Ranked Red: Why liquid linoleum doesn’t get linoleum’s healthy product ranking

Jul 30, 2026

Liquid linoleum application

Standard linoleum is widely known as a sustainable flooring choice: It is mostly made of low-hazard plant-based ingredients including linseed oil, cork dust, and wood dust. This is why linoleum sheet or tile is ranked “green” – meaning better than most other flooring products – on our Informed product guidance.

Linoleum’s favorable ranking may be why liquid linoleum has caught the attention of many sustainability professionals. It has a lot of the same ingredients, and like standard linoleum, it is one of the more climate-friendly flooring options. It also avoids the use of hazardous adhesives or sealers. And designers love it for its aesthetic, operation, and maintenance features.

For architects and their teams looking for a durable flooring finish, like those working on public sector projects (e.g. schools and hospitals), the attributes of liquid linoleum can sound like the answer to their prayers. Many of the architects whom Habitable has spoken with about liquid linoleum say the softer, more predictable finish, seamless aesthetic, and low-carbon profile caught their interest. The architects also mentioned that having “linoleum” in the name helped because linoleum is a bio-based product that’s ranked green on Informed. The association to linoleum signaled trust and made liquid linoleum all the more intriguing.

Liquid linoleum and other liquid applied bio-based flooring deserve credit for using natural rather than synthetic materials and for working to minimize the product’s climate impact. That said, “biobased” products do not necessarily mean hazard-free products. Liquid linoleum contains raw materials that release hazardous chemicals during manufacturing and installation. For this reason, it doesn’t meet Habitable's chemical-hazard based criteria for minimizing health impacts of products across the full life cycle. And that distinction matters.

Manufacturing: The hidden cost to fenceline communities

Like most fluid-applied flooring, bio-based products require the use of a hardener – a chemical agent that crosslinks to create the solid surface. The hardener can be derived from biological materials, which sounds reassuring. But whether bio-derived or fossil fuel-derived, the hardener itself uses hazardous chemicals in the manufacturing process, and contains chemicals known to be respiratory sensitizers. Workers at the manufacturing facilities and communities living nearby can be exposed to these chemicals at work or when the chemicals are released into the environment.

Installation: Worker health concern

Based on industry classifications submitted under REACH in the European Union, the hardeners used in biobased fluid-applied flooring contain chemicals that may cause allergy or asthma symptoms if inhaled during installation.

End of life: Bioplastics are still plastics

As a result of adding this hardener, liquid linoleum contains a substantial amount of plastic - more than 25% plastic by weight. Whether made from fossil fuels or biological materials, plastic-based products pollute the environment and degrade into potentially harmful microplastics at the end of their useful lives.

The bottom line: Healthy materials selection requires looking at the full picture

Climate change is an important consideration when choosing sustainable materials. But when selecting products, it’s important to consider all life-cycle impacts of the chemicals used, including human health hazards to workers and communities during extraction and refining as well as those that come with end-of-life disposal.

It is understandable for an architect or other decision maker to get excited about the low carbon footprint of this bio-based alternative to epoxy-based fluid applied/seamless flooring. But when they consider all flooring options, beyond fluid applied flooring, they can see that there are many high performing flooring types that are healthier choices throughout the full lifecycle of the product.

Your turn: Making a better choice

For designers and architects seeking to choose products that are good for both people and the environment: Start by looking at Informed and avoiding “red ranked” product types in favor of those ranked yellow or green. It's a simple approach, backed by independent, rigorous science, that delivers on many priorities at once: reducing plastic pollution, minimizing climate impact, promoting circularity, and protecting the most vulnerable, including children.