Formaldehyde – Not your friend

People need to have general understanding of Formaldehyde when buying flooring and what products are more prone to formaldehyde emissions.

Some things NATURALLY emit formaldehyde so you can’t automatically say just give me the stuff that is formaldehyde free.

However, you can make good decisions about which products are more likely to have higher levels of emissions.

In our homes and our offices we have products of all kinds with certain levels of Formaldehyde in them. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen and not something that you go out of your way to ADD to your home.

Therefore low emissions flooring is something that people are becoming more and more aware of.

That doesn’t mean, however, that every floor is low emission. Strand bamboo for example claims to be earth friendly – but I have yet to see a laboratory test that proves a low emission standard. And too often people claim that their floors are low emission (also known as the E1 standard), but they have nothing to back up the claim except promises.

I would not buy a strand bamboo that you can not have a test from a reputable laboratory that proves the emission rating AND is spot checked as incoming containers come in.

Too often I have seen manufacturers send something for “testing” that work out well, but when you spot check subsequent shipments magically the specification has faltered.

Bottom line: be sure you know what you are getting and who you are getting it from.

More on this topic in the future.