There are many things to look out for when choosing wood flooring for your home. For example, strength, durability, colour, wood species and installation requirements. However, there is something else you should be looking out for, and that is VOCs.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are used in the manufacture of many of the products installed in homes and businesses, such as vinyl and laminate flooring to name but a few.

The reason you should be concerned about VOCs is that they are pollutants and can pose health risks, especially to small children and babies or to people with allergies. VOCs are invisible and can migrate from the material they’ve been applied to into the air in your home, the air that your family breathes.

The good news is that VOCs are not used to make solid wood floors or engineered wood flooring. However, you still need to look for the VOC levels in things such as the adhesives used to fit the floor, the finishes applied to it, and the underlay which may come with it. Choose manufacturers which have environmental policies which promise very low VOC emissions, such as Karelia and Kährs to name but a few.