What’s so sustainable about hardwood floors? There is no simple answer. So, let’s begin with an accepted definition of the popular term “sustainable.”

Our government defines sustainable as “to create and maintain conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans.”

Now let’s concentrate on the facts surrounding hardwood: Hardwoods are the botanical group of trees that have broad leaves, produce a fruit or nut and generally go dormant in the winter. Requiring a temperate climate, most hardwood forestland is in the eastern half of the U.S.

In North American hardwood forestry, the predominant harvesting method is single-tree selection. By carefully removing individual trees, openings in the forest canopy are created so that more precipitation, sunlight and nutrients reach the forest floor. A trained forester individually selects trees for harvesting, and a crew removes the trees with the least disruption to the forest floor. This responsible forest management takes into consideration long-term timber production while also addressing water quality, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, forest aesthetics and recreational opportunities.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, nearly twice as much hardwood grows each year as is harvested, and in the past 50 years, the volume of hardwood in North American forests has nearly doubled. The trees reproduce naturally and prolifically. Foresters work with the timeline that nature dictates — sustained supply and ongoing replenishment are the result.

Healthy forests are net producers of oxygen, thanks to photosynthesis. Growing trees take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and separate the carbon and oxygen atoms. Trees use carbon to grow roots, trunk, branches and leaves (a tree uses 1.47 pounds of carbon dioxide to grow a pound of wood) then returns the oxygen to the air (giving off 1.07 pounds of oxygen). This process reduces greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An acre of trees can remove about 13 tons of dust and gases from the atmosphere.

Additionally, wood requires a very small amount of energy to become flooring, and advanced technology and responsible manufacturing assures the least wood waste.

• Tree bark becomes mulch and soil conditioners;
• Sawdust is sold for animal bedding or fuels the boilers that operate dry kilns;
• Trimmings are chipped and processed into paper and other products;
• Small wood pieces are processed or finger-jointed into wood components.

Research Affirms Hardwood Flooring

The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) conducted a gate-to-gate, life-cycle inventory of solid strip hardwood flooring manufactured in the eastern United States. The information obtained from the study was used to compare solid strip hardwood flooring with popular alternatives: vinyl composition tile, linoleum, nylon carpet tile, and wool carpet tile[1].

The CORRIM study concluded: Less total energy is required to produce a hardwood floor than other flooring; hardwood floors have no emissions for methane, nitrogen oxides and other particulate matter and minimal emissions for carbon dioxide; and hardwood flooring is carbon neutral.

With independent research affirming hardwoods as being carbon negative and rating systems expanding their certification of more and more forests, hardwoods are at the forefront of sustainable flooring products and materials. As the design-build industry works toward the goal of carbon-neutral buildings by 2030, the abundant and naturally self-renewing supply of North American hardwoods look to play a prominent role in making that goal a reality.


1. A Gate-To-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Solid Strip Hardwood Flooring in the Eastern United States, and supplemental analysis – by Steve Hubbard and Scott Bowe, December 19, 2007.