You might not instantly associate real wood furniture with health benefits, but the bottom line is that there is a link between real wood furniture and health. A wide array of home products contains chemicals and additives that are unhealthy. Quite often, when people think about healthy products in the home, they think of food or perhaps cleaning supplies and furniture never even crosses their minds.
However, the kind of furniture we bring into our homes can have a major impact on our health and the health of our family in a variety of ways. One of the key facts to remember about furniture is that it is often quite large. Simply stated, if your furniture contains unhealthy compounds the size of furniture means that there is a great deal of that compound or compounds in your home. It’s can have a far greater impact than a toxic small household item that might simply be stored in a drawer somewhere. In this article, we will explore how selecting real wood can help you improve and protect your health. When you select naturally made hand crafted furniture, you ensure that you and your family breathe healthier air and get less exposure to toxins.
VOCs Never Take a Holiday
Most non-wood furniture and simulated wood furniture so often sold in the “big box stores” are made using a wide variety of chemicals. These chemicals are not inactive and do, in fact, keep off-gassing for not just months but in fact off-gas for years. Furniture and other items that we put in our homes such as carpeting product volatile organic compounds or VOCs.
Furniture and carpeting containing VOCs off-gas around the clock and unfortunately also do so 365 days a year. Many people are more sensitive to off-gassing than others. Building materials are often behind high levels of VOCs, and if you are living in a newly constructed building the odds are good that considerable off-gassing is taking place. If you are living in an older home then much of the off-gassing has likely already occurred; however, new furniture presents a potential problem.
Upholstered and Pressed Wood Furniture is Inferior to Real Wood Furniture
It is quite common for mass produced upholstered furniture and so-called “pressed wood” furniture, which is essentially a mixture of chemicals, glue and sawdust formed into the shape of furniture, to off-gas chemicals such as formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is a known toxic compound and one that should be avoided. Children and particularly vulnerable to chemical exposure underscoring the importance of protecting children from products, such as pressed wood and upholstered furniture that are off-gassing.
Tighter Homes Mean Greater VOC Exposure
Currently there is a widespread movement to make homes “tighter” so that they are more energy efficient. One of the byproducts of having tighter, more energy efficient homes is that VOCs tend to get trapped inside where they are breathed, resulting in potential health consequences. There are two ways of reducing one’s risk of VOCs being trapped due to today’s tighter homes.
Additional Steps You Can Take to Safeguard Your Health Against VOCs
-Simply Avoid these Products
The first way is to simply avoid products that are high in VOCs in the first place, such as pressed wood and upholstered furniture. The second step is to make sure that one’s living space is well-ventilated and that a quality air purifier is used. Many air purifiers on the market use ozone, which is known to have a range of potential health problems. A safer approach is to use HEPA filter non-ozone, non-ionizing air purifier to help clean the air. Even taking a step as simple as opening up a window can help dramatically when it comes to lowering indoor air pollution and VOCs.
-Circumvent Flame Retardants
Another major problem with upholstered furniture and press wood furniture is that these low-cost, low-quality furniture options contain flame retardant chemicals. In short, flame retardant chemicals should be avoided whenever possible. Flame retardant chemicals are added to the foam in furniture, and there are conflicting opinions out there as to whether or not these chemicals even work.
What is known, however, is that flame retardant chemicals are harmful and pose a particular risk to the health and development of children. These chemicals have been linked to cancer, lower I.Q. in children and hormone problems. Avoiding furniture and other products with flame retardant chemicals in them is a prudent move, especially in furniture which is generally large and contains a large volume of these harmful chemicals.
-Skip the Stains
As mentioned earlier in this article, furniture is large. Upholstered furniture often has stain guards on it or consumers add stain guards after the fact. Stain guards are usually nothing more than a mixture of chemicals and they are not a permanent solution. Upholstered furniture will get dirty. Attempting to prevent the staining of upholstered furniture through the use of stains is only a short-term solution and serves to reduce indoor air quality.
Stain guards do, however, release VOCs and chemicals into your environment. Choosing well made wood furniture means that you and your family are not only avoiding the toxic compounds contained within the furniture, but also eliminating the need for stain guards altogether.
-Always Choose Real Wood
Opting for real wood furniture is one of the single greatest steps any consumer can take towards reducing flame retardant and VOC compounds in their homes. There are many chemicals in our environment and the majority of them have not been tested for their long-term impact on human health.
With this in mind, it only makes sense to reduce harmful chemical exposure whenever possible. Until greater safety regulations are put into place it is the job of the consumer to vote with his or her dollars. Not only is real wood furniture a safer option, but it is also an option that is better for the planet, as most upholstered furniture and pressed wood furniture has a high carbon footprint and uses petroleum in the manufacturing process. By contrast, real wood furniture is safer and much more durable.