Purchasing a brand new house for detox purpose?

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone:

I now have to make a tough choice: We're considering the household

detox and looking for different areas like painting, flooring,

windows. Our target is to archive a green-house and reduce the toxic

exposure to minimal level so the family can live in a health friendly

house.

We find it's not an easy job at all since a lot of existing things are

difficult to replace or re-do. So I'm asking if to buy a brand new

house is a good idea? It's much easier to DO something like, putting

in a water purification equipment etc.

I'd like to go with that route but my concern is that if the new built

materials may be more toxic like paint, wood floor, vanishes because

they are still `fresh' and are giving off the toxins. If that's the

case it defeats the purpose to switch to a new house.

Do you have any suggestion to this matter? if there are any other

parents who did same thing could you please share?

Thank you.

YL

[Guest guest]

Ihave the same questions.

Two books for you, which each have sections on building and

remodeling --

1. Home Safe Home by Debra Lynn Dadd

2. Less Toxic Alternatives by Carolyn Gorman

Also, " Toxics A to Z " by Harte, et al., will give you info

about each specific toxin that is an ingredient in something you are

considering using.

Dawn

>

> Hello everyone:

>

> I now have to make a tough choice: We're considering the household

> detox and looking for different areas like painting, flooring,

> windows. Our target is to archive a green-house and reduce the

toxic

> exposure to minimal level so the family can live in a health

friendly

> house.

>

> We find it's not an easy job at all since a lot of existing things

are

> difficult to replace or re-do. So I'm asking if to buy a brand new

> house is a good idea? It's much easier to DO something like,

putting

> in a water purification equipment etc.

>

> I'd like to go with that route but my concern is that if the new

built

> materials may be more toxic like paint, wood floor, vanishes

because

> they are still `fresh' and are giving off the toxins. If that's the

> case it defeats the purpose to switch to a new house.

>

> Do you have any suggestion to this matter? if there are any other

> parents who did same thing could you please share?

> Thank you.

> YL

>

[Guest guest]

It's so tough to get needed products without toxins! I've gone to every local

and major hardware store non of them carry the products I was looking for to

paint my house (my son wrote on every wall). But sova.com has non toxic

paints ( sova tasty paints) there are a lot of other links on this sight

for other products. Also look up NO VOC paints and primers. Make sure it

doesn't say low voc it needs to have none. If your purchasing a new house maybe

you can buy one that is in the process of being built and you can have them use

the products that you approve for every step. For instance there is an

insulation that is made with recycled jeans. Good luck. When will the rest of

the world join us in the fight against toxins everywhere?????-

>

>Date: Tue Feb 07 10:45:52 CST 2006

>To: mb12 valtrex

>Subject: Purchasing a brand new house for detox purpose?

>Hello everyone:

>

>I now have to make a tough choice: We're considering the household

>detox and looking for different areas like painting, flooring,

>windows. Our target is to archive a green-house and reduce the toxic

>exposure to minimal level so the family can live in a health friendly

>house.

>

>We find it's not an easy job at all since a lot of existing things are

>difficult to replace or re-do. So I'm asking if to buy a brand new

>house is a good idea? It's much easier to DO something like, putting

>in a water purification equipment etc.

>

>I'd like to go with that route but my concern is that if the new built

>materials may be more toxic like paint, wood floor, vanishes because

>they are still `fresh' and are giving off the toxins. If that's the

>case it defeats the purpose to switch to a new house.

>

>Do you have any suggestion to this matter? if there are any other

>parents who did same thing could you please share?

>Thank you.

>YL

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I just joined the group last week and have not introduced myself yet but I wanted to add that Sherwin- has a line of interior latex paint that is no VOC. It is called Harmony.

Good Luck,

Carolynn

Purchasing a brand new house for detox purpose?>Hello everyone:>>I now have to make a tough choice: We're considering the household>detox and looking for different areas like painting, flooring,>windows. Our target is to archive a green-house and reduce the toxic>exposure to minimal level so the family can live in a health friendly>house.>>We find it's not an easy job at all since a lot of existing things are>difficult to replace or re-do. So I'm asking if to buy a brand new>house is a good idea? It's much easier to DO something like, putting>in a water purification equipment etc.>>I'd like to go with that route but my concern is that if the new built>materials may be more toxic like paint, wood floor, vanishes because>they are still `fresh' and are giving off the toxins. If that's the>case it defeats the purpose to switch to a new house.>>Do you have any suggestion to this matter? if there are any other>parents who did same thing could you please share? >Thank you.>YL>>>>>>>> >

[Guest guest]

Hi-

We've moved several times in recent years and have worked on detox

issues in new houses several times. With our first detoxed new home,

the true test of how we did with detoxing came when we had to sell it.

A chemically sensitive woman bought our house because she said it was

the only house she could breathe in! I have absolutely no sense of

smell so I always wondered how detoxed it really was so I was glad she

confirmed it for me.

Some builders might charge you less for the detox changes if you can

get a letter from your doctor explaining your child's health issues

and that ADA changes in the house are necessary.(two builders did that

for us). We've even had some builders charge us less because they've

met our son and realized that we have a lot of challenges in our

lives. So they just wanted to do something nice for us so they charged

us less for the " " changes to the house.

Sherwyn has a no VOC paint called Harmony. Also, we've had

good luck with Bruce Hardwood prefinished flooring (I think all of it

is varnished with a water based varnish, but always double check.)

Carpet of course is considered a no-no, but due to cost factors, we

have put some carpet in our homes and it has been ok as long as we do

research about which carpets are a little safer. Good quality berber

carpet has worked well for us--- also " continuous filament " carpet

because it sheds far less than many other carpets. We always spot

clean with a healthy carpet cleaner instead of using a steam machine

or a professional.

Something that has been very helpful for us is having a " heat recovery

ventilator " (HRV for short) installed in each home. This unit brings

fresh air into the house and takes the used " stale air " out of the

house which is great for offgassing your home on a daily basis.

Honeywell makes them. So does Broan. The Broan one has a hepa filter,

the Honeywell one uses a different type of filter. I found out about

these units from a chemically sensitive woman who said that both of

her daughters built new homes in the same year---one installed an HRV

and one didn't. ( I don't think that either home had any other detox

features). The woman said it was only a few months until she could go

into the house with an HRV, but it was two years until she could go

into the non HRV home. An HRV is energy efficient too ---- Through a

complex process, the incoming cold air is actually warmed up by the

temperature of the outgoing heated air. The installed cost usually has

been between $2000 and $2500 where we have lived.

As long as this subject came up....We will be selling our current 4

bedroom " healthy home " in Denver, CO (actually in Brighon- a

northeast suburb of Denver) in November 2006. It was a brand new home

when we moved in (June 2004). It has many healthy home

features---over 900 square ft of hardwood flooring (with a water based

varnish.) No carpet at all on the first floor. One bedroom upstairs

(our son's room) has hardwood flooring. The rest of the bedrooms and

the stairs have continuous filament carpeting which (as mentioned

above) we only clean with healthy cleaners. We only use fragrance-free

cleaning products; we have not used any pesticides inside the house

and have only used one kind of pesticide on the outside to deal with

wasp's nests tucked under the outside eaves of our garage. We have

used only organic fertilizer on our trees, none on the lawn and no

weed killer. We had a Broan HRV with a HEPA filter installed to help

offgas the house and bring in fresh air. The builder used Low VOC

paint. Since we moved in, we have used either Low VOC or No VOC paint.

No pets or smokers have ever been in the house. Also, so we wouldn't

have to use bug repellant to enjoy the outdoors at dusk or at night,

we have a beautiful 12 x 13 screened porch off of the kitchen area

(made with maintenance-free Geo-deck and a strong screen system). We

also have some safety features, too... most importantly we had the

builder build doorways and half doors from the Kitchen to the Family

Room and from the Kitchen to the Dining Room (no more gates!) These

doors of course would be easy to remove if a family didn't need them.

The house has a total of 2261 finished sq feet and a full unfinished

basement which I believe is 1051 square feet. It has a 2 1/2 car

garage. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs. On the first floor is the

kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room, family room and a vaulted living

room. (All of these downstairs rooms have hardwood flooring; the first

floor bathroom and laundry room have vinyl floors.) We are selling

it because we are building another home across town which will be

closer to our family's activities. We always try to sell our homes to

people who could benefit from the healthy home features which is why I

am mentioning it on this listserve. Since I didn't plan on

mentioning it this early, I don't know what our asking price will be,

but we paid $276,000 for it in 2004, put on the porch for (I think)

about $15,000, had the Broan HRV installed for $2,200, put in a back

yard with 6 sizable trees, various bushes, daylilies, wood fencing and

a lawn (I'd have to look up what we paid for all of that) and other

improvements. My guess is that our asking price will be in the low

$300,000's, but I am not totally sure about that.

So anyway.....if you know anyone who would be interested, feel free to

have them contact me at dorothys99@....

Time for bed!

Dorothy

>

> Hello everyone:

>

> I now have to make a tough choice: We're considering the household

> detox and looking for different areas like painting, flooring,

> windows. Our target is to archive a green-house and reduce the toxic

> exposure to minimal level so the family can live in a health friendly

> house.

>

> We find it's not an easy job at all since a lot of existing things are

> difficult to replace or re-do. So I'm asking if to buy a brand new

> house is a good idea? It's much easier to DO something like, putting

> in a water purification equipment etc.

>

> I'd like to go with that route but my concern is that if the new built

> materials may be more toxic like paint, wood floor, vanishes because

> they are still `fresh' and are giving off the toxins. If that's the

> case it defeats the purpose to switch to a new house.

>

> Do you have any suggestion to this matter? if there are any other

> parents who did same thing could you please share?

> Thank you.

> YL

>