Healthy Interiors

For safe, non-toxic carpet, both natural and synthetic fiber options can be a healthy choice.

The post outlines my top picks in the zero and low-VOC categories for residential and commercial use. This includes a look at the carpet fiber, backing, products used during installation, and padding (underlay).

Even folks who are chemically sensitive can do well with carpet in the home.

This post contains affiliate links. Upon purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Ideal Carpet Does not Contain:

• Flame retardants – the most harmful types are usually found in polyurethane padding, but aluminum hydroxide can be added to the fibers.
• Permethrin pesticide mothproofing which is added to many wool carpets.
• Antimicrobials which can be added to the backing, the glues, and the face fiber. Pyrithione zinc and/or potassium oleate is often used in the fiber.
• Stain repellent like Scotchguard (perfluorobutanesulfonic acid) which is often added to the textile top layer.
• Anti-static treatment like quaternary ammonia which can be added to the fibers.
• SBR latex backing is at the base of the fibers in conventional carpet.
• Padding offgassing – polyurethane, rubber, and natural latex backings which can all can offgas.
• Toxic adhesives which can be required for glue-down installation or at the seams. 
• VOCs – a number of chemical additives are a part of conventional carpet – from the dyes and processing of the fibers to the topical fiber treatments, backing glues, backing materials, carpet padding, and installation tapes and glues.

What to Look for in a Carpet:

• A fiber that is not treated with toxic chemical treatments – wool and other natural fibers like sisal and jute.
• Undyed wool without pesticides is in theory the purest option, but it does have a strong natural odor from the wool oils.
• Natural latex is usually touted as the safe adhesive between the fibers and the backing. 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 preference for backing without natural latex.
• PET polyester is also a safe fiber, though unfortunately, I see it treated with Scotchguard.
• 0 VOC is ideal!
• Nylon can be considered a low VOC option (some brands).

Wool Carpet

Wool carpet is a natural choice that can be untreated and undyed. It does not contain flame retardants and the best brands would not use topical treatments.

The backing will be a natural wool in most cases.

1. Earth Weave

Earthweave makes a wool carpet, with no mothproofing and no other treatments. It does contain latex. I always prefer the undyed wool option for the extremely sensitive. This is one of the top brands.

2. Nature’s Carpet  

Another great brand, Nature’s carpet is also made of wool. The Dark Green line does not have mothproofing and uses undyed wool. The backing contains natural latex and jute.

The Medium Green line and Light Green line contain permethrin mothproofing. The Medium Green has jute, and synthetic backing adhesive. The Light Green has synthetic backing adhesive and synthetic backing (not jute). 

3. Hibernia wool

I have sniffed Hibernia and it does have a wooly smell (as you would expect), but not a chemical smell. The company changed ownership in 2018. They do use mothproofing (typically permethrin is used on wool carpets).

Seagrass & Jute Carpet

1. 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.

2. Sisal

There are also companies that make wall to wall sisal carpet. Sisal is stronger and more durable than jute (and not as soft), but looks similar.

You should ask about pesticides sprayed during transport. Topical treatments are not usually used but you could ask.

Synthetic Carpet

1. Home Fresh by Empire Today

My top pick for synthetic carpet (PET polyester), this carpet contains charcoal which absorbs some VOCs (up to a point) and was extremely low in odor and offgassing.

The carpet does have Scotchguard coating on it so I do not know how they can claim 0-VOC exactly.

It has a built-in felt backing, which seemed benign to me.

I got a sample that was a few months old, but it has stayed bagged up, and I found it to be extremely low in offgassing. I did not pick up classic carpet offgassing at all. Though it is not 100% odorless, it is close. If you don’t have an extreme sense of smell you may very well find this odorless.

I was actually quite surprised as I have sniffed many carpets. It’s available in the US (not Canada). For $350 off try this discount link.

2. Air.o by Mohawk

This carpet is very similar to Home Fresh and I’m happy to see another great contender in the synthetic category.

The carpet fibers are made from 100% PET (polyester), just like Home Fresh.

It has a very similar felt padding which is far superior health-wise to typical polyurethane or latex rubber.

They claim it has no odor and it 0-VOC, and I would say it is very close to odorless. It is treated with what they call “Fresh Carpet Technology” an odor-neutralizing treatment of zeolite, similar to Home Fresh’s charcoal. Some sellers list it as containing Scotchguard treatment as well.

Unlike conventional carpet, these two brands do not require melting a glue on the seams or a glue underneath. Air.o is installed with doubled sided tape that they provide.

3. FLOR

FLOR makes carpet tiles that can be arranged as rugs or as wall to wall carpet.

Nylon

Their regular carpet lines are made from nylon, and most have a vinyl backing. Some have a Bitumen backing which I found lower in offgassing than the vinyl. FLOR has a different type of offgassing chemical odor than typical carpet, and I definitely find it offgasses faster. 

PET

The Fedora is a specialty line made from recycled plastic (PET) and is very low VOC, it was far lower in that telltale carpet chemical smell than their usual nylon lines. It offgassed to “odorless” much faster as well.

This Fedora line does not look like it would hold up as well as other types, though some might prefer this carpet because of how fast it offgasses.

Installation

You will need to test their sticky tape “dots” that attach these tiles to each other. The backing of the tiles is a plastic layer (vinyl or bitumen) and they do not require glue or tacking down to the subfloor to stay in place (just the dots which stick to each other). 

This Video Provides an Overview of my Top Four Brands

If you have conventional carpet in your house that is still offgassing, seal in the VOCs with Carpet Seal.

Commercial Grade Carpets

It is a lot harder to find low-VOC commercial carpet. I have reviewed and sniffed a few of the ones that claim the lowest VOC levels.

Synthetic Carpet

FLOR: Most of their carpets are commercial grade. They claimed they have the lowest VOC levels in the industry in 2017, though in my comparison with the other types above, I do not believe that was or is true.

However, in the conventional nylon carpet category, this very well might be the case.

They have Green Label Plus which you can find almost anywhere now and is not a low level of VOC in my opinion. 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.

Flocked Flooring

Forbo makes this interesting product called Flotex. It’s a mix between a carpet and a vinyl sheet flooring.

The fibers are very very short, which you can see in my video on carpets.

From a distance it looks like carpet, but up close it seems like a slighly hairy floor.

The ease of cleaning would be a huge upside with this flooring. For those with allergies who don’t feel they can get regular carpet clean enough, this would be a better choice.

There is some offgassing in this flooring, mostly it seems from the vinyl backing.

Wool

Wool can also be a good option for commercial spaces. Though commercial companies are more reluctant to use wool because of the price.

Godfrey Hirst wool commercial carpets showed test results with very low VOC levels. Though they did have that classic carpet smell, and it does contain mothproofing (permethrin).

Woolshire wool is also rated for commercial use, I found it much more tolerable than Godfrey – it smells wooly but not like chemicals. It does have mothproofing in it. It smells similar to Hibernia brand. If I was choosing carpet for a commercial space 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.

Can Carpet ever be a Healthy Flooring?

Because carpet does collect dust, mold 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.

Mohawk has done some live demonstrations on how it’s very easy to vacuum the Air.o carpet. The fiber pile is high though, which is not the best type for those with allergies.

The FLOR tiles can be taken apart and even washed in the bathtub or outside. While Forbo’s Flotex can take a lot of scrubbing since the fibers are extremely short. 

Chemicals used in the Installation of Carpet

Conventional carpet is either glued down or tacked down. The seams are melted together. 

Wool Carpet Installation

Nature’s wool carpet is installed very similarly to a conventional carpet. It is stretched onto a tack strip. Seaming tape (standard latex) is used on the back and melted together. 

The wool felt padding can be either glued or stapled down to the floor first. 

On a concrete floor (basement, slab, or upper-level concrete) the company suggests attaching it as usual. They don’t recommend a plastic vapor barrier underneath.

I would not put wool carpet on a slab or basement floor. But I would put this on an upper-level concrete floor that has completely dried and does not have moisture coming up from a lower level.

They have the same installation instructions for their jute and plastic-backed versions.

Some brands of wool carpet can also be glued down. 

Air.o Carpet Installation

Air.o is installed with double-sided tape, not melting of the seams. You can also glue this down. Mohawk sells the tape or glue for this installation. Not using their tape or glue would void the warranty. 

I’m assuming Homefresh is also installed with double-sided tape, though this company continues to be impossible to communicate with unless you do an in person estimate. 

Carpet Tile Installation

FLOR tiles are installed with tape onto the backing – they are taped to each other. It is not also taped down to the floor underneath/subfloor. It stays in place with traction. 

The tape has the same odor as clear packing tape, but is well blocked by the vinyl backing. I review this in my carpet video.

Flocked Flooring Installation

Flotex is installed only with a glue-down system. See Forbo’s branded glues and recommendations. 

Carpets with a conventional synthetic backing can be glued down with AFM 3 in 1.

Non-Toxic Carpet Pad

Padding (Underlay) for Wool Carpet

Nature’s Carpet sells a (wool) felt padding. No chemical treatments

Earth Weave also has a wool carpet underlay.

Do not use rebond pad (bonded urethane) with jute backed carpet, as it’s incompatible.

Two other options apart from wool felt is a synthetic felt pad or a rubber pad.

For any Carpet type that requires padding 

Synthetic rubber (SBR) is recommended by Green Building Supply. SBR does have an odor. How long this takes to dissipate depends on the product and how sensitive the person is. I would test a new sample of this and make sure you feel it is totally acceptable before proceeding. Do not count on the carpet to block this odor/offgassing.

Air.o and Homefresh have a built in felt padding. No additional padding is needed/recommended. 

FLOR tiles have a vinyl or bitumen backing. No additional padding is required or recommended. 

Under rugs, you can use a natural latex rug gripper.

Where can you Install Carpet?

Over a Concrete Slab

Air.o carpet with a felt backing claims you can install it in a basement and that it’s very resistant to moisture. I don’t see how a felt backing can be very resistant to moisture and I would not install this over a slab or concrete basement floor myself.

Nature’s carpet, made of wool, also claims that it can be installed over concrete without a vapor barrier because it’s breathable. I would not install this over concrete, certainly not the ones with jute and or natural latex backing. A wool carpet with a synthetic backing will fare far better over concrete, in my experience.

FLOR carpet tiles have a vinyl backing (or Bitumen in some cases). The vinyl is a vapor barrier. If you are OK with installing a vapor barrier over your concrete slab or basement then this is an acceptable installation. I prefer not to block moisture in a slab/basement since it’s always trying to dry to the inside. I have seen a vapor barrier over a concrete slab become a mold risk in most homes.

On an Upper Level Wood Subfloor

Carpet of any kind installed over a wood subfloor is much easier and is much less of a concern.

If you are installing carpet on a first floor with a humid unconditioned basement below, then you should be careful because moisture is making its way up.

Non-Toxic Rugs

FlOR and wool carpets can be installed as rugs and not as wall to wall carpet. 

See my post on non-toxic area rugs for the full list of options for area rugs.

Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 6 years of experience helping others create healthy homes.

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1. Cleaning Residues off Surfaces and Furnishings

These are the techniques used to remove cleaning product, air freshener, fragrance, and smoke residue from walls, floors, and furnishing.

Some chemical odors can be particularly difficult to remove, especially plug-in fragrance chemicals which contain oils. Cigarette smoke also contains greasy tar residue.

Any porous materials with a prolonged exposure are also particularly challenging to remediate.

This is a complete list of the strategies to use for each contaminant. I include my own experiment comparing sealants side-by-side to remediate Febreeze and cigarette smoke from drywall.

This post contains affiliate links. Upon purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

i. Baking Soda or Vinegar

You can use baking soda or vinegar to wash down the walls. Baking soda provides some abrasion and helps remove odors. Vinegar is a degreaser and helps remove odors as well.

You can also sprinkle baking soda on horizontal surfaces, hard surfaces, carpet and upholstery, and leave them until they seem saturated with the odor, then clean up.

Vinegar and lemon or vinegar alone can also help neutralize smoke and nicotine. Alkaline cleaning products will not remove nicotine residue. Acidic cleaning products work best for cigarette smoke, and vinegar helps with the greasy residue (source).

You can also set out bowls of vinegar and bowls of baking soda to absorb malodors.

ii. Baking Soda & Hydrogen Peroxide

Baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide is a powerful cleaner (and bleaching agent!) Some people add a little bit of Seventh Generation dish soap to this mixture to wash down the walls. Dry them, and repeat.

This can be used to remove odors on the wall. It also works on urine odors and is the best formula for skunk smell (source).

You can mix one part 3% hydrogen peroxide with one part white distilled vinegar in a spray bottle to remove smoke odor in upholstery.

Hydrogen peroxide does bleach many materials, so test for compatibility.

iii. Vodka

Vodka can work to remove odors on walls and furnishings.

You can mist upholstery and fabric lightly with vodka to help remove smoke odors, musty odors, and bacterial odors.

You can use it on hard surfaces like furniture and walls to help remove smoke odors. Test for compatibility.

If you have personal care product and cleaning product residue on shower walls, this can help cut through grime to help remove that odor. It can remove sticky residue as well.

Like vinegar, vodka is a degreaser and can neutralize odors.

iv. TSP (Trisodium Phosphate)

TSP is a poweful cleaner and degreaser. It can also be used to get rid of fragrance residues.

It’s often used to help remove mold from fabrics as well.

It will damage some surfaces, so it’s only for certain applications and you must research how to use it safely.

Folks with chemical sensitivities generally do tolerate it. But you should be cautious with how you handle and dispose of it.

v. Orange Oil Soap

Orange oil is a natural degreaser, so it can help to remove oil-based chemicals like plug-in residue and cigarette smoke. You can use it on the floors and walls as well as most furniture.

Other citrus oils like lemon oil are also degreasers.

Of course, many people with chemical sensitivities do not do well with essential oils. If that is the case, don’t try this strategy.

I like this Cove brand of castile soap with orange oil. You can also mix a formula yourself by adding orange essential oil to a cleaner of your choice.

If you are very sensitive to cleaning products you may prefer to mix this yourself to choose the base soap.

Dish soaps are particularly good soap degreasers.

vi. Ammonia

If you cannot get smoke out of a surface any other way, you could wash the walls and ceiling with a mixture of 1/2 cup ammonia, 1/4 cup vinegar, and 1/2 cup baking soda in a gallon of hot water. Or just use ammonia and water 1:4.

This is of course not a non-toxic option and those who are chemically sensitive may not wish to risk this or may only use this strategy as a last resort before giving up on a building.

Do a sample outside first and see if and when the ammonia dissipates to your satisfaction.

2. Neutralize Odors with Enzyme Cleaners

Enzymes can break down chemicals and odors. They work best on organic odors but they can work on other chemicals. 

Biokleen is a good cleaner to remove toxic cleaners, chemically sensitive folks have reported.

Another enzyme cleaner, Earthworm Spray works well at breaking down organic smells.

Liquid-Ate is a brand I have used (better priced in Canada than the other brands). This brand has an unscented version. Most enzyme sprays have a light essential oil fragrance, and the more conventional brands have chemical fragrance.

I tried Nature’s Miracle old formula. The new formula has a lot of complaints in the reviews and I’m not a fan of those additives and fragrance that are added.

These cleaners are best known for breaking down and safely eliminating urine and other organic odors without the use of harsh chemicals or masking agents, but they can work on other chemical compounds too.

They do damage some materials, since they interact with and break down sealants. I have seen this damage on sealed concrete floors and wood floors.

3. Neutralize Odors with Natural Mineral Products

There are two main products that use mineral technology to neutralize fragrance as well as smoke and other chemical odors.

EnviroKlenz

EnviroKlenz makes a mineral-based product to neutralize odors. They have different variations of the same formula that are slightly modified to suit different areas of the house/different materials.

Enviroklenz odor eliminators are all made with the same basic formula: magnesium hydroxide/magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide.

OdorOut

AFM Safecoat has a new product in 2020 called OdorOut. It’s not available to individuals yet, but they are using it in commercial settings. I tested this product in my experiment trying to remove Febreeze and smoke from drywall. More about that in the next section.

This performed surprisingly well. We don’t know the exact ingredients here though the vendor did say it’s a mineral-based product. Their website indicates it contains colloidal silica and “ions” (likely minerals). They describe a catalytic process which indicates it’s likely zeolite and possibly other minerals (possibly magnesium, zinc and/or titanium dioxide).

The product is fairly transparent in color (unlike EnviroKlenze which is white) and it’s definitely not an enzyme-based product. It has a light odor which is difficult to describe. Most people would tolerate this product.

4. Sealing in Odors on Surfaces

Water-based products (sealers and paints) do not seal in perfume, other fragrance, urine, or smoke very well. The odor mixes right into that waterbased coating.

My Experiment Comparing Sealants

I did an experiment on painted drywall. Four pieces of drywall contained Febreeze sprayed evenly on the front (while the back was sealed with foil).

And another four were doused with cigarette smoke. The boards were sealed on the back with foil and put into bags with equal amounts of cigarette smoke blown in.

Products Tested

I tested ECOS Purifying Primer, AFM Hardseal (which works well on offgassing chemicals), Zinnser Bullseye Shellac, and AFM OdorOut.

If you want to watch me go through the results on the board samples with Febreeze, here is a video.

Results of my Test

Water-based products did not help very much. I was not satisfied with ECOs Purifying Primer (which contains some zeolite) – on the Febreeze contaminated drywall – I would not even bother with this.

AFM HardSeal did help a little bit with the Febreeze odors. On Febreeze it was in second place (better than OdorOut). AFM did warn me that this would not work really well.

Shellac, a natural resin, is an alcohol-based sealant. It was by far the best seal on both chemicals from Febreeze and smoke odors. The downside of shellac is that this is a partial vapor barrier and should not be used on interior walls in all climates.

After using two coats of shellac, then you can go over with a water-based primer and paint, or even AFM HardSeal if you still need more sealing.

OdorOut came in second place on smoke (better than HardSeal). I was definitely impressed since this product did not look like it could tackle this. It did surprisingly well. It had to be reapplied multiple times as the odor partially returned after 24 hours or so. While this product is not yet available to the public, I would recommend trying EnviroKlenz which appears to be similar.

On the Febreeze boards, it was not as good as HardSeal but it did help, and was better than just regular primer.

Wash the Walls first

In this experiment, I did not wash or scrub down the walls like I recommend in the first section. This would have helped. You may also want to apply some ozone or steam it first (and make sure it’s dry) before continuing on to seal it.

5. Steam Clean

Steam cleaning can be effective on smoky walls, floors, and upholstery.

The heat “melts the hardened tar and oils encapsulating the smoke molecules, making it easy to wipe them away with a microfiber cloth or sponge”, says Bob Vila.

Many home improvement centers rent these machines.

Bob Vila advises misting the surface lightly with the vapor from the steam cleaner. Don’t linger in one area and saturate it which can damage some fabrics such as silk and even destroy drywall.

6. Using Ozone to Break Down Fragrance & Smoke

There are a few things I would still use ozone for. Ozone can be used successfully on fragrance odors, not in shock treatment doses, but in lower doses. Lower doses are less risky.

The biggest risk with ozone (apart from the fact that people, pets and plants can be harmed by exposure to ozone) is that it oxidizes materials and can leave behind a persistent odor that can be even worse than the original one.

If your house has new home offgassing from building materials – I would not use it in that setting. I would personally not use ozone to remove fragrance in a house with high offgassing. There are too many possible chemical reactions that could go wrong and make things worse.

For fragrance and smoke, start with low doses for short amounts of time and stop if you are just starting to produce byproducts. Read my full post on ozone for precautions and airing out.

This doesn’t always works, especially on porous engineered wood or drywall where the fragrance or smoke is deeply embedded.

But it certainly can work on light fragrance and smoke and is something I would try after washing the walls and before sealing them. Or even before washing the walls if you like. Just be sure to start with low doses so you can check for interactions with building materials.

You don’t need a super powerful ozone machine for low doses and short times, a simple one like this will do. But you do have to take the same precautions as you would with higher doses.

You can use ozone on objects and some furniture as long as you know what it negatively reacts with (and know what it can degrade), or, are willing to experiment.

Ozone is a DEADLY gas, be sure to fully read the precautions and use at your own risk. I recommend a much longer air out process than ozone machine vendors recommend.

Do not proceed without reading my ozone post for the risks to human life, pets, and even neighbors, and doing your own due diligence. My disclaimer is here.

7. Remove Materials if Neccesary

When you have major contamination of fragrance chemicals or smoke and or you are extremely sensitive you may have to remove some materials.

Porous materials can become very saturated with smoke, fragrance, plug-in residue, aerosol residue, and other air freshener chemicals.

Drywall Removal

Drywall is very porous, and areas where the walls have been directly sprayed with aerosols, or right above where the plug-in was, might not be saveable.

Buildings where someone smoked inside for long periods of time will have very saturated materials as well.

Pressed Wood Removal

Pressed wood products are also very porous. If fragrance chemicals were stored under kitchen or bathroom cabinets or sprayed on them, those materials might not be able to be saved.

Though those are also areas where shellac will work well.

Carpet Removal

Carpet is another porous material that might not be able to be cleaned. You can try extraction, and you can try sprinkling down baking soda or zeolite and vacuuming it up later, but you might not be able to save it.

Removing thirdhand smoke from carpet may be impossible.

When removing carpet take the same level of precaution you would take in remediation, since many chemicals (flame retardant, pesticides, mold spores) will become volatile during the removal of carpet.

8. Should you use an Air Purifier?

An air purifier will not stop the offgassing of fragrance, cleaning product reside, or smoke from the substrate, but it can help deal with the VOCs that are being emitted and are now circulating,

This is usually the step to try after trying to remove the source of the problem by cleaning, sealing etc. However, there is no harm in bringing this in to help right away. It just might not do as much as people hoped.

This usually isn’t enough to help someone that is severely reacting and unable to remove the chemical odor from the materials in the home.

But for some people, it does make all the difference. If you are less sensitive or the problem odor is not severe, this is a much easier solution than the others.

I have a list of top air purifiers to mitigate VOCs. These are the ones with lots of sorbent material in them. They are also units that are well tolerated by folks with MCS.

9. Using Other Sorbent Materials

Not as powerful as air purifiers that move air through sorbent materials, the same materials can be set out around the house to passively absorb odors.

Activated charcoal, zeolite, baking soda, coffee grounds, and bowls of vinegar all work to absorb odors.

10. Don’t forget the Central HVAC

When you are moving into a house that had pervasive smoke, mold or other contaminants, you should replace the furnace filter and have the ducts cleaned.

Related Posts:

• How to remediate VOCs in new homes (including how to seal in formaldehyde)
• The best air purifiers for high offgassing

Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 6 years of experience helping others create healthy homes.

Did you find this post helpful? If so you can buy me a coffee to support the research behind this blog. Thank you!