We all recognise the importance of eating well and exercising to support our well-being, and to protect us from getting sick. Similarly, when we purchase a car, safety features are a critical consideration. We want a reversing camera, automatic emergency braking and blind-spot warning. Vehicle safety isn’t a nice afterthought, it’s a necessity.

Why then, when making one of the largest investments of a lifetime—building a home—do we view health and sustainability as a nice-to-have?

In this series, we explore why you should build a healthy home, the impact they have on our health, and how to incorporate Harvard’s Nine Foundations of a Healthy Building into your home, to create an environment that nurtures you and your well-being.

Created by Harvard’s healthy building experts, the 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building outlines health performance indicators, offering a clear and actionable distillation of the core elements of healthy indoor environments.

1. Indoor air quality

An essential foundation of a healthy home is indoor air quality, which is affected by three primary factors: outdoor air quality, human activity in the home, and building and construction materials, equipment and furniture. What many of us don’t realise is that the air we breathe indoors where we spend 90% of our time, can be far more polluted than outdoor air—and this has a direct impact on our health.

The effects of indoor air pollution on health include acute respiratory infection, pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. The effect on children is even more profound, with air pollution now understood to be a cause of asthma, a risk factor for respiratory infections, bronchitis, and impaired lung growth and function.

Glues, grouts and membranes

Unfortunately, many of the glues, grouts and membranes used in the building industry contain toxic compounds known as VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which particularly affect indoor air quality. Exposure to VOCs have been associated with everything from minor irritation of the eyes to certain forms of cancer.

The good news is that there are alternative products that have very little effect on air quality . At Chatham Homes, we use Kerakoll’s NO VOC glues, grouts and membranes in all our homes because they’re free from dangerous chemicals, are healthier for our environment and are made from natural minerals.

Low VOC wall and ceiling paints

Wall and ceiling paints can be some of the worst offenders for releasing VOCs into a home’s environment. To protect indoor air quality, look for paints which are LOW or NO VOC. At Chatham, we primarily choose Haymes Low VOC paints, because they’re 99% VOC free and emit no odours or fumes.

Carpet, cabinetry and flooring

In conventional construction, much of the carpet, processed wood and carpentry used is produced with formaldehyde. This dangerous chemical then makes its way into indoor air and can cause everything from skin irritation and asthma, to brain and genetic toxicity, as well as certain cancers.

When building a home, do your research and seek out products that don’t contain formaldehyde or other toxic chemicals. At Chatham Homes, we use lab tested carpet and flooring that’s 33 times lower in formaldehyde than the greenest standards available today.

Gas cooktops and heaters

Did you know that gas cooktops and heaters produce harmful contaminants and pollution? These two sources contribute to a large percentage of the pollutants found in domestic dwellings—and for the most-part, we go about our daily lives oblivious to the problems they can cause.

To protect the indoor air quality of your home, it’s advisable to choose electricity instead of gas for your power and appliances. In Australia, the move towards all-electric homes has really started to take off, with rebates, all-electric estates and general education driving uptake.

Air filtration systems

Even if you incorporate all the features above, pollutants and contaminants can still affect air quality to varying degrees. Whether it’s through outdoor pollution such as car fumes, or unavoidable human activity in the home, poor air quality is a reality of modern life.

One of the final defences against poor air quality in the home is to fit an air filtration system. At Chatham Homes, we install a Delos Air Filtration System as standard in all our homes, because it significantly reduces pollution and toxins, so that you can breathe easier. You can even track the home’s air quality in real-time using the accompanying Delos Air Quality Sensor.

Australian indoor air quality statistics

Australians spend 90% of their time indoors
The cost of poor indoor air quality costs Australians $12 billion per year
Indoor air pollution ranked in the EPA’s top 5 environmental risks to public health
Indoor air quality is 2 to 5x worse than outdoor air quality
50% of illnesses are caused by aggravated indoor air pollution

Source: https://www.andatechdistribution.com.au/blogs/resources/indoor-air-quality-infographic

2. Ventilation

Like your lungs, homes need to breathe, allowing fresh air in and dirty air out. If your home doesn’t ‘breathe’, the air can build up high levels of moisture, odours, gases, dust, and other air pollutants. The technical term for the intentional introduction of outdoor air into a building to maintain good air quality is ventilation—and it’s our second essential foundation of a healthy home.

Why is home ventilation essential for your health?

Proper ventilation of your home is essential for your health because it directly affects the air that we breathe. Everyday, we take roughly 23,000 breaths. That’s around 11,000 litres of air moving through our lungs every day. Through this process, we exhale 500 litres of the greenhouse gas CO2.

If a home isn’t properly ventilated, not enough air circulates, meaning pollution generated by occupants (e.g CO2) and products (e.g volatile organic compounds) build up indoors causing headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, sinus congestion, cough, sneezing, irritation, dizziness and nausea.

In addition, airborne pathogens including viruses, bacteria, mould, pollen and fungi also contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

HVAC mechanical ventilation

One of the most effective ways to clean your air while providing fresh, filtered air that stays within 3 degrees of the internal air temperature is with an HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling) mechanical ventilation system.

HVAC is sustainable, energy efficient. When building an airtight home, HVAC is required. It brings fresh air inside to remove moisture from stagnant and high-risk areas, mitigating humidity that can cause mould; results in better air quality due to lower pollution levels, and reduces heating and cooling costs.

Air filtration

To complement your ventilation system, we suggest installing an air filtration system such as the Delos Air Filtration System, to filter your indoor air from remaining pollution and toxins. You can even track how well the home’s ventilation is working by monitoring air quality in real-time using the accompanying Delos Air Quality Sensor.

3. Lighting and Views

Natural light and views of the outdoors are more than a nice-to-have. They impact us mentally and physically, greatly affecting our quality of life. Natural light not only aids us in seeing the world, it plays a profound and critical role in regulating our sleep/wake cycle.

Unfortunately, we can’t reap the benefits of natural light through indoor lighting. That’s because indoor lighting differs from natural light in intensity, spectrum, and exposure timing—all elements which can disrupt our natural body clock . This internal clock is otherwise known as our circadian system, and it has a hand in regulating our metabolism, sleep/wake cycle, hormones, alertness, mood, and reproductive and immune function.

Studies have also shown that immersion in nature reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and stress hormone levels, and helps support nervous system arousal. Together, natural light and views of nature create a powerful combination for human well-being.

However, since most of us can’t stand around outside all day, hoping to get enough exposure to natural light and the outdoors to support our health, the buildings that we live and work in should bring these healing elements from the outside-in. This is where Biophilic design comes in.

Biophilic design

Biophilic design is the art of bringing natural elements into building design to support cognitive function, physical health, and psychological well-being. Biophilic design can be achieved through the presence of nature within a space, through natural analogues or spatial elements commonly found in nature (also known as nature of the space).

This could be something as simple as large windows with an aspect, internal courtyards, skylights or through technology such as circadian lighting.

Source: https://www.thesefourwallsblog.com/interiors/biophilic-design-10-easy-ways/

Circadian lighting

Circadian lighting is a system that mimics the natural light wavelengths that are present from morning until sundown. When you receive natural light at key times of the day, the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle your body relies on for mood, sleep and concentration is naturally regulated. By simply installing circadian lighting in your home, you may sleep better, work smarter and feel better.

At Chatham Homes, we install a Delos Circadian Lighting System into every home we build as a critical foundation of our whole-home wellness program. We’re so committed to the benefits of this system that we install the feature as standard, so that everyone can enjoy better sleep and increased energy.

4. Noise

Noise is defined as “unwanted or disturbing sound” that interferes with normal activities such as work, sleeping and conversation. Noise interferes with our concentration and can make us feel stressed and fatigued, and can even cause hearing loss over time. Noise exposure can impact our blood pressure and heart rate, cause irritation, and in extreme cases can even cause distress.

People most vulnerable to the impacts of noise are:

sick people
elderly people
babies and children
shift workers
people with chronic health issues.

We all know the overwhelming feeling of not being able to sleep—or being woken up too early— due to outside noise. It disrupts our day, affects our mood and reduces productivity. But how can we reduce noise in the home to reduce

Double and triple-glazed windows

At Chatham, we use premium A&L double and triple-glazed aluminium or pVC windows to assist with noise pollution and temperature control. We also caulk bedroom windows and skirting boards to reduce air leaks.

Double-glazed windows are powerful insulators, significantly reducing the heat loss and heat gain that’s responsible for 25% – 30% of a home’s heating and cooling energy use.

Triple glazed windows are approx. 40% more thermally efficient than double-glazing because the additional gas-filled pane further reduces heating and cooling costs and is ideal for colder Victorian climates.

While these are wonderful benefits that we’ll explore later in this blog, double and triple-glazing are one of the most important elements in ensuring your home is sound-proof, so that you can get the peace and quiet you need to feel and perform at your best.

Source: sustainability.vic.gov.au

Stay tuned to discover the next five foundations of a healthy home, released weekly through our blog…

About Chatham Homes

Chatham builds homes with a reduced carbon, waste and energy footprint, conducive to a healthier lifestyle. We only use materials and technologies that are safe and supported by research to lower the cost of living and add value to local communities and closed loop system. To learn more about how we can build you a healthy home, get in contact with our team.

How to build a healthy home: 9 foundations of a healthy building