Hello everyone!
The whole process of planning and building is really difficult and slow. At every new step, I feel like no one can tell you the right way to proceed, and a lot of it is learning by doing...
Well, we managed to complete a design draft with our architect that we like. I will share it in another thread soon. Now I am focusing on how the house could be built. Ideally, I would like to build turnkey with a local general contractor (GC), alternatively by contracting individual trades – but looking at the price expectations from the architect and the structural engineer, that might be too expensive for me...
I would like to build a “healthy” home for my family. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessive about it. But when I read brochures from companies like Baufritz and others, it makes you think. Wall construction is one thing – I prefer solid construction and no polystyrene, that already makes me feel quite comfortable. But what about all the sources of volatile substances, adhesives, PU foam, and so on...
What can I do, and what have you done, to ensure the healthiest possible living environment? Do windows have to be installed without foam? Should parquet flooring not be glued? What should the homeowner keep in mind?
Thanks,
Gerddieter
The whole process of planning and building is really difficult and slow. At every new step, I feel like no one can tell you the right way to proceed, and a lot of it is learning by doing...
Well, we managed to complete a design draft with our architect that we like. I will share it in another thread soon. Now I am focusing on how the house could be built. Ideally, I would like to build turnkey with a local general contractor (GC), alternatively by contracting individual trades – but looking at the price expectations from the architect and the structural engineer, that might be too expensive for me...
I would like to build a “healthy” home for my family. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessive about it. But when I read brochures from companies like Baufritz and others, it makes you think. Wall construction is one thing – I prefer solid construction and no polystyrene, that already makes me feel quite comfortable. But what about all the sources of volatile substances, adhesives, PU foam, and so on...
What can I do, and what have you done, to ensure the healthiest possible living environment? Do windows have to be installed without foam? Should parquet flooring not be glued? What should the homeowner keep in mind?
Thanks,
Gerddieter
K
Klappradl11 Sep 2021 09:32Seppl's Häusle schrieb:
In airtight buildings, yes, but in breathable buildings, you won’t notice any unpleasant odors, even if you grill kilometers of shrimp with garlic indoors. You just have to believe in it. My house (plastered pumice stone brick) is quite breathable, but it would fail your odor tests.
Ventilation is key—if that’s working properly, you could live in a "plastic bag" and wouldn’t notice anything.
No one gets sick from living in a modern house. Unless maybe they had to work more than was good for them to afford it.
Clay plaster helps by buffering moisture increases caused by temperature changes, weather shifts, internal vapor production, and similar factors, keeping humidity levels lower for a longer time compared to some other types of plaster. This results in the sensation that the air feels less stuffy. However, this has nothing to do with CO2 or O2 levels. It is also unrelated to diffusion or breathable walls.
If you solve the differential equations, you will see that the orders of magnitude are insufficient to allow the air volume of a breathing person to diffuse through.
I better won’t mention a simple self-test that would cause you to collapse from lack of air behind a diffusion-open wall...
PS: We also build diffusion-open.
If you solve the differential equations, you will see that the orders of magnitude are insufficient to allow the air volume of a breathing person to diffuse through.
I better won’t mention a simple self-test that would cause you to collapse from lack of air behind a diffusion-open wall...
PS: We also build diffusion-open.
Both clay and gypsum plasters help regulate moisture! The difference is that clay plaster is used intentionally and therefore rarely covered with liquid plastic coatings like dispersion paint (≥ 30% acrylic, meaning plastic!). Gypsum plaster, on the other hand, as a standard plaster, commonly is! When this happens, the wall is essentially sealed like with a plastic vapor barrier, preventing any moisture regulation…
S
Seppl's Häusle11 Sep 2021 11:26It also depends on the thickness of the moisture-absorbing layer in the wall. If I have a drywall panel as wall cladding with a further plaster or clay plaster layer of several centimeters (inches) on top, the moisture buffering effect mentioned above is greater and more noticeable than with just a few millimeters (fraction of an inch) of plaster on the wall.
I once read that this concept makes sense starting from a thickness of 20mm (0.8 inches).
As a practical example:
In a bathroom, pay attention to whether the walls are tiled up to the ceiling or if drywall is installed above the splash zone in a vapor-permeable manner.
In the latter case, after a hot shower or bath, the mirror will fog up little or not at all.
I once read that this concept makes sense starting from a thickness of 20mm (0.8 inches).
As a practical example:
In a bathroom, pay attention to whether the walls are tiled up to the ceiling or if drywall is installed above the splash zone in a vapor-permeable manner.
In the latter case, after a hot shower or bath, the mirror will fog up little or not at all.
R
RotorMotor11 Sep 2021 11:55Seppl's Häusle schrieb:
As a practical example:
In a bathroom, check whether the walls are tiled up to ceiling height or if drywall is installed above the splash protection level with a vapor-permeable material.
In this case, the mirror will not fog up, or will fog up very little, after a hot shower or bath.Definitely not. Especially in bathrooms, using absorbent materials is strongly discouraged. It's better to ventilate thoroughly than to create conditions for mold growth.N
nordanney11 Sep 2021 12:20Seppl's Häusle schrieb:
As a practical example:
Check in a bathroom whether the walls are tiled up to ceiling height, or if drywall is installed above the splash zone with a vapor-permeable design.
In this case, after a hot shower or bath, the mirror doesn’t fog up or barely fogs. Damn. My bathroom is only tiled in the shower and directly behind the sinks. Unfortunately, the rest of the room hasn’t received your vapor-permeable ideas, and the mirror doesn’t seem to know it’s not supposed to fog up.
Seppl's Häusle schrieb:
In vapor-permeable buildings, you won’t notice any bad smells, even if you grill kilometers of shrimp with garlic indoors. Can you explain to me how the garlic-fish smell can actually penetrate walls? Or which walls can absorb so much odor that you don’t need to ventilate?
Seppl's Häusle schrieb:
I once read that the concept makes sense from 20mm thickness. You seem to know a lot — I once read that too...
I also once read that the Earth is flat. That doesn’t make it true.
Sorry. But once again: your vapor-permeable, odor-free constructions don’t exist today. Physically, that’s not possible.
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