Where does formaldehyde in the home come from? How many panels should be installed to avoid exceeding the standard?

Do you know where the formaldehyde in your home comes from?

The main source of formaldehyde in the home is board materials, and whether it is our wardrobe, floor, bedside table, table, TV cabinet, coffee table or tatami, they are all made of board materials. Once the formaldehyde concentration in the board is high, it will cause formaldehyde accumulation, causing the formaldehyde concentration in the whole home to soar.

Moreover, unlike curtains, glue mats and other formaldehyde release sources, the board cannot be removed by washing or drying. Its formaldehyde is mainly inside the board, which is difficult to eliminate by some external means, and the release cycle is very long, about 3 to 15 years. Not only that, many boards will be fixed after decoration, and once they exceed the standard, they may face the dilemma of demolition. Therefore, controlling the total formaldehyde release of the board in the home from the source is the best way to control the formaldehyde concentration in the home, which is a headache for many parents.

What kind of board should I choose? How many boards can be installed without exceeding the formaldehyde standard?

In this issue, we will explain to you the new national standard that will be promulgated soon, and teach you how to use simple methods to calculate and control formaldehyde in your home through specific data.

01 The real "E0" board is officially launched. In order to pursue the environmental friendliness of artificial boards, many parents will choose some "E0", "European standard E0" and "Japanese F4 star" boards which are said to be more environmentally friendly.

But we have tested several panels claiming to be "E0" and "Japanese F4 Star", and the results did not meet the advertised standards!!!

This is because, starting from May 1, 2018, the national standard for artificial boards is only E1, and there is no E0 standard at all (although there is an E0 standard for laminate flooring, the testing method for its E0 standard has been abolished, and strictly speaking it is in name only).

Those domestically produced "E0" and "Japanese F4 star" boards are actually only reviewed according to the E1 standard. As for whether they meet the "E0" and "F4 star" standards, it all depends on the conscience of the merchants. Although there are conscientious merchants, in the face of interests, it is very difficult to say how environmentally friendly the boards produced by some merchants are.

In order to improve the environmental protection standards of artificial boards and force the home furnishing industry to make progress, starting from October 1 this year, new national standards that are among the strictest in the world - GB/T 39600-2021 "Classification of formaldehyde emissions from artificial boards and their products" (recommended standard) and GB/T 39598-2021 "Guidelines for Indoor Load Limits of Artificial Boards Based on Limit Formaldehyde Emissions" will be implemented.

This time, the formaldehyde emission standard of GB/T 39600-2021 "Classification of Formaldehyde Emissions of Artificial Panels and Their Products" has added E0 and Enf grades based on the national standard GB 18580-2017.

What is this concept? Simply put:

The national standard E1 level is equivalent to the EU E1 level and is close to the Japanese F3 star; the new national standard E0 level is far superior to the EU E1 level and is close to the Japanese F4 star; and the new national standard Enf level is already at the same level as the demanding NAF level certified by the California CARB.

Comparison between different standards

In other words, the strictness of the new national standard is already at the forefront of the world. Once promulgated, there is no need to worry about studying European, Japanese, or American standards when buying panels. Just buy according to the new national standard, because our own standards in China are already strict enough.

02 How to control the formaldehyde level in your home? To control the total amount of formaldehyde released by the boards in your home, there are two key factors: one is the formaldehyde release of the boards themselves, and the other is the total area of ​​the boards used in your home.

If Enf-grade boards are used, the formaldehyde emission is extremely small and there is basically no need to worry about the area of ​​board usage.

If E0 or E1 grade boards are used, there will be certain restrictions on the area of ​​board use due to the certain amount of formaldehyde released.

Regarding the use area of ​​the board materials, GB/T 39598-2021 "Guidelines for Indoor Load Limits of Artificial Panels Based on Limit Formaldehyde Emissions" gives us a formula for calculation.

Don’t be scared by the formula!

We have simplified the calculation for you. Below is the "hottest month board usage coefficient" we calculated for cities across the country. Simply multiply this coefficient by the volume of the room, and you can calculate the limit of the amount of artificial board in the room that the room can bear when the maximum release amount is reached.

In order to give you a more intuitive understanding, let's estimate the specific usage of these boards indoors.

Taking Beijing and Hangzhou as examples, if the bedroom area is 15㎡ and the floor height is 2.8m, then the volume of the bedroom is 42m³. Using E0 and E1 panels respectively, the maximum panel area that can be carried is as follows:

What is the concept of 8.82㎡ board? Let's take a cabinet that is 2m high, 0.6m deep and 1m wide as an example. If there are two partitions in the cabinet, then the amount of board used in the cabinet is probably this much.

Are you scared by the data?

However, if your home uses floor tiles and other floor decoration materials that do not pose a formaldehyde risk, the bed and table are made of solid wood (currently beds on the market are mainly made of solid wood, and tables and chairs are made of a variety of materials), and there are no other items in the room, then 8.82 square meters of boards are sufficient.

Moreover, the premise of this formula calculation is the formaldehyde limit release condition, which means that we usually cannot reach such a high formaldehyde concentration in our daily life. As long as you open the windows frequently for ventilation, the indoor formaldehyde concentration will be much lower, and if the temperature and humidity in the hottest month in the area are slightly lower, the indoor board load limit will be much higher.

So, when decorating, remember to:

Of course, if you mix and match board materials in your home, or are not sure about the grade of board materials used in your home, or there are other sources of formaldehyde release, etc., and it is inconvenient to calculate, you can also use professional instruments to measure it, so that you can have a clearer and more intuitive understanding of the formaldehyde concentration in your home.
If you find this article useful, please like and forward it.

Do you have any other questions about formaldehyde in your home? Welcome to ask in the comment section~

References: [1] Lin Xiaorong, Liang Xianyuan, Hu Pengfei, et al. Study on the correlation between the climate chamber method and the dryer method for formaldehyde emission test of artificial boards [J]. China Wood-Based Panels, 2019, 26(11): 24-27.