USFloors Earns GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification for Bamboo

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Atlanta, GA, December 10, 2009--The GREENGUARD Environmental Instituteannounced that USFloors, Inc. has achieved the first-ever GREENGUARD Certification for a complete line of bamboo flooring. Though bamboo flooring has long been considered a sustainable choice because it is a rapidly renewable material, it now helps create healthier indoor environments by meeting the stringent chemical emissions standards of the GREENGUARD Certification Program(SM).

The level of interest in environmentally responsible and healthier products has never been greater than it is today," said Dr. Marilyn Black, Founder of GEI. "The GREENGUARD Certification Program attends to the public health component of sustainability and provides consumers and building professionals with an objective resource to minimize chemical exposure in their homes and buildings."

Indoor air quality can have a significant impact on the health of building occupants and is therefore recognized as critical to the creation of healthy, high-performance interior environments by numerous sustainable building programs such as, the United States Green Building Council's LEED(R) program and the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) National Green Building Program. Both of these programs, and many others, identify the specification of GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certified products as a strategy to improve indoor air quality and fulfill requirements for low-emitting materials.

USFloors is a leading manufacturer of bamboo, cork and other hardwood flooring products for both residential and contract commercial environments. The company markets its contract products under the USF Contract brand.

The GREENGUARD Children & Schools Program is one of the most stringent and rigorous indoor air quality certification programs in the world. Products certified to this standard have been screened for more than 10,000 different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and undergo periodic verification processes to remain certified. The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute, an independent, third-party organization dedicated to improving indoor air, oversees the certification program and develops the standards that guide it.

"USFloors and USF Contract strive to offer beautiful, durable flooring products for both the residential and contract markets that address every element of sustainability," said Piet Dossche, President and CEO of USFloors. "Achieving GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification is important to us as a means of demonstrating our commitment to indoor environmental quality and furthering our efforts to provide flooring that makes a difference."