Dangerous Vinyl Flooring

Phthalates are used to soften plastic and vinyl and make them more flexible.

Dangerous vinyl flooring.

This is true whether a large scale fire breaks out or just a small portion of the floor is burnt by accidentally dropping something. But they re believed to be toxic and have been linked to a laundry list of ailments. 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. If a fire breaks out and the vinyl in your floor catches flame it will begin to emit noxious fumes which will fill the air with harmful toxins including dioxins.

Most vinyl flooring contains chemicals called phthalates many of which have been banned from children s products over concerns of negative health effects. Experts say linoleum is a safer alternative than vinyl flooring. Even though it s popular and easy to install vinyl is probably the worst flooring choice in terms of health sustainability and production. It is a non renewable material made from petroleum based chemicals.

What is the concern about phthalates. Flooring samples sold by five major home improvement stores were tested and of the 65 vinyl flooring tiles tested 58 contained phthalates. In april 2015 a study was released about vinyl flooring and toxic phthalates. Dehp can be found inside homes.

A recent study found that most vinyl flooring made from reprocessed plastic contained toxic phthalates lead cadmium brominated flame retardants and other toxic chemicals. 100 of vinyl flooring sold by lumber liquidators contained these dangerous chemicals although other flooring retailers were also selling vinyl flooring with high levels of phthalates. With vinyl it has the potential to be released during the manufacturing process and then again if the flooring product is incinerated in a particular temperature range.