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Healthy house construction – formalde…

| Posted in General Discussion on January 20, 2002 08:55am

*
I have a customer who is hypersensitive to outgasing materials. I want to build the kitchen cabinet boxes with 3/4″ plywood. I need a source for formaldehyde free plywood, or suggestions for other materials to substitute. The cabinets will be painted, but distressed, so some wood may show through.

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  1. jim_"crazy_legs"_blodg | Jan 19, 2002 11:39pm | #1

    *
    You might consider using Medite II. It's an MDF made by Willimette (www.wii.com) that they claim is formaldehyde free. You can probably get most any veneer you want with an Medite II core.

    E mail David Ericson, who's an editor at FHB. He did a photo shoot last summer of a kitchen in Seattle that the cabinet boxes were built with veneered straw cores, I think to avoid off gassing. I'd never heard of these straw cores, but the cabinetmaker told me he works with them regularly. Anyway, David can probably dig up the name of the architect from that job, and you should be able to track down the cabinetmeker from there - real nice guy, seemed interested in all sorts of toxin free products. I'd be surprised if he wouldn't talk to you about it.

    1. George_Oliver | Jan 19, 2002 11:48pm | #2

      *-- jim beat me to the punchBaird,I'm going to reply to your question kind of tangentially. I got 'Healthy House Building for the New Millenium' by John Bower (Healthy House Institute, 2000) from the library the other day. Bower says you've got three options:1. Use older cabinet cases; UF (urea-formaldehyde) emissions from plywood decrease by about 50% after about 6 months. Though Bower says "I would never say that 6-12 month old cabinets [with UF glues] were safe. I certainly wouldn't put them in my home." 2. Solid wood.3. Bower says, "The best choice for healthy kitchen cabinets is steel."Other choices I know about are Medite and MDI-based composite boards; I looked quick and here's a link;http://www.buildinggreen.com/elists/medite.htmlI guess your problem is your first choice is plywood and your finish will require some kind of wood veneer, so you might have some hoo-ha to deal with the other composite products. Good luck.chrs, GO

      1. Jamie_Buxton_ | Jan 20, 2002 04:17am | #3

        *Your customer may well have troubles with finishing materials. Conventional varnishes, paints, and lacquers outgas, too. Check out AFM (http://www.afmsafecoat.com/), which specializes in building materials for use around the chemically sensitive.

        1. K_Johnston | Jan 20, 2002 08:55am | #4

          *I believe that exterior grade plywood emits less formaldehyde than regular plywood due to the type of glue used. Check "Building Materials for the Hypersensitve" from Canda Mortgage and Housing for other alternatives.

  2. Baird_Snyder | Jan 20, 2002 08:55am | #5

    *
    I have a customer who is hypersensitive to outgasing materials. I want to build the kitchen cabinet boxes with 3/4" plywood. I need a source for formaldehyde free plywood, or suggestions for other materials to substitute. The cabinets will be painted, but distressed, so some wood may show through.

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