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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Building a healthy house
  • Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 09:00:48 -0700

The huge issue of a healthy house is on a par with a happy house. The two are intertwined. Here are a few thoughts for the morning:

For starters, live in a place of high air quality. All air on Earth is constantly recycled--what goes around, comes around--and we all breathe the same stuff, but certain conditions, like lots of trees, clean the air--crap wafting in on the wind clings to leaves and when it rains the crap is washed to the ground where it enters the soil community's cleaning operation.

Avoid products that outgas poisons. These noxious products include carpet, particle board, strand board, and all the pressed-wood products that use glue to bind them. You want real, solid wood cabinets. Sheathing may be an exception if it is tightly and totally enclosed. Paints are available that are low VOC. Preferably, just live with the natural beauty of interior stone and wood, unfinished.

Avoid forced-air heating systems. They stir up dander, pet hair, and the myriad tiny pieces of stuff that we collectively call dust, all of which our nasal passages and lungs abhor. Forced-air duct work over time can accumulate molds and other nasties that can cause serious respiratory problems. Protect your lungs. Passive solar and radiant heat make far more sense and are more energy-efficient.

As Jefferson did at Monticello, build your house to process fresh air on a continual basis. TJ used overlapping glass at the high point of the house with tiny openings between. Air escaping at the high point created a slight vacuum, which caused fresh air to enter the house at certain low-level design points. I favor such a natural system rather than the electricity-dependent air exchangers now in vogue. I have written before of how I love the leaky old shack at Heartwood for its air quality. To replace the stale air seeping out of many points high, fresh air enters the main floor from the earth-temperature-tempered and regularly-hosed-down basement.

This is a huge subject. There are books and magazines to read. I occasionally pick up a copy of The Natural Home, which is a useful read. Nothing is more important than your health. Become knowledgeable about what it takes to stay vibrantly healthy. Develop a plan. Write it down. Focus and persist. Make the plan happen.






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