Ending our series that responds to builders who say low VOC paints don’t perform as well as traditional products, is this video from Sherwin Williams. Harmony, Sherwin Williams’ zero VOC paint, has GREENGUARD Children & Schools indoor air quality certification, which no doubt has some stringent requirements. But this video’s discussion of odor-absorbing and antimicrobial additives might mean the debate over irritating paint ingredients is bound to continue until manufacturers are required to list their ingredients on the can.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Q. I want to put carpet that has low chemical emissions in my basement. I also had planned on using a natural fiber carpet pad. I have not ever had water leak into the basement, but there is some moisture, due simply to the fact that it is a room below ground level.

Do natural fiber carpet pads hold up to moisture and would it be better to use a sheet of plastic as a vapor barrier under the carpet pad?

A. Installing carpet in the basement you describe requires a moisture- and mildew-resistant carpet pad, which will be glued in some spots to the basement’s cement floor. Putting a vapor barrier under the carpet pad would allow the pad to move and bunch up in spots under your carpet, which is not desirable.

If the basement does not leak, my usual recommendation would be a ½-inch rebond or rubber pad that is water-resistant and treated with an antimicrobial agent to prevent mold and mildew. If you were looking to install laminate or any hard surface floating floor, a vapor barrier would be needed.

While more people are opting to put natural and low-chemical products in their homes, chemical-free carpet pads made from natural fibers are not protected to resist continuous moisture or treated with anything to prevent biological growth.

While most traditional carpet pads now have CRI Green Label indoor-air quality certification, this does not appease all consumers. This is because the standards for this label are not as stringent as the CRI Green Label Plus standards that are used for testing chemical emissions from carpet.

For those who want pad that passes more stringent standards, there are a growing number of options. These include froth polyurethane designed pads that have GREENGUARD certification, which is more stringent than CRI Green Label.

Even if you have not seen these products on display in your retailer’s flooring showroom, the company should be aware of these companies and know how to get samples and information for you.

– Rickey Wooten is store manager at Carpetland Carpet One Floor & Home, part of KW Flooring, in Milford, OH. Contact him at 513-831-4800 or rwooten@carpetland-cincy.com.  For more of KW Flooring’s blog, click here.

Builders who say water-based paints with lower toxicity don’t perform well are perpetuating “a myth,” says Jay Watts, marketing director for AFM Safecoat. AFM is the fifth manufacturer to join our video rebuttal series. See this video to hear his arguments, click here to see Parts I-IV, and here for more information on these manufacturers’ products.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not long ago, we would have told you that there were just a few reliable brands and several hard-and-fast rules to follow when choosing a strand bamboo floor.

But as sales of strand, stained and hand-scraped styles have soared and now dominate in the bamboo flooring category, it’s difficult for any manufacturer to claim leadership.  A number of companies now supply strand products that in some markets have become more visible than those introduced about a decade ago by industry pioneers.

“Our strand customers are not asking what brand it is,” says Jeff Stovall, a store manager for Carpetland Carpet One Floor & Home in Erlanger, KY. His store carries five brands of strand bamboo and even keeps strand from Mohawk Flooring in stock.

 “Of course, there has to be proof of reliability, and some people ask about healthy indoor-air quality,” Stovall says. “But there also is great attention being paid to price.”

Strand from Mohawk Flooring

Despite a level of competition that has lowered prices, there apparently is room for more. Hefeng – a strand manufacturer – is the latest company to announce the opening of its U.S. operation that will sell EcoFusion strand bamboo. Hefeng USA, interestingly, has employed a past CEO of EcoTimber – a bamboo pioneer that offers FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified bamboo flooring.

Adding to shifting perceptions and sales is last year’s reorganization of pioneer Teragren LLC. Teragren arch-rival  Smith & Fong Plyboo, also a pioneer, remains a leading bamboo innovator, despite past distractions of successfully defending a lawsuit by Teragren, which claimed it owned the U.S. patent rights to solid strand bamboo flooring.

But the pioneers’ presence in flooring stores varies widely. And right along with them are names like Mohawk, USFloors, Green Choice, Bella Cera, Bamboo Fusion and more.

Despite all the names, there are still some points you can use to guide your selection of a reliable floor. These include:

–  The product’s warranty, and your retailer’s experience with the product. Is the product made with a cold-press or hot-press process, and what assurance does the manufacturer offer that these processes have been followed correctly?

–  Does the manufacturer provide information on how to test the moisture content in its strand products? You likely will not get an accurate moisture meter reading without this information and it is important.

– Does the manufacturer provide indoor air quality testing results for chemical emissions from its finish and adhesives, and if so, what are they? Mohawk, for example, lists compliance with E1 standards, Plyboo and Teragren tout FloorScore certification, … . If the manufacturers don’t have this information on their websites, they’re simply not in the game. 

Even with satisfactory answers to all of these questions, today’s market means you also should get a competitive price. The days of paying a premium for the perception of strand brand supremacy are over.©

To contact Jeff Stovall or the sales staff at Carpetland Carpet One Floor & Home in Erlanger, KY call 859-331-2345 or email  jstovall@carpetland-cincy.com. For more of this company’s blogs, click here.

Nancy Kibbee is editor at www.naturalinteriors.com

Like other participants in our rebuttal series, Earthpaint disagrees with builders who say low VOC paints don’t perform well.  While this video won’t give you an Earthpaint demonstration, it will give you something that is equally important. Increasingly, science is telling us that there are limits to the amount of chemicals we can safely be exposed to.  Tom  Rioux  is among a growing number of people who have learned the hard way. Watch this video and learn why he developed Earthpaint. And for more information on paint ingredients, click here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Q. I wanted to install Marmoleum Click flooring in my daughter’s room because it is supposed to be very good for healthy indoor air quality, and my daughter has allergies. But when the installer from the flooring company started taking the flooring out of the boxes, the color did not look like what we chose. Instead, it looked like the material had yellowed, like something does when it gets old.

The installer said this was normal and that it would go away. But with the price of this product already being higher than many other options, I did not want to take the chance. I sent the flooring back and cancelled the job.

I really wanted this floor. Is it possible that I just got a batch that was defective?

A. The problem you are describing is not a defect. It is called “ambering,” which is a yellowish cast that appears on Marmoleum – and the competing brands of linoleum. As the installer said, it is normal. It goes away entirely after the flooring comes out of the box and is exposed to light for a few days.

Ambering  is evidence of the constant oxidation of Marmoleum’s main ingredient – linseed oil. It is this oxidation that prevents bacteria growth and repels dust and dust mites. Long before Forbo developed the click floor, the company’s sheet Marmoleum, a competitor to vinyl, came into high demand in hospitals because it naturally inhibits bacteria growth.

More recently, the click product has gained recognition, getting Asthma & Allergy Friendly certification from the Asthma & Allergy Foundation.

 Making the product available in more colors and self-locking planks also has made installation more practical for some people, and has increased residential installations. Many customers, however, still choose the sheet goods — which also are made by Armstrong and Johnsonite — because of the continuous look. The sheet product requires a certified installer who is experienced in heat-welding the seams.

The installer who came to your home was correct in what he told you. He just didn’t tell you enough. The ambering means you are getting what you asked for. ©

– Ken Weisbacher is President of KW Flooring, which includes Carpetland Carpet One Floor & Home in Cincinnati, OH, Buddy’s Flooring America, ProSource Wholesale Flooring and Schumacher & Co. Custom Hardwood Floors.

To find a Marmoleum retailer in the northwest United States, contact the Forbo distributor there, Wanke Cascade.

GREENGUARD®, Green Seal and SCS Indoor Advantage Gold. They’re all top third-party certifications designed to help us choose paint that will not make the air in our homes dangerous to breathe.

But while these labels mean chemical emissions have been measured — or in the case of Green Seal dangerous ingredients have been prohibited — none of them tells us what we are breathing at the time the paint is being applied. And certifications that test chemical emissions don’t require compliance with safety limits until 14 days after the paint is dry.

“When it comes to verifying sustainable claims, it may be wiser to start by being a ‘doubting Thomas’ instead of a ‘gullible Pollyanna’ …,” says Michael Mauch, AIA, LEED AP and principal of RWA Architects in Cincinnati, OH. “Third-party verification is supposed to work like Politifact — an organization to sort out the truth. But third-party verification is not a perfect system. In theory, it works, but in reality, there are many influences that can sway the outcome.”

More of Mauch’s clients – and more people who are building and remodeling homes in general — are demanding low- and zero-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints. It’s important, Mauch says, that they learn to use “green” certification labels as a guide – not a guarantee.

How does the average person with limited scientific knowledge do this? As explained in Part Three, it helps to understand that zero VOC doesn’t mean nontoxic. It also helps to understand some commonly used green standards.

CA Specification 01350

A special standard developed by the state of California is frequently used by certification programs and often touted as the most stringent health-based standard in the United States today.  This standard is the Standard Method for the Testing and Evaluation of Volatile Organic Chemical Emissions from Indoor Sources Using Environmental Chambers V1.1, (CA Specification 01350).

SCS Indoor Air Advantage™ Gold

Specification 01350 and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 1113 are the basis for Indoor Advantage™ Gold certification, which is issued by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), a third-party certifier.

The California Specification 01350 standard sets chronic reference exposure limits (CRELS) for 36  Volatile Organic Compounds known to cause cancer or have negative health effects. This standard also spells out how to test paint, which is applied to drywall, a metal plate or glass, then placed in a small environmental air chamber or box where conditions are controlled by standardizing ventilation or air flow rate, temperature and humidity. The laboratory completing the SCS emissions test begins collecting air samples from the chamber for chemicals the paint is off-gassing 11 days after the paint sample has been placed in the chamber.

“This is what is required by the standard,” says Nicole Munoz, SCS technical manager for environmental services.

The standard was initially developed to minimize the health effects to building occupants from off-gassing building materials in new construction, Munoz says.  Over the years, she says, it has evolved to include the single-family residential scenario for building materials, but again, the intent is to minimize the health-issues for the occupants – not the painter.

“As with any certification label, it is important to understand the limits of the criteria being assessed,” Munoz says. “In this case, the building occupant is within the scope of the standard, and not the applicator. OSHA requirements would be more applicable for the applicator of the product and use of acute exposure limits.”

Munoz says that the VOCs of concern under CA 01350 are compounds that are highly volatile and have peak emission values within the first 24 to 72 hours of application. After that, she says, emissions typically decrease quickly over the 14-day testing period.  When SCS sampling starts on the 11^th day, the compounds are diminishing, and the focus becomes emissions that an occupant might be exposed to on a chronic basis, she says.

GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality Certification and GREENGUARD® Children & Schools Certification

The small chamber method also is used in testing paint for GREENGUARD® Indoor Air Quality Certification and GREENGUARD® Children & Schools certification.

“It is not practical to test paint in a room because that room would need to be constructed in such a way that there are no other emissions sources other than the paint: basically, a steel room with drywall walls that can be swapped out every time you want to test,” says Rachel Belew, public relations and communications manager at the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. “And, you would need different rooms for each environment, such as a classroom, or an office. In theory, this would be great, but we must balance science with marketplace feasibility.”

GREENGUARD certification also complies with CA 01350, but goes a step beyond it. While 36 chemicals have been assigned CRELS and are covered in CA 01350, GREENGUARD requires that those chemicals meet half of their respective CREL or 1/100th of their Threshold Limit Values (TLVs), whichever limit is more stringent. TLVs are air quality standards – set by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists – for the amounts of chemicals in the air that almost all healthy adult workers are predicted to be able to tolerate without adverse effects.

The limit for formaldehyde – a known carcinogen – changed Jan. 1 in California, and certifiers have until next January to comply.

In addition to the VOCs covered in CA 01350, GREENGUARD sets limits on more than 360 other chemicals that haven’t been assigned CRELs. GREENGUARD Children & Schools is a more stringent certification because it sets limits on hundreds of potentially hazardous chemical that are not covered by CA 01350, and because, for each of the CA 01350 chemicals addressed by GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification, GREENGUARD requires that emissions of those chemicals are even lower than what’s required in CA 01350, Belew says.

While GREENGUARD starts testing air from the sample chamber after six hours to study the product’s emissions decay, compliance with the certification’s limits is not required until the sample has been in the box for 14 days.

Green Seal

Green Seal, another third-party certifier, does not use the small chamber testing process and does not rely on emission results after paint application. Instead, a paint sample is heated and passed through a gas chromatographer, which determines the VOC level. Then, the Green Seal staff reviews the manufacturer’s formulation, which they are required to provide. In this review, carcinogens are prohibited.

“The product cannot contain any ingredients that are carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins, hazardous air pollutants or ozone-depleting compounds,” says Andrew Beauchamp, technical coordinator for Green Seal.

An exception is made for titanium dioxide – an exceptionally white pigment, used in everything from food coloring to make-up — and is believed to pose a cancer risk when inhaled as a dust.

“It is also important to note that the Green Seal (GS-11) standard for paint has requirements that go beyond just indoor air quality and reviews the entire life cycle of the product,” Beauchamp says.  “It is the only standard that has requirements for formula composition of the paints to prohibit chemicals of concern, requires proven performance, reduced packaging or use of recycled materials, and requires consumer education about proper use of the product and disposal.”

Green Seal set limits on allowed VOCs at 50 grams per liter for flat finishes and 100 grams per liter for non-flat finishes.

Green Wise

Like all other product categories, the paint industry has trade associations, and those associations also have developed indoor-air quality certifications. Green Wise certification is offered by the Coatings Research Group Inc. — an international association of paint and coatings manufacturers.

Likewise, some manufacturers have developed their own green designations. Benjamin Moore points to its Green Promise designation, and Sherwin Williams has GreenSure, although it also has achieved the third-party GREENGUARD Children & Schools Indoor Air Quality certification.

Like Green Seal, Green Wise limits VOCs to 50 grams per liter for flat finishes and 100 grams per liter for non-flat finishes. It also prohibits hazardous chemicals such as formaldehyde and methylene chloride. So while it can be argued that Green Wise is not a true third-party label, it also can be argued that the certification adheres to standards that prohibit certain VOCs.

“Our goal is to be certified by the highest standards,” says Kleir Kleinknecht, director of Mythic Paint, which has Green Wise certification.  “Since our products outreach the depth of most standards, the more robust the certification, the easier it is for customers to discern from competing green-washing companies.” ©

– Nancy Kibbee is editor at www.naturalinteriors.com.

Mythic Paint, which has Green Seal certification, disagrees with builders who say low-and zero-VOC, water-based paints do not perform as well as traditional paint and oil-based products. See Mythic’s video, and look for The Problem With Paint, Part IV later this week in which we will compare Green Seal, GREENGUARD and SCS indoor air quality certifications.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Distressed or old?” A designer that I work with was going back and forth about reclaimed hardwood and hardwood flooring that is purposefully distressed to make it appear old.

“I like the idea of reducing wastefulness and landfill mass by making floors from old barns,” she said. “But could this floor be less durable because it is old and had a past life? Or what if it was salvaged after a forest fire or taken from a tree that was killed by beetles? Could it be infested?”

She was thinking it is safer to stick with flooring products that have been made to look old, but are not. This is an example of confusion that has resulted from having too much information.

"Zanzibar" flooring in the 2010 House Beautiful Kitchen of the Year

“Reclaimed wood” usually means wood that is taken from old buildings. If this wood has not rotted, in which case it would not be made into flooring, it will actually be more stable than newer wood will be because the reclaimed wood has aged.

Other salvaged woods that do not come from deconstruction can confuse the picture. Trees harvested in the aftermath of a forest fire, for example, do not contribute to credits under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system. LEED’s Resource Reuse credit only applies to wood that is taken from old structures.  Salvaged wood can come from many sources, including trees killed by beetles. This wood has been found to be structurally sound, but is most typically used in framing homes.

So, I told my client, if you want a reclaimed hardwood floor, you are looking for the performance of old-growth wood – something that you really cannot get out of a forest any more. You also want a floor that is historic and authentically old. And, you will understand if it costs more than a regular hardwood floor.

If not, you are just going for a certain distressed look, and there are many of those to choose from.

Virtually all U.S.-made brands – reclaimed or distressed — have good warranties – no worries about fire damage or insect infestation. And many are from companies that pay attention to proper forest management and healthful indoor-air quality.

In reclaimed hardwood, we prefer Zanzibar from Mohawk. It is an engineered floor made in planks that are 5-inches wide. The floor is put together with adhesive that does not contain urea formaldehyde, and the product has FloorScore Indoor Air Quality certification.

“The homeowner on this job wants it to look and feel old,” my client said. “So, may I borrow your samples so I can show them the real thing?” ©

– Mike Smith is an account manager for ProSource Wholesale Flooring in Cincinnati. Contact him at 513-772-7726, Ext. 105 or msmith@prosource-cincy.com.

The time-worn look of reclaimed hardwood is getting so popular that every flooring manufacturer has to have one. DuChateau Floors – which makes FSC-certified hardwood with a natural, nontoxic oil finish – announced its new Heritage Timber collection today.

While the wear layer on these flooring planks is not made from deconstructed barns and buildings, the reclaimed wood is artfully replicated with scrapes, nail holes, notches and saw marks. The company chose to create the look, instead of using barn wood, in an effort to offer a product at a more competitive price.

“Our Heritage Timber Edition brings new life to the original character of vintage wood with its beautifully irregular marks of time and old craftsmen,” said Misael Tagle, CEO and cofounder of DuChateau Floors. “The collection delivers visual movement and authentic rustic character to both residential and commercial spaces.”

Heritage "Chalk"

Heritage "Coal"

DuChateau, which opened its U.S. office in 2006, is known for its leadership in high-quality, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified flooring that uses a natural oil finish that can be spot-repaired. We have called DuChateau The Greenest of Them All, and Interiors & Sources magazine gave the company an honorable mention in its recent Readers’ Choice Awards.

The Heritage line is available in five styles – Chalk, Coal, Lintel, Trestle and Slat.

DuChateau  qualifies for many LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) credits. These do not include LEED’s Resource Reuse credit, which only applies to wood that is taken from old structures.

DuChateau is distributed to retailers on the northwest coast by Wanke Cascade. To find retailers in other areas, contact DuChateau Floors in San Diego.©

– Nancy Kibbee is editor at www.naturalinteriors.com