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.