NORFOLK, NEB.—MP Global Products, a leader in the manufacture of underlayment for the flooring industry, announced that FiberBacker, by MP Global Products L.L.C, has earned Indoor Advantage Gold certification from Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), the organization’s highest level of indoor environmental quality certification and the most stringent indoor air quality certification in the country. It is the first underlayment for ceramic and porcelain floors to do so.
The seal from SCS requires conformance with limits for 80 different volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and is intended to insure that individual occupants’ overall exposure to any one of these chemicals does not exceed levels predetermined as within safe limits by the USBCO LEED criteria, Collaborative for High Performance School (CHPS), and the State of California 01350 Special Environmental Requirements.
“Products that meet this independent rigorous and unbiased laboratory-based verification of environmental attributes can meet requirements for just about any installation where air safety and air quality are considerations,” says Stowe Hartridge-Beam, program manager, Indoor Air Quality +level at SCS.
An eco-friendly performance-enhancing underlayment for ceramic tile, porcelain or natural stone floors, FiberBacker smoothes out minor subfloor imperfections, insulates the transfer of noise between floors and, when used with ceramic flooring, suppresses lateral cracks up to ¼” from transferring from the subfloor to the tile above. Yet at 0.10 inch thick, FiberBacker adds only minimal thickness to the total flooring installation.
LEED Materials and Resources Category
FiberBacker is also certified by SCS to have 100 percent pre-consumer recycled textiles (waste that might otherwise end up as landfill), which can help project owners with overall percentage of pre-consumer content for LEED certification in the Materials and Resources category.
FiberBacker adds an insulating R-value of .50 to the floor system, acting as a thermal “break” to the flooring assembly that helps keep floors warm in the winter and cool in the summer. FiberBacker’s randomly air laid filaments create a three dimensional matrix, a capillary effect that helps cushion the floor and absorb impact sound.
Odorless and free of VOCs and liquid adhesives, FiberBacker is approved for installation over ¾ inch tongue-and-groove plywood or oriented strand board interior subfloors and over radiant heating for floors. MP Global Products’ high-temperature manufacturing process kills bacteria and fungus, while an EPA registered anti-microbial additive inhibits mold growth and helps prevent dust mite colonies from developing, making it hypo-allergenic.
“MP Global is committed to providing the best combination of innovative technology and eco-friendly practices,” says Kelly Kennedy, national sales manager at MP Global Products. “We manufacture our products for performance with the environment in mind.”
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