• Townhouses
• Swimming pools or outdoor spas with a water capacity equal or greater then 40,000 Litres
• Alterations & additions greater or equal to $50,000
• Granny Flats
• Boarding Houses, Backpackers and Lodging houses

The Starting Process

At first, submit your development application and if you consider to make any changes to the project, you must obtain a new BASIX assessment.

Assessing your application

Certifiers will assess and inspect your project, and if approved, it must be constructed according to the BASIX commitments.

Thus, getting certified through BASIX means ensuring next level of safety, durability and reducing the burden on mother earth, which is a major step against global warming.

Why Do You Need A Sustainability Assessment?

A sustainability assessment program is the code for all commercial and residential properties to reduce the consumption of energy. Keeping the environmental condition of the earth in mind, the tool is developed to show the world a newer face of energy reduction technology. So, what is the basic purpose of home and building sustainability assessment?

The goal of sustainability assessment

The main objective of this assessment is to suggest the best building materials to represent an eco-friendly design for your building. The challenge is to identify the areas of a building to reduce the energy consumption. The process focuses on the materials that are made from renewable sources. Therefore, the purpose of sustainability assessment is to fill the major gaps of development stages in a building plan to overcome the energy deficiency on earth.

The Design and Method

The methodology of the assessment includes all the factors that affects human health or natural surrounding of a building. It is important for an assessor to reduce significant amount of carbon from the project site of a building before it begins. If the building has already been completed then the assessor can provide you with different building sustainable plans. This process not only reduces the carbon usage but also presents a long term saving plan for the next generation. A research on building plans suggests that opting for a greener approach brings down your electricity bills along with keeping the air in the room cool or warm for a longer period of time.

Minimising the waste

Do you know, in Australia 42 percent of the annual waste is generated from building construction. Everyday huge amount of energy and resources are wasted while manufacturing and transporting the materials to different places in NSW. In addition, 6.25 million tonnes of materials are wasted just to landfill. Therefore, to minimise the waste you have to maintain the formula of 'three Rs', these are reduction, recycling and reusing. Reducing or avoiding the demand for materials is the best solution. Go for renovation rather than rebuilding or demolishing. You can also opt for constructing smaller houses rather than apartments. Try not to waste the unused materials from your construction plan and reuse them. It is suggested to recycle the materials and not to send them for landfill.

Focusing on the energy performance of your building is an important strategy to live and to let live.