[SustainableTompkins] Floor covering material

[Thomas Shelley]

>  I can't use stone, slate, tile, or wood in the room in question and need
>something less than 1/8 inch thick.)


Dear Maura and Friends--How about bamboo?  It's a renewable resource and I 
think you can get it manufactured as a comparatively thin sheet material 
for flooring.  Talk to a couple of big flooring stores or look on line.

Also try 
http://www.greenresourcecenter.org/MaterialSheetsWord/NaturalLinoleum.pdf 
which claims to be a natural linoleum product.

For additional information see 
http://www.blackriverfloors.com/category29/Linoleum-Planks/?gclid=CLHn3P7UtY8CFSBMGgods3ObdA

Gee... Maybe I just did the Web search for you??   As a chemist and safety 
geek by profession, it's hard to imagine anything harmful coming off the 
natural linoleum product as described.  Depends  upon the adhesive you 
would be using, perhaps.  Some adhesives have VOCs that could be harmful if 
you used them in an occupational manner, but for a one-time application, 
once the adhesive is cured and the VOC component(s) have off-gassed, there 
should be no residual problems.  Ask for a MSDS for all of the products you 
buy and check out the health effects of the hazardous components of each 
product.  Mastic is a mostly or all natural adhesive that is safe to use 
compared to some of the more synthetic petro-based adhesives.  My 
$.02.  Good luck with your flooring project and feel free to ask me more 
questions if you need to do so.  Tom

*****************************************************
Tom Shelley
EH&S Consulting and Training
118 E. Court St.
Ithaca, NY
(607) 342-0864
tjs1 at cornell.edu
http://iconconnect.org/members/?q=user/86