Increasingly, developers of high density residential communities, including high rises and townhouses, are drawn to green building for both new structures and renovations. Driven by their own environmental awareness, by tenant interests, and/or by local regulations, owners are searching for ways to build dwellings that are more sustainable and healthier than ever before.

What is installed beneath the floors, unseen in a finished structure, can be important to meeting not only building codes but also to satisfying owner and tenant interests in green construction.   

Most building codes have for years required the use of fire-rated sound attenuating floor underlayment in multifamily high-rises and other dwellings where one family lives above another to mitigate foot fall and muffle the sounds of dropped objects, voices in conversation, TV, radio, and stereo systems.

A few sound-attenuating underlayment products have added attributes that are attractive to environmentally aware specifiers and end users - they are made from recycled materials and they meet stringent indoor air quality standards.

While manufacturers may lay stake to “green” claims, it could be hard for specifiers to differentiate among options when looking to select environmentally healthy products. A manufacturer can state that a product meets various standards and requirements. However, backing up those statements typically entails independent third party testing and certification.

“Because you cannot see floor underlayment, having certification of its important green characteristics, including what the underlayment is made from and what it is or isn’t emitting, is a key way for an architect or specifier to differentiate a product from others in its category,” notes Pat Hooper, principal, HooperWolfe LLC, environmental consultants for sustainable interior products, in Emeryville, CA.

In fact, she notes, certification can be important for several reasons. Most importantly, it shows that the product conforms to state or local municipal regulations.  And it also enables the project owner to demonstrate that a particular building component, among others, has the lowest environmental impact it can possibly have.  

“As the green building industry has matured, the knowledge level of the architect or designer who specifies these products has risen. Architects and designers are now looking to specify products that have been evaluated by a third party,” notes Stowe Hartridge-Beam, program manager for indoor air quality at Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), an independent third-party provider of certification, auditing and testing services, and standards, in Emeryville, CA. “Certification helps streamline the process of a project being recognized as improving environmental performance.”

Many architects and designers looking to build “green” refer to the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification categories for guidelines in evaluating the environmental effects of building products, notes Ed Wyatt, program manager for material content at SCS.  

The USGBC’s LEED program offers credits in six categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Material & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process. Each category has multiple points that may be satisfied to earn credits. A prescribed number of points are required for a project to receive a specific rating, with credits totaled from any combination of categories. The Platinum level represents the highest number of credits, followed by the Gold level and then the Silver level.

Though LEED is voluntary for the most part, it has become regulatory in many cities, including in Los Angeles for some projects and in Pasadena for any new dwelling over 10,000 square feet (which must be LEED Silver), notes Pat Hooper.

Underlayment for laminate flooring or floating wood floors can help owners earn LEED points in the category of Materials and Resources if it is manufactured from recycled materials and in the category of Indoor Environmental Quality if the product meets the standards for low emissions.

LEED certification is available on a project basis, rather than for individual components. For example, a building can qualify for one point in the Materials and Resources category if it is constructed with least 10% recycled materials, two points if it is 20 percent or greater. Post-consumer recycled material may contribute at full value, while pre-consumer material (from the waste stream of the manufacturing processes) enters into the calculation at half value. When a sustainable product, such as MP Global’s QuietWalk underlayment, which is made of over 80 percent post-industrial/pre-consumer fibers, is used in a project, that composition can add to the overall percentages and help tip the scales.  

The total number of points earned from all categories determines the level at which the project is qualified to be certified, Wyatt explains.

In fact, he points out, the USGBC has noted that it prefers to see products or building components specified that have been third-party certified rather than be asked to rely on manufacturers claims.

Reputable third party certification minimizes time, effort and expense of specifiers or consumers in identifying and selecting products. (First-party certification is essentially self-certification, by the manufacturer. Second-party certification involves assessment by another organization, e.g. a trade association. Third-party certification is performed by an independent, unbiased organization and is typically the most rigorous.) 

One of the most stringent programs for environmental certification is SCS’s Eco Products Certification Program, which provides independent verification of environmental attributes and/or human health benefits associated with various products, including flooring underlayment.

The company’s highest level of indoor environmental quality certification, SCS Indoor Advantage Gold, was designed to demonstrate building products’ conformance with several recognized standards, including: California 01350 Special Environmental Requirements, Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) reference specification for energy and resource efficiency for indoor air quality, and Environmental Quality (EQ) emissions criteria for building products as specified in the USGBC’s LEED Green Building Rating Systems.

With limits set for 78 different volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), SCS Indoor Advantage Gold is the most stringent indoor air quality certification in the country.

Certification that a product such as floor underlayment meets stringent criteria benefits end users, who can feel assured their underlayment meets recognized standards, and specifiers, who can more easily compare the quality of products.

A floor underlayment manufactured with a three-dimensional matrix of fibers that are inert and hypoallergenic, such as MP Global Products’ QuietWalk, can comply with two different fire tests: the pill test (federal flammability standard CPSCFF1-70); and the flame spread test (ASTM E84). If an installation is designed for sustainability, the same product could also meet established air quality standards, utilize recycled content, and gain third party certification.