Kudos to the Ottawa Sun for running an article on environmentally-friendly flooring on Saturday (January 28). However, the article was hardly a local-to-Ottawa one. The bamboo flooring distributor they list, Silk Road Flooring, operates out of Toronto, and the eCommerce site provided for cork flooring, Fast Floors, is a US company. So let me fill in some of the Ottawa details that the Ottawa Sun left out.
My first stop for any green renovation project is The Healthiest Home and Building Supplies in Ottawa West. In terms of green flooring, they offer the following choices:
- ECO-logo certified bamboo. (Note, some other brands of bamboo flooring are finished with formaldehyde resins that give off a lot of VOCs.)
- Carpeting that has no heavy metals, PVC, or formaldehyde in it and that is made from partly recycled contents in low-impact manufacturing facilities.
- Cork with no formaldehyde, organic solvents, or VOCs
- “Orchard-salvaged” wood flooring
- Marmoleum, an environmentally-friendly healthy alternative to linoleum
- Reclaimed wood flooring
The Healthiest Home and Building Supplies, 135 Holland Avenue (right behind The Table, vegetarian restaurant), Ottawa, ON, 613.715.9014, info@thehealthiesthome.com
Green Living Ottawa 
Marmoleum is WAY more than eco-friendly, it’s been through a life cycle assessment and is certified as Sustainable via SMaRT (Sustainable Material Rating Technology) and then audited by Ernst and Young. All of which means they can PROVE that it doesn’t pollute the earth, water, air or sky making it a good investment for a home or a stock portfolio.
To me, it’s the poster product example of what products could be if only we ask for it.
Hey there,
I am about to start a huge renovation project and the only decent info I can find on local recycled building materials is your site. Do you know of any resource pages for building green in Ottawa. I have found resource pages but they are all American.
Cheers!
Hi Amber,
You can try Healthiest Home Building Supplies (their info is listed in the comment above).
There’s also the Habitat for Humanity Re-store:
2370 Walkley Rd
Ottawa, ON K1G 4H9, Canada
(613) 744-7769
Cohen and Cohen sell high end recycled building supplies:
http://www.cohenandcohen.com/
That’s all the leads I have. Hope that helps
I tried to get a new floor at Healthiest Home last year. After the guy cancelled or didn’t show up for an appointment for the FOURTH time (and didn’t call back), I gave up on them. Anyone who treats their customers that way will not get my business!!
Hi Kathy,
I agree with you on the very poor customer service at Healthiest Home. The few times we’ve gone in there, I never get the sence that they have really figured out their business model. The person that was there was very uninformed.
I’ve had good results with the Healthiest Home, but unfortunately they’re currently closed.