Green News!
August 2009 - Miracle Sealants is proud to annouce several of their tile and stone cleaning and sealing products have passed California's very stringent Indoor Air Quality Specifications and are now SCS Certified Products, including their new spray on grout sealer. Click here for a copy of their Indoor Advantage Gold Certificate.
What Makes Tile Green??
Tile has historically been one of the most eco-friendly building products. The use of recycled water and materials is a standard in almost every ceramic and porcelain factory across the globe. Only recently has there been an environmental push for measuring and increasing these levels of second hand materials. Traditions in Tile prides itself on maintaining relationships with some of the top factories supporting LEED and eco-friendly production methods. Many of these have been zero-discharge factories for over 20 years.
There are three important factors that make ceramic and porcelain tiles eco-friendly and LEED qualifying. The first is that using tile creates a naturally low VOC floor. The firing process involved with tile eliminates completely the emission of VOC gasses in all ceramic and porcelain. Our stock setting materials from Durabond are credited by the USGBC for low emissions. The combination results in improving the air quality of your home. Another factor is the amount of pre-consumer recycled content which includes water, dust particles and product losses along with outside waste products. Heat from the kilns is also reused and recycled. Our product lines have anywhere from 30-70% recycled content, glass lines tend to have much higher levels of recycled content, and can range up to over 90%.
The third factor that makes tile ‘green’ is its production location. We carry product lines that are mined, manufactured, and shipped within 500 miles of our store which dramatically lowers the impact on the environment. These local products do not have the lengthy ship times from ocean freight or being shipped across countries and borders which leads to a much higher footprint for each square foot.