06 Mar When It’s Natural and They Know It
A growing number of flooring consumers know more about people-friendly products than mainstream flooring salespeople do
When a consumer is intent on finding a specific product and spends hours researching it, she might be more knowledgeable than the salesperson when she gets to the store.
Jennifer Lutz recalls how frustrated she was when she went to a mainstream flooring store, asking about natural carpet and hard-surface flooring that had third-party indoor-air quality certification. This drove her back to the computer and her Google searches, which put her in contact with Natural Interiors.®
“I didn’t feel like the salespeople at the store knew what they were talking about or even understood my questions in regard to certifications and VOCs,” says Lutz of Lebanon, OH. “It is very important to me, and I do not want to spend money to buy a product that does not meet my standards.”
For her great room and den, she wanted an all-natural carpet with no chemical treatments. For her master bedroom, she wanted a hardwood look that was tested and certified to meet safety limits that have been set for emissions of formaldehyde and other chemicals.
The answers were pretty simple. Chemical-free, wool carpet with no dyes, stain-proofing or moth-proofing. The carpet also has CRI Green Label Plus Indoor-Air Quality Certification. Jennifer also chose the company’s chemical-free wool carpet pad.
“There were no chemical odors or anything irritating in the air during or after the carpet was installed,” she says.
For the bedroom, we talked about hardwood, but also looked at cork because it is softer and warmer underfoot. In addition, the Cork Deco line from USFloors is made in engineered planks to look like hardwood and it has GREENGUARD Gold Indoor Air Quality Certification. That sealed the deal for Jennifer, who settled on the style called Salon Burle.
Now about six months after installation, the cork has met all expectations and is easy to maintain, she says.
More remarkable, she says, is the resiliency of the carpet, and the peace of mind she gets from it.
“We frequently have large groups of friends over,” she says. “There is a lot of traffic on the carpet of our great room. With a simple, weekly vacuuming, it looks brand new, like the day it went in. I also have two young boys who always have their faces near the floor, wrestling or playing cars. I love that I don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals being released in the air, and ultimately into their little bodies, while they are playing.” ©
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