Interior finishing is going a little greener with materials, mouldings, and architectural details made of renewable materials like bamboo, sorghum, and wheat board. Comparable in price and quality to composite and hardwood materials, “rapid renewables” offer the added bonus of LEED points and healthier indoor air quality during construction and after occupancy.

Nancy McPherson, architectural solutions specialist with CGC, Inc. says using renewable materials for interior finishing is an easy way to acquire LEED credits. Materials like bamboo, wheat grass, and soya can help a designer qualify for the LEED MR6 credit, provided that rapidly renewable materials make up at least five percent of all new materials and products used in the project. The majority of renewable finishing products and even wall panels are formaldehyde-free, and use urea-formaldehyde-free or low-VOC adhesives, making them good candidates for assisting with the LEED EQ4 credit for environmental quality.

Sustainable products also lend themselves to a more natural interior with a lot of depth, character, grain, and beauty says Sharon Hollingsworth interior designer with Bunting Coady Architects, Vancouver-based firm specializing in creating Living, Breathing Buildings™. Local materials are a big focus for Bunting Coady Architects, not only to reduce transportation, but to support the local economy. “You’re bringing the outside in for a look that is natural,” she says, “and creating a space that becomes physically healthier when you avoid products that off-gas for example.”

Ines Hanl, owner of The Sky is the Limit Design, also appreciates the growing trend towards natural, renewable products. “As a designer I like to use materials like concrete, wood, grass, glass, and wool. They have an innate natural quality that adds value to the environment.”

She enjoys products made from bamboo and paperstone—easy to work with and with added environmental benefit—and an ingredient called Wetwood. Made from century old, formerly submerged trunks salvaged from the Great Lakes, this wood is unique and beautiful, she says. “These elements all add a texture and an honesty of material that’s hard to beat.”

Probably the most common of renewable building materials is bamboo, considered a rapid renewable because it does not require replanting and grows back within five years. It is also believed such fast growing plants absorb more carbon dioxide and release more oxygen into the environment, making them better for the planet overall.

Bamboo products available through Winnipeg-based Global Access Distributors offer a smart product ecologically, potential LEED credits, and benefit to the end-user: all products are urea-formaldehyde free, meaning no off-gassing and a healthier work or home environment. The company distributes panels and veneers locally fabricated into staircases, passage doors, baseboards, and mouldings.

Bamboo is as durable and stable as locally available hardwood, says Karl Redekopp, account executive with Global Access Distributors. “Our clients tell me it is comparable to oak in workability and stability,” he says.

Redekopp says despite the environmental and ecological benefits, these lines of bamboo products still fall within the price range of maple and cherry woods, making them affordable and accessible in the right applications.

“These kinds of products work really well in contemporary design,” he adds. “It used to be that much of the demand for them was residential, but now that commercial builders are seeing the products used and tested we’re seeing demand increasing there as well.”

Kirei USA, offers Kirei board—a lightweight, strong, wood substitute made from reclaimed sorghum straw; Kirei Wheatboard—a non-toxic, formaldehyde-free alternative to MDF products, and Kirei Coco Tiles, made from reclaimed coconut shells, low- VOC resins, and a sustainably harvested wood backer. The company’s bamboo products are also constructed with low- or no- added urea formaldehyde adhesives. Offering products made from post harvest materials is about sustainability and postharvest viability. Translation – they are grown from the earth and do not impact food sources because the food portion is harvested first.

Owner John Stein says his products function like any other comparable material, and the cost is relative to medium to high-end lines.

Armstrong World Industries’ WoodWorks® Bamboo Ceilings are part of the company’s WoodWorks line of wood ceiling panels, which offers an extensive portfolio of standard and custom panel and plank options in everything from beech and maple to cherry and walnut.

WoodWorks Bamboo is available in linear plank as well as a panel.

Bamboo planks comes in 4-1/2” and 6” width standard linear wood size options including a 3/4” black reveal, and offer tegular and vector edge details.

WoodWorks Bamboo Ceilings are vertically grained panels that feature all the natural characteristics of natural bamboo, and come in 2x2’ tegular and vector panels available in two colours: Patina – a standard option – and Native. Both finishes are available perforated and non-perforated.

Depending on the application, Woodworks ceilings have the potential to contribute to MR Credit 4.1, 4.2-Recycled Content, because they contain 92 percent pre-consumer recycled content; MR Credit 5.1, 5.2-Regional Materials; MR Credit 6.0-Rapidly Renewable Materials; MR Credit 7.0-Certified Wood, and EQ Credit 4.4-Low-emitting Materials.

The new Tierra ceiling from Armstrong features an exclusive BioAcoustic substrate made from jute, a natural fiber that grows from seed to harvest in just ninety days.

Because of this unique substrate, Tierra has the highest rapidly renewable content in the industry at 45 per cent, plus high acoustic and light reflectance values.

Hollingsworth says there is a wider variety of sustainable products available today and, through stores rising to meet a growing demand, are more affordable and accessible. She says much of the increased demand for green products and buildings is an awareness, which, once there, is hard to over look. “The movement is certainly building momentum. People are more aware; they’re asking questions and demanding more.” CWCJ