Spring weather is hitting the U.S. a little sooner than usual, so I thought I would address the topic of air quality with regard to your flooring. Rather than consulting flooring specialists, who have an interest in selling all floors, I decided to use as my sources The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), UK based group The Healthy Flooring Network (HFN), and The Mayo Clinic. Their interests are in your breathing well, and all of them have recommendations worth considering.

Inside the home, the most common allergens and asthma triggers are dust mites & their droppings, body parts, and husks; mold and mildew; animal dander (the skin flakes and hair that come off of them); and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. These chemicals can be found in some flooring materials and their adhesives, as well as in the chemicals used to clean floors.

A lot of manufacturers of flooring products now work to avoid using materials that emit these VOCs. For instance most laminate flooring is made using high pressure and heat rather than adhesive chemicals. Floors To Your Home specializes in discount flooring, which we get from local manufacturers and other retailers, and we sometimes import. All of our flooring is free of formaldehyde, and meets the VOC safety standards of the United States, not just those of the countries where the material is produced.

The two things you can do to reduce the respiratory offenders in your home are to replace flooring with more hypo-allergenic options, or to take special care of the flooring you have with this issue in mind. This week I'll focus on the first one. We're looking for hard surfaces to eliminate trapping the allergens, for flooring that won't hold onto moisture and grow molds, and for no VOCs.

CARPET is at the bottom because of the wealth of recommendations against using it if you have allergies, but as I mentioned, there is a counter argument. There is no contention over whether carpet traps pollen and dander, and provides good housing for dust mites. The difference is that some see that as carpet acting like a filter for your air, and allude to tests showing that rooms with carpet had fewer airborne allergens than those with the above items. The theory is that well kept, frequently cleaned carpet actually improves the air quality in a room. Below I've linked to a study frequently quoted on flooring sites that attests to this idea, and whose author seems to be credible.