Energy Savings Plus Health | INDOOR AIR QUALITY GUIDELINES FOR MULTIFAMILY BUILDING UPGRADES 71
CLEANING AND BUILDING PRODUCTS
Goal
Use housekeeping practices, maintenance practices and related products that minimize the use of harmful or toxic
chemicals wherever possible.
Actions
1.
Follow a cleaning plan: For every area in the building that needs to be cleaned, staff should identify:
• Items to be cleaned (e.g., floors, walls, windows, carpets).
• Individual(s) responsible for cleaning each item.
• Frequency with which each item must be cleaned.
• Specific cleaning methods that must be used (e.g., micro-fiber dust mop [no brooms], warm water and mild
detergent in a damp wipe [no sprays], HEPA-filtration vacuums).
• Cleaning materials to be used for each surface.
2. Where possible, require staff and contractors to specify products that meet independent testing and certification
protocols. Examples are provided below; this is not an exhaustive list.
CLEANING SUPPLIES
Cleaners Green Seal, EPA Safer Choice Label, or ECOLOGO Certified.
NEW FLOORING & CABINETS
Carpet, Carpet Cushion and Entry
Mats
Green Label Plus Certified by Carpet and Rug Institute.
Recycle removed carpet: vendor to supply price quote to recycle removed carpet and
components (e.g., 100%, 50% or 30% recycled).
Resilient Flooring FloorScore® Certified by Resilient Flooring Covering Association.
Flooring Adhesives No- or low-VOC (less than 50 grams/liter [g/L]) for carpet and flooring tile adhesives.
Cabinets Urea formaldehyde-free cabinets, certified to be compliant with California Title 17 for
Formaldehyde – Phase 2, if available.
Products produced in registered plants certified under the Kitchen Cabinet Manufactur-
ers Association Environmental Stewardship Certification Program (ESP 05-12).
PAINT
Interior Paint Master Painters Institute Green Performance Standards X-Green, GPS-1 or GPS-2.
Green Seal Standard GS-11 certified (e.g., VOC content for flat paints less than 50 g/L,
VOC content for non-flat paints less than 150 g/L).
Resources for Cleaning and Building Products:
Carpet and Rug Institute: Green Label Plus
ECOLOGO: ECOLOGO Product Certification
Enterprise Green Communities: Green Operations & Maintenance Training in a Box
EPA: Safer Choice
Green Seal: Green Seal Standard for Paints and Coatings, GS-11
Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association: Environmental Stewardship Certification Program (ESP 05-12)
Master Painters Institute: Green Performance Standards GPS-1 or GPS-2, X-Green
Resilient Flooring Covering Association: FloorScore®
