Floor Covering Options for “Sick Buildings”

Abstract

Ever since the library at Humboldt State University had been renovated in the early ′70s, staff had been complaining about the air quality in the building, which was blamed for all sorts of ailments, from nausea, to skin and eye irritation, to severe allergies. The library administration finally pushed for a solution to the problems and hired an environmental firm to investigate the air quality. At the same time, recognizing that old carpets also have been found to contribute to indoor pollution, the administration commissioned a selected group from all sections of the library and from Plant Operations, to undertake a study and recommend new floor covering options for all areas of the building. The group studied resilient materials, hard floors, and wood floors exhaustively and came up with detailed recommendations about the different types to be used in different areas. As soon as funding became available, most public and stack areas were covered with a carpetlike new generation, low emission, self-adhesive, closed-cell vinyl backed nylon floor covering, with no ill side effects to date. The success of this project is in great part due to the fact that staff for the task force was drawn from all departments and from outside the library and from the fact that the administration accepted the recommendations and followed up on most of them in good faith.

Key Words:

• Floor covering
• library maintenance
• pollution
• sick building syndrome
• library administration