While all Home Depot flooring would technically be considered non-toxic, this article looks at the very best of the Home Depot brands – the ones that have no offgassing or ultra-low offgassing of VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
These brands are more likely to be good for chemically sensitive folks.
1. Engineered Wood
When it comes to engineered wood, brands with a solid slat core have the least offgassing, followed by a plywood core which usually offgasses really fast, and lastly an HDF or MDF (fiberboard) core, which usually offgasses formaldehyde and is higher in offgassing than the first two options.
When it comes to finishes, the UV-cured water-based polyurethanes or polyacrylics are generally 0-VOC. Oil-based finishes will have more odor and offgassing and require more maintenance.
Home Legend has an HDF core option, Malibu Waide Plank has some lines with a plywood core and some with HDF, Baltic Wood has a solid slat option, and Shaw has options with a plywood core.
See my article on engineered wood for more information on the composition of these floors and more brand options in each category.
2. Hybrid Flooring
Hybrid flooring has a stone polymer composite (SPC) core and a real wood top layer. The wood can be any wood species or a bamboo species. In all brands (not just Home Depot brands) the wood layer is very thin.
The High Density Plastic Composite Core (HDPC) is likely made from PVC (vinyl), and likely contains limestone and a plasticizer called DOTP (Bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate). We don’t currently know of any health concerns with DOTP but it’s possible that some will become known with time. However, I would suspect that the wood layer prevents leaching out of the plasticizer, so I consider this to be a good non-toxic flooring option.
Opti-Wood from Home Depot was their original hybrid product, it has a HDPC core and various types of wood as the top layer.
LifeProof from Home Depot carries a bamboo top layer with a vinyl core.
Acqua from Home Depot also has a bamboo layer with a vinyl core.
See my article on engineered wood for a full list of brands that carry hybrid floors.
3. Luxury Vinyl Plank
Home Depot does not use phthalates in their luxury vinyl plank (LVP) or luxury vinyl tile (LVT). The different brands they carry are similar. You will generally find that an SPC (stone polymer composite core) and thin wear layer has no to extremely low offgassing.
Traffic Master, Lifeproof (underlayment odor was strong to me), and Home Decorators are all very similar. The underlayment odor can come up at the seams for those extremely sensitive to smells and chemicals.
The main difference between their brands is the thickness of the product, which will affect how well the locking mechanism works and therefore how waterproof it is, and the thickness of the wear layer, which is also important for longevity.
See my article on LVP for more info on toxicity and brands that are 0-VOC.
4. Bamboo
You can find some Cali Floors lines through Home Depot. All Cali Floors have a formaldehyde value of less than 0.005 ppm formaldehyde, which is ultra-low.
We don’t have exact VOC levels for Home Decorators Collection solid bamboo flooring.
Opti-wood and Lifeproof with the SPC core are both great hybrids (bamboo top, vinyl/mineral/plasticizer core) that have practically no VOCs, except for possibly a tiny amount in the stain.
See my article on bamboo flooring for more 0-VOC and ultra-low VOC brands.
5. Carpet
All of Home Depot’s carpets and rugs are free of PFAS/PFCs – these are the Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances that are known as “forever chemicals”, so that is great news.
If you are chemically sensitive, I would suggest getting samples of the polyester options by Home Decorators Collection, Lifeproof, Traffic Master (olefin fiber), and Mohawk. Polyester tends to be lower in offgassing than nylon in my experience (across all brands).
I tested all the polyesters/Triexta carpets from Home Depot. In my estimation, the Lifeproof lines including Petproof were lower in VOC odor than Traffic Master brand, but not as low odor as Mohawk Envirostrand, SmartStrand, and Air.o. (SmartStrand and Air.o are Mohawk lines that are not carried at Home Depot).
My top choice from Home Depot is Lifeproof Triexta fiber with the Lifeproof polyethylene cushion underlayment.
I have a detailed review of all the Home Depot carpet lines in this article. If you want to check out some 0-VOC carpet lines, see my general carpet article.
Corinne Segura is an InterNACHI-certified Healthy Homes Inspector with certifications in Building Biology, Healthier Materials and Sustainable Buildings, and more. She has 10 years of experience helping others create healthy homes. You can book a consult here.
Marla
Hello Corinne, Your search bar was a little wonky (might have your webmaster make sure the coding is correct – it does not show the terms typed in, maybe the text is white and not visible? just FYI). I was looking to see if you have anything regarding chemical sensitivities in regards to micro-plastics and pets (the living ones, not the recycled plastic PET). 🙂
I see that you share a lot of great information about VOC’s – but I also see a lot of questions from people being treated for cancer in the blogs, and was not sure if there were any articles regarding lessening the amount of plastics in the home, in regards to people but also pets. Much of the flooring now, as well as furniture, is synthetic plastic materials – carpets, ruggables and outdoor rugs, LVT floors.
There is so much in the news now about microplastics in everything, I was just looking for any conversations about that and perhaps choices in home goods that are not plastic.
Thank you!
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
I havent written about microplastics specifically but i do offer non plastic options on all articles whether it’s flooring, wallpaper, cabinet liners etc
my website is for people with chemical sensitivity who usually don’t avoid plastic so there are a lot of plastic products on the site
Meghan
Hi there! Mama of 2 little ones and a third on the way. We just bought a home that needs to be re-carpeted upstairs. I’ve tried to think of cost-effective solutions besides carpet, but realistically, we need to just stick with carpet. I appreciate your thorough information! I was initially looking at the wool blend option from Natural Harmony. Did you happen to assess anything from them? Thanks for your time!
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
See the article called healthiest carpet
Alicia Sykes
I am a breast cancer pt and am making my home as eco-friendly and less toxic as possible. Cancer stinks, so I am doing what I can to prevent it. No one answers the phones at corporate home depots and local staff seem to know very little. They are just salesman. I appreciate you for taking the time to put this extensive work in for your readers. it is a lot of work on your part and I just wanna tell you that I appreciate it and do take for it for granted
Corinne Segura
thank you!
Alicia Sykes
Hi maam. Oh no. Did I confuse myself? I bought the
Lifeproof Black Elk Peak Hickory 0.28 in. T x 6.5 in. W Waterproof Engineered Hardwood Flooring .
I was under the assumption that all of LifeProof products were ok to purchase. Pls let me know. I certainly appreciate your response.
Corinne Segura
it depends on what the core is made of see the article on engineered wood and there is a video there that is helpful as well.
Alicia Sykes
Thank you so much.
Cassandra
Hi! Thank you for this wealth of info. Wondering if you have any opinions on the 5 options that Home Depot offers with their carpets now, I saw your comment response on your other carpet article and I was confused as to which padding was best, and also any concerns about the polyester and shedding microplastics? Thank you
Cassandra
The comment I’m referring to “ The only offer 5 padding options for in home installation by their contractors and all 5 options are either a memory foam, a lifeproof “100% virgin densified prime urethane” or bonded urethane from Nike and Trafficmaster.”
I was just there this evening and trying to navigate which to pic, I saw the life proof with pet proof technology? Is that safe? I have kids and pets (cats &. Dog) so durability is important as well.
Corinne Segura
I would use the lifeproof polyethylene that is in this article or other options in the article on underlayment
jeremy godden
wev’e looked at some of the less toxic flooring available- wood, bamboo, sisal, vinyl….But the shops say they need glue (to a lesser or greater extent)o hold them in place-unlike carpets. I’m concerned about ghe toxicity of these glues. Thanks.
Corinne Segura
Most of those floors can be floating, so they are not glued down. You can ask for floating floor styles. Otherwise see the post on glues.