Creating A Healthy Home

With indoor air pollution at its worst, and many of us spending more time in our own homes, this interior design guide will help you create calm, social, and comfortable spaces. Let leading sustainability architect, Oliver Heath, give you all the practical solutions you need to transform your space for physical and mental wellbeing. Inside the pages of this home decor book, you’ll discover how to detoxify your home by making small changes. It includes: • 100 tried and tested, research-based design ideas to support your health and wellbeing in even the smallest of spaces • Stylish, fun, and affordable home design tips based on the latest research in sustainable, biophilic design You're never going to be able to control the environment in the grocery store or your office, but your home is a completely different story. You are in charge of your living space, so why not make it as healthy as can be? Based on the latest evidence and research in wellbeing and biophilic design, this practical guide will show you how to create a restorative and nurturing environment - no matter the size of your space. The ideas and solutions included in this book have been devised with easy implementation in mind. Optimize lighting in your home by using reflective surfaces for a brighter space, follow a ventilation checklist to replenish the air in your home and remove pollutants, or unlock the powers of a tech-free bedroom for a better night's sleep. Whatever your budget and whether you rent or own your property, you can use these creative ideas to make your home a sanctuary.

"The Healthy Home" is the most up-to-date and scientifically accurate book on how to detox a home, room by room, to keep families safe--one of the most topical subjects today.

How to build and remodel for health. Key topics include: Preventing Mold, Reducing EMFS (Electromagnetic Fields) and Ventilation. Suggested products and materials to use and those to avoid. Creating healthy kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and specifications a builder can follow. Real life examples by an expert who has tested thousands of homes.

This a book for everyone who cares about their home environment. Now, for the first time, healthy housing principles, solutions, and case studies are brought together into this one practical and accessible guide to creating healthy indoor environments. Use the checklists and worksheets to identify the problems specific to your home and your health concerns, and design a solution. Complete with numerous case studies, construction details, system drawings, and the best healthy building solutions available, this book can be used for every kind of dwelling, from the largest house to the smallest apartment. It is suitable for both renovations and new Rome construction. Includes 32 pages of sources which will be updated on the web at regular intervals.

A beautiful, inspiring guide to building, designing, and decorating a natural living space that is healthier for your family and for the planet. “In Live Natural, Ali Davin puts functionality before aesthetics, one actionable tip at a time. This book is for anyone who’s ready to make a change in how they inhabit the world.”—Colleen & Jason Wachob, Co-Founders, mindbodygreen ★ “Readers who want to construct a new home, remodel an existing one, or learn how to design healthier spaces in their home will find this book delightfully resourceful.”—Library Journal, starred review Known for comfortably chic interiors that blend natural materials, nontoxic building, and artisanal techniques, California designer Alison Davin creates warm, welcoming spaces with an emphasis on wellness. Always mindful of limiting waste, her homes are made to last a lifetime. While existing books approach this topic from either a highly technical or scrappy DIY perspective, Live Natural carves out a unique space in the coffee-table book marketplace, pairing beautifully photographed high-end homes with a clear point of view on wellness and environmental responsibility. Shot by the renowned photographer Lisa Romerein, the inspirational visuals of warm, aesthetically pleasing living spaces bathed in natural light will draw the reader in and pair with a clean, image-forward layout. This book creates a safe, welcoming space to receive ideas, challenging “the way things have always been done” in construction and design. Filled with accessible, actionable tips and delivered in an approachable tone, Live Natural empowers readers to advocate for themselves at home and in the world. Packed with insightful tips and illustrated with inspiring photographs from clients’ residences, Live Natural details how to craft a purposefully designed space with clean air quality and a lower environmental impact. This book will help readers harness light, space, and natural elements to design a clean, comfortable home they will love. More Accolades “California design pro Ali Davin offers useful, from-the-trenches advice on how to create a healthy, toxin-free home—and natural style inspiration to boot”—The editors of Remodelista “What I’ve always loved about Ali’s work is how layered it is. At first glance, it’s low-key and approachable, but when you look closer, it’s filled with rich character and detail. She has channeled that approach into this book—on the surface, it’s a bunch of beautiful photos, but the health-focused content goes so much deeper.”—Kelli Lamb, Editor, Rue

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air in our houses is up to five times more polluted than air outside--so it's clear that our homes have become fundamentally unhealthy places. But there is hope! With this guide, you'll learn the immediate changes that make your home--and your life--healthier and safer by neutralizing the toxins, radiation, and chemicals that threaten the average house. Inside you'll find: Instant-fix checklists that will immediately make your home, workplace, and school safer Room-by-room explorations of the most common and avoidable threats Special tips designed to protect vulnerable infants, children, and pets With detailed checklists that are ranked by the projected health impact of making the fix, you'll be able to make real, concrete improvements to the health of your home. Whether you make every change or just a targeted few, the decisive steps in this guide will result in a safer, more comfortable, and more livable home for you and your family.

Recognizing the need for more specific information about Americans' healthy housing concerns and awareness, we developed three surveys of homeowners, renters, and contractors with the goal of comparing their perceptions and priorities to the current well-established principles of indoor air and environmental quality. Results of our surveys indicate that nearly one quarter of homeowners had some concern and healthy-home problems or risks; homeowners cited indoor air quality issues as their leading concern, followed by water quality, harmful materials and chemicals, and indoor environmental quality (such as noise or light pollution). As consumer awareness continues to grow, households and other stakeholders need access to more transparent, science-based information regarding chemicals in buildings and other consumer products. There is ample opportunity for private businesses and public sector organizations -- including manufacturers, remodeling contractors, building/property managers and even public health professionals -- to offer greater access to healthy housing information and services.

Most of us spend 90 percent of our time indoors, but our indoor environments could be causing us significant harm. Everything from flooring to paints to insulation contains chemicals known to contribute to health problems such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. In this book, Jen and Rusty Stout, nationally recognized healthy home building innovators, teach you how to think like a builder so that you can construct a new home or upgrade an existing one to put wellness first. Making smart choices when it comes to building materials, moisture protection, and more can make all the difference in reducing your family’s exposure to toxins and living a healthier life. Whether you are a home buyer, a homeowner working with a professional builder, a building contractor, or a DIY-er, Healthier Homes walks you through key considerations such as Site selection Designing a living space that meets your family’s unique needs Material choices for the exterior and interior Air and water quality Sourcing home furnishings and finishes Existing home upgrades Mold remediation

It is widely acknowledged that there is an urgent need to transform our housing stock to a better energy performance level. However, improving energy performance should not result in a negative impact on the health, wellbeing and the comfort of building occupants. There are many energy-neutral features that can be incorporated at small or zero cost which have a positive effect on wellbeing. This book aims to outline and discuss these aspects of building design. The issue of health and wellbeing has already entered into design advice for the workplace, where productivity and absenteeism are often used as indicators. This book concentrates on residential buildings, notably mass housing and affordable strategies, for which new, more socially and health-oriented indicators are being developed. Provides practical design guidance based on scientific evidence Explores both physical and psychological wellbeing Focuses on the home and immediate domestic environment Structured in an accessible way for architects and designers.