By Tina Casey •
February 1, 2009
Pool tables, arcade games and big-screen teevee: man caves got a lot of stuff that FEMA trailers don’t. But when it comes to toxic formaldehyde fumes, your brand new man cave might have a lot more in common with a FEMA trailer than you planned.
Formaldehyde is found in many conventional household building supplies. Whether you use them to outfit a trailer or to fancy up your basement, you’re going to get the formaldehyde.
How can you guard your man cave against this scourge? Hitch a ride below the fold with me and find out.
By Jerry James Stone •
November 9, 2008
In keeping with Harvard’s university-wide commitment to sustainable building practices and campus operations, the university has just completed graduate housing that is set to achieve a high level of LEED certification. The 115,000 sq ft project houses 215 beds in over 30 different suite types, and includes a faculty director’s suite, a fitness room, study lounge spaces, a multipurpose room, and a garage that extends under the building.
The swanky housing is [...]
I remember being eight months pregnant with my second and realizing that I absolutely must paint the baby’s room now. I know, it makes no sense, the baby will never notice and I’d have been much better off taking a nap, but I had to have that lasso border in the room or…
I dunno. Seven years later I still can’t finish the sentence because, it doesn’t make sense to me now or then but I know I needed the stinkin room painted. A few short months ago that freshly painted room sent out the last of it’s toxins. Seriously.
By mcmilker •
June 18, 2008
You know that chemical like smell that emanates from a newly opened shower curtain? Well it turns out it could be hazardous to more than just your nose. Those PVC curtains (polyvinyl chloride) contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phthalates and organotins.
The Center for Health, Environment & Justice has just published “Volatile Vinyl: The New Shower Curtain’s Chemical Smell”, which claims more than 100 chemicals are released into the air when consumers open the packages containing the curtains.
That “new” smell sticks around too. the report found that 108 different VOCs were released into the air over a months time. AND, the level of total VOCs was over 16 times greater than the recommended guidelines for indoor air quality established by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Center for Health, Environment & Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing environmental health harms caused by chemical threats, recently released a report stating that shower curtains made with PVC contain numerous harmful chemicals including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phthalates (think CA toys), and organotins. These ubiquitous shower curtains are likely to have adverse effects on the nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems.
I don’t have enough hands to count the number of those shower curtains I’ve used in my brief 23 years, but it’s a lot. I’m happy to say I switched to cloth a few months ago after having a conversation about the possible effects of continued exposure to these shower curtains with my friend John Laumer of treehugger.com. I’m glad to see our fears were not confounded. The smell you most often associate with the excitement of a new product is actually a sign of off-gassing, a process by which harmful toxins become airborne through evaporation. There should be no rejoicing when this smell is encountered.
Some interesting findings from the study:
By Chris Baskind •
July 25, 2007
Editor’s note: Household paint can be a toxic substance that keeps on giving off VOCs long after it’s dried. This week, Lighter Footstep editor Chris Baskind points us to a healthier, greener alternative to common paints: milk paint. This post was originally published on July 17, 2007.
By now, a lot of people have heard about the hazards of VOCs — Volatile Organic Compounds. In this case, “organic” doesn’t
[...]
By Amy Stodghill •
June 6, 2007
One the easiest ways to give your place a facelift is to slap on a fresh coat of paint. But beware of that new paint smell - it can do more damage than you think, even after it's dry. Here's a few things to consider if you're thinking about throwing some color on your walls.
The old standards on the paint market are normally oil based or water based (latex) paints.
[...]
