Home Building Guide:
how to build a healthier home

Guide to Planning, Building & Maintaining a Healthier Home provides practical step-by-step instructions on how to construct a healthier home. Published by Columbia Design Group, a publishing and marketing firm located in Portland, Oregon, the guide covers everything from dealing with radon to safer, less toxic paints and carpets.

The guide is highly recommended for those building a healthier home for the first time. It's also a valuable resource for remodelers. It includes the actual "Healthier House Specifications" and construction details developed for Columbia Design Group's (CDG's) own Healthier Home Plans by a nationally recognized environmental engineer. Brand name products and source information are conveniently provided for many building materials. Buyers can use the guide to assist in material selection when building a CDG Healthier Home Plan or they can use the specifications in the guide for their own home plans if desired.

The 176-page guide provides useful information in a format that allows the purchaser to select the level of "healthiness" that meets his own specific health and budget goals. Depending on the individual's own sensitivities, selections for materials and methods can be made from three different priority levels: A, B. or C. With Level C being the minimum healthier home option, Level B being a better choice and Level A being the healthiest option specified.

The guide includes:

• What building materials and construction techniques to use to create a healthier indoor environment.
• How to set individual indoor air quality goals and priorities.
• How to select and work with a builder, subcontractors, and an indoor air quality consultant.
• How to select a building site.
• How to build a foundation to prevent radon and other soil gases from entering your home.
• How to prevent the growth of mold and mildew; How to control dust mites.
• What practices to forbid on the job site.
• What mechanical systems to install (such as heating/cooling systems, ducting, ventilation, air filtration, humidity control, plumbing, etc.).
• How to maintain a healthier home.

A Guide to Planning, Building & Maintaining a Healthier Home can be ordered directly from the publisher: Columbia Design Group, P.O. Box 16554, Portland, OR 97216-0554 by enclosing $39.95 plus $5.00 postage and handling per Guide.