WELCOME > REFINISHING > FURNITURE FINISHES AND HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS

Very real concerns for our health and the purity of our personal and shared environments have led to efforts to restrict the selection of finishes available for refinishing furniture. The solvent based finishes of the twentieth century are no longer options due to their high percentages of volatile organic compounds (VOC = the precursors to air pollution). In addition, during application they required the use of respirators due to the presence of toxic components, and they were highly flammable. In 1995, when it was still legal to use these materials, we decided to make the switch to water based finishing materials and have used them ever since. These finishes have very small amounts of or no volatile organic compounds, they have no toxic components and are non flammable. Water based finishes are formulated with either alcohols or ammonia, ours use alcohols, so even ammonia as a potential concern is not present with the finishes we use. People sensitive to odors sometimes smell a mild soap like odor, and that dissipates rapidly.

Our use of such low VOC (volatile organic compound) finishes allows us to use non-compliant historical finishes when called for. For more about this, please see our page dealing with old finishes and government regulations.

If you are considering other options for refinishing your furniture, we recommend that you query the refinishers you are considering concerning the finishes they are using. By now, virtually all of us are using finishing materials that comply with air quality regulations. However, for refinishing the range of acceptable VOC emissions is fairly broad. Our water based finishes are very low in VOC content, other compliant finishes can be at the upper end of the allowed range. Besides the air quality concerns, most other finishes used are still solvent based, flammable and contain toxins. The most widely used furniture finish, conversion varnish, contains formaldehyde. Newer formulations have reduced the quantity, but even small amounts are dangerous. A January 2007 article posted on the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's website outlines some of the concerns with conversion varnish. Here are relevant excerpts:

One type of coating used extensively in the furniture industry is the alkyd/urea-formaldehyde topcoat. These are thermosetting resins and are frequently called conversion varnishes or catalyzed finishes...From an indoor air perspective, these varnishes are of interest because volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including formaldehyde, may be emitted during use...The long-lasting formaldehyde emissions can cause elevated concentrations in indoor environments.

A chart on that web page illustrates that it can take up to 3,000 hours for the level of formaldehyde emissions to drop to the level determined acceptable by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

People sensitive to certain solvents may also have trouble with the off-gassing of the solvents in modern reformulated lacquers which are VOC compliant.

It is not difficult to conclude that the best choice in finishes from the perspective of health and safety, is certainly water based finishes.

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