New Vinyl Flooring Fumes

Offgassing of vocs in vinyl flooring.

New vinyl flooring fumes.

The use of volatile organic compounds in the manufacturing process of vinyl can actually fill your home with dangerous fumes and odors. 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. It gives off small amounts of aldehydes as well as a couple of other vocs. But most of these odors dissipate pretty quickly over just a few weeks and faster if the item such as your new screen door are exposed to warmth of sunlight.

Called outgassing these fumes are emitted from vinyl over time and are just one cause of indoor pollutants. Remove more of the odor. The argument goes that since most vinyl floors will end up in a landfill and there are over 8 000 fires per year in us landfills vinyl contributes to overall dioxin levels. Vinyl flooring is manmade and contains pvc which releases many different phthalates specifically dehp diethyelhexyl phthalate a particularly troubling compound.

Dehp can be found inside homes. Vinyl flooring health risks after vinyl flooring is installed inside of your home the chemicals that are released from the flooring into the air will off gas and create a pungent odor in the environment. From manufacture through installation and use and even after it s life cycle is over vinyl has the potential to cause harm to both the broad and your environment in many ways. But there s an alternative.

Add a splash of white vinegar to help remove some of the odor from the surface of the vinyl. Besides bbp vinyl flooring also contains dioxins which are known to be carcinogenic. Linoleum is considered a green option to vinyl flooring. Wash the vinyl off with a mild dish soap and warm water.

Sheet vinyl is higher offgassing than lvp. Some plastic and vinyl building products including windows doors and some sidings and trim outgas a plastic like odor especially when new and in some cases even when not new. I have seen this is the 0 5 5 mg m3 total voc range whereas vinyl click will be less than 0 5 mg m3. Allow the vinyl to air dry in a well ventilated area.