Many home improvement websites recommend using 15-pound felt paper as flooring underlayment. I wonder if it will release Volatile Organic Compounds into my house over time.
After much googling this issue does not seem to be addressed anywhere.
Will the felt paper have a negative effect on my indoor air quality?
Its typically impregnated with TAR and has a strong bituminous odour.
I m guessing that your talking about under a hard wood flooring. Your encapsulating the felt so even if it did release any thing into the air under exposed conditions, you have it trapped and it cant and doesn t anyway. It always used under hardwood to both use as a moisture barrier and to prevent direct wood to wood contact and cut down on noise.
If your doing a prefinished hard wood, many manufactures approve of a plain rosin paper as the layer under the wood.
Laminate never has either of these papers under them . Its a different under layment altogether. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar. GL
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:54 pm
VOCs from where, exactly? It’s PAPER made with a high percentage content of cotton fibres ("felt")…
If you are that paranoid about your health & safety, presumably you are wearing a crash helmet each time you ride in a car? You aren’t? Why ever not? Tens of thousands of people DIED last year from head injuries sustained in car accidents, and as far as the data can be relied on, there was not even ONE death from "VOC inhalation from Felt paper"…
You need to get a serious grip on proportional risk!
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February 23rd, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Yea, No problem with the felt paper, otherwise there would be a warning stamped on it or a printed paper stating it to be unsafe……
References :
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:00 pm
You didn’t say what kind of flooring you are asking about and what the subfloor is. Laminate flooring is the only type that I know of that really requires an underlayment. Most other types of flooring are installed directly on the subfloor.
For laminate flooring you can use a plastic foam underlayment that is specifically made for those purpose. I suspect you could also use it on other floors if you really felt you needed it.
References :
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:31 pm
I m guessing that your talking about under a hard wood flooring. Your encapsulating the felt so even if it did release any thing into the air under exposed conditions, you have it trapped and it cant and doesn t anyway. It always used under hardwood to both use as a moisture barrier and to prevent direct wood to wood contact and cut down on noise.
If your doing a prefinished hard wood, many manufactures approve of a plain rosin paper as the layer under the wood.
Laminate never has either of these papers under them . Its a different under layment altogether. Any questions you can e mail me through my avatar. GL
References :
20 years in flooring as a store owner/installer
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Roofing felt is normally used in exterior applications. Directly over the decking on the roof, as a water resistive barrier under siding, etc.. Even though roofing felt has often been used as a vapor barrier under hardwood floors this is not it’s intended purpose. Manufacturers cannot foresee every single use of the product that someone, somewhere can come up with.
Follow the installation instructions provided with your flooring product. Failure to exactly follow these can cause you problems down the road. And if you didn’t follow the instructions the manufacturer will not honor any warranty.
If you are worried about adding a paper product that does have some volatile chemicals impregnated in it then use the resin paper that is mentioned in another post. It works well without the danger of the chemicals used in roofing felt.
References :
Years as a builder, hardwood flooring installer and as a home inspector.