Rockville, MD, November 6, 2006--The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has approved hard surface flooring products certified by the FloorScore program as an alternative compliance path to achieve credit in the LEED Rating System for New Construction.
The FloorScore program was developed by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), a nationally recognized third-party certification company based in Emeryville, Cal., and the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI). Under the FloorScore program, which was introduced in 2005, hard surface flooring products are tested and certified for compliance with the stringent indoor air quality emission requirements adopted in California.
A flooring product bearing the FloorScore seal has been independently certified by SCS to comply with the volatile organic compound emissions criteria of the California Section 01350 program. Products with the FloorScore seal have passed a third party certification process and are recognized as contributing to good indoor air quality in order to protect human health.
“Indoor air quality is an important issue because most people spend as much as 90% of their time indoors at home, work, or school,” said Bill Freeman of RFCI. “Poor indoor air quality can be caused by a number of factors, including inadequate ventilation, poor cleaning, and excessive emissions of volatile organic compounds. Products marked with the FloorScore seal can be used with confidence in terms of their contribution to helping improve overall indoor air quality.”
In a recent credit interpretation ruling, USGBC approved FloorScore program certified hard surface flooring products as an alternative compliance path to LEED credit EQ4.3 Low-Emitting Materials: Carpet Systems. To achieve the LEED credit, a minimum of 25% of the finished floor area (both carpet and non-carpet areas) of a building must be comprised of non-carpet floor products, and all of these non-carpet floor products must be FloorScore certified.
Given the rapidly rising rates of childhood asthma and the toll taken in missed school days due to respiratory illness, indoor air quality issues in schools are getting a lot of attention. USGBC's draft LEED for Schools rating system document that has been out for public comment gives further support to FloorScore in its EQ Credit 4.3, which, if adopted, would provide LEED credit for low-emitting flooring systems, including hard surface flooring certified under the FloorScore program. In addition, the California Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) officially recognizes products certified under FloorScore for low-emitting materials credit (EQ2.2) in the CHPS Criteria (2006 ed.).
Types of resilient flooring products that can carry the FloorScore mark include vinyl, linoleum, laminate flooring, wood flooring, ceramic and rubber flooring.
The Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) is an industry trade association of North American manufacturers who produce resilient flooring products. More information on the FloorScore certification program can be found at www.rfci.com.
