WOODEN FURNITURE “Why do Europeans choose solid wood furniture?”
Solid wood furniture is a trend of the new era, but today it’s not just a fashion statement for everything natural, biologically pure. This is a new lifestyle. Following the Europeans, who prefer to live surrounded by natural rather than synthetic materials, we also begin to pay more attention to the ecology of their home.
Let’s open the “secret.” The main drawback of chipboard furniture is that it is “phonite”, that is, it emits volatile toxic substances, which in a closed room (room) easily takes on concentrated forms. In the language of ecologists, this is called exceeding the maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants.
Why is chipboard furniture phonite?
Chipboard furniture plate is obtained by hot pressing of wood shavings (sawdust), impregnated with a binder – phenol-formaldehyde polymers. It is formaldehyde and phenol that are released into the air from furniture. Particularly vulnerable are places where the stove is not closed – some manufacturers of chipboard furniture leave the invisible parts of the stove, edges, open, in order to save. Pay attention to edge seals.
Under the influence of heat, the rate of emission of harmful substances increases. Therefore, chipboard furniture is not recommended for installation on a warm floor or near radiators.
Formaldehyde is officially recognized as a carcinogen, it negatively affects the central nervous system, eyes, respiratory tract, skin, reproductive functions.
Solid wood furniture
Of course, you cannot run away from civilization, you cannot hide, like Gauguin, on the islands of Oceania. But a lot is in our power. One such step in favor of health is natural, natural materials in the house, including solid wood furniture.
Wooden furniture is the most environmentally friendly. A tree creates an atmosphere of comfort, it breathes, lives, creates a very special microclimate in the house, fills the space with positive energy. The tree calms, cures for stress and causes pleasant emotions. For example, it was noticed that the bedroom made of solid wood sleeps very soundly and comfortably.
But first, about the most common stereotypes associated with wooden furniture.
1. Solid wood furniture is very expensive.
2. Solid wood furniture is suitable only for classic, heavy interiors.
1. Yes, from solid wood – oak, beech, ash – make expensive and prestigious furniture. But there are more affordable collections from an array of conifers, especially pine and birch furniture. Furniture from pine at prices is quite comparable even with inexpensive furniture from chipboard.
As a lack of pine, softness of wood is noted. Therefore, for protection, the tree is covered with special compounds, the main thing is that they are environmentally friendly, for example, based on wax.
Important! The ecological purity of the massif can be shone if chemical glues and varnishes are used in furniture production. Therefore, the array must be processed with natural compounds, oil, wax, or water-based varnishes. Strictly speaking, only furniture made of solid wood has the right to be called wood without any impurities and adhesives.
And pine furniture should be treated more carefully. However, the overall service life of pine furniture is longer than that of chipboard furniture made essentially of wood shavings.
Furniture made of Karelian birch is appreciated for its hardness and durability. Birch was used to decorate the palace interiors in Russia. At prices, solid birch furniture is generally more affordable than oak or other hard, valuable species.
2. The second stereotype. Wooden furniture is often associated exclusively with luxurious classic style, vintage and antique furniture. Historically, valuable wood species – oak, beech, ash, cherry, mahogany – were used to create palace interiors. The value of these tree species is primarily associated with their strength, and secondly, with the unique natural texture of wood.
However, today, succinct, very restrained in design furniture sets are made from the array. Simple geometric shapes, a minimum of processing, adhesives (the details are connected by the tongue-and-groove method), which allows emphasizing the natural beauty of the tree. Nevertheless, such furniture looks very exclusive, respectable and expensive.
An example of this is furniture from countries of functional minimalism – Germany, Switzerland, Austria (furniture from beech, oak, ash, walnut, alder is preferred), Sweden and Finland (furniture from Finnish birch, pine, spruce), Italy, Spain – walnut, cherry. In these countries, the production of solid wood furniture is highly developed, hundreds of cabinet furniture factories that produce modern furniture sets exclusively from solid wood are successfully working here. Bedrooms, living rooms, hallways, nurseries from solid oak, beech, teak, pine, as well as tropical woods, for example, furniture from solid hevea, which is characterized by increased density.
