Why is stone tile eco-friendly?
When people are in search for a suitable floor for the wet areas of their home, green-minded folks find their choices somewhat limited.
In our opinion, natural stone tile (like Limestone, Slate, Quartzite, Travertine, Marble)makes an excellent choice.
Here is how we decided for stone:
- Stone is a natural, non-manufactured material straight from the Earth. The only processing needed is to cut the squares from the slab.
- Stone does not require chemicals, stains, glazes, solvents to manufacture.
- Stone does not create a waste stream from the chemicals used to manufacture it.
- Stone has a timeless aesthetic–the chances of it being scraped out of a home and thrown in the dumpster in the future are highly unlikely.
- Other types of tile require a significant amount of processing and much energy usage to manufacture.
- Other types of tile become “dated” and are often take out of the installation over some time and thrown into the landfill.
- Stone has a natural texture which grips and doesn’t slip when it gets wet. (some stones are polished, so they would be more slippery)
- Stone may be energy efficient if placed in a sunlit location. Stone will absorb the sunlight and retain the energy–radiating for hours.
- Stone is easy to maintain. In areas where kids are coming in with salty boots and kicking them off on the tile–some of the slate patterns will actual mask the salt stains, so you can clean in up later without a worry. Stones can be wet mopped with a ph neutral cleaner.
What’s the story about grout and sealing tile?
Contrary to popular belief, sealing stones is no big deal. Your installer wipes on or mists on the sealant on the clean stone–it dries, and you are done. Re-application once a year would be fine in high traffic areas and may not need to be done for years in lower traffic areas.
Another misbelief out there–grout will stain and be hard to clean. We actually have very high quality grouts now that installers can use. They are NO-SEAL grouts. If your installer has no clue about it and you want to order from us, please feel free to call us at 866-250-3273.
So, as far as we’re concerned stone tile is the first choice for eco-friendly flooring in wet areas. 