Environmentally Friendly Products from Stair-treads.com
Can a company sell products made from trees and still be environmentally
friendly?
At stair-treads.com, we believe the answer is yes! How
is this possible? Read on to find out what we are doing to keep
thousands of pounds of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's) out of our
atmosphere; how we ensure hundreds of gallons of dangerous chemicals and
solvents never find their way into our streams and rivers; and how we ensure
that every log harvested for our stair treads originates from a legally
harvested, properly managed forest.
This is our planet too, and that's exactly why we believe in
using our natural resources responsibly. When managed properly, our
forests and other natural resources will be available for our children,
grandchildren, and many more generations to come while giving us lasting
beauty in our homes today.
Now, even our website is hosted by an
environmentally friendly company! The servers that host our
website are powered by wind power. Host Gator has done a
remarkable job by increasing the efficiency of their servers and
purchasing wind energy credits to offset 130% of the energy used in our
web hosting.
See the
article from Host Gator green hosting.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
"Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are organic chemical compounds
that have high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to
significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere...VOCs are sometimes
accidentally released into the environment, where they can damage soil and
groundwater. Vapours of VOCs escaping into the air contribute to air
pollution." (Wikipedia)
A primary source of VOCs in the finishing business is the actual finish used.
Many "DIY'er Grade" and even professional grade finishes emit a high level
of VOCs during the drying process. This is because of the solvents
used to facilitate a quick drying process. Our Diamond Coat II finish is
a UV cured finish and emits no VOCs during the curing
process. In fact, Diamond Coat II will not dry at all until the UV light flash-cures the top-coat!
Solvents and Dangerous Chemicals
A byproduct of any process using industrial solvents and chemicals
always has the possibility of hazardous spills and accidents.
Every process that we perform has been thoroughly tested to ensure that
we never accidentally release and cleaners, solvents, or other dangerous
chemicals into our environment that could find their way into our
streams, lakes, and rivers. We make sure that any disposal company
we contract is certified to comply with any applicable local, state, and
environmental laws. That half-empty can of finish that was used to
sand and finish your stairs on site may end up in a storm drain
somewhere after the crew leaves your house! You can rest assured
that stair treads from stair-treads.com are finished in an
environmentally responsible manner.
Responsible Timber Management
100% of the lumber used to manufacture our prefinished stair treads is
harvested from plantation grown trees. This way we can ensure that
our lumber is harvested legally, and that for every tree that is
harvested, a new sapling in planted. We never buy lumber from low
cost "one time special" dealers that can not provide the origin of their
lumber. Granted, we may be able to save a few dollars, but we
could not guarantee that the lumber was harvested legally in an
environmentally responsible manner.
Edge Gluing
By constructing our stair treads from multiple staves of lumber glued
together, we accomplish two things:
1) We provide a tread
that has superior resistance to cupping and moisture response
2) We can obtain a much greater utilization of lumber.
By varying the width of each stave, there is almost no waste! With
less waste, less lumber is needed to produce a given amount of stair
treads, and the less lumber needed, the fewer tress harvested for
lumber. While we are not single-handedly responsible for much of
the timer trade worldwide, we are doing our small part to help protect
the environment in which we live.
Stair-treads.com: value promised; value delivered.
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