Wood Ceilings

Susan Walter

HDR

LEEDuser Expert

894 thumbs up

June 25, 2018

I'm hoping someone has found a good pathway for wood ceilings in LEED v4 and can share. The CDPH test includes a formaldehyde test which of course all wood contains. The wood ceiling manufacturers I've talked to won't test their products for CDPH because of the inherent formaldehyde. I have testing results for the CARB tests and feel that we should be using Group 3 and Group as appropriate for wood ceilings. My initial LEED coach response was tone deaf to the issue and didn't seem to understand the formaldehyde in wood as a basic issue. Otherwise, I'll be submitting something more formal to USGBC which will likely cost money for an known issue and that is frustrating.

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Laura Charlier

LEED Services Director

Group14 Engineering, Inc.

LEEDuser Premium Member

47 thumbs up

Tue, 01/15/2019 - 22:37

Hi Susan, Have you had success with v2009 for healthcare in documenting a wood ceiling under the composite wood as opposed to the wall and ceiling finishes? We are having the same issue. The product is ULEF but does not meet CDPH Standard v1.1-2010. Thanks!

Susan Walter

HDR

LEEDuser Expert

894 thumbs up

Thu, 01/17/2019 - 17:00

No. I have had total fail on this. USGBC can't see that a wood product shouldn't be subjected to two testing requirements. I asked why a wood floor product can be low emitting when placed on the floor in a wet applied adhesive is suddenly not low emitting when applied to the wall with a z-clip. Nor can anyone tell me if the inherent formaldehyde in wood is higher or lower than the allowed limits of the CDPH test. We switched out our wood ceiling for metal ceiling with a wood print. I'm encouraging everyone to comment on this in the v4.1 review period which is now.