Considering Marmoleum Health Conscious Floors

By Jill

Posted on Friday, May 8, 2020 5:03 AM

Always, and especially in the current climate of The Great Pause, fueled by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), installing flooring that is health conscious is paramount. In this blog post, we are highlighting Forbo Flooring Sytem’s unique product, Marmoleum, found at Barry Carpet. Read on to learn how Marmoleum floor covering may provide you with a sense of safety and security in the reality we are facing today.

What is Marmoleum?

Marmoleum is Forbo Flooring System’s patented linoleum floor covering. Forbo is a global leader in linoleum with 65% market share. The product is sustainable, highly innovative, health conscious, and has outstanding quality. Marmoleum comes in sheet, tiles and planks, ranging from marbled to linear to concrete designs.

“Marmoleum sheet and tile floor coverings are naturally antimicrobial, and contain no pesticides whatsoever,” according to the Forbo’s 2013 PDF “Sustain.” Instead, they contain natural materials. Flax seed oil is the main ingredient in Marmoleum, which is a renewable raw material, has minimal waste in its production, and takes up CO2. Additional Marmoleum ingredients, which are also natural, include: wood flour, pine rosins, limestone, jute, and ecologically friendly pigments.

Consider the following positive implications for installing Forbo Marmoleum into your home, office, gym, and healthcare facilities:

In Your Home

What is not more important than providing a healthy home for you and your family? Especially in times like these, our collective awareness of what we want to surround ourselves with has grown. We are more conscious now than ever of how our environment impacts our health--and how we impact our environment’s. The organic hygiene of Forbo Marmoleum excludes added biocides, allowing you and your loved ones to breathe in chemical-free air. In turn, this limits threats to you and your family’s health and genetic wellbeing.

In Healthcare Facilities

Patients in healthcare facilities already suffer from weakened immune systems. With vulnerable populations like these, floor and counter hygiene are especially important. No additives, pesticides, or phthalates are used in the production of Marmoleum, which decreases bio-accumulative toxicity exposure to both doctors and patients. As an added benefit, Marmoleum’s natural ingredients organically inhibit bacterial growth without compromising doctors’ and patients" health.

Seam welding is not required when installing Marmoleum floor coving. In vinyl flooring, these cracks between seams can breed bacteria. However, Marmoleum eliminates the need for seam welding with its net fit seams, allowing for the floor covering to be more hygienic. Taking it a step further, Marmoleum can also be used effectively on furniture surfaces and even walls. Consider the impact of having Marmoleum on nurse’s stations, desks, carts, and other surfaces where cleanliness and ease of cleaning is required.

In Gyms/Yoga/Exercise Studios

Exercise studios are places where the spread of germs is highly likely. Changing out old flooring and replacing it with Marmoleum can reduce the risk of bacterial spread among staff and clients, and can do so in a natural, health conscious way.

Easy to Clean

While studies have not yet been reported about Forbo Marmoleum’s ability to combat COVID-19, according to Forbo’s 2013 PDF “Sustain:” superbugs like CRE, MRSA, and C. Difficile “won’t spread effectively on a Marmoleum surface,” inhibiting the likelihood of other bacteria spreading.

Forbo Marmoleum flooring naturally prevents the growth of bacteria by also having resistance to dirt pick-up. As a result, the garden variety bacteria that cause stains and odors won’t grow on Marmoleum either. Marmoleum floor coverings have Topshield2 finish, which makes them easy to clean and maintain. Topshield 2 technology allows for eco-friendly cleaning upon installation. Occupancy-ready finish is possible simply by using a neutral pH cleaning solution.

Cost Savings

We are thoughtful that your business may have been financially impacted by COVID-19. When assessing cost and value, it is important to consider the short term expense of installing and the long term value of ownership. Marmoleum has a 30-year system service life, which outperforms that of vinyl or rubber. One of the greatest cost benefits is that Marmoleum is occupancy-ready upon installation, meaning, you can get to work faster or move your tenents in sooner.

Eco-Friendly

As the environment has positively responded to our limited use of emissions these last few weeks, we are all realizing how important it is to make sustainable choices in our everyday lives and businesses. Marmoleum floor covering is 100% BioBased and biodegradable, which in independent life-cycle assessments (LCA), show that it is much less harmful to the world than vinyl and rubber.

At Barry Carpet, we are confident in the high quality and health of Forbo Marmoleum and can say that after selling and installing hundreds of Marmoleum floor coverings, it is one of the most customer satisfactory products out there. As our own Barry Carpet family, we find Forbo’s mission noble: "from the building they’re in to the world outside, [they’re] helping [their] customers work, live and relax in better environments."

While our Barry Carpet showroom is closed, we are still in business! Give us a call at 310.479.3761 or email us at barrycarpet1@gmail.com to receive a quote, order samples, or place your order.