Does Laminate Flooring Offgas

Investigate whether the manufacturer typically off gasses its laminate flooring products at the factory prior to shipping them to suppliers.

Does laminate flooring offgas.

Purchasing this type of material will help protect your home s air quality. Media attention to chinese laminate flooring off gassing of formaldehyde has been considerable. Your laminate flooring should not require harsh chemicals for either sealing or cleanup. Not necessarily because the amount of formaldehyde in the laminate flooring if present can vary due to how the flooring is made.

Also plastic laminate may contain formaldehyde in the hdf core. And consider keeping new engineered wood or laminate flooring furniture made with pressed wood and other sources of formaldehyde outside living spaces at least until you cannot smell chemicals. New laminates have much less formaldehyde than they used to yes. Some flooring that has a cork core and laminate on top can sometimes be referred to as cork flooring even though it has a laminate or plastic top.

Look for 100 fsc certified formaldehyde free adhesives and zero voc finishes. Because their off gassing will be greater when the laminate is new. Called outgassing these fumes are emitted from vinyl over time and are just one cause of indoor pollutants. These should not be confused with laminate flooring which is a plastic laminate veneer over a high density fiberboard hdf.

The use of volatile organic compounds in the manufacturing process of vinyl can actually fill your home with dangerous fumes and odors. Because laminate flooring products are typically sealed with one or more layers on either side of the mdf core the principal formaldehyde offgassing source the offgassing rate for installed laminate flooring may be slow and the indoor formaldehyde levels may be correspondingly low as well. There is no real solid wood in a plastic laminate. Formaldehyde is normally present at low levels usually less than 0 03 parts per million ppm in both outdoor and indoor air.

But it is the new laminates that we should be wary of. Find out about maintenance as well. It cannot be re sanded.