Marty Butler's blog

We unknowingly installed wood paneling in our addition that contains urea formaldehyde. We plan to paint the paneling, but we don't know what product will control formaldehyde emissions. I read the following from Healthy House Q&A on this site, but I cannot confirm the report. When I called the Canadian BM paint office, the rep told me that he didn't think their company has made a product that will control formaldehyde emissions. He sounded like he didn't know what formaldehyde is, so my confidence in his response is not high. I hope somebody out there has documentation about a product that will control urea formaldehyde emissions. My painter's coming in the morning, so somebody please have an answer!! Thanks.

Q&A Part 13: Cabinets, Doors, and Trim ... most sealers are imperfect at blocking emissions. Benjamin Moore Paint Co. has a sealer called Impervo that was tested in Canada and found to block 100% of formaldehyde ... Healthy House ... 07/07/2008.

I need to find a paint or primer that has been proven to control or prevent the emission of urea formaldehyde from wall paneling. We have been trying to build a safe, green addition to our old farmhouse, but we really slipped up with the decision to panel the walls. We thought the safe choice would be to use all wood paneling instead of paneling with mdf, but we failed to do our research. Only after the installation was almost complete did I discover that the glue in the paneling contains urea formaldehyde (glue bond type II HPVA-HP1-1994). In searching for a solution to the problem, I found the following:

Q&A Part 13: Cabinets, Doors, and Trim ... most sealers are imperfect at blocking emissions. Benjamin Moore Paint Co. has a sealer called Impervo that was tested in Canada and found to block 100% of formaldehyde ... Healthy House ... 07/07/2008.

But when I called the Canadian Benjamin Moore office to ask whether I should use high gloss or low luster Impervo, they did not know about those research findings, and the rep said he doubted that any BM product could stop formaldehyde emissions. Can anyone confirm the research about using the BM oil based paint successfully and whether it should be the high gloss or the low luster Impervo? Maybe there is something even better to use, but I cannot find it. My painter comes after Thanksgiving to begin painting the paneling, so I have only a few days to find a product. I contacted Healthy House Institute several days ago but have not gotten a response yet.