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
H
hampshire6 Sep 2021 20:47nordanney schrieb:
Could it be due to all the toxins that my children lack energy and just sit in front of their phones, watching Twitch mindlessly or sending snaps? No, we built a "healthy" home and have children who could be described in a similar way. Maybe the opposite is true. They grow up so healthy that they have a much longer life expectancy than we parents, so they simply take more time in their development.
Gerddieter schrieb:
Oh, that’s a pity... why?
The draft doesn’t specify yet which adhesive, plaster, or paint will be used, does it? Well, you did write:
Gerddieter schrieb:
When I read the Baufritz brochures or similar, it really makes you think.
Wall structure is one thing – I’d prefer solid construction and no polystyrene; that’s what I’d feel comfortable with. With that, you actually mentioned three versions that are no longer flexible once the draft stage is completed: monolithic masonry or masonry with external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS), between which decisions have already been made, and Baufritz would be a timber house builder, so a masonry design would not be feasible with them.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
hampshire schrieb:
I think @nordanney and @haydee sum it up excellently.
All materials used in houses today meet our limit values and are individually harmless.
An additive consideration of all materials in a room is usually not done. Besides, there is a lot of furniture as well. What is ultimately in the room can be perceived by allergy sufferers and specialists with measuring devices. Most people won’t notice any pollutant exposure themselves.
Here is my “healthy building” input for @Gerddieter:
For us, the consequence was a careful selection of materials for the house and furnishings based on the following aspects:
- natural materials are preferred (wood, clay, cellulose)
- anything that smells bad stays out (for example, I don’t like the smell of vinyl flooring—even if it performs well in tests)
- workmanship by craftsmen who share similar values and clearly enjoy their job
- keeping distance from blindly limit-focused indifferent people who don’t think about it at all
- keeping distance from overzealous eco-missionaries who only see the bad in the world
- very important: a good gut feeling—and always a partner’s veto right (if applicable).
Besides choosing materials, healthy building also involves considering personal preferences. Make your own list. For us, the main aspects were:
- a physically noticeable radiant heat source
- maximum brightness during the dark season
- maximum connection of the indoors to nature to have an “outdoor feeling” inside and enjoy naturally fresh-smelling air (flowers, forest, meadow, rain, thunderstorm, etc.)
- very large air volume in the living space with plenty of natural materials (for us, wood and clay)
- very good acoustics without standing waves, echo, or harsh reflections
- consistently prefer the more aesthetically pleasing solution (sometimes very simple) because the eyes live with it.
I also consider it essential, when building healthily, not to drive yourself crazy (which is unhealthy) and to choose the right budget and financing that fits your own peace of mind (sleepless nights and worries also make you ill). Better to build somewhat smaller, more modest, and suitable than to slap together a euro-per-square-meter-optimized box at the edge of feasibility.
In addition, choose the building site well and actively foster a good neighborhood—disputes, even in the healthiest-built house, are also harmful to health. Nobody needs that.- very good acoustics without standing waves, echo, or harsh reflections
11ant schrieb:
If you already have a finalized design, this question is answered and no longer variable. It only applies up to the preliminary design stage, I think we speak for @Gerddieter here, if we understand him as he intends: the basic house design suited to the plot is set, now it’s about the building form or type.
Gerddieter schrieb:
I would like to build a “healthy” little house for my family, Question: who would want to build an unhealthy house for their family?
Gerddieter schrieb:
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessive about it or anything. No offense intended. But ultimately everything has to be feasible and affordable.
So if you want to use purely ecological materials, that costs...
haydee schrieb:
The tiler needs to know that when they hear “healthy living,” they have to use bio-eco edible adhesive and how to apply it properly. Then you can only hope that the result lives up to the promise.
Basically, you shouldn’t even build if you are aiming for pure ecology.
Others have already written enough about other factors like the “modern technical standard,” which is quite high regarding health. Also mentioned were broader lifestyle factors such as diet and drinking (preferably natural and additive-free), smoking and alcohol, as well as other toxins like sugar, flavorings and fragrances, formaldehyde in clothing, aluminum, and electromagnetic pollution. I think with good building sense you can give the green light to standardized construction—unless you have a very deep pocket.
For example, aspects like ventilation systems, greywater collection and reuse, and a good heating system are things to prioritize and should be favored.
H
hampshire7 Sep 2021 08:35Snowy36 schrieb:
- very good acoustics without standing waves, echo, or harsh reflections
How did you plan, implement, and verify this?Got advice, studied the topic thoroughly, ran calculations, chose the LignoTrend ceiling, had the carpenter do the work, subjective check, result is great.
However, I owned a high-end hi-fi store in Berlin in the 1990s and had already worked on acoustic optimization for rooms with various geometries. So, I had some prior knowledge.