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Buying new furniture for your home gives you one of the best feelings. It always feels great to see new furniture in your house as it brightens up the surroundings and amplifies the beauty of everything.
However, at the same time, new furniture also changes the way how your home smells. It brings in a very strong odor that instantly spreads all around your home.
That smell is due to the formaldehyde present on your furniture and continuous exposure to it can be injurious for your health and the people around. We have received tons of questions from people all across Singapore that, how to get rid of formaldehyde in furniture?
In this article, we have a complete detailed guide for you that will effectively help you remove formaldehyde from the furniture. Let’s move straight into it:
What Exactly is Formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde is an indoor toxin and a volatile organic compound that is used in the production of building material and many household items like furniture, plastic, and plywood, etc.
Have you ever noticed why the new furniture in your house smells stronger than the other items around?
Well, that’s also because of formaldehyde. New furniture items often have a lot of formaldehyde over them. When you bring that new furniture in your house then that formaldehyde over it starts changing into a gas at room temperature. That gas then spreads all around your home and produces a strong smell.This process is known as off-gassing.
How to Get Rid of Formaldehyde in Furniture?
Formaldehyde is an indoor toxin and constant exposure to it can lead to irritation, asthma, neurological problems, and much more. Follow these proven and working steps to remove formaldehyde from your furniture:
1. Let the Furniture Breathe in Fresh Air
Putting your furniture in the fresh air and letting it breathe is one of the best and effective ways to remove formaldehyde from it.
Just pick that furniture item and take it outdoor like on your lawn, backyard, or even the porch on a bright sunny, and breezy day. The sunlight will warm the furniture causing the formaldehyde to off-gas and leave the surface of the furniture. It will significantly remove the formaldehyde and its smell from your furniture.
If that furniture item has any covering or plastic over it then we’d recommend you must remove it so that the maximum amount of formaldehyde can get out of it. Otherwise, the formaldehyde will remain trapped inside and create the same smell again. The key is to provide proper ventilation and expose the furniture to the fresh air as much as possible.
You can also open all the windows and doors of your house so that the smell can move out.
2. Decrease the Humidity
Humidity is one of the major factors responsible for the off-gassing of formaldehyde and the creation of that strong toxic smell.
More humidity means more moisture in the air and more off-gassing of formaldehyde. It will eventually lead to more production of that strong toxic smell. So, the solution is to reduce the humidity.
You can either use an air conditioner or a dehumidifier to decrease the humidity and moisture in your house. It will stop the off-gassing of formaldehyde and its smell.
3. Use Chemical Remover
When nothing seems to work so far, then using a chemical remover can be a very effective choice to get rid of formaldehyde from your furniture. There are a lot of chemical remover products in the market that will efficiently remove the formaldehyde itself and also its smell from the furniture.
4. Use Air Purifiers
Using air purifiers is one of the many effective methods that can help you get rid of formaldehyde from the furniture.
Air purifiers are built for absorbing and removing harmful particles from the air like formaldehyde. What you can do is to get a good air purifier and place it close to the furniture item that contains formaldehyde. The air purifier will keep catching the off-gassing formaldehyde and prevent it from spreading in your house.
This way you can save yourself from the toxic smell of formaldehyde and also stop it from spreading in every part of your house.
5. Ask the Manufacturer to Keep the Furniture Outside
If you are buying furniture and you have found that it contains formaldehyde then you can ask the manufacturer to keep your purchased furniture outdoors for a day or two before you can bring it home.
When you will place the furniture outdoors then the formaldehyde will start gassingoff and then gradually fade away.
This way you can save your house from the formaldehyde and its toxic smell.
6. Sprinkle the Baking Soda
Most of the volatile organic compounds are acidic and formaldehyde is also a volatile organic compound. On the other hand, alkaline baking soda is a base.
There’s a basic rule of chemistry that when an acid and base meet together then it leads to the neutralization reaction.
Therefore, you can sprinkle some baking soda over the furniture containing formaldehyde and it will neutralize the smell of formaldehyde and also remove it. Keep the baking soda over the furniture for as long as you can and then you can remove it using a vacuum.
7. Get Some Plants in Your House
Plants are already famous for purifying the air and keeping our environment clean.
There are certain plants like the wax plant, purple heart, foxtail fern, and English ivy, which are renowned for absorbing harmful particles and smells from the air. You can get any of such plants in your house and put them near the furniture item having formaldehyde.
It will help you naturally get rid of formaldehyde and its toxic odor.
8. Use the Charcoal Filters
Charcoal is famously known for its absorbing powers. Perhaps, it was used for absorbing and removing dangerous gases from the air during wars in the past.
You can also take advantage of this property of charcoal and get some charcoal filters in your house. They will help you remove the toxic volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde present in the air of your house.
Thus, you will easily get rid of formaldehyde and its strong toxic smell.
Does formaldehyde in furniture go away automatically?
No! The above were all the working methods that will help you remove formaldehyde from the furniture very easily.
How to remove formaldehyde smell from furniture faster?
You can put your furniture items having formaldehyde in an outdoor space with sunlight and fresh air. It will take away most of the formaldehyde from it because formaldehyde starts gassingoff very fast in the heat outside.
Moreover, you can also implement multiple other working methods given in the article.It will give you super-fast and effective results in a short time. So, make sure to follow all these tips and get rid of formaldehyde from furniture easily.
