Non-toxic OSB and chipboard wanted!

[JohanLun]

Checked your blog... Pleasant reading. Regarding windows, many say that too good insulation can cause problems in winter with ice on the outside. An extra cost, a marginal reduction in energy consumption but annoying in winter. I have no personal experience myself as I'm on the other side of the scale... But worth considering, and reading up on...

 

[Kalle_Kiander]

Now found BASTA's site where you can search for e.g., OSB and choose to only display the products that meet their highest environmental and health requirements "BASTA."

Here are the OSB winners:

Jungberg Fritzoe AB
Optimera Svenska AB
Moelven Wood AB

Here are the plywood winners:

Jungberg Fritzoe AB
BOA-Bo Andrén AB
Moelven Wood AB
Ljungberg Fritzoe AB
Knauf Danogips GmbH
DLH Sverige AB
UPM-Kymmene Wood Oy

 

[Kalle_Kiander]

Cool discovery: the OSB that Byggmax sells for 105 kr/sheet is 100% formaldehyde-free. Leaning towards that one.

https://www.byggmax.se/skivmaterial/byggskivor/plywood-och-osb/osb-skiva-p10096

 

[JohanLun]

Choose a plywood sheet behind the gypsum instead of OSB if you can take the extra small cost... I installed OSB in the kitchen but when mounting heavy items, OSB doesn't feel 100%...

 

[Finndjävel]

Fun discovery: the OSB that Byggmax sells for 105 kronor per sheet is 100% formaldehyde-free. Leaning towards it.

[link]

Byggmax sells the cheapest they can get. That is Kronoplys OSB and it is hardly free from toxins. If it were, everyone would sell it because it is the cheapest (I know because I have sold it myself, imported from Riga). The glue used is called "polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate" (MDI) and it is harmful to health. If you want a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative, you have to pay more, that's the way it works.

Here is the WHO report on MDI:
http://www.who.int/ipcs/publication7s/cicad/en/cicad27.pdf

 

[Kalle_Kiander]

Read for yourself, here is the product sheet:
http://static.byggmax.com/Content/G...10096.pdf?targetFileName=Produktblad10096.pdf

And here is the link to Swiss Krono:
http://www.swisskrono.de/Building-Materials/Products/Product-Overview-1016192030.html

Could it be that Byggmax is bluffing?

 

[Finndjävel]

"3. Product Description

Kronoply OSB/3 are wood-based building panels of the type "oriented strand board". The panels are made from pine chips that are bonded together with synthetic adhesive under high temperature and high pressure. The chips are cross-laid in three layers, where the outermost layers are mainly oriented with the fibers parallel to the panel's longitudinal direction. The chips in the middle layer are primarily parallel to the panel's transverse direction. The adhesive is PMDI (polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate)."

 

[Kalle_Kiander]

There's always something. Found a thread on the Ekobyggportalen on the subject. It states, among other things "Naturskyddsföeningen writes about PMDI that it is not particularly well-studied and that long-term effects are unknown." I've emailed Swis Krono (Kronoply). Let's see what they reply.

http://www.ekobyggportalen.se/forum/topic/osb-skivor/

 

[f91jsw]

Therefore, I try to keep it down as best as I can. We are, for example, building with a Kebony facade, wood that has been environmentally friendly treated and is protected against rot for 30 years without maintenance.

Kebony is impregnated with furfuryl alcohol, which is a suspected toxin for the nervous system and respiratory system.

Now, I do not believe it poses any risk, but neither does ordinary OSB. Everything contains toxins, but as long as the levels are low, it is not a problem.

 

[Marcussjogren]

Everything contains toxins, but as long as the levels are low, it's not a problem.

That's exactly the problem, that everything contains a little toxin.

With that reasoning, it would be ok/harmless to drink a cocktail where you take a drop of gasoline, a drop of diesel, a drop of oil, a drop of insecticide, a drop of lead paint, a drop of turpentine, and so on until you reach the neat and round figure of 5 liters.

 

[Kalle_Kiander]

Kebony is impregnated with furfuryl alcohol, which is a suspected toxin for the nervous system and respiratory tract.

Now I don't think it poses any risk, but neither does regular OSB. Everything contains toxins, but as long as the levels are low, it's not a problem.

You are probably right. The Swan-labeled Kebony is installed externally, so I feel completely safe with it.

 

[f91jsw]

That's exactly the problem, that everything contains a little poison.

By that reasoning, it would be ok/harmless to drink a cocktail where you take a drop of gasoline, a drop of diesel, a drop of oil, a drop of insecticide, a drop of lead paint, a drop of turpentine, and so on until you reach the nice and uneven figure of 5 liters.

Then it no longer contains low levels.

 

[lars_stefan_axelsson]

That is precisely the problem, that everything contains a bit of poison.

With that reasoning it would thus be okay/harmless to drink a cocktail where you take a drop of gasoline, a drop of diesel, a drop of oil, a drop of insecticide, a drop of lead paint, a drop of turpentine, and so on until you reach the neat and round number of 5 liters.

Well, that's not a very successful analogy. Firstly, the toxicity of many of the substances you mention is similar. It doesn't matter if you mix diesel, gasoline, oil, and turpentine, since all petroleum products have pretty much the same biological effect if you drink them. So the first lesson is that one must beware of interaction.

Secondly, "a little" means different things depending on the substance and effect. Everything is toxic, and everything is also harmless in the right dose. But for water the right dose is three liters a day (or so) and it doesn't become dangerous until you reach ten. Therefore, quite a few drops.

For other substances, paraquat, for example, has the same effect and use as Roundup, and was allowed by the EU a few years before they changed their mind. The LD50 for that is just a few drops (well, ten or so), and one drop is definitely too much. Conversely, it is very popular both for committing suicide and poisoning others. So the safe dose/exposure for paraquat is ridiculously much lower.

So. In summary. Nothing is toxin-free, and one must therefore always speak in terms of what is reasonable exposure given a host of other factors. Simplifications of the kind "get rid of everything," or "it doesn't matter anyway" are thus roughly equally wrong.

 

[JohanLun]

So. In summary. Nothing is toxin-free, and therefore one must always speak in terms of what is reasonable exposure given a lot of other factors. Simplifications like "get rid of everything," or "it doesn't matter anyway" are about equally wrong both ways.

But knowing what is "worst" and prioritizing this, and then choosing the most environmentally friendly and toxin-free options you can afford or get the most bang for your buck should be a viable path... However, I believe it's difficult to combine with modern rational construction, with regular construction companies...

 

[f91jsw]

That is what we have regulatory authorities and limit values for. All products on the market should be reasonably safe to use. Then, of course, there can still be exceptions, but nothing in life is risk-free.