mould / Green Building & Sustainable Home Renovation Information & Advice

...moulds and mites that will show up on either end of the spectrum if your air is either too humid or too dry. As the EPA say, somewhere in the range of 35 to 50% relative humidity is generally assumed to be the best for avoiding most health risks and irritants. It’s high enough that you won’t have cracked furniture, cha...

...mould problem, clean it with detergent. But mould will always come back unless you address the issue that caused it. See our pages on ventilation and air exchangers for more information on home humidity. VOCs Volatile organic compounds form a large part of household chemical pollutants. Formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, ...

Condensation on Windows – Is it Bad? It’s that time of year when condensation on windows becomes a pain, we wake up in the morning, can’t see out, curtains are wet, there’s water on the window bottoms, and even worse it can affect the walls below windows causing mold and mildew in drywall and furniture. Condensation i...

...moulds and mites that will show up on either end of the spectrum if your air is either too humid or too dry. As the EPA say, somewhere in the range of 35 to 50% relative humidity is generally assumed to be the best for avoiding most health risks and irritants. It’s high enough that you won’t have cracked furniture, cha...

Crawlspace insulation - be careful to get it right A crawlspace comes with all the downsides of a basement, but it is just too low a space to be functional either beyond the folded plastic christmas tree and a couple of boxes of baubles. Unless there is a good reason for it, going through the process of pouring a footi...

Vapor Barrier + Air-Con = Damp Moldy Walls So here's a little known fact that most HVAC installers won't tell a potential new client for central air; Polyethylene vapor barriers in combination with air conditioning in homes can rot walls because of the condensation they may cause. This is why if you have a newer home w...

...mould (or mold for our US readers), mildew and pest infestations in hemp board. The safer manufacturing process of hemp building materials not only reduces the risk of exposure to VOCs in the home, it amounts to a reduction in the manufacturing of toxic synthetic materials, thus protecting global air quality and waterw...

What is the difference between a slab on grade & a crawl space? A slab on grade, or ‘frost protected shallow foundation’ is exactly that, a slab of concrete on the ground. There’s more to it of course, but let’s start with a ‘win’ in the comprehension department shall we?  A slab on grade rests directly on the gro...

...mould and mildew in homes. Modern day airtight homes need mechanical assistance to stop moisture damage and protect indoor air quality, especially true in basements where ventilation is essential to stop mold forming. There are still those that profess that walls need to breath and that 'houses are too airtight', but t...

What are home air filters used for?   Air filters on air handling units such as furnaces, HRV and ERV systems are intended to clean and purify the air before it enters the ducts of your home, to protect indoor air quality from being contaminated with airborne particulate. Dust, dirt, and pollen in the air of homes is s...

In 1996, this off-grid house designed by architect Martin Liefhebber was one of two concept homes selected by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as part of their Healthy Housing Design Competition. What was to be built was a three-bedroom semi-detached home on a small lot in downtown Toronto, And beyon...