Choosing a Non-Toxic Carpet
Written by:
Maia James
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Recently, I’ve had a few private consulting clients ask about non-toxic carpeting. As a result, I’ve spent some time more deeply looking into this. I hope this post helps answer the big question: Is there such thing as truly safe, non-toxic carpeting?
What Makes Carpeting Toxic?
As my dad wrote in the flooring post about our non-toxic renovation undertaking, Project One-Eleven, carpeting is problematic for a variety of reasons, including:
- The chemicals and materials used to make the carpets and pads beneath them, including plastics, wool that’s laden with fungicides, synthetic rubber that may contain endocrine-disrupting phthalates, toxic dyes, and chemicals that are meant to repel flame, water, and stains.
- The materials used in the carpet installation process, including glues and other adhesives that contain formaldehyde and a range of VOCs that off-gas into the home environment.
- Carpet’s tendency that to accumulate dust mites, dirt, pesticides, and other toxins brought into our homes on our feet (and our pets’ feet!).
So Are All Carpet Bad News?
The older the carpets, the more likely they are to contain bad chemicals and pounds of accumulated junk. So I’d say that yes, old carpets are categorically bad news. But because we have some really safe options available these days, newer carpets can be a good choice for your home.
This is important:
In addition to choosing safe carpets, you should clean them according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This usually involves frequent vacuuming (make sure you use a HEPA-sealed vacuum that’s RoHS certified, like the ones from Miele) and occasional steam cleaning. You also might consider investing in a robust electronic air filter.
Non-toxic Carpeting Brands
We’ve done the research on natural, non-toxic carpeting, and we found three safe brands to recommend:
Best Stuff
Earth Weave
Earth Weave is the gold standard among non-toxic carpeting. They simply make the very best stuff.
Earth Weave’s natural, non-toxic carpeting is made in the United States from carefully selected European wool, hemp, cotton, natural latex, and jute.
Earth Weave uses only safe dying methods for some of their colors; the other colors are natural wool hues. Even better, they don’t treat their carpets with any worrisome chemicals.
We used Earth Weave on the staircases and landings in our home in Lancaster, PA, and I’m someone who has never had a carpet (I’ve never much cared for it). I have to say that our Earth Weave carpet is beautiful, cozy, and great for my peace of mind when little kids are running up and down stairs! I’m considering carpeting the bedrooms next.
If you’d like to order Earth Weave through Gimme the Good Stuff, email suzanne@gimmethegoodstuff.org or click here. (We also offer our customers Earth Weave area rugs.)
Nature’s Carpet
Nature’s Carpet’s Everest carpet from their “Dark Green” collections is made from a blend of European and New Zealand wool. It’s chemical-free with a cotton and jute backing as well as a natural rubber latex adhesive. The Aberdeen and Element carpets, also from the Dark Green collection, are made with 98% natural materials. These ones have a woven polypropylene backing. (I consider polypropylene to be an non-toxic plastic). All three carpet styles in the Dark Green category from Nature’s Carpet use un-dyed wool and do not contain any moth-proofing or flame-retardant chemicals.
Unique Carpet
Nature’s Carpet’s Everest carpet from their “Dark Green” collections is made from a blend of European and New Zealand wool. It’s chemical-free with a cotton and jute backing as well as a natural rubber latex adhesive. The Aberdeen and Element carpets, also from the Dark Green collection, are made with 98% natural materials. These ones have a woven polypropylene backing. (I consider polypropylene to be an non-toxic plastic). All three carpet styles in the Dark Green category from Nature’s Carpet use un-dyed wool and do not contain any moth-proofing or flame-retardant chemicals.
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Non-Toxic Rug Pads & Grippers
Rug and carpet sales people always recommend that you use rug pads and/or grippers to prevent slipping, increase cushioning, prolong the life of the floor covering, and protect the floor underneath. Most of these products are at least as toxic as conventional rugs and carpets themselves, but there is a safe alternative:
Earth Weave
Earth Weave makes natural rug pads made from a combination of wool and plant fiber. These pads contain no glues, dyes, flame retardant chemicals, or mothproofing chemicals. We also love Earth Weave’s natural rug grippers made from 100% natural latex.
Do you have experience with any of these–or other–carpet brands, or have other questions about non-toxic carpeting? Please post below!
Stay sane,
Maia, Founder & CEO
P.S. Here’s our post on choosing a non-toxic area rug.
Note: This article contains affiliate links or sponsored content, which means that if you make a purchase, we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that meet our strict standards for non-toxicity and that we use (or want to use!) ourselves. Thank you so much for supporting the brands that make Good Stuff!
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I have had EarthWeave Dolomite carpeting for 10 yrs or so.
Pros:
1. It is beautiful, I love that the fiber is the natural color of the sheep, it just makes me smile.
2. I love that the pad is natural too.
3. It looks good even when I have put off vacuuming a bit.
4. It’s soooo easy to clean.
Cons:
1. there were walking wear patterns pretty quickly.
2. I don’t know if the company has a newer process for installing but our installers used very strong smelling heated tape to join the seams. It faded within a few days but I was not happy with it after I had gone to such lengths to get no voc carpeting.
3. Saved the worst for last. Carpet beetles have destroyed the carpet in all the areas under furniture, in closets, and around the perimeter. Not only that, wool clothing that we’ve never had a problem with now have holes in them. The beetle eggs must have come with the carpet.
I live in a cold climate so we don’t have a problem with carpet beetles, I don’t know anyone that has issues with beetles that eat wool in general in this climate.
When we first noticed the damage and the adult beetles (it is the larvae that munch on wool) I used diatamatious earth mixed with essential oils sprinkled on the carpet, swept it into the pile and then vacuumed up the residue. Around the parimeter, I use a squeeze bottle to leave a large amount of the DE and oils in the unseen areas. When I vacuum, I reapply those areas.
I don’t know if there is a nontoxic way to treat wool carpeting before and after instillation, but I will never get wool carpeting again because I won’t have toxic treated wool either. Dang.Thank you SO MUCH Judy, for sharing your experience. Your last con was my biggest concern (even if I could afford Earth Weave). Unfortunately, carpet beetles are why we can’t consider a natural carpet as much as I want to. I have chemical sensitivities but our new house has wool bugs (carpet beetles) from the previous occupant. Sigh. I really don’t know where that leaves us.
I wish GGS and other helpful non-toxic sites would list realistic, affordable alternatives that are MOSTLY good so that those of us who are low-income or have other restrictions (vegan, carpet beetles, etc) can have something better and less toxic than Home Depot carpet. If you can afford the purest and best, great, but most people can’t.
Please, help the rest of us. Does anyone have any “almost good” or “less bad” carpeting suggestions? Someone asked about FLOR–any feedback on that (despite the vinyl)? We have to replace the carpet in our toddler’s room (cat pee that soaked into the subfloor) and due to her being on the 2nd floor, wood/laminate floors are out of the question (even if we could afford them). Thanks!
Hey try Luxury Vinyl Plank called CoreTec. It’s one of the best out there for low voc. I’m planning on this for our nursery and an organic rug of some kind…
One important factor not mentioned here (or maybe I missed it?) is the toxicity of the adhesive used to attach carpet fibers to the carpet backing. Most manufacturers use petroleum-based SBR (styrene butadiene latex/rubber) adhesive, which is loaded with toxic chemicals. Earth Weave and Nature’s Carpet use natural rubber as the adhesive, but based on the Unique Carpets website it appears that Four Seasons carpet uses synthetic latex, which is most likely SBR. It also appears their carpet has pesticides applied (permethrin). Do you have information from the manufacturer about these issues that does not appear on their website?
Hi Liz, John here from GGS… Thanks for the good questions and research! You are correct…toxins in carpet are not limited to the ingredients used to make the part of the carpet you walk on. Toxins can be found in every aspect of carpet construction; from the pile to the backing and even the carpet pad (or cushion) that is laid down under every carpet and most rugs. Carpets and rugs are one of the top contributors top indoor pollution/sick building syndrome.
Even manufacturers that market themselves as “Natural” often only offer one level of improvement over standard carpet. Wool is the original version of carpet and remains the best nontoxic option but modern wool carpet is usually treated with all sorts of nasty stuff…and some of the materials used in production leave a lot to be desired.
Our research informs us that when it comes to nontoxic carpet, nobody is doing it better than our friends at EarthWeave…https://gimmethegoodstuff.org/choosing-a-non-toxic-carpet/
Their carpet/rugs are as good as it gets…from the pile to the backing and anchor coat (adhesive). Even their padding is nontoxic.
Full disclosure… We are EarthWeave dealers…but those of you who know us know that we are not going to offer Sneaky Stuff. We did the research and wrote our carpet review well before we ever considered offering carpet/rugs to our readers. As often happens, when we discover a really great product through our research, we get to know these folks pretty well. Like EarthWeave, many are small/very small manufacturers who are seriously committed to nontoxic living. We have found that these entrepreneurs really “get it”. We have learned mountains of valuable info from them.
We are pretty excited about a new development with EarthWeave. Gimme the Good Stuff is now the connection for our Canadian friends. In the past we’ve been frustrated when trying to ship carpets to Canada, but we have recently worked out how to make it happen! Yay!!
Feel free to contact me directly with any questions. john@gimmethegoodstuff.org
Do you know if the rug pads are treated with flame retardants?
Not the ones we recommend or sell.
Have you done any research on Godfrey Hirst? Their wool carpet seems to be safe but I wanted to be sure…thanks for all you do!
I am curious about the same!
We have researched and found Pure Nature Carpet out of California. They are newer I believe but so far they are chemically and dye free, mothproof free, jute backing, no glues with fermaldahyde and I am impressed! I am still researching but this far think we are going with this one.
Do you have an opinion on FLOR carpet tiles? Their web site suggests that they are low VOC.
Unfortunately, Flor’s backing is made of vinyl, which I can’t consider Good Stuff.
Was wondering about the general cost of the wall-to-wall carpeting per square yard?? I heard that it was extremely expensive???
That is dependent upon what you buy. You can look at anywhere between $18-$70 and more for carpet get sq yard. The main difference is that wool lasts long but costs more. My father has been a carpet flooring contractor for over 40 years and he will tell you wool is best, nylon second, and polyester just stay away from and that’s not looking from a chemical standpoint just quality.
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