Since I built my home to be non-toxic, furnishing it has become a dilemma for me. Many of my own pieces are worn from my children using them as jungle gyms, and the color scheme of my new house is very different than my old house. I could buy furniture from companies that use woods from sustainable or managed forests, but they use solvent based finishes. I am uncomfortable about bring home a furniture piece with this type of finish since I do not know the long term effect on my family’s health from the off gassing of the chemicals from the piece.
Another option is to buy furniture from Furnature, who sells environmentally friendly upholstery or have pieces custom made but the cost would be very expensive. A couch from Furnature could easily cost more than $3000.00. Over the last two years, I have become very resourceful in finding furniture that meets my nontoxic quest and my wallet. I have broken down my suggestions in several posts:
Antiques and Vintage Furniture, A Recycler’s dream
My fondest memories as I was growing up were in a house that was built in the 1920s. It was full of antiques, including a beloved grandfather clock, glass knobs, and beautiful wood trim and doors. We moved to
As I become an adult, I liked pieces that were light in color vowing to never buy dark, boring old traditional furniture. Not surprisingly, I built a house that echoes themes from my house that I grew up in. All of the sudden, old traditional furniture started to appeal to me and I started shopping at antiques stores. My first acquired antique was a 1920s drum table with a top shaped in the form of a flower pedal with a green leather top.
Since my purchase of my unusual drum table, I have become a 1920s through 1940s vintage furniture shopper. The cost of vintage furniture is very reasonable. I shop at the local antique vendors and the local shows.
Why vintage furniture and antiques? What is greener than something that already exists versus something that has to be made such as new furniture? I love the workmanship of these pieces. My belief, which is not based on any study, is that due to the age of antiques and vintage furniture, most of the off gassing of chemicals has taken place.
For me, I tend to shy away from recently touched up antiques or vintage furniture. Many dealers will refinish the pieces using the same solvent based nitrocellulose lacquer that they use on furniture today. I prefer not to buy furniture with recent solvent based finishes. I have been told by the manufacturers of some of the products that once the product cures, the solvents in the chemicals have offgassed. I was unable to obtain a general time period for curing because there are too many variables such as amount of the product that was used and drying conditions that cause different cure periods. However, even if a product cures rapidily, I tend to be more cautious and am skeptical of the long term effects of the off gassing of some of the chemical in these finishes. I prefer to bring in my house only low emitting products.
Green Home Guide did a nice piece on the different type of finishes. (Just click on the hyperlink.) It is very informative and links you to eco-friendly finishes.
If the finishes concern you, ask what they used to refinish the product, the manufacturer of the refinishing product, and when did they refinish the piece. It is possible they used an environmentally friendly version of shellac, oil, or low voc or water based lacquer. You can call the company who makes the product to find out how the emission of the chemicals in the product will affect your indoor air quality. Realize that each person’s home is different and again, there are alot of variables that cause products to off gas at different rates such as levels of humidity, amount of ventilation, and the composition of the product. In addition, each home has different furnishings which emit different levels of VOCs, and thus the indoor air quality is different for each house. See the Greenguard’s article on indoor air quality:
http://www.greenguard.org/Default.aspx?tabid=118
Greenguard lists products on their website that have been independently tested and certifed to be low emitting products. It is just not an easy answer. This is why I am so cautious. If you have chemical sensitivities, check with your doctor before you buy any piece of furniture.
Another suggestion if you are concerned about the finishes is to become friendly with some of the dealers and ask them if they find something that you like, to notify you before they repair it. It is worth asking if they would consider using a more environmentally friendly product for you or you can find a refinisher that will use these finishes. If you are unable to find someone to refinish the furniture in one of the eco-friendly finish, you might not mind a little nick or gouge in a piece of furniture because it gives it character. Next post in this series is …Addicted To Craig’s List….
Similar Posts:
- Part II of Used Furniture-Becoming An Eco-Chic Trendsetter-My Web and Garage Sale Addictions
- UsedFurnitureFindex, Online sale of Loved Possessions
- The Eco Friendly Sleeper Couch. Shouldn’t Your Inlaws Sleep Better?
- Used Upholstered Furniture and Flame Retardants
- Hand Made Eco-Furniture Made in our Backyards.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoyed reading your article, but have to clarify something you said. You recommend that folks should ask for environmentally friendly versions of traditional finishes. We fabricate our own cabinetry and use nothing but AFM Safecoat finishes because they are not just environmentally friendly…they are human friendly. Low or zero voc finishes are not any safer for humans. VOC’s are only regulated because of outdoor air pollution, not because of human health concerns. If that was the case, oranges would be banned since they emit 850 g/l of VOC’s when peeling off the skin. AFM Safecoat finishes are made using ingredients that are not considered hazardous or dangerous to humans, whether they are VOC’s or not.
Andrew, I happened to use only AFM’s products when I did my own finishing. Absolutely love them; however, not all re-finishers will use them and prefer their own brands. My re-finisher used Mohawak water based nitrocellulose.
If a re-finisher uses his own products and tells people they are water based, then what questions should a consumer ask as to the ingredients in the re-finisher’s products. Give us the red flag ingredients. Anna
There are hundreds of dangerous chemicals used in water based finishes, so its impossible to be on the look out for them all. Nitrocellulose should be avoided at all cost. Here’s a bit of info about it: One half of nitrocellulose, cellulose, is treated with nitric and sulfuric acid in the exact same way that trinitrotoluene is created, better known as TNT or dynamite. While not nearly as volatile or explosive as dynamite, nitrocellulose lacquer is extremely flammable and produces fumes when it’s being used that can easily ignite. As such, even products which have been treated with nitrocellulose lacquer many years ago are still easily burnt, making nitrocellulose a dangerous chemical to use.
Always ask for the MSDS and look for products that can be used by chemically sensitive individuals.
Andrew, Safecoat has an alternative to nitrocellulose, right? Tell us about it and how it differs. The scary thing is the furniture industry uses regular nitrocellulose. I bet (but not sure) even alot of the greener furnitures use the water based version. Anna
the water based version is not measurably safer than the solvent based version. To be called water based, only 50% of the liquid ingredients need to be water. Also, hazardous ingredients only need to be listed on the MSDS if they make up more than 1% of the volume. So, there could be a dozen toxic chemicals in the finish but you’d never know it.
AFM Safecoat makes Polyureseal BP, which is a water-based, low-tox polyurethane. This is typically used for wood flooring and high-end furniture. They also make Acrylacq, which is a pure acrylic finish. This is typically used for cabinetry, furniture and other misc woodwork. Its a bit easier to apply than the poly, plus, it a bit less expensive. Several custom wood working studios across North America have switched over to AFM and love the results they are getting.
For the most part, though, wood finishers don’t want to use these types of finishes because their spray systems are set up for the other stuff. It can be a pretty big expense to buy new equipment.
Andrew, what questions should a consumer ask about the ingredients in the water based products just in case a wood finisher insists on using his brand? Also, what do you think about the soy based or whey lacquers? Anna
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