With winter upon us, you'll be spending a lot of time cooped up indoors with all the windows shut tight. The indoor air quality of your home becomes especially important at this time of year, especially if you suffer from asthma or allergies. Decorative concrete floors not only help to reduce allergens inside the home, they also help minimize exposure to toxins because they don't emit chemicals and won't support the growth of harmful mold or bacteria. Here's a look at some of the user-friendly qualities that make decorative concrete floors a healthy alternative, along with some tips on what you can do to make your concrete floors even healthier.  

Concrete floors are allergy-free.

They reduce allergens

For homeowners that are looking for allergy relief, removing all wall-to-wall carpeting and opting for decorative concrete flooring can help. When it comes to allergies, carpeting can be one of the biggest offenders because it's difficult to keep clean and often becomes a haven for dust mites, pollen and other allergens. Concrete floors can ease sneezing and congestion because they don't trap allergens and they are easy to clean. 

They don't emit harmful VOCs 

Synthetic carpets can also emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, as can some of the products that accompany carpet installation such as adhesives and padding. Some of the adhesives used under vinyl sheet goods and linoleum can also emit VOCs. You don't need to worry about harmful VOC emissions with concrete floors. In fact, VOC emissions from concrete building products are much lower than those for most other building materials.  

Concrete floors don't support mold growth.

TIP: When staining or dyeing concrete floors, be sure to use nontoxic pigments and finish the floor with a VOC-free sealer. Learn more about green concrete coloring options.  

They won't feed toxic mold  

Exposure to toxic mold in homes and buildings has been blamed for ailments ranging from headaches to 

They can be used to deliver clean heat 

Floor with radiant heating.

Concrete floors are ideal for use with energy-efficient radiant in-floor heating systems, which deliver clean, even heat. When homes are heated with in-floor radiant heating, no air is being blown around, as with forced-air systems, so no dust or dirt is recirculated. into the air.