We are doing some research into replacing an aging outdoor deck.  The costs to repair it and repaint it are so high that it makes sense to simply recycle the old deck and replace the old redwood.  One of the first decisions when redoing a deck is what type of material to use, real wood or a composite decking material. Both materials cost about the same, with composite material slightly more expensive.

Eco-friendly FSC Certified Wood

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent nonprofit group started in 1993, who gives a seal of approval to commercial forests that meet strong environmental and social guidelines. They use independent auditors to ensure compliance. If you look on the back of many major catalogs, you will see the FSC logo certifying the paper.

We found a local lumber yard that sells a lot of FSC certified woods. Interesting to see that another larger one in South San Francisco barely knew what FSC was. FSC Certified 2×4′s did cost about 40% more when we bought them. They do have a stamp saying they are FSC certified. Someday the price delta will be smaller.

Analysis of Using Real Wood

Appearance – Beautiful look, if kept up.

Maintenance – Requires re-staining or sealing every 1 to 4 years.

Installation – More expensive thick tropical woods like Ipe require special saw blades, drilling, and deck screws to install.

Reliability – Many types of woods are very reliable and termite proof. Real wood is also best at preventing slipping.

Eco Friendliness – FSC certified woods are green and sustainable

photo credit: Velo Steve

Analysis of Composite Decking Material (Timbertech, Trex, Evergrain, Fiberon etc)

Appearance - Not as nice as real wood, but improving.

Maintenance - Lower maintenance? Periodic washing to remove dirt, mold, mildew. Chemicals may be involved. May require some refinishing after many years.

Installation - Normal installation.

Reliability - Mold and mildew problems require maintenance and pressure washing. Splinters, fading, and scratching are still issues. Suntan lotion can stain it. Slipping issues when wet.

Eco Friendliness – Many are made with wood pulp and petroleum products such as plastic or vinyl. Some are made from wood mill waste and polyethylene (PE or HDPE) from recycled plastic products. TimberTech is 12% post-consumer recycled plastic. Fiberon has up to 74% recycled content and up to 10% reclaimed content on products. The problem area is that they are not very recyclable after it has been installed.

Cost – May cost more than real wood.

If you want to go with Composite, you should think about going all the way to Carefree building products, 100% recycled plastic lumber products that can be recycled themselves. There are also PVC or polyethylene plastic products that are better than Composites at resisting the elements.

Some localities require Class A fireproof materials, so that alone many limit your choices to a certain kind of decking.

The biggest issue is whether composite materials can maintain their ‘look’ for a long period of time, perhaps decades. One look at the Bob Villa forums indicates lots of composite problems. As the Sierra Club said: “These wood composite products may save our current generation some time, but may have a negative impact on future generations when they try to dispose of them.”  Trex technical support told us to trash extra Trex pieces as they do not recycle them.

FSC certified Natural wood seems to be the best bet. IPE, Douglas Fir, California redwood, and Mahogany are good bets. Avoid pressure treated wood as it contains chemicals like chromated copper arsenate and cannot be recycled.

Eco Friendly FSC Certified Wood – Way Basic Green Cubes

When we started remodeling we wanted to use as much Eco Friendly Wood as possible. We looked for FSC Certified wood in our cabinets and from our contractor.

When buying cabinets, furniture, try to buy them with FSC Certified woods. Or do even better by fixing up what you have. Buy new pillows or slip covers.

Way Basic Green Cubes

Way Basics makes a eco friendly furniture and storage products. We were sent their cube and it to be an easy to assemble building block product made from sustainable zBoard – recycled paper and itself fully recyclable. You pull off the tape and carefully tape boards together. It is pretty sturdy and costs $20.

Here are some of the attributes we looked for when selecting eco friend kitchen cabinets earlier this year:

1. FSC certified Wood or wood from a responsibly farm source.  I actually spoke to the wood mill to understand where our wood was coming from.  Lyptus and Bamboo are rapidly making in roads.
2. Water based finish to minimize VOC emissions.  There were issues on finish durability in the past, but quality seems to have improved.
3. Water based glues to minimize VOC emissions.
4. Marine grade plywood or non MDF Medium Density Fiberboard particle board cabinet box. Also to prevent off-gassing emissions from formaldehyde, etc. Interlam and Topan make MDF without formaldehyde.
5. As local as possible a supplier to minimize transport costs and fuel use.

We also relocated many of our old cabinets to our kitchen and donated everything else for use in a local church.

Some cabinets including mines are KCMA certified, but frankly their rules are not very aggressive in the area of eco friendliness. (Emissions etc)  It is more of a cabinet industry association.

When we began our search in early 2007, we were educating stores on what green cabinetry was.  The main sources used to be boutique local small craftsmen shops. Today, we see firms advertising ‘Green’ cabinets. HGTV has a video on this are.

Also considered cabinet refacing. You replace the doors and a veneer is placed over your existing cabinets. This is much cheaper than replacing the cabinets. New drawer pulls and handles will also update your kitchen’s look. You will reuse the ‘guts’ of your cabinets, so they need to be in good shape for this option. Some companies have options to also replace drawers.

Eco Friendly, Green Coconut Palm Wood

Coconut Palm wood is an eco friendly and green flooring alternative to bamboo. It is a by product of coconut production and has even received FSC certification.

Smith and Fong makes palmwood flooring and palmwood plywood. We have flooring from this company and find it top rate.

When installing flooring, try to avoid gluing it down if possible. If you need to use glue, use a low or no VOC glue.

Growing Bamboo

Wouldn’t it be interesting to have bamboo in your backyard? It is environmentally friendly, grows fast, and can make for a nice property line wall. You can also use it for other projects. I did some research that made me realize that it is more than most people can handle.

The problem is that bamboo spreads relentlessly, is almost indestructible, and its roots are like steel. People have to setup physical barriers like metal flashing to prevent its spread. I think I’ll stick to bamboo flooring..

Fireclay Tile – Recycled materials and Sustainable manufacturing

Fireclay Tile is a tile company that utilizes Recycled materials and Sustainable manufacturing to produce high-quality ceramic and glass tile. They are based in based in San Jose, CA and make most products in the USA.

They recycle everything from glass bottles to porcelain toilets, vanities, and bathtubs are recycled into beautiful ceramic tile. They use a lead-free glaze and proved that recycled does not mean you have to compromise on aesthetics.

Eco Friendly, Green Zero VOC Wood Stains

As part of our remodeling, we need to stain a new door and some replacement wood flooring, to fix damaged areas. Our contractor usually uses Minwax products. The normal one they use has 500 g/L of VOC. Even their low voc versions contain a maximum VOC of 250 g/L. Way too high. We went looking for something more ECO friendly with zero or low VOCs for better indoor air quality. Amazon sells this wood stain for less than our local hardware store.

We found Bioshield Aqua Resin Wood Colors #33 that is a solvent-free water-based, Zero VOC, low-drip, resilient wood stain finish for interior and exterior applications. Colors are limited but you can always mix them. It is available at several ECO oriented stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Moving from 500 g/L to Zero VOC is a huge improvement.

We are trying to stain and air out items in the garage or outdoors to further reduce indoor emissions. It took about 3 days for the smell to go away.