BEAUTY WITH A CONSCIENCE
When you choose a Kährs wood floor, you make a good environmental choice – both for the indoor environment and for our planet. We have a history of dedicating ourselves to finding the most environmental friendly ways of producing our floors. We call it Beauty with a conscience. By using wood – the greenest of all building materials – supporting the replanting of forests and showing consideration for the environment in every step of our processes, we do our best to contribute to the well-being of future generations.
Wood floors keeps your feet warm on cool days and refreshingly cool on warm days, thanks to their natural cellar structures. Wood was designed by nature to be a great insulator with thousands of air chambers per cubic inch. In fact, wood offers seven times better insulation than ceramic tiles and is much warmer than plastic laminate or thin vinyl floors. Naturally.
THE BUILDING MATERIAL OF THE FUTURE
Many architects and designers claim that wood is the building material of the future. There are many reasons for this. The most important, of course, is that it is more environmental friendly than most other building materials. Wood plays an important part in counteracting climate changes. According to the EU commission, an increased use of wood products would stimulate the planting of new forest, while bringing down carbon dioxide emissions.
But there are many other aspects to why wood is the preferred material of professionals. Wood floors are, in fact, physically warmer – but they also have a way of softening a whole interior, representing kindness in a high-tech world. No synthetic carpet, vinyl or plastic laminate flooring can compete with the spirit of wood, either physically or emotionally.
PROMOTES A HEALTHY INDOOR CLIMATE
The major environmental advantages of wood, compared to other building materials, include superior strength in proportion to its weight, versatility to work with, its renewable properties and accessibility. It also promotes good conditions at the building site, is flexible and provides designers with a great scope of freedom. Meanwhile, the positive impact of wood on the indoor climate has been scientifically proven. The European research project Wood2New, finalised in February 2017, shows, among other things, that wood evens out indoor humidity. When we, for example, have a shower or cook food on our stoves, it contributes to increased indoor humidity. Wood absorbs this – and later, when it becomes drier, emits humidity – a process that has been studied with a thermo camera.
SUSTAINABLE FOREST SUPPLY
Kährs is working in close cooperation with forestry officials and NGO's towards a sustainable forest supply for future generations. In Sweden – where we purchase most of our raw material – forests are more than 60% larger in standing volume than a 100 years ago, while Europe's forests on average are growing with about 6,000 km2 per year.
Over the years, Kährs has introduced a number of manufacturing and flooring innovations that have enabled a more responsible, green production. We continuously strive to find new ways of reducing any impact on nature, in terms of air quality, water discharge and noise control, to the benefit of our employees, neighbours and the climate in general.
Here are a few examples of this work:
- In 1984, Kährs was the first wood flooring manufacturer to utilize a water-based lacquer system to reduce emissions.
- We have developed a system at our main production plant in Nybro in which nothing goes to waste. The portion of the logs that we're not able to use for floor production is turned into biofuel. All our wood waste, such as bark, saw dust and wood chips, goes to a local energy company. About 6,150 Swedish homes per year enjoy the warmth of our recycled wood.
- Water-cleaning projects on Kährs site in Nybro have given rise to five international PhD's at the Linnaeus University – and a new water cleaning plant, taken into operation in 2016. But above all it has provided valuable knowledge of how natural vegetation can cleanse water from the global wood industry in a natural, effective and inexpensive way. During the project, both process wastewater from the flooring factory and leachate from irrigation and piles were studied. The method has a potential to be used in many more global industrial environments besides the wood industry in the future.
Kährs offers hundreds of different styles of wood flooring – from 1-strip to 3-strip, from light to dark, made from different species and with various surface treatments. Our ambition is to offer the most beautiful, innovative and functional wood floors in the world. It is also to continuously develop new technologies to make our floors even more sustainable.
INVENTED A GREENER WOOD FLOOR
Our history of green inventions includes creating the modern wood floor, the multi-layer parquet, in 1941. This method of construction allows the raw material to be utilized in a more environmental friendly way than solid wood floors, since the core material is crafted from fast-growing or recycled wood, which means that there is less of a drain on natural resources. Today, this is still the standard construction for the majority of wood floor manufacturers.
Since wood is a natural material, it is affected by climatic changes, i.e. it swells in high humidity and shrinks in low humidity. Kährs’ multi-layered construction also minimizes this movement. It provides the correct balance between the layers – top, core and back – and ensures the floor remains stable in all conditions.
INTRODUCED THE GLUELESS JOINT
In 2000, Kährs was the first wood floor manufacturer to introduce a mechanical glueless joint system – the ingenious Woodloc® joint, which revolutionized the wood flooring market allowing boards to be mechanically locked together, without using glue.
We also constantly strive to find the most environmental friendly stains and lacquers, free from solvents. And our surfaces are easy to clean and maintain without the use of strong chemicals.
