My Chemical-Free House
A Guide to Creating a Healthy Home
This is what I have used to find good hotels when I was chemically sensitive and mold sensitive. The tips are especially important when you are booking something in another country and need your first bet to be a good (enough) one. Never override your own senses/reactions with “the rules” but this has been helpful …
When cleaning your carpet you certainly don’t want to add any chemicals that could make things worse. For many people, fragrance (especially artificial fragrance) and some harsh ingredients could make things worse than before you cleaned your carpet. The list covers products with the most simple and effective ingredients that you can use on home …
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Phosphorescent paint is commonly called “glow-in-the-dark” paint. It is made from phosphors such as Zinc Sulfide (doped with other metals to get different colors) or Strontium Aluminate (doped with Europium or Dysprosium) and typically glows a yellowish-green or blue color. This article focuses on glow-in-the-dark paints used on walls, crafts, art projects, and decor items. I take a close look …
I did an experiment to see what products removed plug-in air freshener fragrance residue from painted drywall and wood. I applied a popular brand of plug-in air freshener oil to boards of painted drywall and samples of wood with a variety of finishes. I came up with two possible remediation strategies that worked well to …
What’s in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint? Based on my sense of smell and comparison to other paints I didn’t find it as potent as regular paint but it does resemble an artist’s paint (possibly a slight acrylic odor, but nothing close to as strong as a regular zero-VOC acrylic wall paint). They claim extremely low …
Paint for floors is notoriously higher in VOCs than wall paints. These three paint options for wood and concrete floors are durable enough to withstand daily traffic and yet are low and zero-VOC formulations. These are all water-based options. All three options on this list are excellent in terms of both indoor air quality impact …
Cabinet paint needs to be particularly durable. The most common types of cabinet paints are either solvent-based or conventional oil-based paint and those are high in offgassing. The next most durable type is a water-based alkyd. These are the non-toxic, low, and zero VOC paint options that work beautifully. I would not consider using just …
Many paints intended for metal are higher VOC enamel paints or oil-based spray paints (which are very smelly and are not non-toxic). The following is a comprehensive list of low and zero-VOC primers that can be used on raw and previously painted metals. Some are for interior use only and some are for both interior …
This post covers low and zero-VOC primers for interior walls. Most of these paints are acrylic primers but some are VAE, or silicate-based. In some cases, it makes sense to go with a zero-VOC primer but some VAE primers are lower in odor than the acrylics even though the legal VOC levels might be around …
I conducted a study of lead in tile in 2021 and 2024. 2021 Results In 2021, I chose 64 tiles from major retailers in the US and had them professionally tested with a handheld XRF down to 0.00 mg/cm2. The 64 porcelain and ceramic tiles came from 14 brands and 5 major retailers in the …
Leather furniture makers recommend not using drying oils on leather as they will harden the leather too much – that means no hemp, walnut, linseed, or tung oil. Most non-drying oils are also not recommended because they will go rancid. That includes DIY methods using olive oil, unrefined coconut oil, mayonnaise, peanut butter, etc.
This post covers sealants that you can (or should) use over Milk Paint, water-based acrylic paint, chalk style paint, and clay paint to make them more durable to liquids, stains, and general wear. Some sealants would change the look of the paint (the sheen level or even the color) and others will look invisible. Different …
This article covers non-toxic and natural waterproofing sealants and stains that are specially formulated for exterior applications like wooden decks, fences, furniture, windows, doors, play gyms, and planters. This post covers both water-based sealants and natural oil-based options that are either zero or very low VOC. They are safe for sensitive individuals, as well as …
I’ve been experimenting with how to paint over Chalk Paint with non-toxic paints for a while. The reason this is relevant to me and my readers is because the sequence of: natural shellac – Chalk Paint – zero-VOC paint is one that can block odors and VOCs while itself being highly tolerable for the chemically …
This post is an overview of the different types of weatherstripping for doors and windows, what they are made of, and which materials are the less-toxic options that are low in odor and do not contain PVC.
This post provides an overview of the formaldehyde-based and formaldehyde-free glues used in plywood. I look at the off-gassing levels and rates of formaldehyde in various types of plywood so that you can choose the lowest VOC option and minimize off-gassing in the home. Summary: Plywood made with urea-formaldehyde has the highest levels of formaldehyde …
This article is focused on simple and inexpensive furniture items that are non-toxic and suitable for the chemically sensitive. When sticking to the cheapest options, we generally cannot go with small-business handmade shops but instead need to go with the larger at-scale brands. For the most affordable sofas, see this article. Non-Toxic Materials Metal Metal …
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is generally made of wood dust and 10% formaldehyde resin as the binder. It gives off about 0.11 parts per million (ppm) of formaldehyde, the very top end of what is allowed by California’s CARB 2 limits. In fact, CARB 2 has to allow for a higher level of formaldehyde off-gassing in …
It isn’t easy to find ready-to-assemble bathroom vanities made out of solid wood without formaldehyde-containing pressed wood products. The brands in this post use durable materials that are healthier – eliminating or minimizing formaldehyde off-gassing. Using high-quality materials like solid wood results in a low-VOC end product. This is my priority list of what to …
These three heavy-duty cleaners will cover all household needs for safer degreasers. They are all biodegradable, non-hazardous, and non-toxic. Ranked by the strength of the cleaners, and their ability to act as a degreaser ECOS PRO is the mildest, AFM Superclean is in the middle, and Crystal is the toughest (truly industrial) degreaser and cleaner …
The usual paints recommended for radiators include enamel paints and conventional oil-based paints. These are often higher in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and that won’t be suitable for everyone. If you are repainting your radiator then you need to find out if it has an oil or water-based paint on it already. If it has …
Freezing temperatures and the hot sun affect concrete birdbaths – if you leave yours in the elements without a sealant you will likely get pitting and cracking. Sealing the surface with a non-toxic sealant helps your birdbath to be less porous so it holds water well and limits the freeze-thaw effects. Of course, we want …
Hemp can be used in building homes in many ways but building with hemp is very different than building with conventional construction methods. Hempcrete can be tamped into board-formed walls, used as premade bricks, sprayed into cavities, or formed into precast panels. It acts as insulation and as an interior and/or exterior surface, though it …
