After buying the house, after several months of decoration, I finally looked forward to moving into the new house with my wife and children! Wait a minute, don’t you know that there may be a danger of formaldehyde exceeding the standard after the decoration of your new house? Especially homeowners with children, pregnant women and the elderly at home, must not ignore the importance of formaldehyde removal, so as not to let the beloved family members in the environment full of formaldehyde gas for a long time, resulting in harm to health regret.
What is formaldehyde? Why does the newly renovated house have formaldehyde?
Whether it is a new house or a used house, as long as you redecorate or purchase new furniture, it is possible to bring formaldehyde into your home. This is because the main source of indoor formaldehyde gas is generated by the decoration of building materials and the gluing process of the construction process.
Understand what formaldehyde is
Formaldehyde itself is a colorless but irritating gas. It is widely used in plywood and plasticized products because of its good adhesion and anti-corrosion and preservation effects. In addition, it is used in interior decoration materials such as foaming. Adhesives, thermal insulation layers, adhesives, fabrics, carpets and floor coverings also contain formaldehyde. In addition, the use of adhesives on the interior decoration site makes the house continuously emit formaldehyde harmful gas after new decoration. .
The harm of formaldehyde environment to family members
As early as June 15, 2004, the World Health Organization WHO has officially announced that formaldehyde is a carcinogen. People may also induce respiratory symptoms even if they are in an environment that emits formaldehyde for a short period of time, which is the so-called formaldehyde poisoning with discomfort in the eyes, nose and throat. Just imagine, if the family is in such an environment for a long time, it will be more harmful, which may cause headaches, edema, immune system and other diseases, and even affect development, give birth to deformed children or suffer from cancer, especially children, pregnant women or the elderly are more sensitive to formaldehyde. Had to pay attention. But the headache is that formaldehyde will be slowly and continuously released into the air, so once formaldehyde-containing items enter the home, it may take as long as 3 to 15 years, or even longer, to completely evaporate.
All use environmentally friendly building materials, so there should be no formaldehyde residue problem, right?
Many homeowners have noticed the problem of formaldehyde, and remind designers to choose environmentally friendly and non-toxic green building materials before doing decoration design, so there should be no problem, right? It is true that healthy green building materials can reduce the formaldehyde content of the board or the building materials themselves. However, in the decoration process, gluing, skinning, baking paint, etc. are still indispensable. At this time, the adhesives and paints used will still produce formaldehyde problems. Therefore, Many houses still have a lot of formaldehyde residues in the environmental test after the decoration is completed, which may even exceed the standard value. Therefore, in addition to the building materials themselves, all aspects of the construction process cannot be ignored, or formaldehyde-free environmentally friendly adhesives are selected to ensure safety.
Can formaldehyde be blown away by just ventilating or using an air purifier?
In the past, the elders always explained that after the new house was decorated, the windows should be opened for a few days to let the bad smell inside dissipate. The bad smell here refers to formaldehyde pollution. However, this method can only cure the symptoms but not the root cause, because it was mentioned earlier that formaldehyde will continue to be released for several years. Perhaps after a few weeks of ventilation, the odor will be reduced subjectively. , but in fact there is still formaldehyde gas, especially after closing the windows and blowing air-conditioning every day, the pollution source has been circulating and entering the body, and the concentration will continue to rise. In addition, although some commercially available air purifiers emphasize that they can remove formaldehyde, they must be continuously turned on to be useful. Therefore, the issue of power consumption should also be considered.
Pineapple peel, coffee grounds, activated carbon… Is it safe to remove formaldehyde?
There are also rumors that pineapple peels and coffee grounds are used to remove formaldehyde. These methods can mainly mask or dilute the odor in the air, but whether formaldehyde can be removed requires more scientific data to confirm. As for activated carbon, it has adsorption capacity, but it must be replaced when it is absorbed to a saturated state, and activated carbon that is saturated with formaldehyde itself has become another source of pollution, which does not seem to be a radical solution. Should my home do a formaldehyde removal project?
In fact, the air we breathe is not as clean as we imagined, and even many reports have pointed out that indoor air pollution is more serious than outdoor air, mainly due to the lack of indoor air circulation, which prevents the source of pollution from dissipating. Of course, the polluted air also includes formaldehyde gas. However, don’t be so nervous that you just hear formaldehyde and feel uneasy. According to experts, as long as the formaldehyde detection value is below 0.08, it is considered safe. You only need to open more windows or use an air purifier to purify the indoor air on weekdays. If it is higher than 0.08, it is recommended to use commercially available formaldehyde-removing spray products to reduce pollution sources, or use an air purifier with formaldehyde-removing effect. However, when the measured value is higher than 0.12 or above, you can consider asking a professional company to help you to avoid long-term exposure to harmful environments.
Can the formaldehyde removal project be done by myself?
Since the formaldehyde removal project does not require too much technicality, many people will buy commercially available formaldehyde removal products to do it. Remind that you should confirm that the product is long-acting before purchasing, only one-time application, or a short-acting product that needs to be coated at regular intervals, and then choose according to your own needs. In addition, it is not enough to remove formaldehyde lightly on the surface. It should be noted that all wooden surfaces and drawers need to be sprayed, so as to obtain a better formaldehyde removal effect.