Effective Residential Drainage System’s for a Healthy Home

A well-designed drainage system is essential to remove excess water from your house and helps in the prevention of water-related damage to a home or building. The main objective of a drainage system is to collect and remove waste matter to maintain healthy conditions in and around a building. Having a depth of knowledge about
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Fire Proof Building

Protecting Home from Fire - Eaves Detail
Fire Proof Building The past few summers I’ve been caught somewhat off guard by how vulnerable I feel when dry winds are blowing and smoke fills the sky. I remember very clearly being on the roof, with a mask on, cleaning out gutters and small piles of leaves. As an industrial hygienist, I know harm
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A Clean Crawlspace is Better For You and Your Home

Clean Crawlspaces and Basements are Good for Health
Is a Clean Crawlspace Really That Important? Crawlspaces are generally not what anyone would consider “clean.” When was the last time you went into a crawlspace? It’s typically a dark, dank environment where critters and odors scare away even the bravest DIY building owners. Often old construction materials and cardboard boxes are crammed down below,
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Interesting Things About EMF Testing

5 Interesting Things About EMF (Electromagnetic Fields): There are 5 different types of “EMF” that are commonly tested in buildings: low frequency magnetic fields low frequency electric fields “dirty electricity”, “high-voltage transients” or “electrical noise” radio frequency (RF) radiation alpha, beta and gamma ionizing radiation Each of the above types of radiation originates from unique
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Dirty Electricity from LEDs

Dirty Electricity from LEDs People interested high fidelity sound systems or low-EMF environments want to minimize electromagnetic interference (AKA: EMI, High-Voltage Transients, Electrical Noise, and Dirty Electricity) from lighting systems. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) – the curly pig tail variety with some mercury in them – are notoriously “dirty” and create significant EMI (Electromagnetic Interference).
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IAQ Issues in a LEED Building – Part One

Air Quality Problems in the EPA’s San Francisco LEED EBOM Building IAQ Issues in a LEED Building Part ONE At the end of February 2016, NBC ran a segment investigating whether the EPA Region 9 building, at 75 Hawthorne Street in downtown San Francisco, was a Sick Building. All answers pointed to yes. In the
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Architectural Design – Mold Free Guarantee?

During one of my many presentations on Building Enclosure Commissioning to architecture firms, I had a question from an architect echoing the concern in many professionals’ minds about mold. The architect in question wondered if there is any way to guarantee “on paper” that mold will never occur in an assembly. Architectural design mold free
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House Plants Reduce VOCs and Create Healthier Environments

House Plants Can Contribute to Healthier Indoor Environments We spend about 90% of our time indoors. While inside, we are exposed to a variety of indoor air pollutants. Reducing or removing these pollutants and creating an optimal indoor environment is important to our health and well-being. House plants reduce VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and are
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Well Building Standard Certification for Occupant Health

WELL BUILDING STANDARD – How to apply it to any project There is a new green certification in town. It is called the WELL Building Standard and it targets the ways in which buildings can enhance occupant health. Indicative of the increasing emphasis on how work areas are designed (i.e., Google, Facebook, Air Bnb, LinkedIn),
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LEEDv4 IAQ Testing – New Credit Highlights for IEQ

LEEDv4 IAQ Testing Requirements Industrial hygienists across the US have been watching the USGBC as they’ve updated the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Testing Credit for Post-Construction. LEEDv4 IAQ Testing requirements have changed since LEEDv2009. Many health and healthy building advocates hoped they would lower the allowable levels of formaldehyde, but due to industry uproar that did
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