Question from Karen
Hi Debra,
We recently bought 6 banana leaf dining chairs(I think from China) that are just beautiful. However, when they were brought into the house the odor was overwhelming. We now have had them in the garage for 10 days and there doesn’t seem to be much change.
How long will it take to outgass? Should we try to seal them with a polyurethane type coating? Then would the polyurethane have to outgass, too? Would it wear off and we would be right back where we started?
I hope there is a solution. We love the chairs!
Thanks,
Karen
Debra’s Answer
I don’t have experience with banana leaf chairs, but I have some ideas.
First, I don’t know whether the odor is the natural odor of banana leaf, or if what you are smelling is some kind of finish that has been applied, or some kind of pesticide that may have been sprayed during shipping.
If you were to apply some kind of finish to block the odor, yes, that would need some drying time.
Heat often will accelerate the outgassing process.
I think I would try putting them out in the sun. The sun often works wonders.
I had an experience once where I bought a natural jute rug. It had an odor in the store, but I thought, it’s natural, I can get the odor out. Well, I did everything I could think of, including leaving it out in the sun and rain for six months, but the odor remained. I think it was just the natural odor of the jute.
