Well Living Natural Wood Floors

Healthy. Stable. Genuine.

100% natural for a biophilic design approach.

For 40 years, mafi has been the leader in production of completely ecological natural wood floors - tailor made in Austria.

Tested, Certified and Promoted by:

mafi produces completely ecological and healthy living natural wood floors and is the international pioneer in sustainable and pollutant free wood flooring. The floors are manufactured exclusively in Austria and exported to more than 50 countries with the help of certified sales partners worldwide. The application areas range from Residential, Commercial, Hospitality and Health Care.
Below, you will learn why healthy wood floors are becoming increasingly important, what contribution mafi natural wood floors can have on your health and what you should look for when buying healthy living materials.

The more time people spend indoors, it is becoming apparent that the materials used are very important!

People spend around 90% of their day indoors. The intensity of the effects of the materials used in the rooms on the people has never been higher.

This is why countless international studies are focussing on this issue. Trends and fields such as construction ecology, green design, and healthy living products are on the rise. These work against such diseases as sick-building syndrome, which cause headache, restlessness, and fatigue due to the increased time and unhealthy materials used indoors .

But rather than sounding melodramatic, with common sense we can quickly realize that we live in an increasingly globalized world with products of unknown origin and extremely diverse manufacturing quality standards. This makes it very important to be aware of the materials we use inside our interior spaces.

As a pioneer in natural wood floors, mafi natural wood floors shows why a wooden floor, processed naturally and healthily is an important and even health promoting contribution to your home.

Only natural open pored wood helps health

Natural wood blends perfectly with people and shares its healthy properties with us. In this context, naturalness means that the surfaces of the wood or the pores are not sealed but instead continue to allow an exchange of moisture. The best way to do this is with a thin layer of saturating natural plant based oils, which can dry in the air. Here, the oil penetrates deeply into the wood, protects from the inside out and does not form a plasticised layer on the surface, as is the case in almost all other procedures.

Instead of a artificial plastic coating, an open wood surface allows for direct human contact. mafi keeps the wood breathable which regulates the room climate automatically. The exciting thing is that the ideal indoor climate is identical for both humans and wood - at a temperature of 21°C and a relative humidity of 40 - 60%, the ideal conditions are reached.

Wood filters pollutants out of the air and has a generally positive effect on the well-being of people. In times of a rapidly growing electrical load in our rooms, wood has a relieving effect. Wood is antistatic and reduces "electricity" in the entire room. It should be noted that lacquered surfaces do just the opposite. That is why the use of natural wood floors are on the rise in office and professional spaces.

Hygene is notably enhanced with the use of natural wood surfaces. Bacteria and germs are killed by the natural aspects and properties found in wood. Wood does not promote the growth of bacteria and by simply washing with hot water and mafi natural lye-based soap you are effectively removing all the bacteria and germs, dirt and dust while conditioning the wood fibers. Leaving a clean and hygenic surface every time. These natural and healthy benefits are encouraging more and more doctors to use wood in their practices.

Wood is possible to use on all surfaces in a room but the floor is the obvious choice. 

Wood is, used in combination with regular wet cleaning, is like an air purifier for your home. The air is cleaned, toxins and allergens are removed, the humidity is regulated, static charges are dissipated and electronic smog is controlled. All by passive and natural capillary actions associated with the biological processes of wood.

The floor is ideal in this role as it is typically the largest finished surface area in a room. Having it as wood doesnt overload the design of the room. Wood interacts with all of our senses, especially the unique look, the familiar smell and the warm feel. The surface of the floor is what is most likely to interact with our skin. All this together works on us in a relaxing and stress reducing way. 

 

Ideas for your space - sorted by style, room or individually:

A mafi natural surface requires complete and total naturalness!

With the open-pored surface, a natural, unsolicited and unending exchange takes place between the wood and the environment. With all these positive effects, this surface type requires consideration when selecting the component parts of the wood floor plank. A breathable plank cannot contain any harmful substances, since these would otherwise escape into the room. mafi follows this creed and has been a pioneer in the field of totally ecological and healthy living, natural wood floors for decades.

Naturalness as Standard

mafi natural wood floors as a pioneer of well living materials!

mafi was the first company that specialized in professional and uncompromising chemical free and naturally oiled finished planks. Even today, a better overall package of stability, authenticity and naturalness in the market is near nonexistent.
Meanwhile, the mafi portfolio comprises nine wood types, 29 surfaces, various collections and well over 200 products - all with a completely natural and healthy living base for each individual item.

Wood + white glue + wood floor oil

mafi natural wood floors choose only selected, healthy components!

The floor consists of wood, white glue and oil - that’s it! The white glue consists of natural ingredients such as vinegar, and is completely formaldehyde free. The mafi wood floor oil is plant based oil, requires no drying chemicals and is VOC and solvent free. All mafi floors have the E1 emission class. The logs come from nearby sustainable forests, where at least one new tree is planted for every tree felled. All of the waste from production is used to create energy for the facilities.

The sum of these natural ingredients or rather the absence of chemicals has helped mafi achieve several international certifications.

Declare Label – red list free

The "International Living Future Institute" accepted mafi in February 2018 in the best declare labeled category "red list free". This guarantees that mafi natural wood floors are not only completely biodegradable and can be recycled, but also contain no harmful substances. This declare label allows for complete transparency of the mafi products. The certification applies to all types of wood in the mafi range. 

The institute is located in Seattle and Portland, USA and is a pioneer in the architectural consultation segment on healthy living.

The United States has for years been focussing on issues such as ecology of construction and of healthy living, and plays a pioneering role around the world. Selected, specialized companies help architects choose the correct and more importantly harmless materials. With the "red list free" listing, mafi is actively recommended for national and international projects as a healthy and sustainable option.

More information on the ‘Declare Label’ and mafi can be found here.

MAS Certified Green

mafi natural wood floors were certified in 2018 with the MAS Certified Green Label award - as one of the few wooden floors worldwide. The naturally oiled surface in combination with formaldehyde-free white glue was a key criteria.

The Materials Analytical Services, LLC, in short MAS, is a facility in Suwanee, Georgia in the United States. This institute specializes in the research and certification of products around the subject of ecological construction.

At the center of its attention are the impact of released, chemical substances used in interiors. Using a chamber test, they measure the release of air from all products and measure the chemical levels. Less Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) simply mean a healthier indoor environment. mafi has passed the most stringent CDPH test. This means we are certified safe and healthy for interior environments. The MAS certification program uses several recognized measuring methods and references to established programs such as LEED, CDPH, BIFMA and CHPS. The MAS Certified Green is compliant to ISO/TEC 17025 and 17065.

More information on the Green Certificate and mafi can be found here.  

National Asthma Council Australia.

Within the framework of the National Asthma Foundation's Sensitive Choice® program, mafi natural wood floors, also as the only floors worldwide, are recommended for people with Asthma. The self-regulating room climate and optimizing effects of mafi floors help to improve the air we breathe and make everyday life better for people with Asthma.

mafi is a partner of this program, along with brands like Dyson and Miele. The non-profit organization is based in Melbourne, Australia, and works across the continent.

Unnatural substances, which are artificial and thus only added by humans to the wood, cause negative reactions in humans. An allergy to pure wood is currently unknown. This is why mafi uses only wood from sustainable and controlled forestry. The natural pre-drying step in the plant in Austria is only the first step in a completely natural production process. Absolutely no chemical accelerators or other additives are used. In addition to the wood, the planks contain only the mafi wood floor oil, based on plants, and white glue.

The open-pored surface of mafi natural wood floor enables a continuous exchange of air in the room and provides an ongoing refresher through damp cleaning. The resulting room climate sustainably improves the air and relieves the symptoms of Asthma and allergy sufferers.

FSC

This certificate is issued by the Forest Stewardship Council and guarantees that wood comes from sustainable forestry. With the Imperial Forestry Law for the Austrian Crown Lands dating back to 1853, Austria has probably the oldest forestry law in the world. The idea of sustainability was formulated therein, so that for every tree felled a new one must be planted.

The responsibility towards nature does not end with the purchase of raw materials. It is important to offer customers easy and viable solutions that are in harmony with nature.

This guiding principle is what is behind the innovation Vulcano, with which mafi started working against the depletion of the rain forest several years ago. Through a sensitive and chemical free drying process using just water, warmth and wind, the color of local woods are changed from light to dark. In this way, for example, Oak wood can compete in color with tropical woods and compete with it in terms of characteristics and origin.

Scientific study confirms impact of wood on the human heart.

A perfect example of what wood can deliver, as long as it is left natural of course, is shown by the scientific study from Joaneum Research. The Swiss Stone Pine is the focus of scientific investigations in sleep and relaxation rooms.

The long-term study confirmed the significant influence of furnishing materials on physical and mental health. During sleep, a significantly better quality of sleep was shown in a Swiss Pine wood bed compared to a wooden decor bed. A better night’s rest goes hand in hand with a reduced heart rate and increased body energy in the course of the day. The average "savings" in the Swiss Pine wood bed amounted to 3,500 heart beats per day, which corresponds to about an hour of heart work.

mafi has a Swiss Stone Pine floor in natural or white oiled look in its product range. The surface is as usual, open-pored and the wood stays breathable. The smell of the mafi Swiss Stone Pine floors is unmistakable and the health-promoting effects remain unchanged. The regular damp cleaning supports the breathing process of the Swiss Stone Pine. The wood itself is rather soft and suitable therefore for rooms with low demands on the floor. This is ideal for relaxation rooms.

So the question remains: why doesn’t everyone do it?

The well living properties of mafi natural wood floors can be explained by the natural components and the open-pored surface. However, to avoid drying accelerators or industrial adhesives and at the same time, to give the wood enough time to absorb the oil completely, it takes above all time and a special production process.

Basically, you can formulate it like this - Time is Money, Replace Money with Quality. That is why mafi chose early on to put quality at the center of production and not the quantities produced. Therefore, all mafi floors are made to order and according to customer requirements.

But anyone who believes that flexibility needs no rules is wrong. On the contrary, almost all mafi floors are produced in four days. Delivery times vary according to raw material availability and logistics. It thus requires a lot of attention and checking, to produce a genuine and above all healthy mafi natural wood floor. A mass production where every second is counted as money does not allow for such production flexibility. This is why the mafi surface is still a notable exception in the market and convinces end users, distributors and architects in over 50 countries of the world.

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