Lumber Liquidators 'Stands by Every Plank.' Should You?

By Martha C. White

Allegedly tainted flooring has left Lumber Liquidators customers feeling as if the rug has been pulled out from under them.

A CBS '60 Minutes' report Sunday said some of the company's Chinese-made laminate floorboards contained unsafe levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Lumber Liquidators said Monday that it "stands by every plank" of its flooring and that '60 Minutes' used an improper testing method.

Caught in the middle are potentially thousands of consumers, who can't decide whether their flooring is safe, or they should have it ripped out and replaced, a costly proposition.

Many consumers took to the company's Facebook and Twitter accounts with questions and concerns. "Formaldehyde is present in certain LL products and for those products, the levels are safe," Lumber Liquidators said in response to a customer's query on Twitter.

"Testing cited by 60 Minutes is not right," it said in response to another.

When asked for additional detail, a spokesman referred to an earlier statement that said, "Some of the testing cited by 60 Minutes was conducted based on sample preparation methods that have not been independently verified by an accredited standards organization and do not reflect the manner in which the product will be used in the home."

Some of the data cited by CBS came from Global Community Monitor, an environmental nonprofit that filed suit against Lumber Liquidators over its formaldehyde levels. Its suit said that all of the Chinese-manufactured samples it had tested exceeded formaldehyde limits, and that tests were conducted "using a variety of different methodologies, and different samples with different sample preparations and surfaces covered to understand exposures both during and after installation."

CBS said the testing it had performed on behalf of '60 Minutes' followed the protocol set by the state of California. That state's formaldehyde regulations, known as CARB 2, are the strictest in the country and will be mirrored by nationwide regulations expected to go into place this year. CBS also had the labs administer the California Department of Public Health test, which measures the concentration of formaldehyde off-gassing from the laminates.

To test the floorboards for CARB compliance, the outer layer or layers of material such as veneer are removed to expose the core, which is where formaldehyde-containing glue would be used.

Originally posted here:
Lumber Liquidators 'Stands by Every Plank.' Should You?