How can a building be healthy?


Many people see buildings as many things but healthy may not be one of them but the reality is that so many processes and chemicals are used in so many of the materials used in construction that they do have an impact on our health in some way.

Just take insulation alone and there are many different types of chemicals used in the making of them as well as a huge list of potential risks and side effects for workers exposed to them in the manufacturing of the insulation.

The effect on the environment which the construction industry can have is also something that isn’t ‘healthy’ with many construction processes having detrimental effects on our environment whether that be the physical landscape, which is quarried for our stone and cement or the reduction in our air quality as the processing plants expel the polluted air it produces.

By using wood and other natural materials for our construction purposes we can vastly reduce the amount of damage we are doing to both our own health and the health of our environment.

Spacetwo’s garden rooms are constructed using mostly wood, which means that there is very limited chemicals used in the production or insulation of our buildings. The only things we cannot avoid using are the EPDM Rubber for the roof if you want a flat roof or the tiny amount of tapes we have to use to make sure the building is airtight. To really make your building even more environmentally friendly you could add a pitch to your roof and then wood, slate or clay tiles could be used.

We only use wood from sustainable forests and because we use Spruce, Cedar and Larch, which have high resin contents and therefor a high level of durability we do not have to use treated wood, which again contributed towards the damage done to the environment.

 

If you suffer from any health problems then a Spacetwo garden building is for you. Our building methods are especially beneficial for people who suffer with Allergies or Asthma because everything we use is natural. Because wood is naturally permeable the building is allowed to ‘breathe’ meaning that there will be no damp and therefore harmful mould is unable to build up.

Even our insulation is made of wood using wood fiber insulation, which is compressed using its own natural resin to bind it together. We also use Thermafleece natural sheep’s wool insulation. Both of these have excellent thermal properties, which can match the insulating values of many standard insulation materials.

With more and more consumers judging companies on their environmental commitment and on the size of their ecological and carbon footprint we are proud to say that we are the owners of a pair of tiny green feet!