Toxic Green

[conarb]

Some time ago I posted about the structural failures in the first LEED building in Maryland, now a Passivhaus in Belgium has failed:

The homeowners (a family of five) moved into their new home in December 2005. Hens wrote, “Shortly after moving into the just-finished dwelling, the first complaints surfaced about degrading health with [these] main symptoms: coughing, shortness of breath, headache, dry throat, pain and weakness in the legs, painful muscles, fever, diarrhea, paleness, nausea, tiredness and a loss of taste. Also, visitors staying in the dwelling for a couple of days developed analogous symptoms. The complaints were confirmed by a medical diagnosis of [the] parents and children at a university hospital.”¹

I am now acting as an expert in three lawsuits against the architects/builders where there has been a Green Code in Silicon Valley, we can sue the architects and builders but is it really their fault when the Green Code mandates these sick homes? Sovereign immunity can only go so far, the Code writers and the States/AHJs adopting these codes should be held liable.

¹ http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/belgian-passivhaus-rendered-uninhabitable-bad-indoor-air#post_comments

 

[mtlogcabin]

Thought this was interesting about plants helping to "clean the air" in tight "Green" homes

http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/headline_health/green_home_making_sick/2012/07/01/459722.html

Dr. Bill Wolverton, a retired NASA senior research scientist who helped develop NASA's BioHome, makes the danger clear in frightening detail, then tells Newsmax Health readers what to do about it. "The building industry and EPA have been telling us for more than 30 years to weatherize our homes to save energy," Wolverton told Newsmax Health. "But practically everything in homes today is made of synthetic materials that out-gas hundreds of dangerous chemicals.

"When you seal your home to make it energy-efficient, you trap all of the chemicals that cause health problems inside your home," says Wolverton, who has received numerous patents for his pioneering research in environmental pollution and is co-author of "Plants: Why You Can't Live Without Them." "Some of these chemicals are known carcinogens."

In addition, tightly sealed homes are also perfect environments for moisture — perhaps from the cooling system — to form mold and mildew that cause problems for those with asthma or allergies. High humidity also encourages dust mites.

According to Wolverton, three of the most common chemicals, the health problems they cause, and some of the places they're found in today's homes are:

• Formaldehyde: A known carcinogen, formaldehyde causes headaches, coughing, nausea, dizziness, and irritates the eyes, nose, and throat. It's found in carpeting, particleboard, caulking compounds, ceiling tiles, paints, draperies, floor coverings, gas stoves, paper towels, stains, varnishes, upholstery, adhesives, and tobacco smoke.

• Benzene: Long-term exposure can cause cancer. Benzene harms the immune system and can cause headaches, confusion, drowsiness, tremors, and rapid heart beat. It's found in paints, particleboard, ceiling tiles, adhesives, caulking compounds, chlorinated tap water, floor coverings, electrophotographic printers, tobacco smoke, and stains and varnishes.

• Xylene: Inhaling xylene vapor depresses the central nervous system and causes headaches, nausea, impaired short-term memory, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Severe exposure has caused kidney and liver damage. It's found in wall coverings, caulking compounds, solvents, ceiling tiles, floor coverings, and adhesives.

In these days of rising energy costs, the solution isn't more ventilation, says Wolverton: "When you purge the air inside the building and bring in air from the outside, you aren't solving the problem. You're simply trading inside pollutants for outdoor pollutants and you lose energy efficiency."

Purify Your Indoor Environment

The solution is to purify your indoor environment by taking five simple steps:

1. Add houseplants. Indoor plants — common houseplants — can help purify air by using their natural ability to absorb toxins through their leaves and roots and turn them into nutrients. In addition to cleaning the air, plants also reduce high humidity to healthy levels.

The capacity of plants to purify air was proved by NASA's BioHome, which was an experiment to discover how to make air safe in closed environments, such as space ships, that were filled with dangerous chemicals. The BioHome, according to Wolverton, was made entirely of synthetic materials and was tightly sealed, giving everyone who entered burning eyes and breathing difficulties — two common symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome. Once plants were added, air quality improved and symptoms disappeared. An analysis of the air indicated that the dangerous compounds were gone.

2. Use eco-friendly cleaning products. Don't buy products that carry warnings — just consider them unsafe to use. You can actually make your own safe cleaning products, says Wolverton, such as by substituting vinegar for bleach in cleaning around the house.

3. Buy products that emit low amounts of chemicals. Some products, such as low-emission carpets, paint, and building materials, have special labels that identify them as among those that give off the least chemicals. Low-emission carpets, for example, are labeled Green Label and Green Label Plus.

4. Try salt lamps. Salt lamps are made from a chunk of salt that has been hollowed out to make room for a small light bulb or candle. Heating the salt produces negative ions which help purify the air of dust, smoke, bacteria, and other pollutants.

5. Use indoor filters. Activated carbon and high-energy particle arrester (HEPA) filters trap dust and other particles, but they must be replaced regularly or the filter becomes a breeding ground for bacteria. Wolverton is working on a filter made of inert pebbles and activated carbon that will never need replacing. "We take a houseplant and grow it in a mixture of inert pebbles — we call it expanded clay or expanded gel pebbles — and activated carbon. We're designing a way to pull air through to purify it," Wolverton says. "You'll be able to make these yourself, and they never need replacing. If you can't find the materials in your area, you'll be able to order them over the Internet."

"The best way to have a tightly sealed energy-saving building that is healthy is through a combination of indoor plants and filters," says Wolverton. "You can make simple changes that will control the environment in your home and keep it healthy."

Top Indoor Plants to Purify Your Home

NASA recommends 15 to 18 houseplants in a 1,800-square-foot house. According to research done by NASA and Wolverton, the following houseplants (with their scientific names) are tops for purifying the air:

• Bamboo palm (chamaedorea seifritzii)

• Chinese evergreen (aglaonema modestum)

• English ivy (hedera helix)

• Gerbera daisy (gerbera jamesonii)

• Janet Craig (dracaena "Janet Craig")

• Corn plant/mass cane (dracaena massangeana)

• Mother-in-law's tongue/snake plant (sansevieria laurentii)

• Pot mum (chrysanthemum morifolium)

• Peace lily (spathiphyllum)

• Warneckii (dracaena "warneckii")

• Boston fern (nephrolepis exaltata "Bostoniensis")

• Philodendron (philodendron sp.)

• Rubber plant (ficus robusta)

• Spider plant (chlorophytum comosum)

• Golden pothos/Devil's ivy (epipremnum aureum)

• Weeping fig (ficus benjamina)

Read more: Is Your 'Green' Home Making You Sick?

Important: At Risk For A Heart Attack? Find Out Now.

 

[Amish Electrici]

Do we need yet more proof that the entire 'green' doctrine is (at best) shoot-from-the hip, unproven design, or (at worst) a religion founded on superstition?

With gas at $4/gal, we're hearing more and more 'experts' tell us how we need to make our places air-tight ... even have it certified with a blower test. Am I the only one who recalls the last time we did this (1978) and the following panics over argon, mold, and formaldehyde?

We don't need to 'tweak' the HVAC code to allow for these changes; we need to scrap the entire 'seal it up' doctrine, and incorporate CONTROLLED ventillation. Instead of a blower test, I'd use the "tomcat test."

(Place two tomcats in the house, in adjoining rooms. Let them compete by 'marking' their territories. Their spray can be fairly described as 'skunk lite.' Keep adding tomcats to rooms until you can notice the smell. Now you have the "Tomcat Ventillation Rating" for the house.)

 

[Architect1281]

Watch the 2012 IECC code -

new thoery on air exchange...

Make them Frogs behind waterproof tight .... then .... wait for it......

Mechanically ventilate--- AAS 9

 

[conarb]

Architect:

I think we've got all that and more in California's Green Code. During construction the doors and windows have to be left open to protect the workmen, after completion there has to be a 7 day airing-out procedure wherein the ventilation system has to be run on high 24 hours per day prior to occupancy, during the procedure nobody can be in the home for the first 2 of the 7 days. A carpenter was telling me the other day that on another home is working on the local building inspector was enforcing the open window/door procedure.

Of course Al Gore, has gotten rich on it as well as many Silicon Valley venture capital firms.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Conarb,

you stated: "Sovereign immunity can only go so far, the Code writers and the States/AHJs adopting these codes should be held liable."

A big Amen from the choir!

Houses have to breath. Humans are not designed to live in a sealed environment. Especially with the added toxic chemicals used in carpets, furniture, cabinets, and many of the building materials. People are increasing becoming sick and have no way of knowing that it's their new chemical box called a home. Doctors don't test for or look to the built environment for causes of illnesses and they should; but, the doctor doesn't know about sealed environments as causes for the increased health problems in the United States.

I don't have the knowledge or the resources to write it; but, perhaps you or someone you know could write a book about the declining health of humans in America caused by "legal requirements of the governments" to seal homes. Or, better yet start one of those "class action suits" against the government entities.

In the 2009 IRC, the term " UNUSUALLY TIGHT CONSTRUCTION " was removed from the Definitions chapter and from the code book altogether. It's too late at night for me to write the entire definition; but, if some would copy/paste it from the 2006 IRC, I would appriciate it.

I dug out my old 1992 CABO; and yes I found in M-1502.3 Tight construction: If the space is of adequate volume in accordance with Section M-1502.1 or M-1502.2, but is within a building sealed so tightly that infiltration air is not adequate for combustion, combustion air shall be obtained from outdoors or from spaces freely communication with the outdoors, in accordance with M-1503 or M-1504. So I know for a fact that the danger of over tight construction was know as far back as 1992.



These Green Ignorant idiots are killing people; or at the very least slowly poisoning them with their insane idea of saving energy. If it is necessary to restrict construction of homes to save energy; then limit the ceiling height, and limit the size of rooms for occupancy (examples: bedrooms now must be not less than 70 sq ft.; change it to bedrooms shall not be larger than 120 sq. ft. and all ceilings not more than 8 ft in height.) That is if saving energy is really that important and really the goal; which it isn't!

You can build a monsterous 6000 sq ft house for two old rich people to live in; but you have to seal it and not allow the building or the humans inside to breath fresh air; that is without adding the use of more energy by installing an electronic inflitration unit. If we are serious about saving energy, and it is that important; then two people should be limited to not more than 600 sq. ft. of living space; make that a law and watch the fur fly.

Well it's 12:30, and I'm finally getting a little sleepy.

Ya'll be good to yourselves,

Uncle Bob

 

[fatboy]

From the 2003, my 06 was not cooperating, but probably still the same;

UNUSUALLY TIGHT CONSTRUCTION. Construction

meeting the following requirements:

1. Walls comprising the building thermal envelope have a

continuous water vapor retarder with a rating of 1 perm

[57.4 ng/(s m2 Pa)] or less with openings therein gas-

keted or sealed.

2. Doors and openable windows meet the air leakage re-

quirements of IECC Section 502.1.4.1; and

3. Caulking or sealants are applied to areas such as joints

around window and door frames between sole plates and

floors, between wall-ceiling joints, between wall panels,

at penetrations for plumbing, electrical and gas lines, and

at other openings.

 

[codeworks]

uncle bob, i like your style! i've seen (probably psoted about it here) about houses in vermont that were buiolt int eh early 90's. having mushrooms grow out of the siding ( cedar or spruce) when i took the walls apart, the outside 2 inches of a 2x6 stud was rotten. typar on the outside of the sheathing, 6 mil poly in the house (warm side) behind drywall. wet framing conditions, no where for moisture to go, it was literally running down the inside of the tyvek, on the sheathing, slimy water. what a disaster for the original builder. what a hog to fix. and no, it WAS not a roof leak, or a bad wall intersection. it was trapped moisture.

 

[mtlogcabin]

2006 IRC

UNUSUALLY TIGHT CONSTRUCTION. Construction in which:

1. Walls and ceilings comprising the building thermal envelope have a continuous water vapor retarder with a rating of 1 perm (5.7×10-11 kg/Pa × s × m2) or less with openings therein gasketed or sealed.

2. Storm windows or weatherstripping is applied around the threshold and jambs of opaque doors and openable windows.

3. Caulking or sealants are applied to areas such as joints around window and door frames between sole plates and floors, between wall-ceiling joints, between wall panels, at penetrations for plumbing, electrical and gas lines, and at other openings.

2006 IMC

appliance is located.

UNUSUALLY TIGHT CONSTRUCTION. Construction meeting the following requirements:

1. Walls exposed to the outdoor atmosphere having a continuous water vapor retarder with a rating of 1 perm [57 ng/ (s • m2 • Pa)] or less with openings gasketed or sealed;

2. Openable windows and doors meeting the air leakage requirements of the International Energy Conservation Code, Section 402.4.2; and

3. Caulking or sealants are applied to areas, such as joints around window and door frames, between sole plates and floors, between wall-ceiling joints, between wall panels, at penetrations for plumbing, electrical and gas lines and at other openings.

 

[tmurray]

All of the building envelope would be considered unusually tight construction here in Canada. Our vapour retarder max. is 60 ng/(Pa * s * m^2).

 

[peach]

There are thousands of "green" or "energy efficient" buildings out there waiting for someone to find the failures. UB hit the nail on the head by dredging out the old CABO (HI Uncle Bob, by the way.. welcome back).. if the building was too tight (no infiltration) for combustion, you allow free flowing air into the structure.. now, of course, we require dampers to help control.

We're not doing ourselves any favors by embracing some of the energy measures that don't have a long, successful track record.