Flooring With Severe Allergies

10 years ago

I would be interested in hearing what others consider to be viable options in a situation which demands hard floors, rather than carpeting, due to severe allergies/asthma. We currently have site-finished oak hardwood floors, which we love. However, we are downsizing in anticipation of future retirement from a 3000+ square foot home on three levels, and we're trying to watch our budget closely. We have decided on engineered wood flooring, as it will be more economical than solid hardwood that is finished on site.

I'm just wondering what others have done or would recommend? Traditionally, if one can't extend hardwood through the entire house, then carpet would be put in the secondary rooms. However, if the allergies are present, it might not be an option. I looked into luxury vinyl planks, but they are surprisingly expensive if you want a reasonable quality that will look good and hold up. Unless you put it through the whole house (again, would probably be equal to or more expensive than the engineered wood floors), you would have to choose something other than the wood look, as it would not look good up next to the wood flooring. Wood-look tile is attractive, but a very hard surface and very expensive.

We briefly considered wood-look laminate. I think it looks okay, but wouldn't want it in the wet areas of the home. Like marmoleum, but not for the entire house. Also, it is expensive and, if I understand correctly, must be installed by the marmoleum installers if you want any kind of warranty.

As I said, we have settled on engineered wood flooring, but I'm just wondering if we've missed any good alternatives and also wondering how others have addressed this dilemma.

Featured Answer

algeasea

10 years ago

Depending on what you're allergic to and what triggers your asthma, some materials are better than others. It isn't just about dust mites and mold in carpets. For me, the biggest problem with carpet isn't the carpet itself, but the adhesives and materials used in some pads. They can be high VOC and off gas for a long time.

We've tried to be very careful in our remodel, but it's hard to find out exactly what's in, for example, engineered hardwood. I wanted engineered hardwood throughout my home, and I identified several brands that looked like they would be good for allergies and asthma. Then I couldn't get samples from one well-regarded company due to some weird regional nonsense, possibly a bad local distributor. I learned another top notch company used a metal in their beautiful high-tech and high quality finish that I'm sensitive to. Trying to find MSDSs for most engineered flooring was an exercise in frustration, and I can be a dogged researcher.

As we ran out of time, I finally decided on 3/4" white oak. Wood has some VOCs, but it shouldn't have unidentified adhesives and resins. We used a Rubio Monocoat finish because it seems to have a good chance of not aggravating our allergies and intolerances. We'll see.

We tiled our bathrooms, and I learned that some grouts can off gas VOCs, and even occasionally contain random heavy metals. I decided urethane grout would be a good choice for us, but then I didn't like the colors as well as some other types. Finding the best choices when there are health issues involved requires a lot of research and compromise.

One of my nieces is autistic and doesn't easily clear metals and other toxins from her body. She had such high lead levels at one point that my brother tested everything in their home. Lots of things had lead in them that shouldn't have, including some tiles. This was five years ago, and he found that the country of origin didn't necessarily matter, nor did the cost of various items. It remains hard to identify what exactly is in flooring and tons of other things we use daily.

Good luck in your search for the right floors.

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Comments (7)

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The Carpet Guys
10 years ago
Algeasea is right on a lot of points. Some products may contain chemicals and treatments that can irritate your allergies, so you want to research the product before purchasing it.

Here is a little article about engineered hardwood from the Healthy House Institute. It may help you out: http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/hhip-768-Engineered-Wood
sail_away thanked The Carpet Guys
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sail_away
Original Author
10 years ago
Carpet Guys, Thanks for the link. It reinforces the need for research. Appreciate your response.
malabacat
10 years ago
Also consider how you heat and cool your home. Forced air/heat kicks up a lot of allergens into the air that settle in the ducts.
sail_away thanked malabacat
sail_away
Original Author
10 years ago
Good point. We do have an electronic filter on our current furnace which seems to help.
handmethathammer
10 years ago
I understand your concerns. Mr. Hammer has allergies and suffered a lot in our last house. I was never able to nail down why. It could have been the farms that surrounded the house. It could have been the carpet. For some time, we thought it might be the cat (it isn't).

We had our vents vacuumed, which was a huge waste of money. It didn't help at all.

He isn't allergic to all carpet. We put cheap end of roll stuff in when we finished our basement, and he was fine with that. Everywhere else in the house he suffered, but was fine in the basement. We lived in an apartment for 10 months after a transfer and he was fine with that carpet (and the cat).

We did put engineered floors in most of the main level of our new home, and he has been doing well. He did give up sweeping and vacuuming, which is a pity, because he was good at it. But it brought up the dust. We do like the engineered floors....a lot.
sail_away thanked handmethathammer
sail_away
Original Author
10 years ago
Happy to hear Mr. Hammer is doing better. I need to talk to DH about my needing to give up sweeping and vacuuming : } Actually, we have a central vac, which I do believe helps tremendously---and we plan to put one in the new build as well.

I've had allergies since birth, and testing revealed that I was allergic to all but 1 of the things for which they tested. So I've accepted that I can't rid my environment of all triggers, and I don't want to live in a bubble, so I'm trying to eliminate what I can. I'm just trying to avoid the terrible asthma attacks which can send me to the hospital---the other allergy symptoms I can deal with.