How to design a healthy home from a former hospital designer

With the prevalence of carcinogenic building practices of the past and present (Lead, Asbestos, VOCs), creating a home that promotes health and wellness should be top of mind. 

Having experience with working on major hospital projects throughout the United States at one of the top architectural firms that specializes in health and wellness, there are many applicable practices that can be brought into crafting the perfect home or commercial space.

It has long been known that buildings and spaces that people occupy can greatly impact health and well-being. On the extreme end, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), can cause occupants to experience acute health effects that correlate to time spent in a particular space. The symptoms include headaches, cough, dry or itchy skin, dizziness and nausea, difficulty concentrating and fatigue. With special attention and utilizing those who actively seek to create healthy environments, you can create a space that not only looks good but actually makes you feel good.

Even with the vast outdoor activities in Colorado, a huge percentage of time is spent indoors. To create spaces that promote health and wellness, special focus should be paid to air, water, natural light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, and materials.  

Make it better to breathe

Let's start with air quality. Indoor air can be 2-5 times worse than outdoor air. There are a few ways to address air quality in the home. The most significant influencer of indoor air quality can be found with the HVAC system. A standard ducted HVAC system pushes a large quantity of air throughout a house. Using high-quality air filters and changing them often can insure a clean home environment. One might be tempted to run out and get the highest possible filter (FPR 12 or MERV 13) but they might cause an issue for your system. With a higher MERV certification, the filter material is really fine to capture miniscule particles and thus can strain HVAC systems when they try to pull air through. Consult an HVAC expert if you are not certain that your machine can handle high MERV-rated filters, they can perform static pressure tests. Another tip is that deeper filters (4” instead of 1”) provide more surface area to disperse the static pressure.  

Mold flourishes in damp, dark environments and can silently lurk behind walls and in bathrooms. Beyond the musty odor and dark patches, mold poses an array of health risks. This includes triggering asthma and causing respiratory issues. To combat mold there should be regular inspection of damp-prone areas, fixing water issues promptly, and maintaining indoor humidity below 60%. A whisper quiet bathroom fan that is on a timer for use after using a bathroom can be a major help in eliminating ambient mold issues.  

In Colorado, radon is a consistent issue no matter if you are located in Vail, Denver or Colorado Springs. Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that naturally seeps into homes from the ground and can cause lung cancer when trapped indoors at high levels. Basement bedrooms or any space in the basement that will be occupied for periods of time need to be tested. Radon is not evenly distributed and so one house might test at 2pCi/L and the house next door might test at 5pCi/L. Radon mitigation can start from how a building is constructed to an active fan system that pushes radon out above the roof. 

A heat exchanger, or heat recovery ventilator (HRV), is becoming a must-have for homeowners that are concerned with wellness and sustainability. Fresh outside air is very important for maintaining a healthy home but there might be a major difference in temperature between the interior and exterior. While it constantly pulls fresh air in from outside, it uses the warmth from outgoing stale indoor air to pre-heat (or pre-cool) the incoming air from the exterior, saving up to 80% of the energy that would normally be lost. An HRV not only helps maintain excellent fresh air quality but also reduces your energy bills.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gases that seep out from things like fresh paint, new carpets, and new furniture. While that new scent might seem exciting and pleasant; VOCs can trigger headaches, respiratory issues, and other health problems, especially in children and sensitive individuals. With new items like furniture, levels of VOC drop over time, and you can speed up the process by increasing ventilation and choosing low-VOC products when renovating or furnishing your home. Most paint that is readily available is now low-VOC but making sure that is the case is important. 

Pure drinking water

When moving into a new home, whether it was custom built or an existing house, testing the water might not be top of mind. While local utilities diligently test water at treatment plants and release water quality reports, water can acquire undesirable pathogens on the way to the tap. The prevalence of lead pipes in the news during the past decade has places like Denver and Grand Junction working to figure out how to mitigate the risks. To ensure the best possible lead mitigation, look for a filter that lists NSF 53 certification. There might be other NSF/ANSI certifications but the one to look for for reducing lead content by 99.9% is NSF/ANSI 53. 

Unfortunately, there are not any good whole house NSF 53 certified filters. The NSF 53 certification for lead is most commonly found in:

• Under-sink filters
• Countertop filters
• Faucet-mount filters
• Water pitchers
• Refrigerator filters

This is because lead reduction requires specific types of filtration media and longer contact time with the water than most whole-house systems provide. Whole-house systems are usually designed for sediment, chlorine, and general water conditioning rather than heavy metal reduction. The easiest way to start filtering water is to get a water pitcher like Brita. The next level of filtering can be provided with an undersink filter that is placed on the cold water supply. Coupled with a refrigerator filter that is NSF 53 certified, under sink filters might be the best method to get full lead filtering coverage.  Reverse osmosis is typically not the best option since the process can waste up to 4 gallons of water per gallon of filtered water. There are higher efficiency RO systems that use around a gallon of water. That is a lot of wasted water. 

Enlightened Design

Lighting for a house should focus on capturing the most natural light. With carefully placed windows and skylights, natural light and views . This reduces the need for artificial lighting during the day, significantly cutting energy consumption and allows for subtle circadian rhythm.