Know that you are not making a luxury purchase nor splurging if you decide to hire an expert handyman, who has industrial-grade tools and the know-how in using them, to conduct proper formaldehyde testing on your newly renovated HDB flat. You are in fact making what amounts to a potentially life-saving decision. Resorting to a hyped-up DIY self-test kit or gimmicky substance you bought from a popular online shopping platform might not exactly constitute a smart response to something as dangerous and inherently carcinogenic as formaldehyde.

Consider the following media reports and the eerie similarity of circumstances surrounding the pattern of formaldehyde poisoning:

• In November 2023, a woman, who spent $40,000 to renovate her flat, ended up getting sick from the formaldehyde within days of her moving back in. Adequate ventilation and charcoal failed to lower the formaldehyde concentration in her apartment to a safe level.

• In January 2024, a family moved in to their new Hougang flat and suffered irritations in their noses and eyes from the formaldehyde in the wood furnishings. They ended up spending almost $1,000 to bring down the formaldehyde concentration to a safe level.

• In March 2024, an entire family fell ill due to formaldehyde poisoning after they moved to their newly renovated condo at Normanton Park. The eight year-old daughter became sick on the very same day of the move, showing symptoms of dry eyes and sore throat. The couple developed similar symptoms later, with the wife losing her voice from severe throat irritation.

Understanding Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a widely used (and more often the go-to) preservative for wood products, including furniture and construction materials such as plywood, medium-density fiberboards, and particleboards. Through off-gassing, it vaporizes and gets released into the air. If you inhale or get exposed to high concentrations of formaldehyde, you could end up with a host of skin, eye, and respiratory irritations. Long-term exposure has serious implications because formaldehyde has been linked to leukemia and nasopharyngeal cancer.

Why Turn To Professional Formaldehyde Testing

Formaldehyde concentration in the air is notoriously hard to accurately measure and the readings can be challenging to interpret–unless you have industrial-grade tools at your disposal and the field expertise in using them. 

BTO Defect Check understands exactly what’s at stake here. We know that formaldehyde off-gassing is not a trivial matter. For our formaldehyde testing service, we use PPM Technology’s Formaldemeter™ htV-M which is able to detect pollutant gases such as formaldehyde even in low concentrations. We will do the necessary calibration by ourselves and provide you with a report of the results.

Source: PPM Technology Ltd