• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About This Site
  • About Me
  • E-Booklets
  • Resources
  • Consulting
  • Site Navigation

My Chemical-Free House

A Guide to Creating a Healthy Home

  • Healthy Building
    • Insulation
    • Windows & Window Treatments
    • Glues & Caulks
    • Grout & Mortar
    • Drywall
      • Drywall Mud & Wall Texture
    • Showers
    • Doors
    • Pressed Wood Products
    • Sheathing & Subfloor
    • Pipes
    • Alternative Building Systems
    • Non-Toxic Prefabs
    • Building for the Chemically Sensitive
    • How to Test Materials
  • Healthy Interiors
    • Flooring
      • Gym Flooring
      • Flooring Underlayment
    • Kitchen Cabinets
    • Countertops
    • Mattresses
    • Sofas
    • Leather Furniture
    • Desks and Chairs
    • Sealers
      • Paint
      • Mineral Paints
      • Linseed & Tung Oil
      • Natural Wood Pigments
      • Natural Plaster
      • Natural Countertop Sealers
      • Concrete Sealers
      • Wood Finishes
    • Bathroom
      • Bathroom Vanities
    • Rugs
    • Wallpaper
    • Kitchen Appliances
    • Heaters
    • Reduce Flame Retardants
    • Reduce New Home Offgassing
    • Reduce Fragrance & Smoke
    • Air Purifiers for VOCs
    • Cleaning Products & Air Fresheners
    • Personal Care Products
    • Green Certifications
    • Gift Guide
  • Exteriors & Gardens
    • Decking Materials
    • Deck Stains
    • Deck Cleaners
    • Exterior Paints
    • Sealant for Concrete Birdbaths
  • Tiny Homes & Trailers
    • List: Simple Homes & Shelters
    • List: Trailers & RVs
    • List: Emergency Housing
    • Cargo Van Conversion
    • All Metal Tiny Home
    • Simple Insulated Shelter
    • All Aluminum Travel Trailer
    • Cargo Trailer Conversion
    • Teardrop Trailer
    • Tiny House Systems
    • Flooring for Vans, Trailers
    • Composting Toilets
    • How to Offgas that New Car Smell
    • Building for Chemically Sensitivity
  • Mold Prevention
    • A Detailed Mold Preventative Build
    • How “High Performance” can Help Prevent Mold
    • The Causes of Mold in Tiny Houses
    • Mold Testing Overview
    • Ozone to Kill Mold
    • Air Purifiers for Mold
  • Extreme Sensitivities
    • Healing MCS – Interview with Solona
    • How I Recovered from Chemical Sensitivities
    • Emergency Housing for Chemical and Mold Sensitivity

Non-Toxic Closet & Shelving Systems

August 8, 2021 by Corinne 3 Comments

Non-toxic healthy closet, storage, and organization systems should be made of materials that do not offgas VOCs or are extremely low in VOCs.

The following options can be considered for the chemically sensitive or those avoiding toxins for health reasons.

This post contains affiliate links. Upon purchase, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Solid Wood Closets and Shelving

A non-toxic real wood closet system

Most closet systems are made with engineered wood. Lundia USA is one company that makes beautiful solid wood closet systems.

The framing, drawers, and shelves are all solid pine. These are not just for bedroom closets – they make systems that work well for any kind of storage shelving area.

When using solid wood don’t forget to consider the wood glues used and the paint or finish.

If you would like to block the natural odorants of pine you can paint it and/or coat it with shellac. The safest wood glues are listed here.

Metal Shelving Organizer Systems

A metal closet system

Metal closet systems are certainly the most inert material on the list as it has no natural or chemical offgassing at all.

Metal that is powder coated or coated with an epoxy paint is usually totally cured by the time it gets to you so there usually isn’t any offgassing of VOCs at all. Though powder coated is a safer bet than epoxy for those extremely sensitive.

The type to avoid is metal racking that is coated in PVC vinyl.

For simple systems that are going to be safe and healthy for just about everyone, metal is often the way to go.

Many companies make safe metal closet systems that have framing, shelves, and pull-out baskets/drawers made of wire or mesh metal.

The brand pictured is Rubbermaid.

Walmart has a great selection of inert metal closet systems.

Similar metal systems include the Elfa system from The Container Store and IKEA systems like the JONAXEL.

Plastic Shelving Systems

A plastic cubby shelving system

There are a number of polypropylene-based shelving systems available at big retailers.

Polypropylene is one of the safest plastics, especially if you are not heating it up or eating off of it. It generally does not offgas VOCs and it doesn’t contain BPA or phthalates and so it is safe, at least for non-food usage.

If you want a simple closet system, plastic is not a bad way to go. The one pictured is around $100 on Amazon.

You can also find these modular boxes in clear, white, and other colors. It can come in under $30 for 6 boxes.

The Container Store also has a good selection of polypropylene drawer systems.

Plywood-Based Closets and Shelving

Sheets of plywood

After solid wood, plywood is the next safest wood product to build a closet or shelving system out of.

Columbia Forest Products Purebond Plywood is made without any formaldehyde adhesives and some sensitive people prefer this type.

You could make the closet yourself, have a carpenter custom build one, or go with a company like Southern Stone Cabinets that uses Purebond Plywood as an option for their closets.

I also think that regular plywood made with phenol-formaldehyde is very fast to offgas to undetectable levels and that will also work for many people. It’s certainly far healthier than particleboard, HDF, or MDF which have higher levels of formaldehyde.

A lot of furniture plywood comes prefinished with a UV cured water-based polyurethane finish, which doesn’t have any offgassing. But if you wanted to finish it yourself, you can check out the posts on healthy sealers and healthy paints.

PS. Cedar blocks are a non-toxic moth repellant for closets

Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 8 years of experience helping others create healthy homes.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Filed Under: Healthy Interiors Tagged With: healthy decor, healthy interiors

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dr. Markku says

    December 2, 2022 at 8:45 am

    Metal epoxy coated shelves can emit odors and trigger allergic reactions – it depends on the quality and type of the paint and how well the drying process went. There is long term odor in them, and most importantly, the smell may be minimal but the toxicity may still be high enough to induce allergic reactions.

    Reply
    • Corinne says

      December 2, 2022 at 11:11 am

      Could be offgassing, it’s not as safe as a bet as powder coated but it’s usually off gassed by the time it gets to the consumer.

      Reply
  2. Edie Lamphere says

    November 21, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    Hello. Ate all the metal rubbermade insert free of PVC vinal coating? Thank you!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Stay up to date with the Latest!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

ABOUT ME

Hi, I’m Corinne Segura, I hold a certificate in Building Biology, and a certificate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Buildings, among other credentials below. I have 8 years of experience helping people create healthy homes.

More about my educational credentials

Footer

Sitemap

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, Disclosure

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

Resources

Business inquiries

Copyright © 2023 · Corinne Segura | My Chemical-Free House Consulting