Evoke floors are manufactured by Metropolitan Floors Inc., an industry leader in industry, government and environmental compliance. Metropolitan's Clean Floors program is a holistic quality assurance and environmental program overseen by the manufacturer's dedicated, full-time environmental compliance officer. The program encompasses every facet of the manufacturing process—from material sourcing to indoor air quality testing. 

INDOOR AIR QUALITY COMPLIANCE

Evoke has long been a leader in indoor air quality standards.  Most Evoke flooring products, including our laminate, vinyl composite core and luxury vinyl flooring, have been produced as CA Section 01350 compliant for years.  Our products have now been further tested and certified to the GREENGUARD Gold certification standard, indicating they meet one of the strictest emissions standards in the world.

CA Section 01350 is a voluntary air quality standard developed by the State of California.  It is a stricter and more comprehensive IAQ standard than the more famous formaldehyde-only emissions regulations like CARB, TSCA and CANFER (see below), which only govern the core of floors made with composite wood products.  In comparison, CA Section 01350 tests the complete, finished product of any construction type, evaluating the emissions from a multitude of VOCs.

A Section 01350 is recognized by LEED and other green building programs as the original standard for good indoor air quality.  All Evoke flooring, of any construction type, has complied with CA Section 01350 for years, but our products are now being further tested and certified to our new house standard, GREENGUARD Gold.

GREENGUARD

Underwriters Laboratories (UL), one of the largest and most respected product safety organizations in the world, owns and manages the GREENGUARD program which is the strictest emissions standards that we could find for our floors.  GREENGUARD has two certification levels: GREENGUARD and GREENGUARD Gold.  At this time, all of our GREENGUARD certified products have achieved Gold status. 

In UL’s words, GREENGUARD Gold certification is “designed to define low-emitting materials suitable for environments where people, particularly children and sensitive adults, spend extended periods of time, in particular schools and healthcare facilities.”

GREENGUARD Gold certification complies with CA Section 01350 but under stricter certification requirements than any other emissions program.  It also establishes a very low Total VOC level and sets emissions for specific VOCs at 1/100th of the US Federal Government’s Threshold Limit Value (TLV) for occupational exposure.

GREENGUARD Gold certification is recognized by LEED and other green building programs as a qualifying attribute for low emitting materials credits.

Product listings on the Evoke website will continue to indicate products with the additional GREENGUARD Gold certification. For more information on the GREENGUARD program, please visit ul.com/gg.

CARB, TSCA & CANFER: The FERs

CARB refers to a California state agency (the California Air Resources Board) tasked with improving air quality throughout the state.  The agency operates many different programs but one, ATCM 93120, is aimed at limiting formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products, which includes laminate flooring.  Although “CARB” is the acronym for the agency, the term has become shorthand in the industry for low emitting products. Since the regulation became effective, despite being only legally required in California, Evoke’s laminate flooring was produced as “CARB P2 Compliant.”

The US Congress clearly thought limiting formaldehyde emissions was a good idea for the entire nation, so a few years later they established TSCA Title VI. TSCA stands for “Toxic Substances Control Act” and is overseen by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). TSCA usually spoken as “Tos-ka”. The Act was originally signed into law in 1976 and has since been amended several times. The various amendments of the law are commonly referred to as ‘titles’. The latest is TSCA Title VI, and it sets limits on the allowable level of formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products such as medium density fiberboard (MDF*) and plywood – just like CARB.

In other words, TSCA Title VI is essentially CARB’s formaldehyde emissions law applied nationwide in the United States.

The Canadian government determined it appropriate to create their own regulation, which is known as CANFER.  That’s the CANadian Formaldehyde Emissions Regulation. CANFER became effective in January 2023 and requires products sold in Canada to meet the same low emission levels and to utilize a similar oversight system as CARB and TSCA Title VI. Our ECO was actually an active member of the Health Canada’s stakeholder committee that provided commentary on the regulation during its development.

Collectively these regulations are known as “FERs”--Formaldehyde Emission Regulations. All Evoke laminate and Surge floors and related moldings are fully FER compliant, regardless if they are being sold in the US or Canada—we’re following the rules in all countries. Just as everyone should.

And as a note, vinyl flooring products are not regulated under CARB and TSCA, as they contain no composite wood products.  That said, not only is there no formaldehyde utilized in the production of Metropolitan’s luxury vinyl and rigid core flooring, their certification status means that any possible emissions for formaldehyde would be a fraction of what the FERs would permit from wood.

Learn more about Metropolitan's quality assurance and environmental compliance program.

*(Technical note: most laminate manufacturers – Evoke included – say their products are made with HDF (High Density Fiberboard) rather than MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) that we refer to here.  MDF is a technical and legal label that covers a broad category of fiberboard products and is therefore the term used by regulators to cover the entire category.  HDF is a term used by the industry to describe a type of MDF with specific weight and strength properties designed for specific applications – like laminate flooring cores.  In CARB/TSCA/CANFER terms, it’s all classed under MDF, so that’s how we refer to it in IAQ language, even if our marketing and sales departments will usually follow industry custom and call it HDF elsewhere.)