Healthy Materials for Home Workspaces

Home workspaces can easily be put together with existing furnishings and storage systems that you already have in the house. This was the case for a lot of people in March of 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and folks began working remotely. The lag from the shift to remote working during the pandemic has resulted in the continuum of using home workspaces for part-time or full-time remote work situations. However, so many of us never became fully settled with a well-designed home office or home workspace and continue to conduct work in perhaps less than ideal settings for our health and productivity.

If you can relate, it might be time to think about re-designing or updating your home workspace for improving your typical workday. The home office setting can make a big difference in the way you conduct your workflow and your ability to stay focused and be productive. The furnishing for your workspace can help facilitate a proper flow. Office furniture, such as desks and office chairs, provide the basic foundations of the workspace. But not all furniture is designed with healthy materials, which can influence your workspace air quality and your brain and lung health.

Various modes of furniture production and manufacturing have resulted in the use of composite materials that may have formaldehyde and toxic adhesives. While all wood products have some degree of formaldehyde as this is a naturally occurring chemical during the degradation of polysaccharides in the wood lignin, the levels can be much higher in certain manufactured wood products. This is common with particle boards, such as medium density fiberboard (MDF), used in furnishings that require you to do the assembly. Urea-formaldehyde (UF) is used as the bonding agent for the fiber particles during the pressing process to make the boards. From the time the furniture arrives in your house, UF can off-gas and become airborne for longer periods of time (many years) compared to other furnishing chemicals.

Due to more stringent EPA regulations, most furnishing companies had to switch to using an alternative bonding agent with phenol-formaldehyde (PH), which off-gases at a much lower rate and comes to a more benign curing state during productions. Most interior wood products manufactured in the United States will follow the CARB II standards for formaldehyde levels. In addition, particle boards, MDF, and hardwood products must follow these standards to be sold in the state of California. Products that have the GREENGUARD label, administered by UL Solutions, are certified with a more stringent standard for chemical emission limits and will reduce your risk of chemical exposure.

There can also be laminated surfaces on furnishings that use problematic chemicals in the adhesives, and typically the laminates are applied to the particle boards or MDF that already have formaldehyde too. With these types of furnishings, one thing you can do to reduce and prevent the chemical off-gassing is to apply a non-toxic sealant to the edges of the MDF or particle-board (alongside the laminate surface). This will help to reduce off-gassing and keep the indoor air of your workspace quite a bit healthier!

Plastic items in the office are quite common, especially for storage containers or file bins. Plastics have their own issues with material chemistry and become a little more problematic on the environmental impact at the end of their useful life compared to the air quality impacts. This distinction can be identified in commonly used terms of eco-friendly and non-toxic, respectively. Eco-friendly products will have a low environmental impact on the health of the planet in the long-term, while non-toxic products will have a low negative impact on the health of those in contact with the material. Most commercial plastic products tend to be challenged with reaching either eco-friendly or non-toxic status. We’ll focus on toxins and the health of your home workspace. Phthalates, which are common in soft plastics, and bisphenols, most common in hard plastics, are both endocrine disruptors that can impact how hormones in your body function. While it is easy to accumulate lots of plastic items for the office, especially if you are attempting to organize numerous supplies and papers with plastic bins and boxes, it is best to avoid too many plastics in the work environment. Alternative organizers could be wicker, fabric, or metal.

Speaking of metal, some metals provide some great indoor environment benefits! Copper and copper alloys will actually serve to kill pathogens and bacteria that come in contact with these metal surfaces. With this field of research knowledge, dating to findings in studies from the early 2010’s, hospitals began to incorporate copper elements in their interiors – such as copper door handles, grab bars, bathroom fixtures, and tabletop surfaces. It’s not a bad idea to use copper metal elements in your home office as well. Not only will direct contact with copper elements keep bacteria and pathogens to a minimum, but the metal also provides a warming and brightening tone to the space. Consider copper metal baskets for storage or copper metal planters for your home workspace.

Some materials are meant to bring us pleasure and other forms of comfort beyond utilitarian needs. I enjoy keeping natural woven fabrics nearby, hanging on the back of my work chair or from hooks in the workspace. I can easily wrap a woven throw around my shoulders if I feel a draft while working, and otherwise find that the natural woven fabrics lend a softening authentic feeling to my space. Integrating soft materials and fabrics in your workspace will also help to improve the acoustics by absorbing and dampening sound.

Throw rugs can also provide acoustic benefits and bring visual comfort underfoot to the workspace. Yet the carpet and rug industry have a history of environmental and health problems, so it is important to be cautious and aware of how to identify healthy (non-toxic) and eco-friendly options for throw-rugs. Most synthetic rugs are comprised of polypropylenes, natural rugs like cotton and wool may be treated with pesticides, rubber backings of rugs have endocrine disrupting chemicals, some rugs use toxic dyes (especially wool rugs that require higher intensity dying processes), and many rugs have stain-resistant treatments that are made from perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) that can get into the bloodstream from inhalation. In addition, polymeric fire retardants made from carcinogenic styrenes or butadienes are saturated into commercial rugs, creating another off-gassing toxin to be wary of. Ideally, you will want to find both eco-friendly and toxin-free throw rugs or carpet tiles for your home workspace. There are healthy options out there - including FLOR durable carpet tiles, or The Citizenry that sells handmade, fair trade, small batch production of all natural woven rugs supporting international artisans and communities.

Give some thought to the materials of your workspace furnishings and elements and see if there is anything you’d like to change out. If you are starting on a path for setting up your home workspace from the beginning, be sure to check labels and specifications of furnishing items before you purchase. Look for redlist chemicals on the label or otherwise seek out non-toxic furnishings for the healthiest material options for your home workspace. Grab you free copy of the Healthy Home Workspace 5-step Guide, delivered right to your inbox, for additional insights and knowledge for healthy home and workspace design.

If you are considering some design modifications for your home workspace and would like some personalized guidance, reach out to AIDA, LLC today for a consultation. You can always find more information and healthy home resources at Aletheia Ida Design and Architecture, LLC (AIDA, LLC) at www.aletheiaida.com.