Are you thinking of refinishing your floors? If you are a vigilant parent, you may think that the best thing to offset toddlers is a wall-to-wall foam square. What does a parent have to do? You just opt to do nothing and live with your old flooring for some time, save money, and get your flooring refinished or replaced when your children pass the plastic wheel age.
Lead and children
Think of how the flooring is to be installed. Some flooring options may be floated, which means installation without fasteners or glue. The absence of glue means no harmful substances, whereas the absence of fasteners means that you can save money by installing the flooring by yourself. Floating flooring options are the simplest to get rid of if you decide to replace them after the kids grow older. Floating is an ideal choice with some ceramic tiles, plastic laminate, engineered wood, and linoleum. Gluing is also an option with linoleum, engineered wood, vinyl, and tiles. Obviously, you need to keep children away from every workstation until the work is finished and all fumes cleared.
Types of flooring for families
The latest tests of flooring options found that some bamboo and wood winners, including oak flooring, fended off the effects of high foot traffic as well as the best laminates and vinyl. However, it is also noted that some cork, bamboo, and other green products may be far less robust than other products. Nonetheless, the tests that simulated the exposure to scratches, scuffs, dents, sunlight as well as spills also confirm that many hardwoods, vinyl, and laminate flooring can wilt when exposed to vigorous daily activities.
Knowing how rough you can be can assist you when making a selection. If you are installing a flooring option in the dining room that is rarely used, you may consider using bamboo or engineered wood. Both products often offer the beauty of natural veneer alongside easy installation. If you have a busy family, and you are refinishing a high traffic area that is prone to constant drag and drop off toys and food, spilled drinks or highchairs. You may desire durability and great looks. The best laminate, solid wood, and vinyl are also best in simulated foot traffic tests.
Children’s Health and Flooring Option
Vinyl floorings bear the floor covering industry’s Floor Score accreditation, emitting relatively low levels of volatile organic components. VOCs are connected to respiratory diseases and can lead to dizziness and headaches. Despite the durability and versatility of vinyl, some groups like the nonprofit Center for Health, Environment & Justice, warn against purchasing any vinyl flooring, especially for homes that have small kids, citing vinyl’s phthalate and lead risks.
Exposure to lead components has serious health effects on children’s academic performance, cognitive function and endocrine systems, even with blood levels being far much lower than the state’s current recommended threshold of 10 mcg/dL. In January 2012, the advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the removal of every exposure to lead from the surrounding is the ideal course of action.