ᐅ Healthy Building Practices Experience Exchange – Who Has Built Like This?

Hello everyone,

Are there any homeowners here who are building healthy living homes?

We are planning a healthy living house using brick construction, and I would like to exchange ideas with other builders, for example, about material selection, building biology electrical installations, radon protection, and choosing construction companies.

Best regards
unser_schloss

Of course they exist! I am one of them 🙂. But truly healthy living environments are no longer really possible due to many regulations.

There are architects who specialize in this area.

Are you interested in building biologically for selfish reasons or out of love for the environment – in other words, are you focusing on minimizing pollutant and radiation exposure, or on energy-efficient, environmentally friendly construction?

Depending on your budget, there are larger companies such as Baufritz that promote these principles.

Otherwise, the classic measures include: power-line filters, a concrete slab with minimal reinforcement steel to avoid affecting the radiation field, limited use of PVC, and avoiding mineral oil-based products like stone wool or glass wool.

Suitable masonry materials (since you mentioned brick construction) for single-shell walls include Poroton bricks filled with perlite, or for double-shell construction, unfilled Poroton bricks combined with perlite infill or wood fiberboard and facing bricks.

Up to KfW 40 standard, you can easily use unfilled bricks without additional insulation. It is only for Passive House standards that this is no longer possible.

You will still need materials like extruded polystyrene (XPS), various adhesives, sealants, hydrophobic coatings, and so on in some cases.

We had a so-called "radon membrane" installed, but since it is a membrane, it might no longer be considered part of a "healthy living" standard.

However, we valued caution more than hindsight....

I am also one of those who tried to implement about 90% of it... For example, using regional products like Jura stone for flooring, no external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS), lots of wood, silicate paint, etc.

However, perimeter insulation was still installed on the exterior, for example, and the kitchen probably won’t be made of wood either.

We have a whole-house disconnect switch, wood fiber insulation, wooden windows, and even had water veins tested if you believe in that.