GreenDor Glossary

GreenDor Terms:

Urea-Formaldehyde - An economical additive used in binders of MDF and particleboard as well as adhesives. The product is made from Urea and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen by the US Dept of Health & Human Services while it is considered a known carcinogen by the International Community. The issue with urea-formaldehyde as opposed to other formaldehydes such as phenol-formaldehyde is that the urea-formaldehyde seems to be less stable with regard to off gassing of the formaldehyde.

NAUF - An acronym meaning No Added Urea Formaldehyde. NAUF is all that is required for LEED tools while NAF (No Added Formaldehyde) is a requirement for systems such as the Living Building Challenge.

CARB - An acronym for the California Air Resource Board. This state organization established levels of formaldehyde off gassing for MDF, Particleboard, and Hardwood Plywood sold in the State of California. The Standard was phased in, in two stages. The first phase took effect on January 1, 2009 while the second phase takes affect on January 1, 2011

NAHB - An acronym for the National Association of Home Builders. An organization in the U.S. that, along with the ICC, developed the ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard. An ANSI (American National Standards Institute) approved Standard which defines green building for single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects, and site development projects

FSC - An acronym for the Forest Stewardship Council. This is a voluntary non industry international organization that was established to promote responsible management of forests. It has established a Standard for certifying forests along with a chain of custody program for the processing of the wood from the certified forest to the end user. FSC is currently the only certified wood standard recognized by LEED.

SFI - An acronym for the Sustainable Forest Initiative. This is an organization that was initially developed by forest industry companies to establish and promote responsible management of forests in North America. It has established a Standard for certifying forests along with a chain of custody program for the processing of the wood from the certified forest to the end user. Today, SFI is an independent organization which is recognized by Green Globes, NAHB Green Building Standard, CHIPS and other green building standards. They are currently working to be recognized by LEED.

LEED - An acronym for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This is the most recognized green building standard in North America with numerous "tools", LEED NC (LEED for New Construction and major remodel), LEED CI (LEED for Commercial Interiors), LEED CS (LEED for Core and Shell), LEED for Schools, LEED for Homes, LEED for Neighborhood Development, LEED EB (LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintence) in place and others upcoming, LEED Retail NC, LEED Retail CI, and LEED for Healthcare.

Green Globes - This is another green building standard which was the first to win ANSI approval. It was developed in eastern Canada and is managed in the U.S. by the Green Building Initiative. Green Globes was designed as a web based system to make the process of building certification more user friendly. Not as well know as LEED, Green Globes is recognized by numerous states and federal agencies.

CHPS - An acronym for Collaborative for High Performance Schools. This is a green building systems specifically for K-12 schools. The organization is based in California but the system has been adopted in Washington, Colorado, Texas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont as well as California. The Standard was developed so that the school can be self certified or third party certified.

USGBC - An acronym for the US Green Building Council. Established in the mid 1990's the USGBC is the designer and administrator of the LEED green building standard tools.

CAGBC - An acronym for the Canadian Green Building Council. A Canadian counterpart to the USGBC, the CaGBC is the designer and administrator for the LEED Canada green building standard tools

VOC - An acronym for volatile organic compound which are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility that are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. Both man made and naturally occurring, VOC's are regulated, especially for indoor applications. Examples of VOC's would be, solvents such as acetone, chlorofluorocarbons such as gasoline, and formaldehyde.

Rapidly Renewable - With regard to the LEED tools, a product that is grown and harvested within a ten year cycle.

Chain of Custody - For use in green building, a system which is used to document the trail of ownership of certified wood by way of shipping documents and material invoices.

UV Cured - With regard to wood finishes, a system in which the materials used to finish wood are cured using ultra violet light which minimizes or eliminates any VOC off gassing from the finish.

Reconstituted Veneer - A man made engineered veneer which is made from real wood fibers with natural colorants to simulate various color, figure and grain seen in real wood veneers.

Finger Joint - Is a woodworking joint that allows the use of smaller "waste" pieces of wood to be used to form longer or wider pieces of wood. Generally the joint is stronger than the wood fibers of the solid wood. Commonly used for rail material and paint grade stiles. Finger joint stiles are not considered an acceptable material in industry standards.

MDF - An acronym for medium density fiberboard which is an engineered product fabricated using natural wood fibers, wax and a resin binder and applying high temperature and pressure to form a "board". The material is more dense than particleboard and can be made with NAUF and is generally considered a pre-consumer recycled material.

Post Consumer Recycled Material - Recycled material produced from waste of a product or material that has served its intended use. An example would be the steel from an automobile being recycled into metal used in a piece of door hardware.

Pre-Consumer Recycled Material - Recycled material produced from waste which is generated by manufacturing process. An example would be the wood waste from lumber mills being used to produce a particleboard for use as door core.

Agfiber - a composite solid core fabricated with agricultural waste products instead of wood fiber. Reduces pressure on standing forests.

Generic Door Terms:

Wood Veneer - Thin slices of wood stitched together to the necessary width. Can range in thickness from 1/42" (6 mm) to 1/100" (2.5 mm). Per AWI, AWMAC, WDMA, & WI Standards minimum veneer thickness is 1/50" (5 mm) prior to sanding.

Door Skin - Exterior component of a door that maintains the structural integrity of the product. Can be wood veneer laminated to a wood composite substrate or wood cross-band and back veneer. Can be an engineered wood product such as a molded panel or a decorative laminate.

Core - Interior component of a door which is typically paper, wood staves, particleboard, engineered composite wood or fire composite.

Stiles - Vertical externally exposed component of a door.

Rails - Horizontal externally exposed component of a door.

Hollow Core - A core used for wood doors generally in a paper honeycomb format.

Honeycomb - A core of cells usually constructed of paper but can be composed of solid or engineered wood slats. Lightweight yet strong, the smaller the cell the stronger the product.

Internal Blocking - An internal component in a door that allows for mounting of hardware

Solid Core - The core component of a door that is made of a solid material. Generally the term is used to designate an engineered composite wood, particleboard or wood stave core.