Materials: M:01: LCA and the Materials Red List
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30-Jul: 9am-12pm (3AIBC LUs CORE)
More info: http://www.cascadiagbc.org/

I recommend installing wool carpeting. The Buildsmart directory gives Nature's Carpet and Helios Wool Carpet as options.

We don't know of any 'green' laminate flooring - generally this is not considered a sustainable product. Although $4.90/sq ft is quite high for laminate, it is a lot less than other green alternatives, such as bamboo or hardwood flooring. If the product you are looking at is truly green, that is, it is made from renewable materials, is biodegradable, and does not contain urea formaldehyde, then our opinion is that it would be well worth the cost.

1) “422 Stays Clear Acrylic Polyurethane Varnish” may be appropriate for your walls (but not high traffic floor). It is low VOC and is a Benjamin Moore product as well. For more information, see the Material Safety Data Sheet: http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/buildsmart/Apps/productDetailPrint.aspx?productID=uN85___RjtT8s=

There are a few types of flooring I would recommend for your community centre:

We have recently received a few great resources for specifying green building products and materials. Of course, the GVRD green building product directory is the first place to go, as well as the resources found here in the SBC discussion forums.

In addition, Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation will be supplying the Sustainable Building Centre on Granville Island with copies of the GreenSpec directory of Canadian green building products, so come in and check those out. And of course, from the makers of the Environmental Building News, there is BuildingGreen’s GreenSpec database with contains detailed information for over 2,000 “environmentally preferable building products with descriptions, manufacturer information, and links to additional resources.”

Another great resource for sustainable building products: http://www.ecospecifier.org/ has over 1300 products.  You have to pay for full access, but you can access 10% of their database for free.

I would be very interested to hear what people are using.

Renovating?
Ripping out old stuff?
Looking for recycling options?
Want to buy gently used, "character" products?