Home & Garden

Earth Talk: Make your family and the planet healthier with green home improvements

from the editors of e/the environmental magazine

What kinds of home improvements could I do that would make my house healthier and more environmentally friendly?

Most homes are not lacking in ways they can be healthier for family and kinder to the environment. For one, indoor air quality is a serious problem affecting millions of homes. Studies show that air within homes can be more seriously polluted than the air outdoors—even in the largest and most industrialized cities.

According to Glenn Haege, a master handyman who hosts a national radio show on home repair, as our homes and apartments have become more energy efficient and airtight, "humidity levels from cooking and breathing tend to increase, causing mold and mildew." Harmful chemicals, he says, from construction materials, insulation, furniture, carpeting, padding, paints, solvents and household cleaners, drawn by this moist atmosphere, combine to contaminate the indoor air which then stays trapped inside.

The first step in remedying this problem is to test your indoor air. Pure Air and Envirologix, among others, sell inexpensive and easy-to-use indoor-air quality testing kits. Once you get an idea of the contaminants floating around your home, you can get to work replacing the offending sources accordingly. Green superstores such as the Environmental Home Center, Green Building Supply and Oikos offer a wealth of greener and healthier building supplies and materials. Also, BuildingGreen.com offers a free online "GreenSpec" database with detailed listings for over 2,000 environmentally preferable building products.

Materials outside the home can also contribute to health problems. One example is pressure-treated lumber, which contains a form of cyanide to keep pests away. Kids who play on backyard jungle gyms and decks made of such material can develop rashes and skin infections. Cedar wood is a naturally pest-resistant alternative that, while more expensive, is a kinder-gentler option that will stand the test of time.

Other ways to green-up the home include replacing traditional incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescents, as well as switching out conventional hot water heaters in favor of solar or on-demand tankless versions. And for saving on water, replacing traditional showerheads and toilets with pressurized low-flow alternatives can save gallons per day while generating cost savings on utility bills. Likewise, capturing rainwater and shower "gray-water" to irrigate the garden is another smart move.

Do-it-yourselfers can find hundreds of websites offering tips on green building and repair. Glenn Haege's MasterHandyman.com and NaturalHandyMan.com both offer a plethora of articles and links and are good resources if you're looking to improve your own handy skills while staying true to your green ideals. Two helpful books are: Green Remodeling by David Johnston and Kim Master; and Green Building Materials: A Guide to Product Selection and Specification by Ross Spiegel and Dru Meadows. For less handy homeowners, finding a handyman well versed in green building issues might be a better way to go. The Natural Handyman Network offers a free online search tool that should offer some promising leads.

For more information: MasterHandyman.com; BuildingGreen.com; Envirologix; Environmental Home Center; Green Building Supply; Oikos; The Natural Handyman Network.

I'm going to be remodeling and was wondering: Are there floorings or wall coverings available that won't aggravate my child's respiratory problems?

For those with chemical sensitivities, the home is sometimes anything but a refuge. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde can "off-gas" from carpets, wallpaper and paints, irritating lungs and promoting headaches and itchy eyes. Luckily, there are increasingly more options to traditional building materials and furnishings that are both kinder to Mother Earth and safer for our health.

For flooring, the Seattle-based Environmental Home Center recommends cork, linoleum, bamboo and selected hardwoods as the best choices from an indoor air quality standpoint. If you choose any of these options, make sure installers use non-toxic adhesives as the devil—leaking VOCs—is often in such details.

For those seeking something plusher underfoot, Earth Weave and Natural Home, among others, use natural fibers such as wool, jute, hemp and rubber to create attractive, chemical-free carpeting for both wall-to-wall and area rug applications. Both companies avoid toxic dyes and mothproofing as well as stain-repellents, relying instead upon the natural resiliency of the materials they incorporate.

And don't stop at the carpet. All-natural wool padding, which is usually needled together to avoid the VOCs often found in adhesives, will keep the top layer soft without introducing toxins to the underfoot mix. Traditional carpets and pads can off-gas a smorgasbord of noxious chemicals, including VOCs.

A raft of new wall-coverings has also come to the rescue in recent years. Most wallpaper is not made from paper at all, but from a malleable plastic called polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which generates several known carcinogens, including dioxin, during its production. One green alternative is Sherwin-Williams' non-vinyl Easychange brand. Made from paper, it requires no special solvents or adhesives to install, and is stocked in a variety of designs and styles. Another good choice is Pallas Textiles' DialTones line, made from discarded phonebooks. Also, Environmental Home Center makes its own Innovations brand, which is made from nontoxic polyester and wood pulp, using water-based inks completely free of heavy metals.

In the paints category, there are now many non-toxic or low-VOC offerings, including AFM Safecoat, Livos, BioShield, Yolo and Olivetti. GreenHome.com stocks many of these, and mainstream paint dealers may carry eco-friendly paints from more familiar names, like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams.

Remodelers beware, though: Changing out your flooring and wall coverings won't banish chemical irritants entirely. Many homes built or remodeled during the 1970s were insulated with formaldehyde foam, which can remain a health nuisance long after installation. Luckily, there are now plenty of greener insulation choices, such as cellulose, cotton and radiant metal barriers. Open-cell spray insulations such as Icynene or Air Krete are also popular with green builders, as they are effective, inexpensive and easy to apply. Some of these products are available at Home Depot and Lowe's, but small green building supply retailers can be researched at GreenerBuilding.org.

For more information: Environmental Home Center; GreenHome.com; GreenerBuilding.org.

Got an environmental question? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php