Do you provide free quotes?

Yes, if you want we can give you an estimate or a quote if we have enough detail, just email us at info@empatlka.com some rough dimensions and a sketch and ideally some pictures of the area you have in mind and you will get a quote very quickly by email. If you are happy with the estimate then we can come and visit you when it suits you and talk in detail.

How reliable are your carpenters?

We are very reliable, stick to start times and days agreed, we do what we say we will do, we turn up on time every day in order not disrupt your schedule. And we are there throughout the job, not disappearing for one day to do something else.

Do you provide drawings?

Yes once we receive your deposit, we provide you with a hand drawn from scratch 3D computer scale drawing precise to the millimetre for you to check how it looks and to see if you are happy with the dimensions. If you like you can make any changes until the drawing is perfect.

How do I know you will do a good job?

Before I buy anything I read reviews so I suggest you do the same, we have over 100 independent testimonials on the internet. Please have a look at our testimonial page to see what our clients say about us

You call or email us, we asses your needs and give you an estimate or quote, then we arrange a time to come round and visit you, ask you more questions in detail to find out exactly what you would like, listen very carefully to your ideas and offer design ideas and solutions to best use your space and needs. We go away, email you a final quote. Once you decide to go ahead, we take a small deposit, then send you the drawings, once you have agreed the drawing we can book your place in the diary and we agree a start date. We then turn up with the materials and tools and build your units, then once built we paint them or oil them. Then once we are totally finished and you are delighted, only then do you pay us the balance, lastly if you feel testimonials have helped you choose us, please help us keep them fresh and leave us a testimonial here: https://plus.google.com/101927655300158702077/about?hl=en&review=1

Are you going to make a big mess in our house?

We understand that your home is precious and we do everything we can to make sure we leave it in the state we found it. All our materials are cut to size by a specialist cutting company before being delivered to your home, so minimal cutting is required onsite, even then we cover and protect the floors, cover your furniture with plastic sheets, use dust extractors connected directly to power tools, we even use a fine dust and chemical extractor for really sensitive areas, this is well over the top but we like to do the very best we can and offer the best service, and when the work is all finished we take all our rubbish away and give your place a clean.

What materials and finishes do you offer?

Our units are built of quality Medite FSC certified MDF wood then painted, or made of wood veneer we can oil or use matt water based clear varnish, and also melamine coated wood as typically found in kitchen units. We are also pioneering research in alternative healthier eco friendlier materials, we are the first UK fitted furniture company to use UK sourced strawboard which is totally natural and bound with no glues at all to make our bespoke furniture, we can build your units out of formaldehyde free MDF too, we also use recycled plastic sheeting for decorative purposes with lighting behind and recycled glass as well as many other sustainable materials and finishes to find out more please see our eco page.

Do you paint the units and what colours do you offer?

Yes, we use the best quality professional waterbased DULUX and Farrow and Ball eggshell semi matt white paint . If you would like the eco option using more natural paints please see our environment page. We mostly use white but can paint any colour you like (If you would like to paint your fitted furniture we can offer you free advice).

Do you spray the units and do high gloss?

We can arrange to spray the doors and outside visible parts and make the internal carcass of a white or other colour melamine coated laminate.

Are your charges transparent?

All charges are stated in advance in the final quote, you know what you will pay from the start, everything is listed in the quote. Only handles are optional and to be supplied by you or us, also parking is extra, so they are priced separately. All of which is clearly stated in your quote.

Does your service represent value?

For the quality of service we offer from beginning to end we offer outstanding value, we take great pride in producing only the best bespoke furniture that you will be proud to own for years to come, we offer a 2 year guarantee on our work, we are endorsed by various independent certification bodies, we take customer service very seriously, we understand that there is more to producing furniture than wood and screws, your total satisfaction is our number one priority, but don’t take our word for us see what our clients say.

How flexible are you once the work has started if something needs changing?

Our craftsmen all speak good English and have a great deal of skill and will do everything they can if you feel that something needs adapting, for example you change your mind about how many shelves you want, or the spacing between them, then if it is possible we will do what we can to please you, either free of charge or at extra cost depending on what it is.

Can you fix stuff in my home?

Yes if you need anything fixing in your home while we are there making your fitted furniture, if we can do it we will help you out. I like to offer a service that I would like to use myself so for such things as hanging pictures, fixing doors that don’t close and generally anything wood related tell us when we come to measure up for your fitted furniture.

Do you use real wood?

We use real wood veneers or plastic laminates that look like wood but not generally solid wood, we work with close associates who use solid wood, just ask us for contacts.

We don’t do bathrooms but if we are already working in your house doing other fitted furniture, we will consider any storage you would like for your bathroom.

I have sockets where I want my fitted furniture how will you deal with this?

If you have an electrical, phone or TV areal socket that is ok as we can cut a hole in the back so you can still access them, we can move electrical sockets around if they haven’t got far to go. Phone sockets we can more if there is enough spare wire.

Do you make kitchens?

No we don’t make kitchens but sometimes can make units that go in your kitchen such as a bookcase.

Is MDF sustainable?

Home » Blog » Is MDF sustainable?

Fitted 4 legged Bedside Table With Uneven Edges Made By Reused Wood By Empatika

Is MDF eco friendly?

Tristan Titeux’s Pioneering Journey to find the most sustainable eco-friendly materials to design and build Empatika’s bespoke Fitted Furniture starts with MDF.

My journey started in December 2010 when I decided to research and publish my findings of various materials that are available on the European and World market but specially the UK.

I needed an idea for Christmas to write about in a magazine, I wasn’t sure what it would be, so I was thinking Christmas, Christmas trees, trees, wood, MDF is made of Christmas trees I thought, so I just wrote an article about how Christmas trees can be used to make fitted furniture (see it at the end of the blog post).

My aim here is not to have a go at MDF nor promote it as an eco friendly material, because it isn’t, my aim is simply to put what is good and bad about it, that way once we know what those are we can then make a judgment as to how it can be improved. And for those who know nothing about it’s sustainability side then now at least you know.

The glue that bonds the fibres together.

MDF wood (Medium Density Fiberboard) has some pretty surprising sustainable features about it, though on the whole it isn’t yet fully sustainable. If you remove the glue from the equation, especially the formaldehyde, which is nasty, then it would be a very sustainable material.

Current MDF has lower amounts of formaldehyde than before and is called “low formaldehyde MDF”.

But MDF can be found with zero formaldehyde such as Medite Ecologique which is made of another kind of glue called MDI glue (Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate).

The benefits of MDI glue are that you need much less of it to bond a board together, 3-5% as opposed to 10-15% for formaldehyde based glue boards.

Secondly MDI is inert, which means that it does not offgas, so at room temperature it does not let off any VOC’s (volatile organic compounds), and these VOC’s are undesirable in your home, they are basically man made petro chemicals which are coming out of the wood glue and adding to all the other chemicals in your home, such as fire retardants in sofas, carpets and curtains, paints on your walls and furniture and all the synthetic chemicals you use to clean your home and body.

So although little is known about exact quantities verses effects of one particular chemical, it makes sense to think that breathing in and absorbing synthetic man made chemicals through your skin into your body is not a great idea.

Even less is known of the cocktail effects of all these chemicals put together and how they affect our bodys.

Time will tell how good MDI glue is or isn’t.

I would hope that someone will come up with an amazing totally natural and harmless glue to our health and environment soon! Please?

In fact I have now seen an mdf made with a totally natural glue as well as many other types of plant based resins, so we have progress, but it’s a way off from being able buy these MDF boards in our local timber yards.

A natural glue to make MDF is developed in Wales: https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/press/press-releases/2013/october/new-recyclable-mdf-could-help-solve-uk-waste-problem

Here is the video about the sustainability of MDF I made on Youtube:

Medite also do an exterior grade mdf that uses MDI glue instead of Formaldehyde called Medite Exterior.

The good thing about this materials is that is is long lasting because it is waterproof making it more sustainable and useful for a long periods of time as it can be used outdoors without extra chemical wood preservatives, but I don’t know what other chemicals it contains to make it suitable for outdoor use.

What wood is MDF made of?

MDF is made of waste and inferior material not suitable for planks used in the construction industry.

It uses wood that comes from sawmills, their waste off cuts (residue) that is left over when you shape a log into nice planks, so the outer pieces that are half moon shape, plus any other small bits.

As well as this, pine and spruce trees are used that are too small or generally no good for anything else called thinnings.

Thinnings are trees that are plucked out to make way for the straighter and more vigorous trees, just the same as you would thin out your carrots and onions once you have seeded them and they have grown a little.

I was pleased to discover this, rather than using whole trees, it made me feel that there was something good about MDF and the future potential for it is even greater if recycled second life wood is used.

This is only a good thing if the wood used comes from sustainable sources, such as the wood my company Empatika use which is grown in Ireland, where the trees are taken and replanted and certified as such.

Using wood from virgin forests such as the rainforest would not be a good idea.

Is MDF Recyblable?

Sadly MDF can’t currently be recycled, but technologies are being developed that will allow it to be recycled.

Making MDF recyclable is a very important step, even if natural glues are not yet available, then at least if the old material can be made into more MDF or other boards instead of burning it or sending it to landfill, then that is progress.

I think another step towards making MDF a better material would be to use recycled second hand wood from building sites, wood that people bring to municipal recycling centers etc.

So it is possible to use recycled wood into MDF too, just it isn’t done.

It is just a matter of diverting all waste materials to local recycling collection centers, these already exist, where you bring all your waste from home and put it into various bins, but this should be stepped up and should include all waste building material from all industries, but of course we need the will to do it and the money.

There is a company called Sonae UK http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/sonae-on-schedule-to-take-in-recycled-wood-again/ that I found that uses 100% recycled wood such as this in their chipboard materials in their UK factory, but they only make their recycled wood MDF in their Portugal factory, why I have no idea.

Here is a great article about the status of MDF recycling in the UK: http://www.wbpionline.com/features/recycling-mdf-are-we-there-yet/

Here is another link to wood recycling in the UK http://www.woodrecyclers.org/recycling.css

This company recycles MDF: http://www.mdfrecovery.co.uk/Recycling_MDF.html

Good news about MDF recycling: https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/779497/MDF-Recovery-recycling-solution-world-first-British-firm

What about the manufacturing process?

MDF has to be made into boards in factories and of course that uses electricity, energy, big machines made of metal, plastic etc, and I don’t know what the numbers are for all this.

But as with everything, in the future we will find ways to improve all of this.

For Example, the energy used to run the machines to make MDF will be totally renewable.

Materials that are used to make machinery to make MDF will all be recyclable.

Heat will come from renewable resources too, so the manufacturing impact will be reduced as much as it can be.

Sustainability isn’t a black or white issue, it is a sliding scale, some things are more or less sustainable than others.

If you know of any links that talk about the energy used please let me know.

Conclusion.

Pros:

MDF uses sustainably grown wood (if it is certified).

It uses wood that is local (if you live in the UK and use Medite MDF)

It uses parts of the tree that is no good for anything else

Cons:

It uses petro chemical binders (glue)

It is currently hard to recycle

It does not yet use recycled second life wood

It takes a lot of energy to manufacture

So there is a long way to go, but MDF is not going away, so we need to be aware of what is good about it and work towards reducing what is bad about it.

A new type of MDF that has long life properties like some hardwoods.

There is a new technology that will revolutionise the production of outdoor grade MDF and for that matter, hardwood, and traditional timbers.

It uses a production process that is said by the manufacturers to be 100% non toxic and is being developed by www.tricoya.com

It is made using fibres that can be recycled, it is also suitable for outdoor use and hardens the MDF to compete and be even better than many hardwoods, you can read more in this article.

(I will let you know when I understand more about this process) I know that the fibres will be acetylated to make them waterproof then they will be bonded together like traditional MDF, so that part won’t be different, but the acetylation will be different and more natural I think than dousing the MDF in waterproofing chemicals?

Acetylation on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylation