It’s been said that we spend over 90% of our time indoors so it’s important we spend that time in a healthy indoor environment. For people looking to build their new
home, then, what steps should you take to make sure your new home is a healthy
one?
Let’s start with what a healthy home is.
A healthy home is pretty much defined by what it doesn’t have. Here are the key irritants that a healthy home does not have:
- Mold. There are over 100,000 types of mold. Mold causes eye, nasal and lung
irritation. More severe reactions can be severe fever, shortness of breath and
even full blown lung infections. There is even some suspicion that mold
exposure at a young age can lead to the development of asthma later in life. - Dust and dust mites that trigger allergies causing sneezing and runny and irritated
eyes and noses. - Formaldehyde off-gassing which is a known carcinogen
Here are some practical steps to take to ensure you build a home that is healthy over
the long term:
Moisture causes mold so reduce or eliminate the presence of moisture infiltrating into
your home. This means you want a good effective roof system, proper rainscreen protection, a waterproof basement and very little direct contact with ground moisture.
Keep your Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) high. Dust mites and mold grow in warm, humid
environments. This means maintain an temperature under at or under 70. And keep
the humidity level under 60%. Build an airtight home (Less than 3 Air Changes
Per Hour @ 50 Pascals) and install an air exchanger that ideally uses a Hepa filter (filters out particles as small as 0.3 microns).
Install a radiant floor heating system instead of a forced air ducted system which will collect and re-circulate dust and dust mites.
Use Formaldyehyde-free insulation in your home.
And finally, just a reminder that Logix can help you build a very healthy home. Logix-built walls can be fully waterproofed, do not contain formaldehyde, do not support mold growth and are used to build airtight homes.
