Third-party forest certification based on standards developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the best way to ensure that wood products come from well-managed forests. Wood products must go through a chain-of-custody certification process to carry an FSC stamp.
Manufactured wood products can meet the FSC certification requirements with less than 100% certified wood content through percentage-based claims (30% certified content is required if only virgin wood fiber is used; certified-wood content as low as 17.5% is allowable if the rest of the fiber content is from recycled sources).
With a few special-case exceptions, FSC-based certification is a requirement for GreenSpec inclusion of any nonsalvaged solid-wood product and most other wood products. A few manufactured wood products, including engineered lumber and particleboard/MDF, can be included if they have other environmental advantages--such as absence of formaldehyde binders. Engineered wood products in GreenSpec do not qualify by virtue of their resource efficiency benefits alone (for more on this, see EBN, Vol. 8, No. 11).
Purekor Platinum Door Core
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Just how low the VOC level needs to be for a given product to qualify for inclusion in GreenSpec depends on the product category. For most products, we require certification to California’s health-based emissions standard, CDPH Std Method v1.1 standard (also referred to as California Section 01350), which tests a product’s resultant VOC concentrations in the space after a given period of time. For wet-applied products like paints, caulks, and adhesives, we still also look for VOC content instead of, or in addition to, verified low emissions; this is because emissions testing doesn’t adequately test initial offgassing, and VOC content is currently the only widely available proxy.
Purekor's FSC-certified particleboard door core contains no added urea formaldehyde, contains 55% pre-consumer recycled content, and is FSC-certified. This product meets the ANSI LD 2 specification for door core. It has an average density of approximately 34 lbs per cubic foot, is available in any thicknesses from 1" to 2-1/4", and can be delivered cut to size. McKillican American Inc., one of North America’s largest building products distributors has completed the acquisition of the assets of Panel Source International (PSI).
The materials used in interior doors are the biggest driver of environmental performance, in contrast with exterior doors, where energy performance is paramount. Look for products made of materials with a lower embodied environmental impact and that do not introduce indoor air quality concerns.
GreenSpec lists doors made from FSC-certified wood or reclaimed wood. As with other wood products, specifying FSC-certified wood doors promotes long-term forest management for the benefit of forest ecosystems, timber resources, and local economies. Reclaimed wood doors, like other reclaimed wood products, don't carry the environmental burdens of recent timber harvesting. Previously harvested woods remilled into wood doors can provide rich colors and beauty generally not available from today's faster-growing timber.
GreenSpec also lists composite doors with environmental features such as rapidly renewable materials, agrifiber residue, no added urea formaldehyde, FSC-veneer stiles and rails, salvaged wood, and recycled content. Use of wood byproducts for core material is good, but is considered standard industry practice. Wood byproduct core doors need to have other green features to be listed in GreenSpec.
GreenSpec looks for products that meet California Section 01350 or other stringent emission protocols.
Certifications
LEED Credits
EQc4.1: Low-Emitting Materials—Adhesives&Sealants
IEQc4.1: Low-Emitting Materials—Adhesives and Sealants
MRc6: Certified Wood
MRc7: Certified Wood
Ratings and Commentary
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