Flooring – I NEED HELP! – Follow Up Part 1

For this particular follow up I have pulled it apart into 3 posts because I discuss several topics in some length. So let’s begin with Jackie’s dilemma at her Condo:
Q: It’s Jackie again from Northern Ontario. To refresh your memory, I need flooring for my condo due to flooding (2 stories, ground floor on cement, 2nd floor up) and am considering replacing the flooring in the whole place (~1000sf). Current flooring is vinyl and burber carpeting.
_*Issues were:*_
– dog
-northern Ontario weather (snow, muddy spring/fall)
– hi traffic area from front door straight down hallway into kitchen on L and laundry on R then straight out back door
– want /environmentally friendly / (EF) ( ie.no laminate, E0/E1 rated)
– cold floors in winter (main floor due to cement)
At the time I was looking into /Bruce engineered/ for main floor living/dining area (LR/DR) and ceramic tile from front to back entrances and kitchen/laundry (K/L)
I’ve since done /a lot/ more research, which included some of your blogs on EF floors (ie. wood,bamboo, cork) from both a global environmental level and an individual (ie. chemical sensitivity/indoor air quality) level. To be honest, I almost feel as if I’m starting to become a bit of a flooring expert myself…. and I’m only half kidding.
Some of these folks who are selling products don’t know anything about them, or pretend not to so they don’t have to answer the tough questions. I have also been surprised to learn that I know several people who have had all sorts of new floors installed over the past 4-5 years and who have not considered at least the health effects of their new floors. Oh well, I digress. In any case, I have found that most, if not all, of the floors that are the most durable (ie. consumer report rated etc.) either:
1. Don’t list their adhesives/bonding materials used in the construction of their floors (ie. engineered, cork, bamboo, wood construction) and/or their VOC levels etc. and therefore could be(and probably are) made from scary (aka unhealthy) ingredients (ie. high VOC, off gasing)
2. Have scary finishes (ie. aluminum oxide, duralustre, acrylic)
Those that are truly EF (adhesives, finishes) are quite expensive and less durable which does make sense if you think about it.
Your blog states that the newer Westhollow cork floors are E1/E0 rated.
Is the rating for the entire product (ie. construction/bonding) or just the finish (ie. water based urethane). Are there any other finishes that I might read on product specs that are safe? I’ve also read about site finishing cork floors to deal with any unevenness in the floor and/or to seal between the planks (ie. better protection re: “animal accidents”).
Of the few on your website with urethane water based finishes, I thought that the Westhollow, Mayor Natural, Urban Premium might work?! or maybe the Faro Natural
A: Before I get directly into your questions, let’s do a quick preface to being Eco-friendly in the flooring industry. First off as you can imagine, material is a big step: Cork and Bamboo tend to take the cake when it comes to being green so long as they are manufactured in a green manner. For finishes, look for water-based polyurethanes, but don’t be afraid of Aluminum Oxide. It is something that occurs naturally and as a result of making aluminum, plus its some seriously tough stuff to boot, so its great as a protective additive to water based finishes. Do your best to avoid oil or wax based finishes as these are a bit less on the friendly side.
The big problem in flooring tends to be adhesives. Cheaper adhesives (typically from economy Chinese mills) contain levels of formaldehyde which outgas to a point that they can not pass the European Emission Standards (aka, never E0/E1 rated). This is also usually the major windfall for folks whom are chemically sensitive; as the slow outgasing process of flooring which contains higher levels of cheap adhesives occurs, the formaldehyde fumes get into the air and trigger these sensitivities (strand woven bamboo tends to be the biggest problem here because of its adhesive content).
The good news here is that the well made and truly green cork and bamboo out there uses water based polyurethane finishes. Much like any other testing, every portion of the floor from finish, to surface, to the core of the flooring is tested to meet emission standards. If a floor meets E0/E1 standards, the entire floor meets it, not just the surface/species layer. To answer your question about Westhollow’s cork, the entire product is rated for E0/E1 and the milling facilities in Portugal are excellent (as Steve has raved about on his blog).