Carpet: The Devil in Disguise?

The Handyman's Dream has carpet in the three bedrooms upstairs. Gross carpet. I don’t think it is that old (the color and style are contemporary-ish) but it is worn. And stained. And, according to Ecoholic, trapping dust containing heavy metals, pesticides, and persistent fire retardants. Not to worry, though. An environmental engineer told New Scientist magazine that you’d only have to vacuum it 25 times a week for several weeks to bring the levels of contaminants below safety standards. USC did a study in the 90s and found DDT imbedded in 1/4 of the carpets they tested. Even if some of this is conjecture or hyperbole or, well, downright false, I’m still not interested in having carpet in my house. We’re not sure when it will go, but it will go. And we will enjoy it going. But, what to replace it with?

Bamboo is much more sustainable then hardwood, as it grows more quickly. However, a lot of bamboo has formaldehyde in it. If that scares you away from it, consider this – all MDF board (except that from IKEA) has formaldehyde in it as well! Take a look at your kitchen cupboards. Oh my. Reclaimed hardwood is great in theory, but at upwards of $10 a foot, no teacher I know will be installing it any time soon. So, we’ll keep investigating our options. I found a company out of Seattle, Bamboo Hardwoods, that owns a factory in Vietnam, and works with local farmers to ensure sustainable farming practices of bamboo. Another criticism of bamboo is that it is soft – in fact, the darker the color, the longer it has been cooked (carbonized) and the softer it will be. Also, if bamboo is harvested early (called Green bamboo) it will be softer than older bamboo.

So, we have some choices to make. But I doubt we'll choose the Devil's floor covering...