Big Green: Expando Cork flooring and off-gassing

[Giljahn, Jack]

Expando or Expanko?

I just put down Expanko's Vallaries Floating Cork Floor in my home. It
came with their factory finish and I had one coat of polyurethane put on
on site.  My reasoning was an attempt to deal with the joints because
the floor is in the kitchen.  I clearly did not practice what I preach,
as I used an oil base poly.

Prior to the site poly going down, I did not notice any odors related to
the cork flooring.  It has just been a year and so far we are quite
happy with the floor.

If I had it to do over, I would not put down the site poly, it did
nothing in protecting the joints.

Jack W. Giljahn, AIA
Project Architect
DesignGroup
515 E. Main Street
Columbus, Ohio  43215
P) 614.255.0515
F) 614.255.1515
www.dgcolumbus.com
Direct Dial) 614.255.2252



-----Original Message-----
From: biggreen-bounces at lists.biggreen.org
[mailto:biggreen-bounces at lists.biggreen.org] On Behalf Of John Beeson
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 10:34 AM
To: biggreen at lists.biggreen.org
Subject: Big Green: Expando Cork flooring and off-gassing

Has anyone had experience with Expando Cork Flooring?  They stated to me
that the samples have a matt polyurethane coating and the offgassing
smell will subside in a week.

EBN's article is about 10yrs old and expresses concern about
manufacturing process and installation.

"On the whole, EBN is impressed with the relatively benign resource-use
in cork products but unconvinced about occupant health issues.
Manufacturers all claim to use safe binders, but in digging deeper EBN
found evidence of not-so-safe materials. Should these flooring producers
develop and document less-toxic binders and installation methods, cork
may become an ideal flooring material for many applications. In the
meantime, use it only with proper indoor air quality precautions."

Is there anything else out there?  Any thoughts or suggestions?

-John
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