Talk to me about flooring...

[Lovenest]

I am wondering what would be best eco friendly wise and also that will be ok with kids, pets and lots of traffic. We will have 800sf to floor.
We are looking at bamboo, cork and laminate.
Any input?

[Spastica]

Linoleum can be added to your options - it's eco friendly, isn't the nasty stuff of the 60's and 70's and is hard wearing. Bamboo is also very hard wearing. Cork is probably comfy, not sure how durable it can be. It would be great to use it for underneath hard flooring (shock resistance and keeping heat in), or using it in areas where kids will be on the floor playing.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

Bamboo and cork would be the most eco-friendly of those mentioned. Laminate contains glues that off-gas. Cork is EXTREMELY durable. If you hit it with a hammer, it will dent. But give it about 30 minutes & it will mend itself. It kind of pops back into place. Yes, I speak from experience. They are both pretty expensive though (to me).