Is pressed wood environmentally better, worse, or neutral compared to regular wood?

Most particle board and composites have significant off gas issues, particularly with new. It is a dilemma in that much particle boards are made from wood waste however.

I would seek out those composites that have demonstrably least off gasses.

 

Burning plywood/particle board in a bonfire will expose you to formaldehyde.

 

Bamboo or Wheat Board may give you the best low or no VOC options.

 

Being one who builds wooden boats, I can also tell you that natural wood can have some pretty nasty properties. Most of the tropical woods contain powerful chemicals to protect themselves from tropical bugs. My father had weeping sores from working with mahogany. My brother's eyes itched and would swell. For me it was mostly a problem with asthma.

There is a lot of difference between working a wood and having it in your furniture. With natural woods most of the chemicals will come from the finish. With OSB or chipboard, most of it will be from the glue. Current regulations are pretty strict, so neither will be a real problem. I wouldn't worry about it, unless you have a specific allergy. In that case you might want to use metal and glass.

Tom

 

Fire is just accelerated oxidation.
So I presume ,as it ages it will give off minute amounts of formaldehyde.

 

If all the surfaces of the mdf are sealed, the off-gassing isn't much of an issue. Still, I prefer the aesthetics of real wood, mostly for the grain patterns. If you can get recycled or reclaimed wood, that's likely the least damaging to the environment.

 

What the heck; go for old growth forests.



Tom

 

Hyo makes a good point,

if the facets are sealed, off gassing is reduced significantly. Problem with most cheap furniture id it has picture print on one side, and raw particle board on the other facets.

Particle board and MDF dust a special pain in the butt as it is so fine.

 

Yeah, that tighter wood grain is much nicer, isn't it?

Reclaimed wood has interesting character, too. Shelves could easily made out of old siding, factory flooring, ships.....

edit: Yes, thanks icarus. With production pieces, usually all you have to do is paint the unfinished edge.

 

But who the heck knows what the Chinese are using for glue these days.
Sticky spent uranium with DDT and acidic sulfur.

 

Some of the wood in our boat is reclaimed. We have some 100+ year old long leaf yellow pine that was reclaimed from a textile mill. It's almost impossible to get new long leaf yellow pine.

Even after 100 years of being beams in a textile mill, that long leaf yellow pine oozed sap when we cut it. What an amazing wood.

Tom

 

I don't think you have much of a choice.

It doesn't matter much what the debatable reality is, your wife believes pressed wood is a sandwich of toxic glues emmiting gaseous vapors of ihaleable toxicity. Therefore, if you ever want to really enjoy your entertainment center? Go with the real wood.

I suspect, "I saved us some money and went with the particle board because the regulars on Prius Chat said it would be okay" won't fly. Some costs aren't directly measured by a debit to the bank account. You'll be "hard pressed" to convince that Wood vs. Man Made Pressed Board, isn't an off gassing enviromental compromise.

The Earth Ship alternative is fashioning your entertainment center from mud, hay and adobe...most of my furniture is made from pressed wood, including my computer table, which might explain many of my posts on Prius Chat. Evidently the fumes are getting to me.

 

Personally Im not bothered by a little toxic
stuff .
But to use real wood cheaply,buy a vintage or antique piece.
At an estate auction or estate sale or Craigslist or Ebay,you can get furnishings for next to nothing.
If youre near Sunnyvale I know where you can get a solid wood cabinet that cost a small fortune when new.

 

Normally, that's good advice and I don't know the OP's situation. Is it a built in entertainment center he is talking about? Or a stand alone unit?

But the problem with vintage or antique pieces with todays entertainment centers is that nothing exists that is really made to handle todays big screen monitors and electronic devices. Most older TV's existed as stand alone pieces of furniture.

I've seen people modify antique wardrobes to "become" an entertainment center but depending on what The OP want's to house it can be problematic. Especially if you are talking about a large flat screen monitor.

 

What about hanging the tv on the wall?

Does your family like antiques? Maybe you could adapt some furniture to the new use of housing DVDs and such.