To cancel a flooring order and lose big deposit over potential future health worries?

[ninesky]

I recently ordered some LTV (similar to Karndean) and paid a deposit. Since then, I've spent many hours reading about the potential health concerns around LVT, and I'm worried that exposure to VOCs, PVC and plasticisers now could have an impact on my kids' health in the future, as so much is still unknown about the long-term affect of plastics and the newer phthalate-free plasticers on human health. I'm considering cancelling the order (and probably losing the deposit) to buy Marmoleum (a type of linoleum) instead, as it's made of natural materials and there are no health worries. But I don't like the look of it as much, my husband will not be happy with me for wasting the deposit money. Throwing away thousands of pounds is a big decision.

My husband thinks that there are lots of 'unhealthy' things all around us, so it's pointless worrying about a plastic floor. He also thinks that if a product is widely available, then it's safe, but I know it's really not as simple as that (for example, formaldehyde being found in laminate in America), and it can take years for dangers to come to light - especially with chemicals in plastics. It's hard to know how much of a risk there really is. There is a lot of advice online to avoid PVC where possible.

(Side note: because my doors are installed to be flush with the floor for LVT, I can't have tiles or wood/laminate, as they would be too thick, and I also have underfloor heating to consider, so linoleum seems to be the only alternative as it's a few mm thick like LVT.)

So my choice is waste a lot of money, seriously piss-off my husband and the flooring shop, and have a floor I probably won't like the look of as much but feel is healthier - or go with a floor I like the look of more and won't waste money, but will potentially cause worry about my kids' health. I need to make a decision asap and I'm driving myself nuts going round in circles unable to figure out what to do. I am a big worrier, and I don't know how justified my health worries are in this instance. A friend has just been diagnosed with cancer, which means I'm feeling extra sensitive about risk and prevention. Am I being unreasonable?

I see your point, but they are at school already and the school has linoleum, solid wood and tiled floors, so no concerns there regarding PVC flooring. They only go for playdates about once a month. They spend a lot of time at home and I would like it to be a healthy environment for them.

Good point about google, and I try to be aware of that. I have mainly tried to stick to reading scientific papers and research from reputable organisations.

Regarding policing floors where my kids are, they have linoleum, solid wood and tiles at school, so no health concerns there. They only go for playdates roughly once a month and spend a lot of time at home. So I'm not worried about other environments, just want to make the house as healthy as possible, especially while they are young and play on the floor a lot.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be concerned about VOCs and to try to limit exposure to them, but I think in this case I would just keep the floor you’ve ordered and get air purifiers. They are beneficial anyway and most of them seem to advertise that they get rid of VOCs.

Thank you for understanding. I agree that comments about kids not licking the floor are not very relevant. The plasticisers leaches into dust and the air, so people don't need to lick the floor to be exposed (saying that, my eldest plays on the floor at lot and almost constantly sucks his fingers, so almost as good as licking it!). And while I will definitely ventilate for a while after installation if I have LVT fitted, it doesn't make me feel better about the long-term plasticiser leaching issue, as you say.

Thank you. If I could go back in time I would go for engineered wood also. Good luck with your building work.

Interesting to know - thank you.

Thanks. Seems like a sensible suggestion if I keep the LVT.

@ninesky if the worry is impacting on your life, then yes it's time to seek some help. You can self refer to talking therapies on the NHS.

You drive on roads don’t you? That’s where all the pollution is. Forget the flooring.

Hi OP I totally get how you feel as I had similar about a house we bought that had artex ceilings that we were having skimmed and I fell down the rabbit hole of asbestos and convinced myself we were all going to die! I managed to calm down, read up a bit more and not panic. I’m sure the floor will be fine.

I have a Marmoleum floor, and they are lovely. I chose it because of the natural materials - can highly recommend it. (Not sure what you mean by you don't like the look of it - there must be 50 different colours/styles, do you not like any of them?)

As an aside, don't call it "lino" - the English understanding of what lino is has nothing to do with Marmoleum really. It's an unusual choice in Britain - the company that laid ours had never seen it before - and most people commenting on 'lino' are unlikely to understand what Marmoleum is.

I chose it because it is a natural material. I didn't want more plastic and prefer to use natural materials. Yes there is a lot of plastic around, but why have more than you need? There's a reason why people are not recommended to let small children play with plastic toys from the 70s-80s - too much crap in them.

Hello ninesky,
What did you decide in the end about flooring? We need new flooring in our bedrooms and can't have carpet as even just sitting with the samples gives me a headache because of the styrene butadiene synthetic latex they use in all tufted carpets and the woven carpets are too expensive. So we're looking at hard flooring seems there are some very very low VOC ones from polyflor (various certificates to prove low vocs). The samples seem fine and don't give me a headache (I have multiple chemical sensitivity due to issues with mast cells and collagen formation). So hoping to go with one of those options. Just wondering how you go on. I totally get where you're coming from with not adding to your toxic load when you don't have to, if there's an option not to, but not worriy when there isn't an alternative otherwise we would have to live in a cave somewhere. 😜

Hi @CrazyCrumpet
We went with the vinyl (from Project Flooring, a German company). I felt like I didn't really have much choice in the end - we needed a floor asap, and had limited options for various reasons. After the floor went down I was pretty anxious on and off for a while about the potential health issues - perhaps the first 6 months - and wondered if I'd made the wrong decision, but now it's been down a few years I've pretty much stopped thinking about it. The floor doesn't really smell (except a tiny bit in the room we have underfloor heating in, when it's on) and there wasn't much at all in the way of offgassing smells, although we did have the doors open a lot as it was installed in summer. I think the glue has more smell than the floor but it goes away fairly quickly. I did end up buying an air purifier, just in case.
I would have been more concerned about toxicity if the kids were playing on the floor lots and putting things in their mouths, but they're of an age where they don't.

We are replacing a bathroom soon and I did consider using LVT flooring again, so I must definitely be feeling better about it.

I'm sorry to hear about your chemical sensitivity, that must be difficult. My experience with the vinyl having very little smell (and I have found the same in friends' houses) suggests it may be a good choice for you.

Feel free to ask any questions.

Hi @ninesky
Thanks for your reply. It's good to know there weren't any major smells and you're happy with it. I looked up the company you used and it seems they are eurofins Gold certified with A+ indoor air quality so there's been some thought and effort to make it less toxic/smelly, so looks like a good choice you made.
The one we've found is LVT too that doesn't require glue, so if you ever need more flooring and don't want the initial glue smell that could be an option (also just mentioning this in case others search for low VOC non toxic hard flooring, polyflor camaro rigid core).
I think I'm going to give it a go in small room and test it out and carry on elsewhere if it works out. But your positive experience gives me hope that it'll be ok, so thanks for getting back to me😊

Hi @CrazyCrumpet
Glad my reply helped. It's great you have found flooring that doesn't need glue as that must definitely be a source of VOCs. Testing in a small room sounds like a good plan - I hope it works out for you x

Hi @ninesky thank you x