Can particle board be put in the sun to make it safe for inside use?

Question

I installed shelves made from that large scrap size particle board (the kind you can see pieces of wood glued together). Almost immediately I got headaches and couldn't sleep later that night. The 30"x20" shelves were cut from a 4x8 sheet at the lumber yard and hung in a large closet without any air circulation.

Can this material be salvaged so it's safe?

What material do you think is safe?

Answer 1

It sounds like you had a reaction to the glue (or some other chemical) in the particle board. Bobbye71 is right that you should get it outside and ventilate that room they were in... but it may take several months for all of the chemicals to outgas.

My mother is chemically sensitive, so she has to outgas basically anything chemically processed that she buys before she can use it. Sometimes it's a few days (for smaller things), but there have been some things that took a couple years (namely large furniture that had particle board and had finish on it). It can be salvaged, but as a fair word of warning, it may take some time. Typically, it doesn't matter if it's in the sun or in your garage, but if it's going to take a long time to outgas, you may want to keep it out of the sun to prevent any fading.

If you don't want to (or can't) wait that long, your best bet for any future purchases would be to get solid wood for furniture... but metal or plastic shelves may work just as well. One point to note is that you should NOT paint or seal the wood until it has completely outgassed or the smell (and the reaction you are getting from it) will last longer and be harder to get out.

Also, a really good idea when buying wood/furniture in the future (as strange as this may sound) is to put your nose down right next to the material and take a few good deep whiffs of it. You might look silly smelling wood, but it's better to look silly for a few seconds than to have a reaction like you had when you put these shelves in, right?

Good luck!

Answer 2

You can try to paint it but I would just get some"1 bys" and get that nasty stuff out of my living space.

Answer 3

Were your shelves installed permanently, or can you slip them off? If so, try taking them off the holders and take outside and expose to the sun for a while.

As with most building materials used inside, I would suggest you use some form of sealer on them, on all sides and edges, after they have been exposed to the sun for a period of time.

It is a possibility you could be used in the glue to form the particle boards. The reason they are relatively inexpensive is that they are composed of left-overs that have been bonded together and formed into boards.