Clean and healthy — from top to bottom

For the install­a­tion of tiles, par­quet or oth­er floor cov­er­ings in your home, many dif­fer­ent build­ing mater­i­als are nor­mally used. These some­times con­tain and emit harm­ful sub­stances that can pol­lute the indoor air. If you want to be sure that the mater­i­als used for floor con­struc­tion are low in emis­sions, you should take a close look. The EMICODE® cer­ti­fic­ate is a reli­able qual­ity seal and indic­at­or for “clean” build­ing products.

People nowadays spend around 90 per­cent of their lives in enclosed spaces – the lion’s share of this in their own four walls. Clean and healthy indoor air is there­fore of vital import­ance. Reg­u­lar vent­il­a­tion helps to keep indoor air pol­lut­ants at min­im­um levels. But atten­tion should also be paid to using low-emis­­sion build­ing mater­i­als right from the start. Even “water-based” products are not auto­mat­ic­ally safe for health, and “low solvent con­tent” does not always mean pol­lut­ant-free. Adhes­ives, for instance, can still con­tain vari­ous volat­ile organ­ic sub­stances that affect the indoor air and thus the occu­pants’ health.

The EMICODE® qual­ity seal, which is recog­nized through­out Europe, helps con­sumers ensure that all lay­ers of the floor struc­ture are low in emis­sions. It is worth tak­ing a look beneath the sur­face: Apart from fin­ish­ing products like par­quet var­nish, there are also floor­ing adhes­ives, fillers for floor lev­el­ling and primers for pre­par­ing the sub­floor – they all play a key role. In addi­tion, there may be inter­me­di­ate lay­ers like under­lays or oth­er mater­i­als like joint seal­ants. If these products are EMICODE®-certified, their emis­sion beha­vi­or will be tested in reg­u­lar, unan­nounced spot checks.