There is a growing body of research that suggests that exposure to electric & electromagnetic fields especially from high voltage sources may be detrimental to health.

Electric fields are produced wherever and whenever there is a flow of voltage. This occurs through any electric cable or appliance even when it is switched off.

Electromagnetic fields are only present where current is flowing and the appliance is switched on. It is electromagnetic field pollution (EMF’s) that is of most concern. EMF’s have been linked with many health concerns, including, immune system disorders, cancers, leukaemia, depression & allergies.

Distance is the easiest way to avoid these fields, but where this is not possible, electrical cables can be shielded with metal trunking to prevent electric fields. Electro-magnetic fields are more difficult to combat requiring clever well design electrical wiring - radial rather than ring wiring being one potentially effective approach.

Clever design (for example, keep electrical cables as far as possible from the sleeping, seating areas etc. ) combined with protective measures can be incorporated into a build to minimise the potential harmful effects of electromagnetic field pollution.

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The field of psychology recognises the affect that colour has upon us, not merely as a matter of subjectively favouring certain colours, but in terms of our base characteristics & responses.

…Dr Ashley felt that colo(u)r has a great deal to do with the well-being of the emotionally disturbed.

Nurse Diesel, High Anxiety, Directed by Mel Brooks 1977.

Instinctively, we are programmed to respond to colour in certain ways. Grey is associated with the descent into winter and associated hardship, green with fertility and plenty, blue with the cooling, powerful waters…

Of course these associations are not as simple and linear as I suggest here. They are complex, multi-faceted and adjusted by personal, geographical and spiritual experience.

Mighty forces that need to be handled carefully & with sensitivity - colour should be treated as a central design concern the building of our healthy house.

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We bought the barn with planning permission in place. The plans were very simple and low impact. The structure of the building remained unchanged, utilising existing windows and doors, with the simple addition of some small velux windows in the roof.

When we came to readdress the plans with our designer, the opportunity presented itself to add some windows to the currently blind south facing gable end. We submitted an amendment to the existing planning to add a central window to the first floor bedroom to provide a fire exit (happily with fine views over the hills) and two similar diametrically positioned windows on the ground floor. The additional windows would be in-keeping with the vernacular agricultural architecture, which incorporates first floor hay-loft doors and ground floor ventilation slits, which these new openings would mimic.

Happily the amendment to the planning has been agreed and the light levels in the converted building hopefully raised.

A case of building regulations helping us out and presenting the opportunity to make the building safer, lighter and generally more people friendly.

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An allergy is a hypersensitivity to what are normally innocuous entities such as certain foodstuffs, cleaning products, dust, plant pollen and so on. Whilst debate over the scale, change in scale and root causes of people suffering from allergies is beyond the scope of this article, consideration of how to minimise the impact of […]

Until I started researching the Healthy House concept, I’d always taken such things as the need for a radon survey with a pinch of salt; as a necessary evil, a piece of unavoidable paid-for bureaucracy.
Now I have a slightly differing opinion after developing an appreciation of the risks that radon presents.
So when my British Geological […]

Air quality is determined by the composition of the volume of air under consideration. Generally, the normal composition of air is 78% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, trace amounts of other gases, and around 1% water vapour. Substances not naturally found in the air or found in the air at higher than […]

It is only over the last few months that I’ve become aware of the concept of the healthy house. This is a design approach that focuses on the effects upon human health of the design, materials, building alignment & layout of our built environment.
In the best tradition of ‘Top-10 lists’, here’s my ten key considerations […]

There’s been some pay-back from the bramble clearing that we spent so many weekends doing.
Nettles! …and where there are nettles there’s soup.
Get over to mwnch ~ eat seasonally for the recipe and get cooking.
If you enjoyed that post, then read these…I’m certainly no bathroom designer / the strange 1 metre wide space on November […]

When working through the detailed design for the barn we decided to use oak beams to support the first floor rather than steels. That seems like a sensible decision; whilst costing more, from the perspective of aesthetics and ‘healthy house’ design the choice was clear.
Now I’m trying to set the budget, the madness begins. I’ve […]

From the Romans to present day, underfloor heating has been a good idea. Underfloor heating provides gently radiating heat from the whole of the floor surface. This radiant heat is similar to the heat from the sun, heating the occupants of the room directly rather than the air around them (must admit I’ve never fully […]