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Extracted Content

• For wet-applied products, the amount of product applied in mass per surface area (during testing).

Inherently Non-emitting Criteria

Inherently non-emitting products are building materials that, owing to their composition or use in construction, do not emit VOCs and therefore do not require an emissions evaluation. Products that are inherently non-emitting include stone, ceramic, powder-coated metals, plated or anodized metal, and unfinished or untreated solid wood. For the purposes of this credit, untreated and unfinished solid wood (not engineered wood) can also be considered nonemitting even though such materials will likely emit some amount of formaldehyde naturally. Ceramic and powder-coated metals meet the criteria for being inherently non-emitting when their manufacturing processes result in chemically stable and inert surfaces that do not release VOCs into the environment after production. These materials are compliant without any VOC emissions testing if they do not include additives, surface coatings, binders, or sealants, as such products would emit VOCs.

If a product applied to the inherently non-emitting material has a separate manufacturer and cost to the end-user from the original material, the applied product may be documented as a separate product subject to the applicable low-emitting criteria, even if applied off-site.

If a product applied to the inherently non-emitting material does not have a separate manufacturer and cost to the end-user, the result is considered a new finished product that no longer qualifies as an inherently non-emitting material and is subject to the applicable lowemitting criteria.

Salvaged or Reused Materials Criteria

Products that are salvaged and reused and more than one year old will automatically comply with the VOC emission evaluation and do not require emissions evaluations. For salvaged or reused composite wood products, project teams must account for any off-site applied finishes or treatments in the composite wood category. These must comply with the VOC emissions evaluation criteria to ensure comprehensive assessment of the product’s total environmental impact.

Some salvaged or reused materials will have products applied to them (such as sealants or finishes). For instance:

U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction, April 2025 Launch Edition 431