Why does my new furniture give me headaches? Why does the zero VOC paint I just applied smell so bad and irritate my throat? How can I know for sure if a product will be safe for my newborn child? Why can’t I research the ingredients of building materials like we do with food?

This article goes into great detail about many of the hazardous chemicals used in materials used to remodel or build a home or office. The answers to these questions are critical to your health and are based on my 32 years of researching, troubleshooting, and selling healthier building materials to customers who exhibit a range of environmental issues such as asthma, allergy and chemical sensitivity.

Our goal here is to help you identify and avoid hazardous VOCs so you don’t needlessly expose yourself or your loved ones. Neither the manufacturers nor our government takes responsibility for telling you the whole story about them.

What are VOCs?

1. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are carbon-containing compounds that react photochemically with the atmosphere and create ozone (a component of smog). They easily evaporate at normal room temperatures and their emissions (also known as off-gassing) can have short and long-term adverse health effects. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are currently about 375 different VOCs.
2. There are 4 classes of VOCs based on the rates of evaporation (boiling points):
   • SVOC (semi-volatile—slow to boil 240°-260° C— e.g. plasticizers (phthalates), flame retardants (PCB, PBB) and pesticides (DDT, Chlordane)
   • VOC (volatile—medium boiling 50°-100° C— e.g. formaldehyde, d-limonene, toluene, ethanol, 2-propanol, hexanal)
   • VVOC (very volatile—quick to boil 0°-50° C— e.g. propane, butane, methyl chloride)
   • Exempted VOCs— low or non-reactive VOCs that create little or no smog. (but they may still be hazardous - more on these below)

Typical Names of VOCs:

• Hydrocarbons—Chemicals with names that end in -ane, -ene, yne
• Alcohols—Chemicals with names that end in -ol
• Aldehydes—Chemicals with names that end in -aldehyde
• Ketones—Chemicals with names that end in -one
• Esters—Chemicals with names ending in -ate
• Amines—all
• Sulfides—all

Handy Points of Reference:

• List of VOCs (EPA)
• The Red List of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals (International Living Future Institute)

Where are VOCs Found in your Home?

According to the EPA: concentrations of VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. Although you can’t see them, there are thousands of VOCs typically found in common household and personal care products such as:

• paints, stains & varnishes, solvents  
• glues & adhesives  
• plywood, OSB, chipboard, MDF, furniture (pressed wood)  
• cooking oils  
• cleaning supplies  
• carpeting, upholstery & fabrics  
• moth balls  
• wallpaper  
• vinyl flooring, laminate flooring  
• dry-cleaning  
• air fresheners, candles  
• growing mold  
• copiers & printers  
• permanent markers, craft materials  
• cosmetics, hair care products  
• disinfectants  
• wood stoves, gas and wood fireplaces

Are VOCs Harmful?

When breathed, VOCs can irritate your eyes, nose and throat. They can also give you headaches, trigger asthma attacks and even cause a host of other respiratory diseases, damage to the liver, kidney, central nervous system, and even cancer. However…

• Everyone reacts to VOC emissions differently — Men can react differently than women, especially pregnant women. Young children and the elderly react differently than those in middle age. Those with allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities may react immediately to the slightest concentrations of VOC. Because we all react differently, testing for your own personal tolerance levels prior to purchasing is very important. 
• Four VOCs — benzene, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, and perchloroethylene — are particularly dangerous to your health, even in small quantities. 
• Don’t underestimate the impact of VOCs. For most people (excluding those with chemical sensitivities, asthma, or allergies) VOCs are typically not acutely toxic, but exposure to small amounts over long periods of time may have compounding chronic effects. Mold spores, cigarette smoke, formaldehyde, radon, and other airborne pollutants can be a nuisance resulting from brief exposure but they may have a cumulative effect and become very harmful over many months or years.
• Exempt VOCs are a whole class of de-classified chemicals that are actually volatile, organic and compounds, however, they don’t react to the atmosphere and cause smog, so, the government no longer regulates them. They are off the list of VOCs, but they may still be harmful. They fly under the radar of governmental compliance standards and are not required to be listed on safety data sheets either.
• Acetone is an example of a hazardous VOC that has been exempted from regulation. 
• “Zero VOC” on a label does not mean it’s safe or has no odor. It simply means when fully dried or cured, there will be no VOC emissions. There usually are, however, numerous other chemicals contained in the product that could be causing the odors as mentioned above such as biocides, fungicides, lead, asbestos, PFAS, halogenated flame retardants, crystalline silicates, sawdust, etc. These typically are not listed on Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and fly under the radar but are still potentially hazardous to your health.

Not All VOCs are Harmful.    
Some VOCs are benign. For example, when baking bread at 174° F, ethanol, a VOC, is produced which actually reacts with the atmosphere and causes smog. Yep, baking bread creates VOCs, but the emissions from fresh bread are usually not harmful to humans. Other natural sources of VOC include citrus fruits, like orange and lemon which contain limonene. Pine and eucalyptus and some varieties of oak trees produce terpenoid VOCs. Perfumes and some houseplants also emit VOCs.

Unfortunately, naturally occurring VOCs are subject to the same provisions of the EPA Clean Air Act which regulates synthetically derived VOCs. For example, bakeries have been forced to add catalytic oxidizers to control the VOCs from their ovens. 

How Long do VOCs Off-gas?

VOC emissions or off-gassing can occur quickly or over months and even years. How long will the off-gassing continue? It depends on:

1. temperature
2. humidity
3. ventilation/air flow
4. concentration of the VOC
5. class (boiling point) of VOC
6. environmental shifts/changes on any of the above

For example: Oil-based products which typically have longer curing times often contain solvents that may emit VOCs for months and even years—especially if they are confined in a cabinet or closet with no ventilation. The same VOC can off-gas quickly if used outdoors in dry conditions with plenty of ventilation.

How are VOCs Measured?

VOCs contained in liquids and emitted into the air are measured by their concentration. These are expressed numerically as g/l (grams per liter) or as µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) or as ppm and ppb (parts per million or billion). NOTE: VOCs <10 g/l are considered to be “zero”

This means that if you hire an environmental consultant to measure the VOCs in your home, they may not measure them all. And if you purchase a paint or adhesive product that says it is low or no VOC, the testing protocols used by the organization that certifies the VOCs may not evaluate all of them accurately.

How are VOCs Regulated by the Government?

The EPA does NOT regulate VOC levels inside your home. VOC laws were created only to prevent photochemical smog in the outdoor air only.

 Wow! This is very disturbing. If the government is not protecting us from these chemicals, how are average citizens without the knowledge or experience able to avoid them?

Different Standards: Commercial vs. Residential Use

What makes life challenging is that acceptable levels of VOC vary depending on what organization you trust. The following organizations provide different standards and threshold limit values (TLV) for what are acceptable levels of VOCs in occupational/indoor settings

• World Health Organization (WHO)
• International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
• Occupational Safety Hazards Administration (OSHA)
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• California Environmental Protection Agency   
   

These are very broad standards that are not legally enforceable but are merely recommendations based on examinations of scientific literature. Unfortunately, these standards do not apply to residential living environments. They were designed for commercial and industrial environments!

There are no threshold limits for VOC emissions that were designed for residential use. The closest standards are based on the California Dept of Public Health (CDPH) 01350 standard for classrooms. Also, the GreenGuard certification program has developed its own standard for what is safe and what is not. Most of these standards are based on laboratory test results but they only test for 36 VOCs and only after 10-14 days.

5 Things that Impact the Concentration of VOCs in your Home

1. The volume of air — living rooms with vaulted ceilings have large volumes of air which may decrease the concentration; closets and smaller-sized rooms, however, increase concentrations.
2. The relative humidity — summer increases it, winter decreases it; locations near bodies of water increase or, at higher elevations, decrease concentrations.
3. The ventilation — open windows decrease; confined spaces and lack of air flow increase concentrations.
4. The temperature — cold temps decrease; higher temps increase. Some people burn off high concentrations of VOCs by heating up the room(s) for days at a time.
5. Air purification systems - a good air purifier will help remove certain VOCs from the air, but probably not all

How to Reduce VOC Off-gassing in your Home

• Replace old carpeting, laminate or vinyl flooring, chipboard cabinets, laminate countertops with chipboard substrates {Use 100% wool carpet, natural cork, bamboo, hardwood or natural linoleum flooring, wood or metal cabinets, quartz, natural stone, hardwood or bamboo countertops}
• Replace old bedding, sheets, pillows, etc. with organic latex, organic cotton, and wool products
• Sand off paint, and varnish from walls and furniture (test for lead first), then prime and repaint with non-toxic zero VOC paints, stains, and clear coatings
• Clean floors/walls of pet urine, smoke, mold, or other organic odors
• Remove and replace solvent-based household, personal, and pet cleaning products with water-based cleaners
• Clean the chimney flue of your fireplace
• Place printers and copiers closer to windows or air purifiers
• Clean your ductwork of mold and dust
• Replace cabinetry, furniture, or molding that might still be off-gassing with newer solid wood products   
   

Next Best Options

• Install air purification systems — Austin Air products 
• Encapsule paint or varnish with AFM primers, paints, and sealers
• Mitigate mold with Caliwel paint
• Caulk gaps in your walls, windows, and doors with Chemlink caulks

How to Research a Product’s VOCs BEFORE you Purchase

Unfortunately, researching the ingredients of any building material is not like reading the label of your favorite food. The only information is usually found online in the form of a Material Safety Data Sheet (SDS or MSDS) provided by the manufacturer. These documents are not easy to read unless you have a PhD in chemistry or toxicology.

The quantity and type of VOC emissions have become one of the primary metrics used to rate the safety of building materials. However, researching a building material only by the quantity of VOC emissions can be very misleading. Why? Because VOCs are only one class of hazardous indoor air pollutants. Many others may be even more dangerous such as: biocides, fungicides, lead, asbestos, radon, PFAS, BPA, crystalline silicates, sawdust, etc. These can leach out and be absorbed through the skin, ingested, or breathed in.

A MSDS may be useful as a starting point, but it won’t tell you the whole story. That’s because the requirements for posting were designed for employers to give to their employees and were never intended for consumer use. MSDS are voluntarily created by the manufacturers and are not checked for accuracy by any government agency. The information included is not guaranteed to be accurate, complete, or up to date. Proprietary ingredients are not listed here either.

As a consequence, there may be dangerous chemicals that are unknown or not tested by the manufacturer. Also, the threshold limits of exposure are typically for individual chemicals created in a laboratory, nor are they tested on animals. They are not based on the synergy of all the chemicals used nor tested on humans. At best, what you learn from an MSDS is only about a few known hazards that the manufacturer agrees to reveal. Learn how to read a Material Safety Data Sheet here.

Advice for Product Choices

• Prefer products with zero VOC or ultra low VOC and make certain there are no other potentially hazardous ingredients, pesticides, or declassified VOCs
• Be wary of SDS that contain undisclosed proprietary ingredients. What are they not telling you?
• Prefer products with full disclosure of content made in Europe or the US with green certifications that have been third party certified such as: Health Product Declarations (HPDs), Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and independent third party certifications.
• Avoid products sourced from third world countries unless they have all their credentials certified by European or CA standards, at a minimum.
• Prefer natural products and ingredients over synthetic whenever possible or available.
• Be wary of SDS that show little or no testing data.
• Prefer solid wood materials over composite.
• Opt for plywood over other composite wood where possible.
• When using composite wood, specify materials that are NAF (No Added Formaldehyde) or ULEF (Ultra Low Emitting Formaldehyde) whenever possible.
• Prefer solid wood veneer facings over laminate or thermofoil.

Where and When to Purchase?

• Use only those products that you have personally tested for your own tolerance levels.
• Purchase from reliable suppliers who have knowledge and experience in safe building materials.
• Purchase as much as you can in advance so there is time to test.
• Buy items in advance to allow you to find better deals, consolidate purchases, save on shipping, and keep your contractor happy by avoiding delays. 

We also recommend that you educate your contractor and his/her subcontractors about your special needs and post a list in a visible space of products that are acceptable and products that are not acceptable.

Where Can You Learn More on These Subjects?

Want more info? Read here: IAQ and your health; A deeper look at formaldehyde and VOCs.

Here’s the list of hazardous air pollutants from the EPA. Bear in mind that just because a chemical shows up on this list does not always mean it is harmful to you. It depends on the concentration and your personal sensitivity to it. Always test first before using.

Here is another much larger list from the International Living Institute. It’s called the RED LIST which contains the worst in class chemicals in the building industry. The chemicals contained are not all VOCs, but are capable of polluting the environment, bio-accumulating up the food chain until they reach toxic concentrations, and are harmful to factory workers and humans in construction.

Here is a list used in California’s Proposition 65. The list contains a wide range of naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals that are known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. Not all are VOCs. These chemicals include additives or ingredients in pesticides, common household products, food, drugs, dyes, or solvents.

In sum: building or remodeling with VOCs is like trying to avoid sugar or salt in your diet. It’s almost impossible to completely eliminate them so you have to make intelligent choices and reduce where you can. We know how challenging this research can be which is why we created Green Building Supply to make your job much easier. We may not have all the answers, but after 32 years of experience, we certainly can help point you in the right direction and make your experience of purchasing easier and healthier.

Call us at 800-405-0222 or email us at info@greenbuilding supply.