If you’re a flooring manufacturer making a self-declared claim or seeking third-party certification for a product or need to comply with a purchasing specification, Berkeley Analytical (BkA) can meet your testing needs. We’re knowledgeable regarding all aspects of the product sampling, testing, and conformity assessment requirements for resilient and other hard surface flooring, concrete floor finishes, and textile floor coverings and can expertly guide you through the process. Contact us to get started!
The flooring industry has a long history of testing its products for VOC emissions–and standards affecting the industry are continuing to evolve. Today, architects, other design professionals, and purchasing agents are increasingly interested in specifying building products that demonstrate outstanding performance for multiple environmental attributes including Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ). BkA can help you obtain the environmental and human health credits in these next-generation standards.
Resilient and Other Hard Surface Flooring
The Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) owns, manages and promotes the FloorScore® brand. This program was developed to test and certify hard surface flooring products for compliance with the VOC emission requirements defined in CA Section 01350 (now CDPH Standard Method V1.1). SCS Global Services (SCS) is the certification body for the program. Berkeley Analytical (BkA) was part of the team that launched FloorScore certification and is an approved testing laboratory for the program. All types of non-textile flooring products are eligible including: vinyl tile and sheet, linoleum, polymeric, laminate, bamboo, hardwood, rubber, tile, wall base, stair treads, and associated adhesives. Companies need not be RFCI members to participate.
FloorScore certification is recognized by many environmental programs, including: all of USGBC’s LEED 2009 rating systems, Green Guide for Health Care, ANSI/GBI 01-2010 for Green Building Assessment Protocol for Commercial Buildings (formerly Green Globes), ASHRAE Standard 189.1 Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings, NAHB ANSI National Green Building Standard, CALGreen Code, CHPS, and others.
The newly developed standard NSF/ANSI 332 Sustainability Assessment for Resilient Floor Coverings contains a prerequisite for minimizing indoor VOCs as determined by the same testing methods. Several organizations including SCS, UL Environment, and NSF certify products to this standard.
Concrete floor finishes are a rapidly growing segment of the flooring industry. These products can now contribute to LEED credits because the USGBC has expanded the scope of LEED IEQ Credit 4.3: Low-Emitting Materials – Flooring Systems to all flooring types. As for other hard-surface flooring types, manufacturers of floor finishes can demonstrate compliance by having their products tested to CDPH Standard Method V1.1.
Many domestic carpet manufacturers, who are members of the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI), have tested and certified their carpet and cushion products to the CRI Green Label and the CRI Green Label Plus programs. CRI Green Label Plus provides more stringent VOC emission requirements with initial testing of carpet products conducted following the CDPH Standard Method.
Although most green building rating systems, including USGBC LEED IEQ Credit 4.3: Low-Emitting Materials – Flooring Systems, and green construction codes reference the CRI program, they also provide the alternate pathway of demonstrating compliance to CDPH Standard Method V1.1 (or the earlier version, CDHS Standard Practice 2004).
Carpet manufacturers also can take advantage of NSF/ANSI 140 Sustainability Assessment for Carpet to document their leadership in environmental improvement, public health, and product performance. SCS Sustainable Choice™ – Carpet is one of several third-party programs offering certification to this standard.
Primary examples of flooring sustainability standards—
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