Fortis Arbor Wood Mosaics are ideal for sustainable building projects. The key environmental aspects of the line are outlined below based on common questions concerning tile manufacturing and its impact on the environment:

Can the use of Fortis Arbor Wood Tile Mosaics contribute to a building attaining LEED certification as a green building?
Yes, Although there are categories that fall outside the area which Fortis Arbor wood tiles can contribute, the overall effort in the green building can be helped by the installation of Fortis Arbor wood tiles and may contribute to LEED points in the following categories;


LEED category: Materials and Resources
Credit 4.1: Recycled Content 10%

Intent: Increase demand for building products that have incorporated recycled content materials, thereby reducing the impacts resulting from the extraction of new materials.

Requirements: Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes as at least 10% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.

A high percentage of Fortis Arbor teak tiles and a slightly lower percentage of rosewood tiles are made of post industrial waste from furniture manufacturing. Wood that is too small to make furniture is cut into tile format sizes. Fortis Arbor bamboo tiles do not qualify for this category.

LEED category: Indoor Environmental Quality
Credit 4:1: Low Emitting Materials: Adhesives and Sealants

Intent: Reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of installers and occupants

Requirements: VOC emissions from adhesives and sealants must not exceed the VOC and chemical components limits of Green Seal’s standard GS-11 requirements

Fortis Arbor is set with Bostik’s Best urethane Adhesive which is a VOC compliant adhesive. Fortis Arbor is sealed during the manufacturing process with SafeCoat systems Lock in Wood Sealer which is cured during the manufacturing process and has very low VOC.

LEED category: Indoor Environmental Quality
Credit 4:2: Low Emitting Materials: Paints and Coatings

Intent: Reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of installers and occupants

Requirements: VOC emissions from adhesives and sealants must not exceed the VOC and chemical components limits of Green Seal’s standard GS-11 requirements

Fortis Arbor tiles require a final sealer after grouting and installation. They can be sealed with SafeCoat systems Polyureseal BP which has very low odor, and very low VOC. (Be sure and request Safecoat sealers in your grout and sealer package when ordering Fortis Arbor tiles.)

LEED category: Materials and Resources
Credit 6:0: Rapidly Renewable Materials

Intent: Reduce the use and depletion of finite raw, and long-cycle renewable materials by replacing them with rapidly renewable materials.

Requirements: Materials used must be derived from plants that are harvested within a ten-year cycle or shorter.

Fortis Arbor bamboo tiles are rapidly renewable. Fortis Arbor Teak and Rosewood tiles do not qualify for this category.

LEED category: Materials and Resources
Credit 5:1 20% manufactured regionally
Credit 5:2 50% manufactured regionally

Intent: Increase demand for building materials and products that are extracted and manufactured within the region, thereby supporting the regional economy and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from transportation

Requirements: Use a minimum of 20%/50% of building materials and products that are *manufactured regionally within 500 miles.

Fortis Arbor wood mosaics are finished and netted by hand in Chicago, Illinois USA. Use zip code 60613 to determine regional radius.

*Manufacturing refers to the final assembly of components into the building product that is furnished and installed by the tradesmen. For example, if the hardware comes from Dallas, TX, the lumber from Vancouver, British Columbia and the joist is assembled in Kent, Washington; then the location of the final assembly is Kent, Washington.

Note: The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System represents the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGB's) effort to provide a national standard for what constitutes a “green building”. USGBC or LEED does not certify building products but rather provides a standard by which a building can be rated and certified as green.

Is the waste water filtered and reused in manufacturing?
Yes, Our teak and rosewood tiles are finished using a process that involves water. The waste water created by this process is filtered and reused.

Are broken and rejected tiles recycled into new tile
or put to use in some way?
No, Fortis Arbor tiles are not breakable and there are very few rejected tiles:
less than 1%. Rejected tiles are usually caused from a nail hole or dovetail joint in one of the tiles - a memory of it's former life in the furniture shop. (The reject tiles makes a nice mulch for our garden.)

Is your packaging made of recycled materials?
Yes, some of our packing materials are recycled: All the paperwork is printed on 30% post consumer recycled content. Our paper mesh backing is made up of 65% post consumer recycled content. Also, since our tiles are approximately 75% lighter than traditional tile & stone and are not fragile, they use less packing material and require less energy and expense to ship.

Are recycled materials part of the content of your tile?
What percentage?
Yes, a high percentage of the teak and a slightly lower percentage of the rosewood used to make Fortis Arbor wood tile mosaics are reclaimed from furniture manufacturing. Pieces of wood that are too small to be used for furniture are used to make our tiles.

Is your tile made of sustainable or rapidly renewable material?
Yes, 100% of Fortis Arbor tiles are made from sustainable materials; Our bamboo tiles are made from the rapidly renewable bamboo plant. Our teak tiles are made from sustainable plantation grown teak. Our rosewood tiles are made from sustainably harvested rosewood.

Are you manufacturing using energy saving methods?
Fortis Arbor wood tiles may require less energy to manufacture than equivalent imported ceramic or stone tiles.

Is your product made of post-consumer waste?
No, they are made from post-industrial waste. (see above)

Do you use regional materials?
Our bamboo tiles are harvested and cut in China then finished and netted in Chicago, IL. Both our teak and rosewood tiles are harvested and cut in Thailand then finished and netted in Chicago, IL. All the insets tiles are cut in Chicago, IL.

In manufacturing, do you reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions?
Fortis Arbor Wood Mosaics are not mined or fired in their manufacture and therefore may produce less greenhouse gasses than ceramic, porcelain, glass or metal tiles.

Shipping, and the electricity to power our saws and lights do contribute to some greenhouse gas emissions. Our facility is located in Chicago, Illinois where unfortunately, coal burning constitutes approximately 8% of the power supplied to our facility by Commonwealth Edison. (If you live in Illinois, contact your government representatives to push for clean electric alternatives. We live in the “Windy City”, yet zoning regulations prohibit the installation of wind turbines on our building.)

Do you hold any third party environmental certification?
We hope that the green aspects of our tiles are evident in the materials and processes used to create them. We believe that the use of Fortis Arbor tiles would contribute to developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.That said, Fortis Arbor does not currently hold product certification from any third parties. (If third party certification was needed for a specific building project we would at that time weigh the costs and expenses of achieving that certification.)

 

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