Indoor air quality has become a sort of buzzword. Everyone’s talking about it, and when you go to work laying and finishing floors, you have to consider the fact that you’re going to impact the indoor air quality in some way.

When you’re thinking about indoor air quality, you’re not thinking about which finish would dry the quickest and be the most convenient for you to use. Instead, you’re thinking about the health of all the people who will be impacted by the products you use.

When you finish or refinish a gym floor at a school, you have to consider the fact that thousands of children will use the floor until it’s refinished again. The same goes for applying floor finish in hospitals and other places with vulnerable populations.

This is a smart way to think in this day and age, because eco-friendliness and human health have become top consumer concerns.

Choosing eco-friendly and healthier floor finishes can benefit your business and the people who use the floor once you’re gone.

We spend most of our time indoors

Studies show that Americans spend up to 90 percent of their time indoors! When you consider all of the building materials that often contain harmful compounds and even carcinogens — paints, drywall, finish, just to name a few — that means that a lot of chemicals are being released into the air whenever a new building project is underway.

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which are commonly found in floor finishes, really detract from a room’s indoor air quality. When you’re finishing a floor with a poly finish and there is a noticeably strong scent, you’re essentially smelling the chemicals being off-gassed from the finish. That’s not good for your health or for the health of your clients.

Although most of the VOCs are off-gassed when the finish is initially applied, VOCs continue to evaporate and sublimate into the air over time.

Children are more vulnerable to VOCs

Approximately 7 million American children suffer from asthma. Children are more susceptible than adults to asthma triggers, including harsh chemicals.

It’s good for you to be proactive and think about how you can create healthier environments for your clients, especially when you’re installing a floor that’s intended for use by children.

In fact, you might have already received some requests from school administrators to use healthier materials when installing and finishing your floors.

A finish can make a difference

Luckily, you can help to prevent excessive off-gassing of chemicals by choosing a floor finish with a low VOC count. So today we’re going to discuss the game-changing Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey floor finishes, which have a remarkably low VOC content.

You’ll put yourself one step ahead of the game by familiarizing yourself with healthier products like Vermont Natural Coatings’ line of PolyWhey finishes and suggesting the use of them when you’re commissioned to finish floors in schools, hospitals, and other environments made for vulnerable populations.

Vermont Natural Coatings (VNC) is one of the biggest innovators in the wood finish industry. They are dedicated to making their products healthy for humans and the environment, and their finishes exceed even the strictest standards for VOC content in floor finishes.

How is PolyWhey different?

Vermont Natural Coatings’ PolyWhey finish has 25% less VOC content than the standard that water-based finishes typically try to meet.

The toughest indoor air quality standard for wood floor finish is currently California’s, at 275g/L (grams/liter). Vermont Natural Coatings finishes contain 180g/L or less.

It really doesn’t get much better than that!

VNC accomplishes such a low VOC content in its products by using whey — a natural product of the cheesemaking process — as its bonding agent, as opposed to a volatile chemical.

The whey, which is a renewable resource, is put through a process which isolates the proteins and creates an extremely strong bonding agent.

But just because it’s safer than other products on the market doesn’t mean that PolyWhey is less durable than all traditional water-based and oil-based options.

In fact, PolyWhey is more durable than many traditional water-based and oil-based options alike. And the hardness of the PolyWhey cure is two times stronger than most other water-based finishes.

PolyWhey MVP Sports Floor Finish, which is specifically formulated for use on gym and sport floors, is very durable and exhibits superior scratch resistance.

It’s convenient to use, too, so you won’t have to change much of your process. Even though it’s water-based, PolyWhey cures fully within one week, and you can start walking on the floors just two to three hours after you apply the finish.

And because it’s a single-component system, PolyWhey saves you money. When stored properly, you can preserve your product for up to a year after using it the first time. No more wasted finish!

Shop our selection of water-based floor finishes.

The times are changing, and PolyWhey can help you adapt

Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the hazardous compounds in floor finishes and other building materials.

It would help you market yourself to these people if you promoted the fact that you use Vermont Natural Coatings products. Doing so would also help you win more contracts to refinish school gymnasiums and hospitals.

Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey comes in several varieties:

PolyWhey 2500 is recommended for residential and light commercial hardwood floors.

PolyWhey 3500 is recommended for commercial and heavy-traffic residential hardwood floors.

PolyWhey MVP Sports Floor Finish is formulated for gymnasium floors and other hardwood sport floors.

VNC also offers two types of PolyWhey sealer. With all of these options, there’s no excuse not to explore the power of PolyWhey!