Healthier homes: Give your house a checkup

Lauren Kramer | Image: Angela Fama | Published: August 26, 2008

Many people would embrace the opportunity to move into a 13-year-old home. Typically, a home that new means relatively little wear and tear, and an appearance that’s not too dated and will need little renovation. One thing it doesn’t mean, however, is a home constructed with sustainable features.

When Sandra Schryburt bought such a home in Port Moody in 2006, she saw two things: toxins, and potential. “I liked the layout of the 2,700-square-foot house, but the style and decor was older, with linoleum flooring and carpeting, which I don’t think is a healthy flooring choice. It needed freshening up,” she says with a shrug.

Schryburt, a strong advocate of green living, started learning about environmental friendliness when she was pregnant with her son Zachary, who is now six. “I began getting more informed about toxins in the environment and never stopped, continuing my research to this day,” she says.

The Port Moody home, located on a greenbelt close to Belcarra Park and Buntzen Lake, would witness a $100,000 renovation over the next five months, during which everything with the exception of the bathtub in the master bathroom would be ripped out and replaced. By the time the last contractor pulled away from the curb, Schryburt and her family had a shining example of a green home where the odious toxins to which most of us are oblivious are almost completely absent.

The kitchen is the centrepiece of the home, and Schryburt removed a wall and re­designed the space, opening it up to allow natural light that creates a better flow in the house and saves energy. “We don’t have to turn on the lights as much,” she explains.
For her, a choice of cabinets was about far more than their esthetic appeal. “Cabinets off-gas formaldehyde for 20 years in the average kitchen,” she explains. Schryburt chose Roseburg SkyBlend cherry cabinets, which are urea formaldehyde-free and coated with a non-toxic
Safecoat finish.

Non-toxic sealers and stains were also essential for the reclaimed fir floors in the Schryburt home, and Livos Broda brand sealer, which can go on any flooring and prevent off-gassing substrates, was an easy choice.

The sleek granite countertops had to pass a Geiger counter test before

they were selected, to ensure the radiation levels they emitted were minimal. Schryburt rented a Radalert 50 nuclear radiation monitor from Chris Anderson, an electromagnetic testing and mitigation consultant. Schryburt explains that different regions of the world have varying levels of radon gas, so where your granite comes from will influence its level of radon and consequently its radioactivity. “I chose three granite slabs and tested them for a few days with a Geiger meter, choosing the one with the lowest levels,” Schryburt recalls.

The granite is lit by LED under-cabinet lighting, which lasts longer and emits less electromagnetic radiation than standard under-the-counter lighting. Peek deeper inside Schryburt’s kitchen, and you will discover that her green choices extend to many aspects of her life. Organic products are ubiquitous and when it comes to storing dry food she opts for hermetically sealed glass containers with a cute retro look rather than plastic, which, she believes leaches toxins. Beneath the sink a small tub collects organic waste for the composter outside, and above it, a filtration system on the tap ­reduces chlorine in her family’s drinking water.

While a healthy kitchen is important, Schryburt says, it’s upstairs in the bedroom that you need to be especially vigilant. “We spend a third of our lives sleeping on mattresses that emit fire retardants,” she explains. Her bed, which she ordered from SleepTech in ­Ontario about four years prior to her 2006 renovation, is made of natural latex rubber from the milk of a Malaysian rubber tree. “It’s completely bio­degradable, and the wool in the mattress wicks moisture away from you and disperses it,” she points out. Her queen bed retailed for $3,100 at the time. Today comparable models sell for about $5,000 for a queen and $6,500 for a king.

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