One of our products is a Natural Wool Hand tufted carpet which represents less than 5% of the total carpet area of the entire project. The other flooring is 95% Green Label Plus. The Carpet & Rug Institute doesn\'t test hand tufted carpet, only machine tufted or woven carpets. We have found an independent laboratory that will test our hand tufted carpet following the exact same condition described by the Carpet & Rug Institute. It won\'t achieve Green Label Plus but will be able to demonstrate that the carpet respects all VOC emission defined by the Carpet & Rug Institute & the Green Label Plus. The Carpet & Rug Institute testing regime requires initial, quarterly, and annual testing, however, we only plan to do the initial testing. Will this be sufficient to gain LEED approval?
No, the proposed approach is not acceptable. In order to demonstrate equivalence through initial testing only, the testing must follow the testing and product requirements of the California Department of Health Services Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions from Various Sources Using Small-Scale Environmental Chambers, including 2004 Addenda. Applicable Internationally.Note: this is not applicable for LEED for Schools 2007 or the LEED 2009 rating systems because this option is already included in the rating system language.