I understand some laminate and wood flooring give off harmful

formaldehyde gases. How can I be certain my home is

environmentally safe?

Making your home a greener environment can be a challenge to your family, your
community and the world. Home owners want to stay ahead and become well
educated in to the latest developments in maintaining a safe and healthy
environment for your familly.

Recently the State of California became the first (and to date only) state to enact
legislation limiting the off gas emission for formaldehyde and other harmful
gases in laminate and engineered wood laminate flooring products, moldings,
plywood underlayment, and other composite wood panel products.

According to California state officials “In April 2007, the California Air
Resources Board (CARB), a department of the California Environmental
Protection Agency, voted to implement new limits for formaldehyde emitted from
composite wood products. These new limits will be implemented in two phases
starting January 1, 2009 and the final limits will be in place by 2012”. This
legislation will effect the sale of flooring and other product in California and
hopefully have a beneficial environmental effect on the 60 billion dollar flooring
industry in United States by bringing the awareness of toxic gases in flooring
products to the customers attention

Up to the enactment of this legislation the Composite Panel Association

established voluntary emission standards for their wood industry (for carpeting
the www.carpet-rug.org also has voluntary standards). According to the
Composite Panel Association web site www.pbmdf.com their general members
include “40 of the leading manufacturers of particleboard, medium density
fiberboard and hardboard. Together they represent nearly 95% of the total
manufacturing capacity in US, Canada and Mexico. This Association certifies
that the product meets the Composite Panel Association’s Environmentally
Preferable Product (EPP) requirements (voluntary).

The chart below outlines a comparison of formaldehyde stands used in Europe,

Japan and the United States.

Comparison of Worldwide Formaldehyde Standards for Composites (using

equivalent U.S. large chamber test values)
Standard European Japanese Japanese CPA CARB CARB
E1 F★★★ F★★★★ EPP Phase I Phase II
(2009) (2011)
Maximum 0.14 0.09* 0.05* 0.20 0.18 0.09
Emission (PB) (PB)
Level 0.21 0.11
(ppm) (MDF) (MDF)
Source: Composite Panel Association
From these results you will note that the CPA EPP standard of .20 is four times
higher and about the same as the new standards established under the recently
announced California regulation. However, this level is still four times higher
than the Japanese F4 standard of .05. In Europe their E1 emission standard has
been in effect since 2004 and according to experts are moving to the more
demanding E0 standard. It is also interesting to note that a great deal of the
laminate and engineered wood flooring manufactured in China is certified to be
E1 or better by independent third party laboratories. However the State of
California has taken a positive step towards a safer environment on the home and
hopefully other states will follow in the near future.

For flooring buyers to be certain that the product is safe and environmentally
friendly:

Look for the E1 or E0 certification stamp on wood engineered and

laminate flooring products. Another alternative is to look for lower grade
CPA EPP stamp on similar products.

In California look for product indicating that California Air Resource

Board (CARB) or an accredited third party has certified the flooring
product.

For detailed information about the California formaldehyde regulation, visit

CARB’s website at contact the Composite Panel Association (CPA) at
http://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/compwood/compwood.htm.

In addition to these alternatives, Peter Rundle, the editor at

www.greenerflooring.com suggests looking for with non-formaldehyde or non-
urea-formaldehyde binders, for low VOC adhesives to adhere products to the
floor, or better still use choose floating options. For laminate and wood products
certified as E1 or E0, see Vencon USA LLC (www.venconusa.com), or
Kronoswiss (www.kronoswiss.com) both use a patented glue less system and
are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as coming from well managed
and sustainable forests.