We have several furniture items that are being built for our new office from salvaged trees around our city that would otherwise be destroyed (dutch elm disease). The diseased bark is removed and the perfectly good wood is then made into a variety of furniture and art pieces. The furniture assemblies are fairly basic (wood boards, metal connectors, shop applied adhesives(maybe), but the company would not likely be testing the furniture to ANSI/BIFMA standards. In a way, the furniture is salvaged but not as a complete assembly. As such, the wood is fairly pure in that it wouldn't be composite wood, but would be less than a year old too. Is there any way we can apply this furniture to the Low Emitting Materials credit as salvaged and inherently non-emitting without testing standards? It could be possible that it makes up for only 10% of furniture for the project with the other 90% complying, however we would like to include it if possible. Does anybody have any similar situations with salvaged wood furniture in a v4 project? Thanks.
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John Mlade
LFA, RESET ASP, WELL Faculty, LEED FellowWight & Company
LEEDuser Expert
6 thumbs up
August 28, 2017 - 12:25 pm
Good question, Alara.
I'd be interested in hearing how you moved this forward. I think you may need to reach out to GBCI to confirm an approach. I think your proposal, based on the material types and situation is reasonable, but it may not meet the technical requirements of v4. Do keep us posted with what you hear!
Thanks!
John M
Alara Brinton
9 thumbs up
December 6, 2018 - 4:23 pm
We were denied since the furniture had used adhesives and was coated with an epoxy (even though the adhesives and coating were emissions and VOC compliant). Emissions testing is not something practical for a local furniture manufacturer that uses salvaged trees in a wood shop, so we had to change this furniture to non-compliant and lost the point. Really disappointing, but it might be worth a future CIR for future projects...but I guess they have to make a standard for any furniture mfg big or small....
Debra a. Lombard
Construction Administrator/ LEED APBywater Woodworks, Inc.
47 thumbs up
December 6, 2018 - 4:38 pm
maybe appeal as under the low emitting flooring credit (leed nc v2009 ref ) says unfinished/untreated solid wood flooring qualify for credit without any IAQ testing requirements. The only difference between salvaged wood flooring and salvaged wood furniture (if the furniture is just glued salvaged wood) is the glue and if you show compliance with both voc and emissions (per v4) then the SW furniture should be OK.
Alara Brinton
9 thumbs up
December 7, 2018 - 10:34 am
Apologies, I misspoke in my earlier comment. The shop applied epoxy and adhesive used did not have emissions testing but was only low VOC. Though it was not specifically identified as the issue for declining our special circumstance, it like contributed. We did include the recent rating system correction ID#100002195 that has now defined ANY untreated/solid wood as inherently non-emitting. They said the furniture must have emissions testing because of the coating and adhesive. "As the furniture has used adhesives and coated with an epoxy, the furniture cannot be considered as inherently non-emitting". No mention of lack of emissions testing for the glue and coating but likely the reason.