This guide lists the Top 13x steps to selecting more natural and healthy materials and will allow you to more consciously chose what you’d like to include in your home and what you’d rather avoid.
By using natural and healthy building materials and products, you will be able to achieve a healthier, more sustainable home with better quality materials that will last and have a smaller environmental footprint. Like food, most of our building materials today are so highly processed and coated with toxic chemicals, that our health really is compromised living in a modern home or work environment.
It is important that you have an awareness and understanding of what is in or put on the products you use in your home or work environments. This knowledge will be of great benefit to not only your health but for your family and/or work colleagues.
Below is the guideline that may help you in selecting more natural and healthy building materials for your home and/or workplace. If you’d like any help with a specific project you can contact us for more assistance on healthier ‘swaps.’
1. USE NATURAL PRODUCTS & FIBRES
Natural objects bring positive energy into a house. The closer an object is to its original source origins, the more energy it has. Just as honey is a more vital food than refined sugar and is closer to its natural source, the natural fibres and products in your home also carry a stronger life-force energy field than objects that have been processed. Although everything has energy, a wooden chair will inherently have more life-force energy than a plastic chair.
Some natural products that you can choose to use are:
Timber
Bamboo
Cork
Hemp
Straw
Coconut Fibre, Sisal
Clay, Lime, Earth
Natural Bricks, Mud Bricks
Stone
Linoleum
Cotton, Linen
There are many beautiful natural materials you can use and it is important you don’t lose the benefits of this by sealing them with a chemical that will reduce its benefits. For example, choosing a natural eco-friendly flooring material like cork but then using a highly toxic, polyurethane sealant (which scientists have found contains isocyanates, a compound that can bring potential harm to one’s lungs and negatively effect the indoor air quality). Exposure to these compounds can cause lung irritation and asthma attacks and irritates the skin and cause difficulty with breathing when lung infections develop. A natural sealant option is highly recommended, with healthier products around from a range of companies.
2. USE HANDMADE OBJECTS
These can bring wonderful life energy into a home, especially if you know the person who created it. Things like: pictures, woven rugs, furniture, sculptures and feature hand-rendered walls/ floors/ ceilings all increase the energy in your home. The more handmade objects you have, the more life force you will have in it. You could chose to take this a step further by choosing a healthy building method that involves you creating part or all of your house like modern Strawbale or Hemp Masonry construction.
3. USE ‘NO-LOW TOXIC’ MATERIALS WITHOUT VOC’s (VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS)
As the awareness grows on going ‘low toxic’ for food and living, its important to carry this thinking through to your built environment and the building materials used in your house and workplace are a great place to start. Avoid using products that have VOC’s in them or prioritise the lowest VOC one that you can suitable to your budget. These VOC’s essentially ‘off-gas’ from the product you have used (ie- paint, wood products) or purchased (ie-chair, carpet) into the internal air of your home and pollute it causing bad indoor air quality and health issues.
The issue with these gases is the chemical compounds contained in them, that are usually part of the adhesives, glues and solvents that went into making them or were applied as a sealant to them (for aesthetics, to import them into Australia or as anti-‘something’ treatments). These can trigger many health concerns, including respiratory issues and are best avoided. Natural materials can still ‘off-gas’ if they are sealed by a synthetic or chemical product and this most often occurs for the misnomer that it will create a more ‘durable’ surface in the long term. Many natural sealants can achieve a much healthier, durable and beautiful sealant to natural products to get the most benefits from them.
VOC’s are higher in a building during construction (or renovations) and through the winter months when indoor air is heated and contained. A study by CSIRO of 27 homes recently built in Melbourne found that one year after construction these homes had 27 airborne toxics including: carcinogens, benzene, formaldehyde, styrene, methanol, ethanol, acetone, toluene, dichlorobenzene + others. This can all be avoided by using natural materials with natural sealants to create healthy indoor spaces.
4. SUPPORT THE LOCAL, AUSTRALIAN CRAFTS & DESIGN INDUSTRY
Aim to prioritise buying Australian made products and where possible, from a local source close to where you live. As well, support and source from our local and talented crafts and design industry. It is useful to draw inspiration from around the world, but source from your own backyard. Still, ensure all products are healthy and talk to the designer to find out how its been created and sealed. Feedback from consumers wanting healthier products is valuable for them to know too and creates potential for change.
5. USE GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICE ACCREDITED PRODUCTS (GECA)
The resources to help you source a third party certified ‘good’ environmental-friently product without the greenwash is growing and GECA is a great resource to use. As there is so much information overload these days and time is limited to assess and research each product used, its handy to know that GECA has gone through this process and you can quickly identify its logo on certified products. By identifying products that are truly ‘environmentally friendly’ you can take control and make informed decisions about the materials we use to build, decorate and furnish our homes with.
When you use products that are manufactured using low impact, sustainable methods and resources or without the use of toxic chemicals, the net result is a healthier, cleaner and more enjoyable living environment. Healthy homes are simply more pleasing to live and be in.
6. USE RECYCLED & RECYCLABLE MATERIALS
It is fantastic to use recycled materials to reduce the impact of using new, virgin materials and reduce the overall effect on the environment, where possible. Give yourself time to source recycled materials by planning ahead. The characteristics of recycled materials are beautiful, unique and will become a feature in your home. Allow natural sealants for recycled materials to maintain the full benefits too.
As well, remember that materials will eventually breakdown and need replacement so consider the life span of what you are choosing. Where possible, consider selecting materials that can be recycled and reused in the future, especially if you feel that they may be not around for long. As well, consider ease to disassemble to recycle (or for maintenance purposes). Do be aware of what is in the recycled products in areas that you spend a lot of time near (i.e. bedroom; work area) as they potentially be off-gassing chemicals, which isn’t healthy even if its more environmentally friendly.
7. USE RENEWABLE MATERIALS
Aim to use renewable resources to reduce your environmental impact when building or renovating. Materials like: straw, hemp and bamboo and can be re-grown more quickly to replenish what you use and can be recycled too. Timber, in a sustainably managed forest (FSA approved) can also be renewable but generally will take a lot longer than bamboo, hemp and straw.
8. USE RESPONSIBLY SOURCED WOOD, WOOD PRODUCTS AND PLYWOOD
Use FSA (Forest Stewardship Council) approved wood products, which are readily available. Generally, check where the wood products you’re looking to use have been grown, aim to prioritise Australian species and seal with a natural sealant. Avoid using timber that comes from old forest growth just for aesthetics, there are better ways to achieve beautiful features in your house. This allows the natural cycle for regeneration of our forests from years of over-production to occur and to be replenished for the benefit of future generations.
9. USE LOW-FORMALDEHYDE PLYWOOD & WOOD PRODUCTS (EO or E1)
Aim to use EO or E1 boards for any plywood, particleboard or MDF products, which has low formaldehyde content and meets the Australian Standards. You will find that some products containing these materials don’t contain EO or E1 rating and will off gas dangerous VOCs into the air of your home and cause adverse health effects. You can seal these boards with laminates but its best to avoid generally if you can. Sealing with 2pac would not be a good option as this is another off-gassing chemical, so you’d be getting an even worse effect and bad indoor air quality. Formaldeyhde is considered a Category 2A carcinogen to humans (probable cancer causing chemical) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
10. BE ‘BREATHABLE’
Use building materials that can breathe and allow air and humidity to move through them to create healthier spaces. As modern buildings have become more air tight to minimise energy loss, the internal air is less fresh and now incorporates higher levels of toxins (from the many chemicals that have off-gassed from building materials and furnishing) and often then reticulated by the air conditioning system, whereby everyone in the building is exposed to the airborne pollutants. There is also an increasing amount of damp and mould in buildings appearing with an increased incidence of allergies, in particular respiratory related ones like asthma.
Natural materials (and how materials go together) will naturally regulate how moisture moves through it, creating a healthy indoor air quality and environment. This does not mean a thermal loss/increase of heat either although it is important to know how the material is used in the overall system to reduce thermal bridging. As well, keeping it simple by reducing the amount of ‘layers’ or use of multiple materials is achievable when using natural materials as they’re naturally capable of achieving what a combination system of synthetic materials does and potentially cheaper.
11. CONSIDER THE LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS (LCA) & USE LOW EMBODIED ENERGY PRODUCTS
Consider using materials that have an inherently lower embodied energy to start with. As well, consider the overall Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of the material or product also known as the ‘cradle to grave’ assessment. This takes into consideration a more holistic view on the material you are looking to use and the environmental impacts from being extracted from the ground, transportation to be processed, processing, transporting to you for use. As you can tell, a more local, sustainably sourced, natural material will already be way ahead in this area than something transported halfway across the world and treated with chemicals.
12. ENCOURAGE CARBON STORAGE WITH HEMP & STRAW PRODUCTS
Hemp is a great material, which stores (or ‘sequesters’) carbon. When used in building methods like Hemp Masonry Construction to build a 3-bedroom house it can actually ‘lock up’ 10.7+ tonnes of carbon as compared to creating 4.3 tonnes carbon released into the atmosphere of a similar sized brick or block house. Hemp crops also regenerate the soil and a ‘true’ low embodied energy product, that not only create a low carbon footprint but a ‘negative’ one as you are taking more out of the atmosphere than when you started. Hemp fibre is also a useful textile for fabrics and other products.
Straw is a ‘waste’ material so instead of it being burnt off after a harvest it becomes a useful building material for things like Staw Bale Construction and straw ceiling panels. This effectively captures tones of carbon that would otherwise have escaped into the atmosphere and it stored in the life cycle of the product.
13. ASK FOR A MATERIAL DATA SAFETY SHEET (MSDS or SDS) TO ASSESS TOXICITY
A lot of people are unaware that there is actually no comprehensive, governmental testing program in Australia, USA or Asia (where many of our products are made) that assess chemicals for safety on humans prior to introducing them to the marketplace. The vast majority of chemicals used in Australia have not been tested for their impact on human health and there is largely limited regulation of chemical use in Australia, which is an issue and of concern. Essentially, it is up to you to check into what chemicals are in your products and if they may cause adverse health affects on you or your family.
One way to handle this is that you can ask for a Material Data Safety Sheet (MSDS) for any product you buy that contains chemicals to assess and research further. This MDSD, which can also be called a Safety Data Sheet (SDS), is a document that will explain the toxicity and properties of the chemicals it contains and provides information on adverse health effects. The Work Health and Safety Regulations (WHS) require the manufacture or importer of a hazardous chemical to prepare a SDS for the chemical, which you are entitled to request a copy of for your own review.
Reading a Safety Data Sheet really puts in ‘black and white’ what you are putting in your house and you will likely think twice about it. An example Safety Data Sheet for Formaldehyde can be seen here. You can obtain SDS’s for either an individual product (like Formaldehyde), which is recommended or a ‘Product SDS’ which lists the ingredients used (mostly) for a product but generally provides minimal detail on the adverse health effects. It is advisable to be familiar with a product and what it includes before you start using it as no one else is checking or monitoring it for you.
If you feel that you want more help and guidance in any particular area specific to your home, you may be interested in our Healthy Home Audits and can contact us here.
Image: Rockcote- Natural Materials