How to Speed Up Offgassing Of New Furniture

The first thing to do is to choose your furniture carefully if you are buying new.

If you are reading this before purchasing something, that is great. Most people contact me after they have already brought in furnishings that are offgassing.

It's a little trickier to deal with after the fact, but there are still some things you can do to promote and speed up the offgassing and remove or seal in the VOCs (including formaldehyde) if you can't return the item or just really want to keep it.

The article goes through ways to seal, encase, and promote offgassing of VOCs.

This article contains affiliate links, upon purchase I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Make Sure you do the Following Before Purchasing:

Material Make Up – Find out what it is made of exactly (if it says engineered wood or other wood we need to know what that is). Same goes for paints and coatings.

Return Policy – Find out if it is returnable and what are the policies, do you pay for a return, is it feasible that you can physically return it. Along these lines – don't assemble it before you know it's going to be OK for you.

One Thing at a Time – Only buy one new piece of furniture at a time if you are very sensitive to VOCs.

Spare Room for Offgassing – Figure out if there is somewhere to set this aside if the offgassing is too high for you – a spare room, a garage, basement, or sunroom – depending on the item. If you are super sensitive to VOCs then you want the space to be disconnected from the rest of your living space in terms of airflow.

Barriers to Encase it – Have barrier materials on hand if we suspect you will need them and do not have the ability to return or isolate the item in another room – plastic sheets, foil, and or charcoal blankets.

Sealants on Hand – Have sealants ready if we expect you will need to seal up some of the offgassing. Don't assemble the furniture before sealing (ideally).

If you Have Already Purchased Furniture that is Offgassing Here are Some Steps to Reduce it (and Speed it Up)

Use Air Flow and Heat – Before assembling the furniture (ideally) take it somewhere to promote offgassing. Use airflow and heat to speed up the outgassing of chemicals from the materials. You can take it outside (though make sure it doesn't get too humid and know that UV can discolor many materials (especially fabrics) but can also help promote offgassing), you can put it in a spare room that is as warm as you can make it, or you can simply increase airflow in your house. The main way that materials outgas is heat, air and time so help this along before moving on to the next steps if you can.

Use Extractor Cleaning – to help remove topical fabric treatments on upholstered items. If you can't do that try vacuuming.

Encase it if Necessary – if you do not have a safe space to promote offgassing and cannot seal it fast enough, use temporary encasements to sequester the offgassing. You can use plastic sheets, foil, foil-backed tarps, Mylar, or activated carbon cloth and wrap it around the furniture to block offgassing. The post on encasing provides links to all those materials and lists them from least to most effective. You may need to use tape to seal it more completely, depending on the item and how bothersome it is.

Use Sealants – use special sealants to seal in offgassing more permanently. These can work on almost every material from vinyl, other plastics, rubber, wood, engineered wood, etc. Shellac is my go-to sealant because it works on almost every material and is usually the best seal. Though it is shiny and may not be your desired look. It can be removed later with alcohol off of many materials.