Environmental Design & Inspection Services
Tips for a Healthy Home
Environmental Design and Inspection Services
Oram Miller, BBEI
Certified Building Biology Environmental Inspector
“EMF” Consultant
11693 San Vicente Blvd., #342
Los Angeles, California 90049
Phone 310.720.7686
info@createhealthyhomes.com
www.createhealthyhomes.com
Tips for a Healthy Home
Recommendations for Healthy Renovations and
New Home Construction
These tips for a healthy home are based upon recommendations taught by the
International Institute of Bau-biologie and Ecology (IBE), Clearwater, Florida
(727-461-4371; www.buildingbiology.net) and comprise the material covered in
the author’s Healthy Home lectures. They are also based upon his experience
from almost five hundred environmental home and office inspections conducted
in Minnesota and ten other states over the past several years.
The Twenty-Five Principles of Bau-biologie, as taught by the IBE, are presented
at the end of these recommendations.
For tips on making your home and office safer from harmful Electro-Magnetic
Fields (“EMFs”) as well as Radio Frequencies from wireless communications, go
to Oram’s website, www.createhealthyhomes.com and click on “Tips for a
Healthy Home.” Then click on the link to the handout entitled, “Reduce Your
Exposure to Electric Fields, Magnetic Fields and Radio Frequencies (EMFs).”
For tips on creating healthy indoor air quality and protecting yourself from mold in
your home and office, go to Oram’s website, www.createhealthyhomes.com and
click on “Tips for a Healthy Home.” Then click on the link to the handout entitled,
“Improve Indoor Air Quality.”
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Environmental Design & Inspection Services
Tips for a Healthy Home
Use Healthy Building Materials When Remodeling to Avoid “Sick
Building Syndrome”
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One of the most hazardous things you can do for yourself and your family
is to remodel a home or office while living and working in it. The chemicals
found in most building materials and finishes (paints, varnishes, etc.) are
quite toxic. They also “outgas” for months, if not years, much longer than
most people think.
You may habituate to the odors after a few minutes every time you come
home after being out of the house, but the tissues of your body continue to
accumulate these toxins, particularly in your fat stores. Headaches,
dizziness, fatigue, immune system problems, and allergies all can result.
Children are more susceptible than adults and develop attention deficit
disorder (ADD), behavioral problems and learning disabilities in addition to
the problems listed above.
Therefore it is extremely important that you budget to use non-toxic
alternatives to building materials commonly used today, particularly those
that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) derived from petroleum.
This includes glues, paints, varnishes and the like. Most cabinets and
countertops are made of particleboard, which is comprised of glue and
chips of wood. Formaldehyde is also an ingredient. Choose solid wood or
at the very least, use exterior grade plywood, made with phenol
formaldehyde, a more stable form of formaldehyde than urea
formaldehyde found in imported interior plywood.
Choose non-toxic, low-VOC or no-VOC paints, stains and varnishes. Such
companies as American Formulating and Manufacturing (AFM), DunnEdwards, Yolo, Mythic, and BioShield make these products. Most major
paint manufacturers also now make a low-VOC product line. Check with
your local paint store, though be aware that “low odor” paints made by
major paint manufacturers tend to still contain harmful ingredients with
some degree of volatility. It is better to choose paints and other finishes
made by companies that formulate them to be non-toxic from the ground
up, such as the companies listed below. The following three companies
design their products specifically to be tolerated by multiple chemically
sensitive clients (but always test for individual sensitivity in all cases): AFM
Safecoat, San Diego, California (619-239-0321; www.afmsafecoat.com );
BioShield, Santa Fe, New Mexico (800-621-2591; www.bioshieldpaint.com
); and Mythic Paint, Hattiesburg, Mississippi (888-714-9423;
www.mythicpaint.com ). These companies also make zero-VOC paint
products: Dunn-Edwards, Los Angeles, California (888-337-2468;
www.dunnedwards.com ); Yolo Colorhouse, Portland, Oregon (877-4938275; www.yolocolorhouse.com ); Eco Safety Products Inc., Phoenix,
Arizona (877-366-7547; www.ecoprocote.com ) Maker of Dura Soy One
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Tips for a Healthy Home
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brand and other non-toxic biological-based paint, stain and finishes made
from soy, not petroleum. Allows you to avoid use of primer.
For absolutely clean indoor air use BioShield, Milk Paint and other paints
made simply from clay and pigment, available through Green Building
Supply.
Choose solid surface flooring rather than wall-to-wall carpeting or vinyl.
Healthy examples include cork, solid wood, marmoleum (the old linoleum,
made from cork and linseed oil), tile, and bamboo, to name a few. You can
lay an area rug over such floors that can be aired out every few months.
Installed carpeting harbors dust, dust mites and mold, and collects
pesticides brought in on the soles of your shoes. Mold and pesticides then
volatilize into the air in high humidity, ready for you to breathe them in.
Avoid vinyl flooring, which is made with PVC, a petroleum-based product.
PVC is an ecological nightmare to manufacture, seriously harming
workers and the environment in the process. It also outgasses for years in
your home. Choose marmoleum (the new name for linoleum) or tile in
kitchens and bathrooms instead and use non-toxic adhesives and grouts,
available from AFM.
Use exterior grade plywood for subflooring and sheathing rather than
Oriented Strand Board (OSB). The best choice for subflooring, sheathing,
and roof decking is traditional solid diagonal wood planking.
Use these principles for Constructing a Healthy Building
“Envelope” (Walls, Foundation and Roof):
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Choose thick wall materials with natural, breathable plasters and stuccoes
for walls and roof panels whenever possible. This takes advantage of the
significant and documented year-round energy savings provided by
thermal mass contained within thick wall materials. See below for links to
articles on my website discussing this important concept
(www.createhealthyhomes.com/services.php)
Thick walls also provide sound-deadening, strength against storms, and a
“breathable,” hygroscopic wall that avoids mold and naturally regulates
indoor humidity levels. The term hygroscopic means the ability for
moisture to slowly pass through without the penetration of liquid rainwater.
No vapor barriers are needed, which can trap moisture and cause mold to
grow in stud frame and fiberglass batt insulation construction.
Thick walls, which naturally have thermal mass, also store and later give
off radiant heat in winter and radiant cool in summer. As a result, smallersized heating and cooling systems can be installed that do not cycle on as
often, saving you money. None of this is possible with a house built with
sheetrock, batt insulation and stud frame walls.
Examples of thick wall materials include natural and Portland cementbonded wood chip wall forms made in Canada by Durisol Corporation
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Environmental Design & Inspection Services
Tips for a Healthy Home
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(905-521-0999; www.durisolbuild.com) or in Oregon by Shelterworks (541929-8010; www.faswall.com). You can also choose LifeBlock brand hemp
and natural cement-based building block made by Natural-Home Building
Systems (866-306-0939; www.greenkrete.com).
Additional materials include Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) made in
Georgia, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Contact the Autoclaved Aerated
Concrete Products Association (www.aacpa.org) and see my website
under “Product Web Links,” “Building Materials – Thick Wall,” for links to
individual manufacturers.
You can also contact the Log Homes Council of the National Builders
Association (800-368-5242, Ext. 8577; www.loghomes.org) for information
about log home manufacturers.
Straw bale and straw clay construction are two of the original thick wall
techniques, which we do recommend in our profession but primarily for
those who are willing to accept the labor-intensive nature of these
approaches.
For a healthy, reduced mold slab, use broken pieces of clay-treated wood
chip laid over sand and fine gravel, rather than using rigid foam board and
a poly vapor barrier. The pieces of clay-treated wood chip act as a
breathable thermal barrier and capillary break under your slab. The buildup of radon gas is also avoided in most cases. See the links to a
Prospectus and New Building Manual mentioned below for details.
Construct a breathable foundation and slab. Strategies include using
Durisol or Faswall cement-bonded wood chip wall forms. You can also
choose LifeBlock brand hemp and natural cement-based building block.
(See above for phone numbers and links to these manufacturers.) Each of
these products make an excellent foundation when surrounded by a DeltaMS exterior foundation wrap made by Cosella-Dorken (888-433-5824;
www.deltams.com) as an exterior drainage plane. Following this protocol
provides a dry, reduced-mold basement.
Achieve a Healthier Indoor Living Space by Doing the Following:
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Use active solar (solar hot water collectors) as the primary source of
heating and domestic hot water to save on fossil fuel heating bills. We are
at or nearing “peak oil,” the time when no more large oil or gas deposits
will be discovered. We still have petroleum to consume, but it will never be
“cheap” any longer.
For this reason, you must plan for much higher natural gas, heating oil and
electricity bills. Always consider thermal performance in your design and
utilize the free energy of the sun wherever you can. A smart, energyefficient design from the start will keep heating and cooling costs within
reason. These include:
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Tips for a Healthy Home
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Use passive solar design (roof overhangs, awning and trellises, tile floors,
walls with thermal mass) to take advantage of free wintertime solar heat.
Install hydronic in-floor or baseboard heat rather than forced air, if
possible. Radiant heat provides a steady, even heat and promotes a
healthier indoor air quality, and it saves money.
Use natural cooling strategies to keep cooling costs down in warm
weather, such as roof overhangs, awnings, trellises, shade trees, whole
house chimney effect, cross-ventilation, skylights and ceiling fans. Use
solar-powered attic fans and Radiosity 3000 (www.radiosity.biz) brand
thermal barrier, made up of microscopic glass spheres imbedded in paint
and used to coat the underside of your roof decking and other paintable
surfaces. Radiosity 3000 reduces attic temperatures from 170 to 140
degrees F. in summertime.
Use daylighting (interior windows, skylights, roof monitors, solar light
tubes) to improve mood by increasing melatonin production in wintertime
and to cut electricity costs.
Avoid building an attached garage, especially with a bedroom over the
garage. Gasoline fumes outgas from the fuel tank of a car. If the garage is
already attached, weather-strip the entry door to the living space to seal it
off from outgassed fumes. Place a plastic vapor barrier between the attic
of the attached garage and the walls of adjoining bedrooms.
You can go to Oram’s website, www.createhealthyhomes.com and click on
“Services,” and then “New Building Consultations,” for more information on these
and other aspects of how to design and build a healthy new or remodeled home.
There you will find links to companies that manufacture healthy, non-toxic thick
wall building materials as well as technical white papers on the value of building
an envelope with thermal mass. You will also find links to a much more detailed
Prospectus, one for new home owners, the other for architects, builders and
developers, written by Oram, which discuss these principles in more detail.
Consultations are available from Oram Miller, BBEI for healthy new home
construction and remodeling both locally on-site in southern California and by
phone, email and fax nationwide. Contact him at 310.720.7686 or
info@createhealthyhomes.com.
Finally you can learn more about a new manual that is currently under revision,
edited by Oram Miller, BBEI, covering protocols for healthy new building design
and construction as well as remodeling, based upon the principles of the Building
Biology profession. Go to www.breathingwalls.com to see information about the
manual and to order a copy.
Oram Miller, BBEI
Certified Building Biology® Environmental Inspector
11693 San Vicente Blvd., #342
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Environmental Design & Inspection Services
Tips for a Healthy Home
Los Angeles, California 90049
Tel 310.720.7686
www.createhealthyhomes.com
info@createhealthyhomes.com
The Twenty-Five Principles of Bau-Biologie
Building Biology, translated from the word “Bau-biologie,” was pioneered in
Germany over thirty years ago and is taught in the U.S.A. by the International
Institute for Bau-biologie and Ecology (IBE), Clearwater, Florida (727-461-4371;
www.buildingbiology.net). The principles upon which the teachings of Building
Biology are based are as follows:
1. A building site shall be geologically undisturbed.
2. Residential homes are best located away from industrial centers and
main traffic routes.
3. Housing shall be developed in a decentralized and loose manner
interlaced with sufficient green space.
4. Housing and developments shall be personalized, in harmony with
nature, fit for human habitation and family oriented.
5. Natural and unadulterated building materials shall be used.
6. Walls, floors and ceilings shall be diffusible and hygroscopic.
7. Indoor air humidity shall be regulated naturally.
8. Air pollutants need to be filtered and neutralized.
9. An appropriate balance of thermal insulation and heat retention is
needed.
10. The air and surface temperatures of a given room need to be
optimized.
11. A heating system shall feature radiant heat using as much (passive)
solar heat as possible.
12. The total moisture content of a new building shall be low and dry out
quickly.
13. A building shall have a pleasant or neutral smell. No toxins shall
outgas.
14. Light, lighting and color shall be in accord with natural conditions.
15. Protective measures against noise pollution as well as infrasonic and
ultrasonic vibrations need to be human oriented.
16. Only building materials with little or preferably no radioactivity shall be
used.
17. The natural balance of atmospheric electricity and ion concentration
shall be maintained.
18. The Earth’s natural magnetic field shall not be altered or distorted.
19. Man-made electromagnetic radiation shall be eliminated (or reduced
as much as possible).
20. Cosmic and terrestrial radiation is essential and shall be interfered with
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Environmental Design & Inspection Services
Tips for a Healthy Home
as little as possible.
21. Interior and furniture design shall be based on physiological findings.
22. Harmonic measures, proportions and shapes need to be taken into
consideration.
23. The production, installation and disposal of building materials shall not
contribute to environmental pollution and high energy costs.
24. Building activities shall not contribute to the exploitation of nonrenewable and rare resources.
25. Building activities shall not cause a rise in social and medical costs.
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