Usually what we don’t find in the studies is what the timeframe is for a material to be completely offgassed.
(Seems strange not to study that, but it’s true).
Also, offgassing times vary a lot by the conditions: temperature, humidity, and airflow mainly. Inside the cabinets, for example, there is almost no air flow so the formaldehyde gets reabsorbed.
Another variable is the type of formaldehyde and if there are formaldehyde scavengers (like ammonia) added. Urea-formaldehyde offgasses at a higher rate than phenol-formaldehyde.
One study for a high-emitting laminate floor product sample tested in small environmental chambers found that the time needed for formaldehyde emission to reduce to 50% of the initial level was 216 days, and the worst case was 371 days (depending on the conditions).
According to my math, it would take from approximately 1080 days (or around 3 years) to 2226 days (or around 6 years and 1 month) for the formaldehyde emissions to become negligible and hit close to 0, or 0 emissions.
Usually at 7 years, even the most extremely chemically sensitive can do well with high emitting Particleboard, MDF, and HDF and they would consider it offgassed.
Though newer glues are not high emitting. The more widely used phenol-formaldehyde glues are an improvement and don’t offgas for as long.
Also some products have formaldehyde scavengers that decrease the offgassing time or are pre-baked.
When it’s inside a closed area the residual formaldehyde can linger. It’s not necessarily an amount that would still show up on a measurement.
It’s difficult to measure the formaldehyde at these extremely low levels or to measure when it’s completely done offgassing because the wood itself naturally contains formaldehyde, and also the air indoors and outdoors everywhere contains formaldehyde so usually you might see a measurement like “not detectable against background levels”.
Sources: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019311146
anna saroli
We are planning on using some IKEA furniture made with melamine (having exposed edges), that has been in our home for 15 years
we are concerned about having a newborn in the same room.
Thank you in advance for giving us your opinion
Anna
514 826 3300
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
should be effectively off-gassed at 15 years
DKI
I am curious about Ecos Anti-Formaldehyde Paint. I might give it a go — since most of the particleboard closet system has laminate over it and edgebanding, I might try the paint on the ceiling and walls in the closet because the closet doors will be closed while my mom is sleeping or out of the house when she cant leave the windows and doors open.
https://ecospaints.net/browse-all/anti-formaldehyde-paint
“This paint is specifically formulated to absorb and neutralize formaldehyde from surfaces and surrounding air, for improved indoor air quality”
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
you dont need to seal the melamine itself, just seal the rough edges and peg holes in the particleboard
DKI
This is interesting, I didnt realize the formaldehyde can get reabsorbed if there isnt ventilation. I wonder if activated charcoal can absorb it.
The smell from my moms particleboard closet smells mostly of wood and is sweet, not the formaldehyde smell I was expecting (thinking back to lab days dissecting dead animals)…but I am not sure I would even pick up the smell of it at low levels, considering the p-board is CARB compliant and has probably off-gassed for a bit in a warehouse. Probably not for 5 years tho 🙂
When I open 20+ year old mdf cabinets, I can still smell that faint woody smell too.
Going to look into potential ways to mitigate the reabsorption thing as my mom keeps her closet closed and every time she leaves it open the smell can be pretty strong (at least to me, no one else seems to notice it!)
Corinne Segura, Building Biologist
you may experience the low level smell of formaldehyde as sweet and associate it with a wood smell bc solid wood always contains formaldehyde (and because our main exposure to formaldehyde is in engineered wood products). When it’s really really strong it does seem to take on a different description as acrid, pungent, i thought it was mothballs once when it was urea formaldehyde. If you sniff a lot of things with low level formaldehyde you will be able to identify it. to me low level formaldehye is not an unpleasant smell.
DKI
Interesting! Thanks for the info. Fortunately we can ventilate my moms room pretty well all day and night unless it’s raining…that will just have to be good enough for the next seven years! I may buy a box fan to blow the air out her door (to the outside) if I keep noticing the smell.
DB
I think there is no product better than AFM’s Safecoat clear seal product, which has been third-party laboratory tested and reduces emissions from offgassing products at very high levels. See more here http://www.afmsafecoat.com fyi I do Not work for AFM and have no inside connections or even any acquaintances. Just a happy AFM product user. I have heard it may yellow some paint surfaces a bit, over time, so be aware of that. It works great on plywood et al and we have used it on our home very successfully.
Helene Jusick
I just bought two pantry cabinets made of MDF. One was scratched and when I looked up on the internet whether or not you can fix a scratch on MDF I saw all the info about it and the formaldehyde being a carcinogen and that it takes seven years to become safe. The furniture ad never mentioned any of this. I am heart-broken. They are charging half the price to return them. Can you tell me just how dangerous having two large (42×15 x33 inches) in your home.
Corinne Segura
I can’t say how dangerous anything is as I’m not a toxicologist. I can say that a piece of furniture made with MDF in a room would still meet GreenGuard Gold levels.
Susan Storlazzi Torpey
Seriously? so Greenguard Gold does not mean to much then?
DB
Please see my comment re AFM’s Safecoat clear seal product, which has been third party lab tested and seen to remove very high levels of VOCs from things like particle board et al. I don’t sell, work for them, and know nobody in the company. Check them out, they are very good!