There are many choices for non-toxic flooring suitable for the chemically sensitive or the health conscious individual, the best options are real hardwood, polished concrete and tile. But specific brands of natural linoleum, carpet and engineered wood are excellent choices as well. I will look at a few options that are still non-toxic but not quite as healthy, like luxury vinyl plank, laminate, cork and bamboo.
1. The Greenest Options (Dark Green)
2. Medium Green
3. Light Green
If you need assistance choosing the best floor for your sensitivities, budget and area of the house, please contact me for a one-on-one consultation.
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1. Greenest Floors "Dark Green" (0 VOC, No Offgassing)
i. Natural Hard Wood
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Naturally finished floors by @wdflooring
@fourboardwoodworks flooring & installation
@thomashartshelby photography |
Natural wood flooring is usually my number one choice. However wood contains natural terpenes which do bother some, and they can contain
anti-sapstain chemicals which could explain why some people react to wood used in building and not wood in the forest.
Aromatic woods like pine have much higher natural volatile compounds than maple, for example. Wood also has a higher possibility of harbouring mould than less porous materials. To prevent mould you should make sure your wood has been kiln-dried and kept dry at the store and when onsite.
There are plenty of green 0-VOC options for finishing wood. I used
Hemp Oil on my floors, a "purest" option.
AFM Poly BP is another great non-toxic finish. I go into detail on options for wood sealers and stains in my post on
sealers.
For subfloor glues, my top pick is definitely
AFM Almighty Adhesive which is safe and highly tolerable. If that doesn't work for you, try
Liquid Nails Subfloor Adhesive. There are no VOC/HAPs wood fillers by
Mohawk and
ECOs.
You can buy hardwood flooring from specialty flooring stores, as well as Home Depot, Lowes and Lumber Liquidators. The big box stores have networks of installers.
Pre-finished Hardwood - Usually finished with aluminum oxide infused polyurethane and cured under UV lights, these are typically very well tolerated once cured. I consider this to be safe product even for the chemically sensitive. Test it first. It is close to 0-VOC. This finish has two main benefits, not having to finish it in house, and the finish partially blocks the wood odour. I have looked over Mirage brand as well as Mono Serra from Home Depot.
ii. Concrete
If polished concrete flooring makes you think IKEA warehouse, think again, polished concrete can look beautiful and be green and healthy.
The Retroplate system, uses "liquid glass" and is completely non-toxic and 0-VOC. This option is available across Canada and the US, you just have to find someone who specializes in that system.
You can do acid stains, add natural pigments, use white cement, or add white sand to Portland Cement to get many different unique and modern looks.
iii. Tiles
Types of Non-Toxic Tiles:
Glass tiles are inert and healthy, many types are too slippery to use on the floor, but there are glass floor tiles.
Marble is good in theory, but most of it has a resin put on it at the factory to fill in tiny holes and fissures, and it might have a (chemical) sealant on it as well. Though a pure slab, or tile, that does not have a glossy finish can be sealed with a natural or low toxin sealer. Slate is also good, as long as it doesn't have a chemical sealer on it. Both can be sealed with
AFM Mexeseal or
Meta Cream.
Tung oil can be used on slate.
Concrete tiles have beautiful designs. Look for "eco tiles" or ask what additives are in the concrete. I sealed mine in my tiny house with
AFM Penetrating Water Stop. You can also use
tung oil or
Meta Cream.
Other natural stones like travertine, granite, soapstone and limestone are all great options for green floors. Always check if a resin or sealer is already applied, and then check to see which natural options will work over the stone of your choosing. Honed stones (not glossy) are the easiest to seal with a natural pure option. Very dense stones like many granite types and some slate do not require a sealer at all (bonus!).
Budding green companies now make
walnut oil and
hemp oil that can be used on natural stone and concrete. Though I have not seen hemp oil used in this application, it is a drying oil, so this theory does make sense. Walnut is a semi drying oil so I would have some reservations in putting it over a large area. The
post on sealers explains this further.
Porcelain and ceramic are safe if they are lead-free and do not contain radioactive substances. Ask for lead test results from the company, do a simple
3M Lead Swab (those are useful on a number of household items and are affordable). But to pick up lower levels, you need to hire someone who has an XRF tool.
Imported glazed tiles especially, should be tested for lead. A client just tested American made tiles that stated they were lead-free, but when tested they showed high levels of lead. So it might be wise to test any glazed tile regardless of origin. And be extra careful when removing them as the lead dust is particularly harmful. Tile over existing lead tiles if possible, instead of removing.
Wood look tiles claim to be 0-VOC even though there is a printed image on them. The glaze seems to block this. I have tested them and I do not detect anything that is different from regular tiles.
A Note on Air Cleaning Flooring
Crossville Tiles have a coating option called Hydrotect. This uses the PCO process to clean the air. A layer of non-toxic titanium dioxide is used to coat the tiles. This reacts with UV light, and just like
the PCO air purifiers I reviewed, creates a reaction that can break down some bacteria, moulds, VOCs and viruses. I don't know how impactful this tile coating will be to the overall air quality in a room. The company does have some reports that show a reduction in bacteria, which may be worthwhile for some folks.
If you read my
article on PCO air filters you will remember that some people have a bad reaction to this process. It's possible that in a high VOC area it creates formaldehyde, or in a clean environment it
can create NOx. I would try out a PCO air purifier before installing this tile, to make sure it works well for you.
This air cleaning technology is also used on
wood floors.
2. Medium Green (0 to Low-VOC)
i. Natural linoleum -
Marmoleum is made from linseed,
binders, wood flour, limestone and dry pigments which are
mixed and then calendared onto a natural jute backing. It's got a UV cured sealer on top, and this is
the glue used to install it. I found that after one month the odour all but disappeared from the product - though many people say the odour never disappears 100%. I am using this in my trailer. I was surprised and impressed since I don't normally do well with linseed. The roll down flooring that I recommend that is glued down. The
"click" is a little more difficult to tolerate and takes longer to offgas, but it has the advantage of no glue. This is one of my top flooring choices, I recommend it often and it looks cool as well. I like many of the colours and
the concrete look.
ii. 0 VOC Engineered Wood - While many engineered woods have significant offgassing (see section below),
Kahrs brand has zero added formaldehyde and claims 0 added VOCs. I tested it and found it to be quite good. Here is
my more detailed review of my testing of this floor. Here are their
test results with Total VOC 50 ug/m3, it's still not clear to me how three of those five chemicals are not added to the glues or finish, however that is still an extremely low level and two of the VOCs are terpenes naturally occurring from wood. Despite all this, most folks do really well with Kahrs, and it is usually the first option in the engineered category I look at with clients unless they know this won't work for them.
The next option I would look at is
Cali Bamboo Geowood. I really like their limestone substrate, it is highly tolerable and much healthier and than the standard substrate in most brands (normally substrate is a wood and glue mixture - the main the reason why this category has tended to be higher in offgassing). This one does claim formaldehyde-free and was tested by
Green Design Center.
Lauzon engineered flooring that is made in Canada also claims 0-VOC and 0 formaldehyde, but like Kahrs, when digging into their fact sheets on specific flooring, this did not seem to be the case on each type. Check out Anderson and Whickham brands which have also made claims of 0-VOC.
Use floating where possible, not glue down. The
Kahrs underlayment is excellent.
iii. Hard Vinyl - Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is much more tolerable than people generally think. I know, most of us think vinyl is one of the worst options! This should be one of your first considerations for an RV, and can be considered alongside other engineered floors if you are in the mildly to moderately sensitive category. I tested Armstrong and
Cali Bamboo brands, which both surprised me in how low offgassing they were. I prefer the Cali Bamboo with the limestone backing, which is a backing I find to be excellent in terms of health and safety (much preferred over cork backing).
Cali discloses their testing and the VOC levels are extremely low. Here are their phthalate testing
results (they are not phthalate-free). Use a floating floor instead of glue down when possible. You don't always have to go with the branded underlayment for all floors, but the
Cali underlayment is very good.
iv. Carpet
For natural, non-toxic carpet, look for non-toxic or natural fibers, no flame retardants, no mothproofing, no stain repellent, natural padding and either no adhesive or a non-toxic adhesive. The most sensitive will want undyed natural carpet. Not all do well with the natural smell of wool though, and you might be pleasantly surprised with some of the non-toxic synthetic options.
I have reservations about natural latex which are outlined
in this post on mattresses, and I'm not sure if the same precautions need to be taken with carpet. I personally have a slight preference for synthetic backing.
Safe Natural Fiber Carpets
The best non-toxic chemical-free wool carpets are:
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| Earth Weave from Green Design Center |
1.
Earth Weave - wool, no mothproofing, no other treatments, does contain latex. I always prefer undyed wool for the very sensitive.
2.
Nature's Carpet - wool - contains natural latex adhesive. The
dark green line does not have moth proofing and uses undyed wool.
The medium green line does not contain natural latex, which for me is a big plus, but it does contain mothproofing.
3.
Natural Home Products - wool, contains natural latex, but checks all other boxes.
Hibernia wool. I have sniffed Hibernia and it does have a wooly smell (as you would expect), but not a chemical smell. The company has since changed ownership (2018). They do use moth proofing (typically permithrin is used on wool carpets).
Seagrass - I really like seagrass carpet because of how it feels underfoot.
The DMI brand makes one I like that is not dyed or treated with insecticides or other chemicals. It does contain natural latex.
Non-Toxic Synthetic Carpet
Top two pics for non-toxic synthetic residential carpet are:
Home Fresh - My top pick for synthetics carpet, this carpet contains charcoal which absorbs some VOCs (up to a point) and was extremely low in odour and offgassing. The carpet does have
Scotch Guard coating on it so I do not know how they can claim 0 VOC exactly.
I got a sample that was a few months old, but bagged up, and I found it to be very good, extremely low in offgassing. I did not pick up classic carpet offgassing at all. Though it is not 100% odourless, it is close, and did not seem like an offensive odour to me. If you don't have an extreme sense of smell you may very well find this odourless. I was actually quite surprised as I have sniffed many carpets. This is my top pick for a green healthy synthetic carpet. Available in the US (not Canada).
For $350 off, email me for a discount link.
(Note: I've been recommending them as my top choice for 2 years before they had this discount code and despite the company refusing to send me a sample directly. I just actually think this is an impressive carpet).
Flor Fedora a low-VOC which is made from recycled plastic, it was less of that telltale carpet chemical smell. It offgassed to "odourless" way faster than their standard type. You will need to test their "dots" that attach these to the floor as well. This Fedora line does not hold up well with pets and does not look super durable, though some might prefer this carpet because of how fast it offgasses.
If you have conventional carpet in your house that is still offgassing, seal in the VOCs with
Carpet Seal.
Commercial Grade
Commercial grade carpet is a lot harder to find in low-VOC. I have reviewed and sniffed a few of the ones that claim the lowest VOC levels.
Flor: Most of their carpets are commercial grade. They claim they have the lowest VOC levels in the industry as of 2017, though when probed for information on their VOC levels or any evidence to substantiate that claim, they did not have any. They have Green Label Plus which you can find almost anywhere now and is not a low level of VOC. However, when testing their carpet it did
not have that tell-tale new carpet smell. The initial offgassing was as strong as other regular brands but it seemed less offensive (I know everyone is different here). But, what did impress me was that the sample offgassed way faster than other brands that have the tell-tale new carpet smell. A few weeks outside and it is fairly tolerable for a conventional carpet.
The other good option for commercial grade is wool. Though commercial companies are more reluctant to use wool because it is more expensive. The Godfrey Hirst wool commercial carpets show test results of very low VOC levels. Though they do have that classic carpet smell and it does contain moth proofing (permithrin). Woolshire wool is also rated for commercial, I found it much more tolerable than Godfrey, it smells wooly but not like chemicals. It does have moth proofing in it. It smells similar to Hibernia brand. If I was picking a commercial brand I would consider Woolshire first and then Flor.
Some of Earth Weave's lines can be used in light commercial applications and those do not contain mothproofing or other chemical treatments. In a light commercial setting this is the greenest way to go.
Because carpet does collect dust, mould spores, pesticides, flame retardants and all types of contaminants and allergens that ride on dust, a HEPA vacuum like the
Nilfisk is essential for cleaning.
Carpets with a conventional synthetic backing (but not Flor), can be glued down with
AFM 3 in 1.
Area rugs are
covered here in the furniture post.
v. Terrazzo - is a little complex as there are different materials, resins and sealers involved. But there are systems that are 0-VOC and low-VOC.
3. Light Green (Low-VOC)
i. Engineered Woods - Junkers, Wood Flooring International all meet EU emission standards. WD brand is one recommended by sensitive folks. The substrates can still be problematic. Many use phenol formaldehyde which offgasses relatively quickly. This may work for some but they are not in the same category as the formaldehyde-free versions above.
ii. Cork, like wood, has a natural odour (terpenes). A resin is used to bind all the small pieces of cork together into flat pieces (I have seen polyurethane binders which I find to have strong offgassing that persists). In theory, you can make tiles or rolls without resin (they heat press them for some insulation) but this is not how cork flooring is made.
An adhesive is also required either to glue it down (and there are 0 VOC glues for this), or, in the floating floors it is usually glued to a fiberboard or substrate which tends to be problematic in terms of chemical offgassing. It is finished with urethanes/acrylic which may be tolerable once cured.
I have tested
Cali Bamboo cork which I found to be the best one. US Floors was the second best. NOVA and Cancork smelled very strong to me. Here is my
Facebook post about the testing of these brands. These floors claim to be green but they offgassing is higher than I would go for and that's why they are in the light green category.
iii. Bamboo requires resin or adhesives to hold the top layer pieces together, a substrate and a finish. However, there are many that are GreenGuard certified for low emissions. This wood is known to be problematic in that it can shrink, expand and do poorly with water/moisture/spills.
Cali Bamboo GeoCore is made on a limestone based core which I found tolerable. I think this is one of the best brands out there for bamboo, otherwise bamboo is not usually a top choice for me.
iv. Laminate
does offgas, but there are some low-VOC options. Look for brands that have certifications: GreenGuard (ideally GreenGuard Gold), CARB2, Floor Score and E1 certifications for VOCs and formaldehyde. Though most brands can meet these certification levels, so it does not help you to distinguish between them. One thing you can look for is that they are made with HDF and not MDF. I have
not seen one that is formaldehyde-free (or more accurately said, no added formaldehyde).
Brands sold at green supply stores like Eurostyle (by the large worldwide company Krono Flooring) were not able to say their actual formaldehyde or VOC levels, and only cited their certifications, and so they did not provide any information to distinguish themselves from the competition.
This type of flooring can be floating - it doesn't require adhesive which is a bonus. I have seen better options in the engineered category but laminate flooring options are getting better over time. I don't have a specific brand recommendations until the brands can provide more transparency and recent samples to me.
v. Magnetic Ceramic Tiles - I tested Kablan's magnetic ceramic tiles and I found they did have a moderately strong smell (the magnetic backing components), though you may not be able to smell them once the floors is installed, as they are underneath. My video review of them
here.
Cost Comparison of Green Flooring 2019 (US)
Wood $8-10/sq ft including installation
Polished concrete is $6-12 sq ft for residential
Stain and sealed concrete - materials $1/sq ft (unless you are pouring the concrete or have lots of prep)
Tiles are usually $8-10/sq ft but depends on the tiles (tiles come in a wide range of costs) and prep of subfloor/installation difficulty
Kahrs Engineered - Materials $5-12/sq ft, labour $3-10/sq ft
Marmoluem - Materials $4.50-5/sq ft, labour $1-4/sq ft
LVP - Cali bamboo - under $4-5/sq ft, labour about $3-4/ sq ft
Cork $8-10/sq ft including installation
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