Dangers Of Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl tile flooring is constructed of new or recycled polyvinyl chloride or pvc that is known to be one of the most environmentally hazardous consumer materials that are produced for flooring.
Dangers of vinyl flooring. Polyvinyl chloride is more often referred to by its less technical names pvc and vinyl. The flooring giant lumber liquidators was accused of selling illegally sourced laminate wood with high levels of formaldehyde a known carcinogen. But they re believed to be toxic and have been linked to a laundry list of ailments. Carbon hydrogen and chlorine.
However the act of recycling vinyl to be re used in flooring uses a lot of energy and also means you are running the risks of introducing contaminants into your flooring. 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. As well as potentially containing harmful contaminants recycled vinyl flooring breaks down sooner than 100 virgin vinyl and therefore needs replacing sooner. The investigation went undercover to find that chinese suppliers were lying about the levels of formaldehyde in the products.
Vinyl flooring phthalates. Phthalates are used to soften plastic and vinyl and make them more flexible. Flooring samples sold by five major home improvement stores were tested and of the 65 vinyl flooring tiles tested 58 contained phthalates. Many consumers are opting for vinyl or linoleum flooring because they are durable versatile and economical options.
Most often used in construction pvc is a plastic composed of three elements. While vinyl flooring continues to grow in popularity there are several serious environmental concerns about this resilient surface material. In april 2015 a study was released about vinyl flooring and toxic phthalates. Most vinyl flooring contains chemicals called phthalates many of which have been banned from children s products over concerns of negative health effects.
The flooring industry has come a long way in addressing the potential dangers of vinyl flooring by offering phthalate free vinyl flooring which while more expensive won t expose your. The pvc will create a large number of toxic chemicals like dioxins and phthalates that are released into the air and can produce toxic fumes into the. Vinyl and linoleum flooring.