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Sustainable drivers include climate change and embodied carbon impacts, understanding the carbon footprint, green chemistries, and the circular economy. The manufacturing of products is addressing equity and environmental justice, health impacts, and supply chain and transparency – all coupled with continual improvement in product development and sustainable, healthy solutions for the built environment. From the manufacturing perspective, sustainability is inclusive of the people and processes that are touched by the entire manufacturing life cycle of a product – community impacts, worker impacts, user impacts, and the information needed by the design professional to make an educated decision in relationship to product selections and sustainability, health, and wellness.
Photo courtesy of Lonseal
Heterogeneous Sheet Vinyl: Yoga Studio Application
The resilient floor covering industry is participating in several environmental initiatives that include evaluation of performance and environmental impacts, addressing embodied carbon, the introduction of the AFFIRM certification that is based on the revised NSF/ANSI 332 Standard for the Sustainability Assessment for Resilient Floor Coverings, and the inclusion of the resilient flooring category within the ecomedes sustainable product database.
How are sustainable products selected? From a specifier perspective, it is important to utilize a multi-attribute approach versus making a specification decision based on only one aspect of the product under review. For the selection of resilient flooring products, it would include verification of not only environmental and material health attributes, but also performance characteristics (e.g., durability, product service life, and ability to clean, sanitize, and/or disinfect) and installation requirements (e.g., moisture mitigation and slab preparation). In the context of a building project, Owner Project Requirements (OPR) are developed that include all required product characteristics for all materials and products selected for a specific project application.
Owner Project Requirements (OPR) – Collaboration Is The Key
Specifications that consider the product service life and the ongoing maintenance and utilization are part of the Owner Project Requirements. Providing opportunities for all stakeholders to participate in the decision making is key to specifying resilient flooring products that support both sustainability and health and wellness.
Collaboration is necessary at the beginning of the design process – including all stakeholders impacted by the product selection decisions. Interdisciplinary teams are a part of green building certification systems and processes and are an ideal way to assemble feedback from all stakeholders. From an evidence-based design perspective, understanding all project needs upfront provides the opportunity for a product specification to be balanced using all criteria that meets prioritized performance requirements. Within this context, let’s hear from Teri Bennett, current president of the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers and her experience working within Johns Hopkins Hospital and the specification of resilient flooring.
In hearing the hospital setting example and application to all types of other building project types, it is important to reinforce that in many cases this would demonstrate the need for installing mockups that can be used by building occupants as well as product testing with the environmental services team.
Multi-Attribute Approach to Product Selection
Multiple attributes of a product include the evaluation of all those various characteristics and requirements developed in the OPR. This could be compared to dating, where you may look at common interests, in addition to swiping left or right on a dating application – aesthetics are important, but there are several other considerations that need to be evaluated that are important to the outcome of the experience – and in this case, a successful resilient flooring product installation.
Photo courtesy of Mannington
LVT: Retail Application
Sustainable drivers include climate change and embodied carbon impacts, understanding the carbon footprint, green chemistries, and the circular economy. The manufacturing of products is addressing equity and environmental justice, health impacts, and supply chain and transparency – all coupled with continual improvement in product development and sustainable, healthy solutions for the built environment. From the manufacturing perspective, sustainability is inclusive of the people and processes that are touched by the entire manufacturing life cycle of a product – community impacts, worker impacts, user impacts, and the information needed by the design professional to make an educated decision in relationship to product selections and sustainability, health, and wellness.
Photo courtesy of Lonseal
Heterogeneous Sheet Vinyl: Yoga Studio Application
The resilient floor covering industry is participating in several environmental initiatives that include evaluation of performance and environmental impacts, addressing embodied carbon, the introduction of the AFFIRM certification that is based on the revised NSF/ANSI 332 Standard for the Sustainability Assessment for Resilient Floor Coverings, and the inclusion of the resilient flooring category within the ecomedes sustainable product database.
How are sustainable products selected? From a specifier perspective, it is important to utilize a multi-attribute approach versus making a specification decision based on only one aspect of the product under review. For the selection of resilient flooring products, it would include verification of not only environmental and material health attributes, but also performance characteristics (e.g., durability, product service life, and ability to clean, sanitize, and/or disinfect) and installation requirements (e.g., moisture mitigation and slab preparation). In the context of a building project, Owner Project Requirements (OPR) are developed that include all required product characteristics for all materials and products selected for a specific project application.
Owner Project Requirements (OPR) – Collaboration Is The Key
Specifications that consider the product service life and the ongoing maintenance and utilization are part of the Owner Project Requirements. Providing opportunities for all stakeholders to participate in the decision making is key to specifying resilient flooring products that support both sustainability and health and wellness.
Collaboration is necessary at the beginning of the design process – including all stakeholders impacted by the product selection decisions. Interdisciplinary teams are a part of green building certification systems and processes and are an ideal way to assemble feedback from all stakeholders. From an evidence-based design perspective, understanding all project needs upfront provides the opportunity for a product specification to be balanced using all criteria that meets prioritized performance requirements. Within this context, let’s hear from Teri Bennett, current president of the American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers and her experience working within Johns Hopkins Hospital and the specification of resilient flooring.
In hearing the hospital setting example and application to all types of other building project types, it is important to reinforce that in many cases this would demonstrate the need for installing mockups that can be used by building occupants as well as product testing with the environmental services team.
Multi-Attribute Approach to Product Selection
Multiple attributes of a product include the evaluation of all those various characteristics and requirements developed in the OPR. This could be compared to dating, where you may look at common interests, in addition to swiping left or right on a dating application – aesthetics are important, but there are several other considerations that need to be evaluated that are important to the outcome of the experience – and in this case, a successful resilient flooring product installation.
Photo courtesy of Mannington
LVT: Retail Application
For example, in the retail image below, the aesthetic is important, but the high-volume foot traffic requires durability, the flooring surface needs to minimize glare created by artificial and natural lighting from the adjacent atrium, cleanability is a high priority with reopening since the pandemic, and the product has to meet indoor air quality standards. These criteria would be part of the identified Owner Project Requirements for the resilient flooring specification and other related finishes. An example of single-attribute product selection would be basing the product selection on aesthetics alone, without the performance and sustainability characteristics for the product and related space being considered. With this as context, let’s hear from Sandy Goodman, president of CRGA, a design firm headquartered in Baltimore, and her experience on the topic of multi-attribute approach to resilient flooring specifications.
Photo courtesy of Gerflor
Homogeneous Sheet Vinyl: Healthcare Application
Assisting clients with standards programs that include all stakeholder input as part of a multi-attribute approach to specifications, provides guidance for selecting appropriate products for the application. The development of standards programs also helps to educate designers or new facilities staff on understanding all of the product characteristics and requirements for different types of products specified and installed on a project. Let’s see how Sandy Goodman has been creating standards for her clients in her practice to reduce the opportunities for unintended consequences or premature product failure.
Photo courtesy of Armstrong Flooring
Homogeneous Sheet Vinyl: Healthcare Application: Bryn Mawr Hospital
Photo courtesy of Armstrong Flooring
Rubber Flooring: Healthcare Application
From healthcare to workplace to hospitality to education to retail to homes – evaluation and selection of the appropriate attributes for the application are key to successful specifications.
Healthcare applications require additional attributes to be reviewed when specifying products. With the issues surrounding SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, other environments are experiencing a higher level of cleaning, including disinfection. Therefore, there are parallels in the review and evaluation of additional multiple attributes for various flooring products based on applications that are not healthcare based, too.
Another example of using a multiple attribute approach to product selection includes the health and wellness criteria related to acoustics and specifying products in context to the application. When we look at
WELL,
Fitwel, Green Globes, and
LEED, there are acoustical criteria required to meet certification, but also furthering acoustic comfort and control for those using the space. This would be true in healthcare, where healing is the focus, but also in workplace, hospitality, education, retail spaces, and homes. With that context, let’s hear from Sandy Goodman on healthcare multi-attributes and relationship to other types of spaces.
Photo courtesy of Congoleum
LVT: Residential Application.
In requesting data and information from manufacturers and evaluating the multi-attribute process for flooring product selection, let’s continue the dialogue with Teri Bennet sharing her experience working within the Johns Hopkins health system.
Photo courtesy of Interface
LVT: Healthcare Application: Urgent Care
In addition to selection of multi-attributes, it is important to be able to educate others within an architecture and interior design firm to consistently utilize a performance-based process for selecting resilient flooring products for the appropriate application. Let’s get Sandy Goodman’s perspective as a principal of a design firm.
Photo courtesy of Armstrong Flooring
LVT: Hospitality Application
Certifications, Ecolabels, Declarations & Databases
The resilient floor covering industry recognizes the importance of sustainability and has demonstrated this through the development and support of various ecolabels, the creation of industry wide environmental product declarations (EPDs), the participation in embodied carbon initiatives with Building Transparency, the update and compliance with the NSF/ANSI 332 Standard: Sustainability Assessment of Resilient Floor Covering, and product category collaboration with the material selection database, ecomedes.
Certifications and Ecolabels
Familiarity with ecolabels and certifications can help designers in making informed product selections. Let’s hear from Sajal Patel, part of the Global Product Innovation Team at Interface, regarding certifications, ecolabels, and the importance of having them backed with quantifiable data.
Photo courtesy of Resilient Floor Covering Institute
FloorScore certification mark for indoor air quality (IAQ).
FloorScore is the most well-known and recognized indoor air quality (IAQ) certification for hard-surface flooring materials, adhesives, and underlayments. Developed by SCS Global Services with the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), it qualifies and supports many green building rating systems’ criteria requirements including LEED v4.1 and Green Globes. The same IAQ requirements that are used for FloorScore compliance are also included in the ANSI/ASHRAE/ICC/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 which is the codified content included within the
International Green Construction Code (IgCC).
Photo courtesy of HMTX
Example of ASSURE CERTIFIED rigid-core product.
ASSURE CERTIFIED rigid-core flooring products are available on the SCS Global database and searchable by product type and manufacturer. The certification requires compliance with the SCS standard for rigid core flooring, provision of a quality control procedure, and an on-site audit for completing the certification requirements, as follows:
- Manufacturer has a quality control procedure to control material suppliers, product traceability, chain of custody, internal quality control testing, and segregation of non-conforming products/materials.
- Indoor air quality compliance to the same rigor as FloorScore, performance tested to ASTM F3261-17 Standard, tested for no intentionally added heavy metals (lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and mercury) per test method EPD SW 846 Method 3052, and tested for no intentionally added orthophthalates per test method CPSC-CH-C1001-09.4 or GB/T 22048.s.
- An on-site audit conducted at the manufacturing facility to confirm compliant quality control procedures, material inputs, and scope of products intended for certification.s.
Photo courtesy of Roppe
NSF/ANSI 332 Certified Product: Rubber Flooring: Lab Application
The Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI) has been updating the NSF/ANSI 332 Standard: Sustainable Assessment of Resilient Floor Covering, which is based on criteria developed by a consensus process with NSF. This process is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop American National Standards. ANSI’s accreditation verifies that NSF/ANSI standards are developed through the involvement of stakeholders who are directly affected by the scope of the standard. A joint committee of public health, industry, and user members who are responsible for proposing standards, vote on standards, ensuring public health and safety, addressing environmental concerns, and responding to requests for interpretations of NSF standards.
Photo courtesy of Resilient Floor Covering Institute
AFFIRM CERTIFIED - Level 1: All criteria must be met. Level 2: Optional criteria to be met from each category and manufacturer picks the last criteria for full compliance for Level 2 certification. All certifications are third-party verified by program operator.
The NSF ANSI 332 standard has been available for over 10 years. The latest version of the standard includes criteria in three areas – environmental, health & wellness, and social impacts. The standard also requires a Type III environmental product declaration (EPD), either industry wide and/or product specific, that includes a life cycle assessment, the IAQ requirements included in FloorScore, ingredient transparency disclosure, and the requirement for testing to demonstrate that no intentionally added orthophthalates and heavy metals are found in the products. Products complying with the standard will be third-party verified by program operators and certified with the new certification mark, AFFIRM. Specifiers can be confident in product selections when they see the new mark coming into the marketplace that a robust third-party verified certification process is behind AFFIRM CERTIFIED products. Ann Dougherty, the sustainability manager at Roppe Holding Company, has had a full and varied career in sustainability and has championed and utilized the NSF ANSI 332 standard to continually improve the development of products and manufacturing. With this background, we now will hear from Ann, who has used the standard on the journey for continual improvement of resilient flooring products since the inception of the standard.
Declarations + Embodied Carbon – Building Transparency + EC3
Global warming potential impacts and resulting climate change are top of mind and of key importance to designers, architects, specifiers, contractors, product manufacturers, and building end users. The decarbonization initiatives are being developed through many organizations (e.g., AIA, ASHRAE, IIDA, ASID) and governmental agencies and departments (e.g., the Green Building Advisory Committee (GBAC) of the General Services Administration (GSA)) in response to concerns about planet health and in response to various Executive Orders from the White House.
Photo courtesy of Nox US
LVT: Workplace Application
Building Transparency is continually adding product categories into their Embodied Carbon Construction Calculator (EC3). RFCI participated as a pilot collaborator with Building Transparency resulting in a public facing resilient floor covering category being available to the design community for selection and comparison of products for evaluation for various types of settings.
In evaluating embodied carbon, the building and construction industry has started with materials and products used in the shell of buildings because of the size of potential impacts. It is also a place to begin to develop language, recommendations, and requirements in guidelines, codes, regulations, and building rating systems around embodied carbon within materials and products. Let’s hear the perspective from a Resilient Floor Covering Institute board member, Roxanne Spears, vice president of Sustainability for Tarkett, on requests from the field around embodied carbon and the resilient floor covering product category.
The demand for global warming potential (GWP) impact information for making informed specification decisions is continuing to grow – and when evaluating a product's service life over the service life of a building, interior finish materials may have several replacements over an estimated building service life of, say, 75 years. The overall Building Transparency initiative includes collaboration among various organizations (including, but not limited, to the Carbon Leadership Forum, strategic funding partners (e.g., Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Skanska, etc.), The Vinyl Institute (VI), Chemical Fabrics and Film Association (CFFA), and the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI)) to conduct cooperative stakeholder meetings to define the performance specifications needed for comparative product searches for specific applications. The resilient flooring category includes rubber, vinyl, and linoleum flooring products.
RFCI members have come together to partner with Building Transparency to provide performance data, parameters, industry wide and product specific environmental product declarations (EPDs), plant locations and grid sources, and general ingredient percentage information based on life cycle assessment data to successfully pilot the resilient flooring product category that is now publicly available on
Building Transparency’s Embodied Carbon Construction Calculator (EC3). As product specific EPDs are completed and industry wide EPDs are updated, they will continue to be added to the EC3 database by RFCI and their members. For the development of new or updated EPDs utilizing product manufacturer information, Building Transparency has requested that program operators, who are responsible for third-party verifying EPDs, use an
OpenEPD format to ensure data can be consistently and accurately digitized into the EC3 tool improving accuracy, efficiency, and consistency of data in the EC3 database used by product specifiers.
Photo courtesy of Wellmade Floors
LVT: Residential/Hospitality Application
RFCI has committed to the development of industry wide environmental product declarations, which include multiple manufacturers collaboratively coming together with data that is aggregated and utilized to complete a life cycle assessment as the basis for the third-party verified Type III EPD. The industry wide EPDs and related LCA information was utilized in the development of the resilient flooring category for the EC3 Tool. The following industry wide EPDs are available on the RFCI website and on the Building Transparency website as part of the EC3 database.
Congoleum (left) and Novalis (right)
EPD Participating Manufacturer: VCT: Corporate Application (left) and EPD Participating Manufacturer: LVT: Retail Application (right).
Photo courtesy of Tarkett
EPD Participating Manufacturer: Solid Vinyl Tile: Education Application (left) and EPD Participating Manufacturer: Homogeneous Sheet and Tile: Healthcare Application (right).
Photo courtesy of Teknoflor (first), Flexco (second), and Shaw (third).
EPD Participating Manufacturer: Heterogeneous Vinyl Flooring: Hospital Application (first), EPD Participating Manufacturer: Rubber Tile: Education Application (second), and EPD Participating Manufacturer: Rigid Core Plank: Residential Application.
Product specific Type III EPDs, which are based on a life cycle assessment for a specific product’s data and include a third-party verification, are also available on the Building Transparency website and resilient flooring manufacturers' websites. Program Operators that third-party verify and publish EPDs, both product specific and industry wide, also have EPDs available on their websites.
Material Databases – Bringing Sustainability Information Together
In sharing all of the sustainable perspectives and the certifications, ecolabels, and declarations that are completed by resilient flooring manufacturers – is there a single place where performance, sustainability, and health & wellness information is housed for reference?
Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog includes EPDs, health product declarations (HPDs), and is connected to the EC3 tool directly to provide embodied carbon information.
The Mindful Materials database includes various ecolabels and information, but does require moving among different websites to create a project and include the various environmental and health and wellness information and products within a project, and ecomedes - which has been the material database of choice for RFCI and its members to create a one-stop sustainability hub for resilient floor covering products and sustainable information.
Photo courtesy of Mohawk Industries, Inc.
LVT: Residential Application
The database includes performance information, related compliance criteria included within building rating systems, ecolabels updated with connections to Program Operators, EPDs, HPDs and Declare Labels, and connected directly to embodied carbon information on EC3. Further, the General Services Administration (GSA) expanded their Sustainable Facilities Tool (SFTool) to streamline sustainable product procurement for buyers, specifiers and vendors by connecting to a dedicated link from the SFTool to the ecomedes database. This is the approach also taken by RFCI, other organizations, and specific manufacturers. The benefit of the RFCI and ecomedes collaboration includes the connectivity to GSA product and procurement requirements that have already been established. Overall, the ecomedes database provides a one-stop location for specifiers, contractors and installers, and building owners to evaluate and compare product, complete specifications, and have the product certifications and declarations directly available to the project team to comply with building rating systems and supporting the design of high-performance buildings. Let’s now hear from Roxanne Spears about her experience with using the ecomedes database.
Conclusion – Key Takeaways
Specification of sustainable products is a complex process. Part of the solution for design professionals is providing clear and easy-to-access sustainability information for products, and when coupled with collaborative stakeholder involvement in the completion of material and product Owner Project Requirements, results in a sustainable flooring specification. Based on the project, choosing products that have an appropriate product service life, installation of mock-ups when appropriate, following manufacturer recommended maintenance practices, and completion of post occupancy reviews are all components of ongoing successful installations. It is recommended for design professionals to understand the basics of material science for different types of materials, manufacturing production processes, and varying attributes of resilient flooring to further assist in making informed decisions. Visit the RFCI website for more information.
Jane M. Rohde, AIA, FIIDA, ASID, CHID, ACHA, LEED AP BD+C, GGA – EB, GGF is a healthcare architect and sustainability consultant and sits on various healthcare and sustainability committees supporting research, advocacy, and humanistic approaches to design. www.jsrassociates.net.
