Does Laminate Flooring Give Off Formaldehyde? What Lumber Liquidators Knew (2026)
The short answer
It is February. The windows have been shut since November and the heat is on. Your eyes sting by lunch, and you wonder if it is the house.
Yes, laminate can give off formaldehyde. Under the wood picture, each board is pressed wood held together with glue. That glue can let the gas into your air. It fades as the floor ages.
The news was about one chain, Lumber Liquidators. In 2013 and 2014, California said boards from the chain's stores failed the test. It kept selling its China-made laminate until May 2015.
What this guide answers
What else is in the air in your house?
The free 3 minute scan goes room by room and tells you what to fix first. You give a first name and a cell, and your score comes by text. It is free so you can check your own house, not take my word for it.
Take the free home scanWhat is inside a laminate board?
Quick answer: pressed wood held with glue, under a photo of wood.
You put that floor down yourself one long weekend, or you paid someone to. You still like how it looks.
No shame in that. It was sold to you as a good floor.
Under the pretty top is pressed wood, tiny bits stuck together with glue.
That glue is the trouble. The EPA lists the glue in pressed wood as a place formaldehyde is found. The gas comes off the board and into the air you breathe.
Heat makes it worse. The EPA says heat speeds up how fast the gas comes off. And so a warm house, shut tight all winter, keeps more of it in.
Formaldehyde, the gas in the glue
You cannot see it. You can feel it. The EPA's own list reads like a bad winter. It names stinging eyes, a sore throat, a cough and wheezing.
There is a bigger worry too. In 2011 the US health department named it a known cause of cancer in people.
Most homes have a little in the air. One chain's floors were tested and failed, and it knew.
What did Lumber Liquidators know?
Quick answer: that its own store samples failed, before it told investors they passed.
In 2013 and 2014, California's air board tested boards from the company's California stores. It told the company they failed for formaldehyde. The company's own tests of the same boards found much the same.
And the boxes? Those samples "were labeled as compliant" and sat in the stores for sale.
So the box said yes. The test said no.
In January 2015, its bosses decided to drop one Chinese supplier over those worries. In the Justice Department's words, "that same day, Lumber Liquidators admitted it ordered more laminate flooring" from it.
In March 2015, 60 Minutes aired its story on the floors. The next morning, the company told investors its floors met California's rules.
The SEC later found the company "knew that its largest Chinese supplier had failed third-party formaldehyde emissions testing."
In March 2019 the company agreed to a $33 million penalty for lying to investors. About $14 million of it was its whole profit on China-made boards, mid January to early May 2015.
A court had already approved a $36 million settlement in 2018. It covered about 760,000 customers who bought that laminate from 2009 to 2015.
None of that is a ruling that a floor made anyone sick. But in 2016 the CDC studied some of these boards. It said irritation and breathing problems "could occur in everyone exposed."
| What happened | The concern | Named authority and date | What it does NOT mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store samples failed formaldehyde tests | Labeled compliant, tested over the limit | California Air Resources Board, 2013 to 2015 | Not every board they sold |
| $33 million penalty | A false filing to investors | US Justice Department, March 2019 | Not a finding that anyone got sick |
| $36 million settlement | About 760,000 customers, 2009 to 2015 | US district court, 2018 | Not an admission |
| Health review of the boards | Irritation could reach everyone exposed | CDC, March 2016 | Modeled, not measured in homes |
Do I have to rip up my floor?
Quick answer: no. Start with the air tonight, and it costs nothing.
I know that thought. That floor runs under the couch and the table. You cannot redo it this week.
So do not. Start with the air.
A US health agency calls open windows and fans the easiest way to lower the gas.
Open two windows for ten minutes, even in January. Run the bathroom fan and the kitchen fan too.
Turn the heat down a notch at night. The EPA says keeping heat and humidity low cuts what pressed wood gives off.
Then look at what goes in the mop bucket. A strong clean smell fills that same shut room.
Is there a case for leaving it alone?
Quick answer: yes. The gas usually fades with age, and new laminate has a federal limit.
One. The EPA says emissions from pressed wood "typically" go down over time. An older floor gives off less than it did new.
Two. Since June 2018, the pressed wood in new laminate has had to meet a federal limit. If your floor was made after that, most of this post is not about you.
Three. The CDC's cancer number was small. It said 6 to 30 extra cases per 100,000 people. That was for breathing the worst boards all day, every day, for two years.
Four. The EPA says colds, flu and other gases can bring the same sting and cough. Your floor may not be it.
So why does it still sit wrong with me?
Because the boxes said compliant. The company's own tests said otherwise, and it kept selling.
You cannot see the gas. You cannot tell a good board from a bad one by looking.
And you are far from the only one asking. About 760,000 customers were in that one settlement.
What goes down when the old floor comes up?
Quick answer: solid wood or tile, with no pressed wood and glue in the middle.
One day that floor will wear out. When it does, do not put the same kind back.
Put down solid wood or tile. There is no glued core, and so nothing in the middle to give off gas.
I will not tell you to trust the sticker on the box. The failed boards had one too.
So the only question is who made it. And would they tell you when a test came back bad?
The floor can wait. The mop bucket is where I can help. Switch to America is a private membership store. We are the manufacturer. No middlemen, no markup.
Do the small thing first. Tonight, open two windows for ten minutes before bed.
Shannon's Advice
Straight talk from ShannonI do not call them grocery stores. They are poison centers meant to do you and your family harm. It is not just the brands who are doing the harm, it is the stores themselves. They allow these toxic products on their shelves. People are sick and dying. This is a very serious matter. How can we ever trust them again?
We can't trust them. That is where Switch to America comes in. We are a new supply chain, built on family values, trust and affordability.
You do not have to take my word for it. The proof is in my blog posts, the recalls, the lawsuits and the fines, and in the app I built called The Family Home Toxic Scorecard. Also, inside my Switch Circle private community, we talk about real solutions.
Women come to me exhausted, in pain, stressed out, and on a list of prescriptions they never wanted. I have spent over 20 years helping women get off prescription medications. I help families reclaim their health.
We cannot stop them. I have stopped expecting to. However, we can stop walking into their stores. We are linking arms and together taking our control back. Control of our health and our finances.
Start by clicking the link below and taking the SCAN.
The receipts
- California Air Resources Board, March 2016. The company paid $2.5 million to settle claims that it sold wood products that "ARB testing showed exceeded state formaldehyde limits." The samples "were labeled as compliant." What it means: the box was not the test.
- US Justice Department, March 2019. A securities fraud charge, meaning misleading investors, on hold for three years, and a $33 million penalty. The company admitted it "knowingly filed a false and misleading" filing the morning after 60 Minutes aired. What it means: it told the market its floors passed.
- US Securities and Exchange Commission, March 2019. The SEC found the company "knew that its largest Chinese supplier had failed third-party formaldehyde emissions testing." What it means: the knowing came before the telling.
- CBS News, March 2019. The $36 million class settlement, approved in 2018, covered 760,000 customers who bought the China-made laminate from 2009 to 2015. The company also agreed to destroy 22 million board feet of flooring. A settlement is not an admission. What it means: this was not one unlucky house.
- CDC and ATSDR, March 2016. After fixing an error in its math, the CDC said irritation and breathing problems "could occur in everyone exposed to formaldehyde in the laminate flooring, not just sensitive groups." What it means: its first number was too low.
Who do you become?
You become the one in your house who knows what the floor is made of.
It is a Saturday in April. Every window in the living room is open. The spring air runs across the floor.
You are sideways on the couch, feet up, calling to your neighbor through the window.
It took two open windows and one evening to start.
Three minutes, room by room
The floor is one room. The free scan checks the rest and tells you what to change first. It is free so you can see it yourself. A first name and a cell, and nobody calls.
Take the free home scanWhat else do people ask?
Does laminate still give off formaldehyde after ten years?
Usually less than it did new. The EPA says it tends to go down over time. Fresh air lowers what is left.
Was my Lumber Liquidators floor one of the bad ones?
The class action covered its China-made laminate, sold from 2009 to 2015. Only some boards California tested went over the limit. If yours went down then, you are right to ask. Air out that room daily, and replace that floor first.
Is laminate sold today any better?
Since June 2018 its core has had to meet a federal limit. But the failed boards said compliant too. Solid wood or tile is the cleaner pick.
Does opening a window really help?
Yes, it helps. A US health agency calls windows and fans the easiest way to lower the gas at home. Ten minutes a day is a real start.