hi folks, please jump to the question header if context isn’t of interest. I’m a details person.
Backstory
I am looking at carpeting living and bedroom areas of my 1966 build one bedder apartment as the acoustics are bad. Noise transferring through from above, adjacent and below.
Strata blame it on the previous owner putting unapproved floating floorboards in my unit and won’t do impact testing to suss things out ($3k ish).
I figure switching to carpet can’t make things worse acoustically, and it may reduce the vibration transfer in floor from adjoining apartment. It is the only variable I can control that isn’t going to mean putting up a false ceiling or losing floor space by putting an additional wall in (both of these would also only address a sole direction and from what I’ve read could run me 20k). Youch.
The Question
I have sensory sensitivity and lots of allergies and a family member told me to suss out the VOC ratings of products to make sure I’m not adding toxins into the mix and creating a different additional issue.
It will cost me around $5 (synthetic product)…up to $10k for natural wool product…so I need to make a smart decision that will last.
I got the reports from the supplier of a couple of the products I’m interested in (see below) but the units of measure in the reports and the unit used in the broader guidelines (link below) are different (ie not comparing apples and apples) so it’s a bit hard to determine what’s actually acceptable ie. good and optimal vs what is bad and likely to have a negative impact. Salespeople will tell you anything.
Logically I can just go for the one with the lower number to be safe but it’s a trade off in terms of durability and cushioning, all the other ratings on the product (see images).
The supplier said “In simple terms anything less than 500 µg/m².h is good”… but if you know about this stuff and are erring cautious what would your cutoff be? 50, 100, 200 etc.?
the product I like the look of, is a new product, it is more highly rated on other criteria and is the one that sits relatively high at 182 by the measurement units in the report.
My second option is less cushioned and less durable but is expelling 19.1 (ie. almost 10 x less toxins).
I found this guide which has figures but the units of measure are different;
https://www.spectrumfloors.com.au/navigating-voc-regulations-in-australia/
Thx- hopefully this finds its way to someone who has done a deep dive or special interest on this topic!
