A healthier home

One of the major requirements for our home was that the large surface areas (painted areas and floors) be”low VOC” or “no VOC”.

For the flooring we have chosen Mosowood bamboo flooring, it has both low VOC and low formaldehyde levels. The colour is Australian 1. We discovered this product a couple of years ago through Bamboo and Timber. Unfortunately they no longer have a showroom in Melbourne, but you can have samples sent out.

Paint was a bit harder to specify. There are many low VOC paints for interiors available, but not so many for exteriors. The big paint companies – Wattyl, Dulux, etc. – don’t make them, but there are several small boutique manufacturers. We have chosen to use eColour, which is a zero VOC paint manufactured in Australia.

We also found a low VOC two-pack for the kitchen cabinets polyurethane for the bench top but the cabinet maker’s painters have used them before and don’t recommend them. They are looking for alternatives for us.