Tag: healthy home
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180: Why Adding Insulation Causes Moisture Issues in Buildings
When Prof. Dr. Hartwig Künzel was studying Chemical Engineering, his father was a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute. Hartwig followed in his father’s footsteps after becoming interested in the preservation of heritage buildings. He soon discovered that he could apply his engineering training to diagnosing the moisture problems that occurred after buildings were insulated.
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179: Why managing moisture is so important for indoor air quality
Terry Brennan literally wrote the book on managing moisture for improved indoor air quality. He is a lead author of a landmark 2013 Environmental Protection Agency book titled “Moisture Control for Building Design, Construction and Maintenance” which has since become a standard reference document in the industry in the US.
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How to Reduce Mould in the Home
Mould Mould comes from fungi naturally occurring in the air. Fungi can be our friends. It includes mushrooms and the yeasts we use for making bread. But mould in our homes makes us sick. Just like activating yeast, fungi needs a food source and moisture to grow. This a clue as to how we can…
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Eco Designer Advisor Conference 2017
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in Blog, Design, Draughts, Health, Heating, Housing, Industry, Insulation, Prefab, Renovating, Society, Sustainability, VentilationPrefabrication, high performance homes, indoor air quality, Homestar, sustainable concrete and airtightness are just some of the topics presented at this year’s Eco Design Advisor (EDA) Conference in Wellington, May 1st – 2nd. Some fortuitous free time allowed me to attend this small conference once again. And once again, I was impressed. Eco Design Advisors…
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5 Hidden Invaders in Your Home – Monitor and Keep Them Out!
A few episodes, I was privileged to have Caroline Blazovsky, the Healthy Home Expert, on the show. Caroline has kindly followed up with this list of top 5 hidden home invaders and some handy hints about what to do about them using a Canary.
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162: Introducing the LUNOS
When I first saw the LUNOS, I was skeptical. How could this be a ventilation solution with true heat recovery, when it’s so small? I particularly weary of systems claiming to be ‘heat recovery ventilation’, because so much of what’s typically sold and installed as such in New Zealand, simply is not. Worse than that,…
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161: A Fitbit for your home
Imagine having a Fitbit for your home and being able to see, in real time, how it’s performing. You could also be notified of any hazards like high levels of CO2 and VOCs as they occur – before you start to get a headache or start having respiratory problems. I spoke with Dustin Jefferson Onghanseng, cofounder…
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160: What is in an unhealthy home?
Caroline Blazovsky is America’s Healthy Home Expert. She makes it easy for people to find out what might be the cause of an unhealthy home and therefore, how to fix it. My Healthy Home mainly checks houses in the US. If you’re in New Zealand, get in touch to find out more about getting…
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Homestar Mandatory Minimums
The Homestar mandatory minimums are a series of benchmarks that have to be achieved in order to progress up the Homestar scale. They’re important because if they are are not achieved, your score will be held back. So what are the Homestar mandatory minimums, and how can you achieve them? What are @HomestarNZ mandatory minimums…