Tips for choosing the wood flooring and how to maintain it in a sanitary condition

Are you among those who are considering the installation of a hardwood floor for your home, but you do not know what are the parameters to distinguish a good product?

Will be useful first of all to know that the quality of the wood floor can also affect your health and that of the people who live with you.

The hardwood floors, also known as parquet flooring, not only in fact differ in essence and structure, however, important aspects when choosing, but they differ even more so for the process that is followed for their production, as this will depend on the ability to have healthy environments.

To dispel a few myths right away, you should know that by the mere fact that he uses wood as a base, it is said that the parquet is always bio-compatible, or that gives rise to an environment conducive to human health and well-being, this because in the processing of wooden planks, are glued, laminated, and even more if chipboard, glues and resins are used that contain a certain amount of chemical elements, in particular formaldehyde, a volatile substance, present mostly in glues, harmful to health.

Because formaldehyde is harmful?

Although not yet recognized to have carcinogenic properties in humans, the formaldehyde measured in boardings used for floors and walls, it can still cause inflammation, irritation to the skin, the respiratory system and in some cases even to the eyes.

It is a molecule present in most of the glues and resins and therefore often contained in the wood used for floors, walls and furniture. Being a small molecule - consisting of two hydrogen atoms, one oxygen and one carbon (CH2O) - is very volatile and, once in contact with the environment, is easily blended with air, making sure that when we breathe I assume small quantities, the release is high especially in the first period after application, but it continues for a long time because the release is halved in 6 years.

 

What is the maximum limit of formaldehyde granted?

The World Health Organization has therefore established the maximum amount of formaldehyde that can be contained in a wooden flooring to ensure the health of the tenants. This limit is established by law (according to the decree came into force on 11 December 2008) to 0.1 ppm, indicating that corresponds to 0.124 milligrams per cubic meter.

 

How to recognize it?

But how to distinguish these quantities? The law is still there to help, defining that every flooring that falls within this limit is recognizable by the initials class E1, assigned to the product after lab tests that certify the actual amount.

I would like to remind you that you might find around other classifications, but they are all outside the legislative framework, so always check the presence of the classification prescribed by law.

Pay particular attention to the class E0, an acronym that is often used: in fact does not exist and does not mean anything.

 

A clarification on the biocompatibility

A floor E1 indicates that the floor then you are treading is healthy, that the release of formaldehyde is minimal and does not interfere with your health will on that of your loved ones.

Membership in this class does not automatically assigns to the floor also the characteristic of biocompatibility: the class E1 is only one requirement, so does not necessarily mean that a floor in class E1 is also biocompatible.

A floor biocompatible fact, in addition to not contain formaldehyde (or at least at a minimum), uses only renewable resources work without risk to the operator and the environment and excludes materials of petrochemical origin.

Have you ever thought how important it can be to choose the right wood floor?

It is not always just a matter of taste.

The same materials, processed in different ways, can make a big difference.

 

20/06/2012

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Translated via software

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Source:

Italian version of CercaGeometra.it