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We wanted wood flooring but have run into issues. We didn't want solid wood floors for a couple of reasons so were steered towards engineered wood. Problem with this is almost all manufacturers use formaldehyde in their product and the ones that don't are on the order of $9/sq. ft. I've read that most of the off gassing occurs in the first few months so my idea was to leave it in my shed for the duration and install it in the summer. Crazy idea?
An alternative is to use floating solid bamboo, thus we could install it ourselves and avoid the whole
formaldehyde issue.
Consider how much formaldehyde laced flooring & wall board has been used over the last half century-- how many illnesses, let alone deaths, have been caused by it? Anecdotal cases reported with symptoms probably more imagined than real....Although, asthmatics have been reported to be affected by exposure without meaningful quantification of the problem.
Your flooring may have already been sitting for months in a warehouse before you get it. It probably comes in packs of a sq yd or so, so letting it sit in the pack probably won't expose much of it to the air.
It's pretty easy to install floating floor. After all-- it's just a jigsaw puzzle and all the pieces are the same rectangles.
Unless you know you've been exposed in this way before (and who hasn't?) and had problems with it, I wouldn't worry about it.
Last edited by guidoLaMoto; 01-23-2019 at 06:36 AM..
Honestly, the best approach is to pick a product which won't bring much into your household in the first place. If that is cost-prohibitive, your shed idea may work (I would worry about temperature/elements, so make sure that shed doesn't leak!), but I agree you would likely need to open the packages at least somewhat.
There are also a number of common houseplants that absorb formaldehyde.
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