Backing Boards and Underlayments

Underlayment products for flooring serve several functions and can be made from a variety of materials. Environmentally preferable materials for flooring underlayment include natural cork, strawboard, and recycled-paper-based fiberboard.

Using underlayment products beneath wood, tile, resilient flooring, or carpet and carpet cushion provides a level surface and helps insulate floors from sound transmission and, to a limited extent, heat loss. Cork rolls and sheets provide particularly high added resilience to the floor system, with significantly less thickness than fiberboard products or a gypsum-cement poured-in-place slab. Use of a sound-deadening underlayment below a hard-surface floor can reduce the need to further control sound transmission with carpeting or rugs.

Underlayment products for flooring serve several functions and can be made from a variety of materials. Environmentally preferable materials for flooring underlayment include natural cork, strawboard, and recycled-paper-based fiberboard. Using underlayment products beneath wood, tile, resilient flooring, or carpet and carpet cushion provides a level surface and helps insulate floors from sound transmission and, to a limited extent, heat loss.

Products in Backing Boards and Underlayments

Our guide lists products from the Greenspec® Online Directory of environmentally preferable building products. Manufacturers and/or their representatives should visit this page to learn more about suggesting their products for inclusion.