Healthy Home Products

That "new cabinet" smell might be bad for your health: Plywood adhesives used by many manufacturers contain VOC formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Armstrong Cabinetry changes all that with its Origins Series. Cabinetry is made with PureBond, a soy-based adhesive that contains no urea-formaldehyde. What's more, the wood is derived responsibly from managed forests, and then enhanced with a proprietary resin, giving it particularly strong bonding and water-resistance qualities.

It sounds like science fiction but MonierLifetile's new BoralPure Smog Eating Tile is like a catalytic converter for your roof. The concrete tile contains titanium dioxide, a photo catalyst. When activated by daylight, the catalyst converts harmful levels of nitrogen oxide molecules, a major component of smog, into calcium nitrates. When it rains, the nitrates wash off the roof and fertilize your landscape. The company claims that over the course of a year, 2,000 square feet of tile can destroy as much nitrogen oxide as a car produces from driving 10,800 miles. The tile also inhibits the growth of organisms like algae and moss, and, thanks to its porous structure, dries in half the time of conventional tile.

As mold-resistant gypsum panel products gain popularity, CertainTeed has upped the ante with a gypsum board to improve indoor air quality (IAQ). Not only does AirRenew's paperless surface resist moisture, mold and fire, but the company claims the core also permanently converts VOCs into safe, inert compounds and absorbs them for up to 75 years.
Caveat: The National Association of Home Builders points out that "mold-resistant does not mean that mold cannot grow. Under the right conditions, mold can grow on almost any surface. These products limit the conditions which are prime for organism growth, reducing the chances for mold."

For fiberglass fans, Owens Corning has reformulated its iconic pink Fiberglas insulation, nixing the phenol formaldehyde binder for one that is plant based. Eco Touch also boasts the highest recycled content (50 percent) of any fiberglass product on the market. EcoBatt, certified mold-resistant by Greenguard, also "does not support microbial growth or attract insects or vermin," according to the company’s website. Other companies that offer formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation include Johns Manville, Knauf (EcoBatt) and CertainTeed (Sustainable Insulation). Two cotton insulation products — UltraTouch by Bonded Logic and the new Mr. Insulate by Applegate — are formaldehyde-free as well as mold-, insect- and fire-resistant.