Breathable paints and plasters
Breathable walls allow any toxic vapors developing indoors to slowly diffuse to the outside, keeping the indoor air fresh and clean. Homes built with a vapor barrier and standard insulation prevent this occurance, as they try to keep all air inside (unless an air-to-air heat exchanger is installed, a must for super tight homes with vapor barriers). Mold is the unfortunate result in standard walls in spite of the best of intentions and design, even with the use of an air-to-air heat exchanger. Instead, thick insulated masonry walls that "breathe", applied with "breathable paints or plasters" allow air and water vapor to slowly diffuse through them without loss of heat, preventing mold growth in the process.
These walls also promote the right balance of ions in indoor air, a healthy feature, which leads to greater alertness and overall health for occupants. Outdoors, Nature maintains a balance of ions of approximately 60% negative ions (the good kind) and 40% positive ions (the not so good kind), particularly near the seashore or a waterfall. Choosing thicker, breathable walls and avoiding synthetic fabric carpeting, upholstery, drapes and latex wall paint provides a more natural 60% to 40% negative to positive ion ratio in indoor air, just like outdoors, keeping you healthy. Applying Mineral Paints, such as Slaked Lime paints, Potassium Silicate Paints, Marmorino or Slaked Lime base Plasters, will contribute to a "House that Breathes". Because these types of decorative finishes are vapor permeable, they will contribute toward removal of house toxins and promote healthy living in your home.
The choice of building materials also affects the health of occupants in a new home long after the "new home smell" has dissipated. Building Biology teaches that chemicals in materials such as found in glues, adhesives, cabinetry, paints and carpets can outgas for months and even years at very low levels, adding to the "rain barrel" effect as pioneered by William Rae, MD, Director of the American Environmental Health Center in Dallas, Texas. These chemicals, stored in human fat cells, linger in the body for months and cause ill health by such means as biomimicry: the tricking of human biochemical pathways into functioning as if normal triggers were present when they are not. This causes the release of endogenous biochemicals (naturally produced within our body) when they should not be released and upsets the balance of our health.
1. http://www.createhealthyhomes.com/articles2.php
INDOOR POLLUTION:
SICK BUILDING SYNDROME (SBS)
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 20% of the USA, and 20% of the Western Hemisphere population is subjected to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), attributed to poor ventilation, high levels of chemical and microbiological pollution--such as VOC emissions--and mold (related to non breathable materials such as plastic and latex, and humidity caused by lack of capillarity action of external walls to absorb toxins and move them and moisture through the walls to the outside).
Modern habitations contain a pollution level that contributes to a combination of symptoms, sometimes acute, that result in increased aggravation or direct/indirect causes of:
Asthma, Acute Allergies, Irritation of the Eyes, Nose, and Skin Ailments, Headaches, Fatigue, Vertigo and Nausea, Tiredness and Loss of Concentration, Memory Impairment, Cancer, Liver and Kidney Damage, Central Nervous System Damage
The major part of these aliments disappear or diminish substantially when the inhabitants of work or home spaces of those polluted interior spaces have left the premises for over several hours. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) these health issues is characteristic of many new constructions for offices, houses, or renovations, in which numerous synthesis of substances sold in the building market, in the name of energy reduction, actually provide little ventilation and breathability when applied in construction. Common materials that can cause related problems to health are Portland Cement products, window and door caulks, spray foams, and fiberglass for wall insulation, construction glues, wall paints, polyurethanes, sealers, and carpets; all of which may reduce the capability of your house to breathe correctly and remove toxins naturally. Other causes of SBS can occur from detergents, soaps, house cleaners, solvents, and air fresheners. A house or building that does not breathe is transformed into a stagnated environment and exposures over long periods of time can result in some of the health issues described above.
Notwithstanding outdoor pollution and ozone, the outdoor air is far healthier than the interior air of our homes, including the use of central AC and heat systems. Statistics indicate that symptoms related to SBS show significant reductions when humans are not exposed to long time periods in polluted environments and spend greater time outdoors.
STATISTICS USA (SBS):
Compiled by WHO statistics available on the their website http://www.who.int/.
64 million Americans or approximately 50% of the workforce have complained of SBS style symptoms. 23% of those 64 million report that their symptoms improve after leaving their work environment.
There is limited information available but current studies show that on an average of four (4) tests, results yielded a 14% decrease in productivity. If you multiply this by the estimated sufferers of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), this would represent a 3% decline in productivity nationwide. The estimated money lost due to our unhealthy buildings could be as much as $60 billion. These losses result in using building technologies that though currently available, are dismissed or ignored, have not been incorporated into current building codes, or ignored by building material suppliers, builders, and builder associations. By improving our work environment, we could save $10 - $23 billion in reduced instances of respiratory illness--$3©\ 6 billion could be saved due to reduced allergies and asthma. Over 20 million people are inflicted with this condition in the USA. 6 million of those people are children. In fact, asthma is the most common serious chronic disease in children, and is the 3rd ranking cause of hospitalization in children ages 15 and younger. Over 14 million school days are lost due to asthma, with an attendance of 68.5 million children who attend over 117,000 public and private elementary and secondary schools in the nation. Ten million out patient hospital visits are attributed to asthma, coupled with 2 million emergency visits and over 4500 people die every year due to asthma related problems.
Using proper building materials and technologies currently available and more importantly, using some technologies that have existed for over 2,000 years, could effectively reduce health problems caused by SBS by as much as 80%.
HUMIDITY AND MOLD AS A FACTOR IN SBS:
In projecting a correct design for a building, and to work in a manner that benefits the micro climate internally, consideration should be taken into effect of Natural Ventilation using building materials that have high porosity, igroscopic (capacity to remove moisture and stay dry) properties, and breathability. Damages relating to moisture retention, or humidity in wall and floor surfaces, contributes to the formation of bacteria that forms mold. The prevalence of indoor dampness varies widely within and among countries, continents and climate zones. It is estimated to affect 10¨C50% of indoor environments in Australia, Europe, India, Japan and North America. In certain settings, such as river valleys and coastal areas, the conditions of dampness are substantially more severe than the national average.
The amount of water available on or in materials is the most important trigger of the growth of microorganisms, including fungi, actinomycetes and other bacteria. Micro organisms are ubiquitous; microbes propagate rapidly wherever water is available. The dust and dirt normally present in most indoor spaces provide sufficient nutrients to support extensive microbial growth. While mould can grow on all materials, selection of appropriate materials can prevent dirt accumulation, moisture penetration and mould growth. Microbial growth may result in greater numbers of spores, cell fragments, allergens, mycotoxins, endotoxins, ¦Â-glucans and volatile organic compounds indoor air. The causative agents of the adverse health effects have not been identified conclusively, but an excess level of any of these agents in the indoor environment is a potential health hazard.
"Microbial interactions and moisture-related physical and chemical emissions from building materials may also play a role in dampness-related health effects. Building standards and regulations for comfort and health do not sufficiently emphasize requirements for preventing and controlling excess moisture and dampness. http://www.euro.who.int/document/e92645.pdf It is estimated that new construction contains a quantity of water approximately 15% of it's total weight.
Thus many new houses are birthed with capacity to form SBS if careful attention is not made in selecting building materials that assure the natural perspiration and breathability of walls and floors that prevent moisture from accumulating internally.
A HOUSE THAT BREATHES
Until the end of the 19th Century the materials used for construction were all natural: stone, brick, wood, ceramic, and lime based cement or concrete. Lime paints, lime stuccos, potassium silicate paints, lime cements, were the industrial materials for construction that had endured for over 3,000 years of human construction for habitations. With the advent of the industrial revolution, particularly the petro chemical industry, there was introduced into the market experimental building materials that had not taken any consideration of climate conditions, history, building traditions, and certainly not health, when "new" products were introduced to substitute proven technologies that had remained constant in performance and respect to the environment for 3,000 years. In effect, the "new" technologies erased the aspect of a house from being "healthy" to an ambient completely artificial, even aggressive, toward the aspect of human habitation.
Masonry walls, floors, roofs, made from natural materials that breathe, are permeable, and ecological have natural temperature and humidity controls that keep a house healthy and comfortable during all seasons of the year, and with available solar technologies can be practically heated and cooled without the need of furnaces or air conditioners run by methane gas, liquid gas, diesel, or electricity.
A House that Breathes is made of a natural masonry material such as extruded brick block, stone, solid brick, and lime based mortar. New extruded aerated bricks made of baked clay now cost the price of a concrete block and can provide up to an R factor of 60+ (using no chemicals or insulation), or a U factor (taken into consideration total wall construction, interior and exterior stucco, natural paints, etc.) of U - 15. This is the basis for a Roman house. Essentially a Roman Domus built in 200 BC maintains an average yearly temperature of 55 - 75 without any auxiliary heating or cooling.
Lime based cements (NHL 3.5), non Portland based cements, Lime based paints, and Potassium mineral paints, that cover the interior walls of a house, calcify by absorbing the CO2 that is produced by its inhabitants. In addition to the walls being a magnet for toxins that can develop in atmosphere of a house, the porosity of natural cement absorbs the internal humidity, and through natural capillary action of natural aggregates (river sand), and NHL cement, natural mineral paints and plasters, redistributes equally through the walls for the entire structure, the moisture and air, and moves them toward the outside walls. Natural Mineral Paints and Plasters, Natural Cement, provide a rapid and continuous interchange of internal air that moves from the inside to the outside.
This is also facilitated by natural forces such as gravity (internal static pressure), and by physics of molecular expansion: that the internal pressure in a house is greater than the outside pressure, and thus through the natural coolness and heat of constant temperature maintained by thick masonry walls that breathe, the air will move in a slow but continuous movement always from the inside toward the outside. This constant action is what prohibits the ability of rain or water to penetrate through your external masonry walls and bring moisture into your house.
Using Mineral Paints and Plasters, natural cement stuccos, can increase your thermal co-efficiency by 25% when applied to walls that breathe. A House that Breathes means that the continuous flow of air and humidity inhibit the hot or cold air from the exterior environment to penetrate the walls of a house that breathes. In addition to using natural materials such as Mineral Paints, Plasters, and Lime based Cements, these products not only remove internal humidity that can cause bacteria to grow and form mold, but the lime products themselves through high alkalinity prohibit bacteria to form on their surface, and thus the walls of your house cannot form molds and fungus that help contribute toward SBS.
WARNING: A House that Breathes means that the use of a single coat of any non breathable latex based paints or plasters will inhibit the correct function of the capillary function of natural materials and thus annul all the positive functions that these materials can perform to provide thermal co-efficiency, prevent mold, and help to protect your health and your family.
The use of historical cements, paints, and plasters, creates a skin that allows your house to act as a igrometro lung (water/air lung) that moves air naturally from the inside to the outside, thus creating better living conditions internally, and guarantees its inhabitants a house of mental and physical well being, or benessere.
