I’m still deep in the throes of preparing for a move. As I
look at space allocation options for the suite that my son and I are planning
to build in his garage, it’s becoming increasingly clear that even the few
furniture pieces I had planned to take are going to be too big and I’m going to
have to make some new purchases. For people with chemical sensitivities, any
purchase can be problematic, and requires much research. As I shop for
possibilities online, I’m reminded of the games that manufacturers and
marketers play and the confusion that exists among the general public regarding
materials used in furniture and housing. It’s not easy to figure out what we’re
actually getting.
Here are a few confusing terms related to the home
environment:
·
Solid wood – Technically, something made of
solid wood is made of basic lumber. Much of the wood furniture sold today,
however, is made of a manufactured wood product, such as particleboard, medium
density fiberberboard (MDF), high density fiberboard (HDF) or oriented strand
board (OSB). Chipboard, flakeboard, furniture board, composite wood, and
engineered wood are other possible terms. Manufacturers may refer to them as
“solid wood products” or as of being made of “wood solids.” Sometimes private sellers advertising
products on sites like eBay or Craigslist will say that a piece of furniture
made from particleboard is solid wood. This may be due to confusion as to
material type, but sometimes I think they just mean that the piece doesn’t
contain metal or upholstery.
Manufactured wood products combine small wood particles with an adhesive
resin. Plywood uses layers of wood rather than particles, but otherwise the
principle is the same. When used in furniture, manufactured wood is generally
covered with a laminate or veneer, making the identification process more
challenging. The toxicity of manufactured wood can be high, and comes from the
adhesives, which often contain large amounts of formaldehyde and other
problematic chemicals.
·
Bonded leather – Bonded leather is the fabric
equivalent of manufactured wood. Wikipedia expains that “bonded leather is made by shredding leather scraps and leather
fiber, then mixing it with bonding materials. The mixture is next extruded onto
a fiber cloth, or paper backing, and the surface is usually embossed with a
leather-like texture or grain.” The
amount of natural leather in bonded leather products can vary significantly and
can sometimes be quite low. The primary bonding material is generally
polyurethane, and among the other chemicals commonly found in bonded leather
are plasticizers, which have been associated with a range of health problems.
Terms for leather-like synthetic fabrics (which are generally some form
of vinyl) include leatherette, pleather, and naugahyde. “Vegan leather” is an
especially interesting term. It can refer to any non-animal leather-like
product. Generally it refers to vinyl, but can occasionally refer to
alternative leathers made from cork or kelp.
·
Linoleum – True linoleum is a product made from linseed
oil and natural materials such as powdered cork, tree resin, and limestone. It
was once used widely as a flooring material, but has now been largely replaced
by vinyl. Generally, manufacturers and marketers don’t use the term
incorrectly, but private sellers, realtors, and landlords may refer to linoleum
flooring when the flooring is actually a vinyl product.
·
Hardwood or ceramic floors – Another flooring
issue that people searching for healthy housing often encounter is that homes
or apartments advertised as having hardwood or ceramic tile floors may actually
be floored with a laminate. Laminates have a manufactured wood core with a
photographic layer bonded to it that simulates wood or ceramic. Generally the
term “floating floor” refers to laminate flooring.
Shopping with health in mind means learning to be a
code-breaker. It’s not easy, but it’s important. Once I’ve cracked this code,
I’ll move on to another: trying to decipher the color designations. Is elm
bark, for example, more brown or gray?
This all makes my head spin.
