People are spending more and more time indoors. For this reason, the quality of indoor air and the level of emissions given off by materials installed on walls and floors are becoming increasingly important.
It is true that facades today are increasingly well insulated and window joints hermetically sealed. But the ventilation habits of the buildings’ residents have not been adapted to the technical progress and the increasingly tight building shell.
Emissions, particularly those from freshly applied paints and coatings, adhesives, sealants and other building materials, can cause the concentration of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air to rise alarmingly even days after the materials were installed.
For this reason, renowned German flooring adhesives manufacturers decided to develop installation adhesives low in emissions and to aggressively promote them in the market. They set up GEV, the “Association for Emission-controlled Installation Materials e.V.” to establish a binding groundwork for this endeavour.
Recognizing the needs to provide reliable guidance to consumers, professional craftsmen, planners, architects and retailers regarding the low-emission systems and technologies available on the market, EMICODE® was established, a registered, impartial classification system for flooring installation materials, and set up GEV as the licensing and supervisory body for this labelling scheme.
In order to meet the market’s demand for testing additional product types, GEV was renamed in 2007 and is now called “Gemeinschaft Emissionskontrollierte Verlegewerkstoffe, Klebstoffe und Bauprodukte e.V.” (Association for the Control of Emissions in Products for Flooring Installation, Adhesives and Building Materials).
Today, GEV has evolved into an internationally recognized institution which, thanks to its market-monitoring function, makes a key contribution to consumer and environmental protection as well as occupational health and safety.
People are spending more and more time indoors. For this reason, the quality of indoor air and the level of emissions given off by materials installed on walls and floors are becoming increasingly important.
It is true that facades today are increasingly well insulated and window joints hermetically sealed. But the ventilation habits of the buildings’ residents have not been adapted to the technical progress and the increasingly tight building shell.
Emissions, particularly those from freshly applied paints and coatings, adhesives, sealants and other building materials, can cause the concentration of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air to rise alarmingly even days after the materials were installed.
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