Slate tile installation in bathrooom © Ecohome
We have finished the bathroom counter, floors and shower stalls with a dark slate tile from Glendyne. Slate is a natural stone, so its surfaces have more character and inconsistencies in texture - and at times in thickness - than manufactured tiles. This can mean a bit more effort on the part of installers, but a more natural look with the finished product. Glendyne tiles are less porous than most other slate products, but sealants are recommended for natural stones.
The type of heat source is less important than the temperature you will run the floor at and the type of flooring. A well-insulated house won’t need to run a floor as hot as a poorly-insulated house, this can affect how the flooring reacts. R20 sub-slab insulation is a lot better than the standard 1.5 inches that is often installed, so that will help.
When we installed cork tiles (see our DIY cork floor installation video here) we used a non-toxic adhesive for the tiles. Given that our Edelweiss House is extremely well-insulated and is also heated with an air source heat pump, we don’t run the floor often, or at very high temperatures when we do. But we did choose materials that were safe for install on a heated slab on grade floor.
After 5 years of use, the floor still looks great overall, but there are spots that are showing wear. In hindsight we may have gone with a more solid engineered floor but overall we are satisfied. See our page here on choosing the best flooring for alternatives. There are al types of engineered floors such as Maple, Birch, Oak, and you can find Cork engineered floors as well.
We would agree with not using epoxy finishes. If they are applied before the concrete has sufficiently dried or if the concrete is not well-sealed from the ground it will absorb moisture over time and possibly cause problems, meaning they may start to bubble and flake over time. They will likely have toxins in them as well (though no worse than many other sealants and finishes), so they can also adversely affect interior air quality.
Our choice would be to use silicate sealants, which are effectively a liquid glass you spread over the floor and then burnish into the concrete. They are non-toxic and very durable. There are a few product options that will have different levels of shine as well as durability, see our page on finishing concrete floors with silicate densifiers for more details.
There are a few things to consider when choosing flooring for a home, and as you mention, we have often chosen different materials for bathrooms or kitchens to improve durability since both those areas are more prone to having standing water than in living areas. Here is our page about choosing flooring to see the options-
How to choose eco-friendly, healthy, durable and beautiful floors
Some of the things you want to consider of course start with aesthetics so that you will actually like your floor, other considerations are choosing sustainable materials that are durable and that don’t degrade the interior air quality of your home with any toxic materials that will off-gas. We have built a couple of demonstration homes in recent years and in one we used cork flooring (see our DIY cork flooring installation video here), and the other we did polished concrete slab on grade with Marmoleum flooring upstairs.
Some people find concrete floors to hard for standing comfortably, in which case you can cover them as long as you choose a material that isn’t impacted by radiant floors if you have them. If you choose wood flooring, we recommend using a natural non-toxic wood finishing oil instead of varnish for reasons of air quality and durability.
Comments (0)
Sign Up to Comment