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A natural slate floor sets the tone for this warm, welcoming kitchen.
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By Chuck Ross
Stone-tile flooring offers both beauty and durability, but today's sustainability-conscious home buyers also are seeking assurance their design decisions don't have a negative impact on the environment or their health. Determining any building material's "green" credibility can be a complicated affair; stone tile offers a number of environmental advantages for builders willing to spend some time investigating options.
Defining sustainability
"Sustainable design," the term most commonly used to describe environmentally aware building processes, encompasses a broad range of goals – from indoor air quality to external environmental impacts. Builders investigating stone-tile options need to weigh performance benefits against some not-so-green drawbacks to understand which products make the most environmental sense for their projects.
"Stone is incredibly durable," says San Francisco-area architect Cassandra Adams, AIA, LEED, who notes this durability means new replacement tile won't have to be produced in the future. "Also, it does not off-gas, so it's good for indoor air quality, and if it's insulated, it makes a good thermal heat sink."
Adams adds that with appropriate insulation, stone tile works very well with radiant floor-heating systems, a popular green-building tactic.
Multiple considerations
However, sustainable-design guidelines, such as those developed by the U.S. Green Building Council and the National Association of Home Builders, also consider the processes involved in producing and transporting building products. This means stone tile's desirability also may be influenced by the distance of its original quarry from the building site.
"Stone is really heavy, so transporting it takes a lot of energy," she says. "So you should use stone that's near you, so it doesn't have to travel as far."
LEED guidelines suggest selecting materials extracted and/or manufactured within a 500-mile radius of the building site. While imported Italian marble probably won't make the grade, the availability of other options closer to home may surprise you.
"There's granite everywhere," says Dan Rea, senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing for Cold Spring Granite, located in Cold Spring, Minn. His company, for example, has quarries in Minnesota, California, New York and Texas. Other manufacturers may have operations near your building site. However, Rea adds, stone coloration varies from area to area, so builders who want to adhere to the 500-mile guideline may need to be open to different coloration.
Query the quarry
Environmentally aware builders also consider how the products they use are manufactured. For example, Adams notes that quarrying could result in silting of surrounding waterways if stone companies aren't careful to prevent material runoff. Rea says that the cost of the extraction process is so high that stone companies work hard to minimize runoff-related waste.
"We only do minimal blasting," he says. "We use diamond wire and some wedging."
And unlike mining operations, which dig through earth to reach desired mineral deposits, stone companies look for exposed stone before operations begin. Also, stone quarries tend to be relatively small affairs — often only a few acres — so they don't impose the kind of broad environmental damage that large strip-mining operations can create. If you're opting for a product quarried within your region, you may want to make a trip to see for yourself how the manufacturer operates.
If the veining or coloration of locally produced stone doesn't match your design plans, you might want to consider new porcelain and ceramic tiles designed to look like real stone. Though transportation-distance concerns may still be an issue, these products are still extremely durable and are manufactured without quarrying.
Clearing the air
All tile products — whether stone, ceramic or porcelain — offer indoor air quality benefits. Their hard surfaces are easy to clean, so they don't harbor the allergens and irritants carpeting can trap. However, tile may require a sealant, which can contain volatile organic chemicals (VOCs).
Rea recommends against sealants for granite and other non-porous stones, because once a sealant is applied, it will need to be re-applied in the future to maintain a consistent surface appearance. Adams, however, says that grouting requires sealants to protect against staining. To minimize potentially dangerous sealant off-gassing, check the level of VOCs on manufacturer safety data sheet for any sealants you're considering, and select products with the lowest levels that also meet your functional requirements.
Chuck Ross is a freelance writer who recently installed porcelain stone-look tile in his remodeled bathrooms.
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