Sustainability in Tiling

[paulc2012]

Hi guys,

Hopefully this will become a fascinating thread, it may take time but I'm sure it's going to become more important.

Thoughts please

paulc2012
____________________
http://www.oakenstone.co.uk

[Dave]

Is this in the trade paul or in an install..?

[paulc2012]

I'm really thinking of the materials we use within our trade dave. For instance, our discussion on the best practice with relevance to boards is an issue, so much so that I've started a thread on that one too. I'll expand more later, but a bit of head scratching in the mean time is no bad thing.

paul
_____________________
http://www.oakenstone.co.uk

[timeless john]

Unlike joinery work we cannot grow any more stone but if our natural resources run out then there will be no more land to live on.
We have had tiling on a roll and tiled laminate - but both costly short term alternatives to the real deal!
So I reckon my job is still safe till I retire.

[Dave]

So would you say , more like guarenteeing what we use or our methods..

[doug boardley]

tiles and addy are from a finite source Paul, so I'd say that sustainabilty within tiling is quite limited

[Ajax123]

Wot a good thread. I could go on for hours about substrates but wont. I will say however that if gypsum adhesive and levelling compounds are used these have a much lower environmental impact than their cement based equivalents as they generally use use less energy in manufacture. Additonally alpha hemihydrate is usually their base material. This is usually the by product of the coal fired power industry. This material would previously have either gone into plasterboard manufacture or into Landfill.

As it has a very high thermal conductivity it can make underfloor heating systems much more efficient

In other words -anhydrite screed and gypsum based adhesive have to be a great combination from the green angle.

[paulc2012]

Nice one, we're off to a start.
I really am thinking of the materials we use including the finished surface (stone, ceramic, glass) and the materials that we use to fix with, although the boards issue is relevant to.
My interest is really in trying to move the industry towards an awareness of these matters, which may seem like a foolish lone crusade or suicide, but I'm not so sure.
The construction industry as a whole is moving very quickly in this direction, and manufacturers are starting to pay attention too.
For instance, did you know that there are numerous environmental impact assessments on the use of stone as a material within construction, and that includes significantly, tile.
Surprisingly, the reports state that stone as a material within construction, especially in the form of a tile material, is extremely sustainable, and therefore green. There are numerous reasons for this which will become important within this thread.
The efficiency of using stone from a sustainable perspective includes a number of factors
1. The amount of energy used to create the finished product relative to the quantity of finished product produced.
2. The amount of energy used in the transport of the product
3. The quantity of original resource available for use
etc
If you take a cubic metre of stone, one might expect to turn that into as much as 40m of finished stone at 20mm thickness. That's a lot of stone. Even just considering the amount of currently active quarries, our needs for the use of stone in it's raw state within construction, do not provoke an issue.
Modern quarrying practices and stone tile manufacturing processes are also nowadays extremely efficient. If you take Artisans of Devizes, once they have their block of stone, there is virtually no wastage in their manufacturing process. Even the chippings are crushed, added to the slip which is a by product of the cutting process and turned into lime based products.
paul
______________________
http://www.oakenstone.co.uk

[doug boardley]

it's the cement in the addy that's the real polluter, takes a helluva lot of energy to produce cement. I can see I'm gonna have to dig out my notes on environmental science module that did when I took my HNC

[Ajax123]

it's the cement in the addy that's the real polluter, takes a helluva lot of energy to produce cement. I can see I'm gonna have to dig out my notes on environmental science module that did when I took my HNC

Cement is widely acknowledged as being one of the most poluting industries in the world. Obviously the likes of Lafarge being a major supplier of cements take environmental issues seriously hence anhydrite screeds, Plasrerboard recycling, timber frame options for screeds, turning old quarries into nature reserves, planting lots of trees and the like.

[TF Ed]

who knows, maybe we'll be quarrying our stone from other planets in our solar system in the next 100 years...we are already starting to look at the planet europa as the nearest living conditions to earth. watch this space (excuse the pun)