Today Kelly writes:
Dear Diva, I’m looking for some environmentally friendly carpet tiles. But all I’m coming up with is the FLOR brand, are their any other brands or is FLOR my best bet? Thanks!
Kelly, when it comes to environmentally friendly carpet tiles, FLOR carpet tileshas definitely got the most choices and is the easiest to find. Over half of the links you find when you search for environmentally friendly carpet tiles lead you to blog posts about FLOR tiles and the other half take you to websites that don’t give a lot of information on a product. That said, if you’re looking for carpet tiles, I’d check out FLOR or Legato.
FLOR is the greenest choice in carpet tiles that I can find. The tiles meet Green Label Plus certification by the Carpet and Rug Institute, which means they emit very little VOCs if any at all. Another feature I love about FLOR tiles is that they recycle the old tiles. So if the time comes to where you need to replace old tiles, just contact FLOR and they will give you instructions on how to go about sending back the tiles for them to recycle. This type of commitment for their product to not end up in a land fill is inspiring. Add that to the fact that the new tiles contain Post-Industrial and Post-Consumer waste and that the manufacturing processes are as energy-efficient as possible and you’ve got an all around environmentally friendly product.
Add to all of this environmental responsibility the cool designs and FLOR carpet tiles would be my carpet tile of choice. There is even a rug kit that allows you to make a fake cow hide looking rug! If you are looking for something more traditional they have that too! There are a multitude of colors and designs that can be mixed and matched as you see fit.
These days there doesn’t seem to be much competition for FLOR tiles, as I stated above most of the talk is about FLOR or for companies that make green products but don’t really have their carpet tiles listed or shop-able. That said, another brand to check out is Legato by Milliken. I couldn’t find a lot of information about Legato carpet tiles, since they are not as popular as they once were. But they come in styles that are suitable for a wall to carpet look or an area rug. The only thing I can say for sure about them, is that like most carpet tiles they are environmentally friendly in the fact that you don’t have to replace the whole carpet if one get’s damaged, you can take up that 1 square and put a new one down.
The last manufacturer I found, is available at the Home Depot under the name Simply Seamless. The Simply Seamless carpet tiles are meant to be used in place of wall to wall carpeting only, unlike FLOR and Legato that can be used as area rugs. According to the info I was able to find on Simply Seamless, they’re manufactured by Berkshire Flooring. The carpet tiles have a carpet padding to them and that padding is an eco fiber cushion that is made of 100% recycled fiber.
No matter what which one you choose, these three carpet tile brands are sure to have the qualities that meet your needs. Whether you are looking for something contemporary and hip in an area rug or something more traditional like wall to wall carpet, there is a carpet tile for every need!
Do you have questions about the selecting or the installation of: tile, carpet or wall treatments (window blinds, etc)? Then email me your tale of woe (diva(at)homemakeoverdiva.com) and perhaps I will be able to answer your questions right here at the Home Makeover Diva Blog!