Sustainable Floor

If you just building a new house or restoring a house or you are a responsible home builder this page is for you! You want to improve your living conditions and create a safer and healthier environment for you and your family or for your business!

This page is for everyone new or current homeowners who want to create a better place with better choices

Conventional Flooring Brands

Today’s building products, which include the paints, stains, and finishes used for woodworking and DIY, are a chemical soup, according to Andrew Pace, founder of The Green Design Center/Building for Health. And some of the ingredients in those “soup” recipes,…“There are around 92,000 chemicals used in the production of building materials and home goods,” he says. “Out of those, only 3 percent have ever been tested for their toxicological effects on humans. Three percent!”

Pace says the EPA has actually exempted 37 VOCs that are highly dangerous to people, those include ammonia, acetone, and butyl acetate, which are commonly used in consumer paints, including those marketed as zero-VOC “green” products. “Legally, these coatings can then be called “green” because they are zero-VOC. But in actuality, they are just as harmful to humans or in some cases, even more harmful than the old oil-based products,” Pace says. If these chemicals are harmful to those with healthy immune systems, they are even more problematic for those with allergies, asthma, chemical sensitivities and even Autism. While the presence of these toxins in certain paints and finishes presents unhealthy exposure levels when first applied, their toxicity doesn’t necessarily go away after they dry, either.

Vinyl Flooring: they often contain phthalates

You can learn more here

Toxic Chemicals in Building Materials

Greenwashing Flooring Brands

Avoid greenwashing flooring material made by brands that pretend to be sustainable, toxic and safer when they are not. They will sue their marketing tricks to convince you to buy their toxic products.  

Formaldehyde is present in many products because it is very inexpensive and it works extremely well as a preservative.

​​​Sustainable Flooring Material

These are Flooring brands that meet or exceed all environmental , health, and safety requirements including formaldehyde emissions, VOC emissions, state requirements such as CARB II Certification, and FloorScore® Certification.

FloorScore® Certified: FloorScore® is the most recognized indoor air quality certification standard. They utilize independent ISO-17025 accredited laboratories to determine the most trusted, accurate results.

Found in hardwood floors that are in compliance with the strict indoor air quality emissions that have been determined by the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI)

Certification is not an easy process and the FloorScore® Certification seal ensures floors have met all necessary requirements. The certification process typically consists of:

  • Evaluation – including a review of the product’s specific formulation and manufacturing site’s document control system.
  • On-site audit
  • Product emissions testing to ensure no harmful chemicals are used in the floors, known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

🌿For additional green building home products, green home restoration, and for homebuilders check this website: Green Design Center

Flooret sustainable floor logo