Saturday, April 4, 2009

It's hard to be green sometimes...


I love to make my home look better and put in nice upgrades and when I do, I want to do so in a way that's the most ecologically friendly. I have been considering putting in wood/laminate floors on the first floor of my house. We currently have vinyl tile and cheapish carpet, basically what the builder supplied without me paying an arm and a leg for his upgrades.

So I think laminate cause it's cheap, but then I discover bamboo flooring at the local Lowes at a cost a "little" above the cost of laminate. I think GREAT this is sustainable and has a better warranty or same warranty as laminate and looks great. Oh but then I find out the cost for installation of the "wood" floor is $3.80 per square foot vs $1.99 per square foot for laminate. DOUBLE!

*sigh* I have 1520 square feet on the first floor. That's almost another $3,000! That makes bamboo way out of my budget now. I think maybe put the idea for a better floor on hold for now trying to assess if I really "must" do the floor or not.

So my thoughts turn to countertops now. I have laminate like most standard counters are. I think I'd like something more attractive more importantly heat resistant. Granite is the standard but not sustainable. I can get decent granite from $50-$85 per square foot.

Then I think recycled glass countertops would be awesome, right? They certainly are sustainable with anywhere from 80%-95% being made with recycled materials. So follow me on this thinking.. garbage like used glass bottles must be able to be purchased dirt cheap. I mean it's garbage or on it's way to being such. In its most expensive form it's GOT to be cheaper to acquire than imported ganite or marble. Certainly it's sold by the ton or acquired for a small shipping fee from a recycling plant, yes?

So then WHY does this beautiful sustainable product cost between $110-$160 per suare foot. That's $25-$75 more per square foot. It's easier to obtain, and by their own admission, these companies admit there is very little gas used for transpotation of the product to the manufacturer. Their cost is lower to begin with. Installation of the product is identical to other countertop materials. So, what's up with that.

I'll tell you. Many of the dealers for these items are in suburbs with higher incomes. It's very "fashionable" to be green among those with money. I'd like it to be more than fashionable. I'd like being green to be "the standard" by which ALL home improvement products are compared.

Why can't something that really does cost less to produce, be really affordable to the public to encourage those of us who want to do the right thing, to buy recycled products and forego the expnsive harmful products? You would think that people, if given the choice to choose green at a similar price, would choose green products over the others. I certainly would.

However I have decided for today to go with the greenest solution of all for both my floors and countertops. I'm not changing anything. That's right. The greenest thing I can do right now is NOTHING. My counters and floors are functional and NOT in disrepair. They don't "need" to be replaced; I just wanted something nice or better. What I have has already impacted the environment and I can't fix that by replacing it. What I can do is use the hell out of it until it requires replacing and THEN choose green products. Maybe by then those products will be more affordable.