LEED Finish, and What LEED Actually Requires
If you are working on a project pursuing LEED, WELL, or Green Globes certification, this page is for you. It covers what LEED is, which credit our products touch, where each of them stands against it, and what we can send you for a submittal.
We are not LEED consultants and will not pretend to be. What we can tell you is exactly what has been tested, by whom, and to what standard, and let your consultant do the rest.
What LEED is
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a green building rating system run by the U.S. Green Building Council, with certification administered by Green Business Certification Inc. It is the most widely used system of its kind in the world, and for most owners and design teams it is the benchmark.
How it works. A project first has to satisfy a set of prerequisites. Beyond that it earns points by meeting individual credit requirements across categories covering energy, water, materials, indoor environmental quality, and site.
The four levels, out of 110 available points:
| Level | Points |
|---|---|
| Certified | 40 to 49 |
| Silver | 50 to 59 |
| Gold | 60 to 79 |
| Platinum | 80 or more |
Which version. USGBC launched LEED v5 in April 2025, and v4 and v4.1 remain in use on projects registered under them. LEED v5 reorganizes the credits around three impact areas, with roughly half the points addressing decarbonization and the remainder split between quality of life and ecological conservation. USGBC has said it intends to update the system on a five year cycle from here.
If you have seen older material referring to EQ Credit 4.2, including on our own site until recently, that belonged to LEED 2009 and has been superseded. Worth knowing which version your project is working to, because the requirements changed substantively and not just in numbering.
The credit our products touch
Interior paints and coatings fall under Low-Emitting Materials, within Indoor Environmental Quality.
The intent is straightforward: reduce the concentration of chemical contaminants in the air people actually breathe indoors. The credit covers several product categories, and interior paints and coatings applied wet on site is the one we are in.
Two different tests, and people conflate them constantly
This is the single most useful thing on this page.
VOC content is what is in the can, measured in grams per litre. It is a formulation property, regulated by air quality rules such as SCAQMD Rule 1113 and the CARB suggested control measure.
VOC emissions are what actually reaches the air in a room, measured by applying the product, putting it in a test chamber, and sampling the air. The reference method is the California Department of Public Health Standard Method v1.2-2017, widely known as CA Section 01350.
These measure genuinely different things, and a product can perform well on one and poorly on the other. A low number on a data sheet tells you nothing about what a cured surface releases over the following fortnight.
For wet-applied interior products, LEED looks at both: content limits from the referenced regulations, and third-party chamber testing to CDPH v1.2. Almost every conversation we have about VOCs turns out to be two conversations folded into one.
Where our products stand on content
Approximate VOC content by product:
| Product | VOC content |
|---|---|
| Concentrated Finishing Oil | 198.8 g/L |
| Liquid Wax End Sealer | 212.5 g/L |
| LEED Finish | below 350 g/L |
| Original Finish | 405.45 g/L |
| Exterior Finish | 405.45 g/L |
Clear wood finishes are commonly held to a 350 g/L limit, though the applicable figure depends on the coating category and which regulation your jurisdiction references. Confirm the number with your consultant rather than taking ours as final.
Where our products stand on emissions
LEED Finish has been tested and certified.
Berkeley Analytical, an independent laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, tested LEED Finish to CDPH Standard Method v1.2-2017 and issued a certificate of compliance in April 2022.
The result met the acceptance criteria for both defined exposure scenarios, School Classroom and Private Office, on individual VOCs of concern and on formaldehyde. The tested sample was applied to Douglas fir tongue and groove at a loading of 186 grams per square metre.
CDPH Standard Method v1.2 is recognized by:
- USGBC LEED, under BD&C, ID&C, and Residential BD&C Multifamily
- The WELL Building Standard v2, Feature X06
- Green Globes, ANSI/GBI 01-2019
Two points of precision, because specifiers reasonably ask both.
That certificate covers LEED Finish. Our other products are made from the same family of natural ingredients but have not been through emissions testing, and we will not imply otherwise.
Credit programs set their own requirements about how recently a product must have been tested, and those requirements have tightened. Contact us for our current documentation status before you rely on a certificate date for a submittal.
Which product for a certifying project
LEED Finish, for interior work. It is the one formulated to sit below the content threshold and the one with third-party emissions testing behind it.
It is a custom blend. We make it with more solvent than our Concentrated Oil, for easier penetration, and less than our Original and Exterior Finishes, to bring the content below the limit. Available from one gallon up to a 55 gallon drum. We do not offer it in quarts, and because it is blended to order it is not something we can ship the same afternoon. Order early.
Concentrated Finishing Oil and Liquid Wax both sit well below 350 g/L on content, if content is the only requirement in play.
Original and Exterior Finish exceed the 350 g/L content threshold and are not the right choice where that limit applies.
A note on what a VOC actually is
Not all volatile organic compounds are equivalent, and it is worth saying so even though it complicates the story.
The point of the indoor air quality question is to keep people from breathing harmful compounds. Many VOCs used across a wide range of products, including plenty marketed as green, are genuinely harmful. Others are not, at ordinary exposures.
The citrus solvent we use is a powerful compound and deserves respect, particularly during application and while it flashes off. It does not carry the complications associated with more traditional solvents such as benzene or formaldehyde.
We are not arguing that content limits should be ignored. They exist for good reasons and we formulate to meet them. We are saying that a single number in grams per litre does not tell you what you are breathing, which is exactly why the chamber test exists and why we had ours done.
What we do not claim
Our products are not LEED certified. No product is. Buildings earn certification and materials contribute toward credits. Anyone telling you their product is LEED certified is telling you something that cannot be true.
We are not LEED experts. Your consultant knows your project and the current credit language better than we do, and credit language changes.
The certificate covers what it covers. LEED Finish, tested to the standard and on the date named on it.
Using our finishes can be one piece of the puzzle toward a higher rating. It is not the whole puzzle and we would rather say so.
For your submittal
Contact us and we will send what you need: the Berkeley Analytical certificate of compliance and test report, our current testing status, full ingredient disclosure, VOC content figures by product, and coverage rates for estimating.
- We would much rather answer these questions before a specification is issued than after. Call 541-844-8748 or write info@heritagenaturalfinishes.com.
- Photo by Trillium Dell. Writer's Workshop Theater.