The Thrill and Stress of Building a Low-Tox House

I am so thankful for those who helped us build our house. It has been a dream come true–a safe place for me to recover.

During the process, I was excited and stressed out at the same time. It was wonderful to see it come together, but I felt so many emotions of anxiety, fear, worry and impatience.

I wondered if something would go wrong. I desperately wanted the rain to stay away at critical times, like when the wood framing was exposed.  I worried that mold would grow somewhere. 

Hoping that I would tolerate the house and the materials used was nearly too stressful to even think about. 

During most of the time the house was being built, I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed. Ironically, this helped the anxiety because so much of my mental capacity was taken up with just getting through each day. I watched more TV than ever in my life trying to cope with extreme pain and fatigue. This also kept my mind off the build somewhat.

I knew we had thoroughly studied our reference book (Healthy House Building for the New Millennium,  by John Bower). But questions would come up for which I did not have answers. I normally can study a subject until those around me are tired of me asking questions or expounding on things. lol But during this time, the town pollution that was effecting my body also effected my thinking. My brain fog was so bad that I would get distressed just trying to help the kids with their schoolwork much less trying to figure out building questions for which I had no formal training. 

So, we prayed.

We asked God for wisdom and help; me, with my child-like brain fog and all.

Steve consulted the Bower book on some questions, and then we kept proceeding forward. We found out later that we chose some things that are mold-resistant that we didn’t even know were mold-resistant, particularly plaster walls and wool insulation. 

We chose no vapor barrier in the walls also, having heard years before that a double vapor barrier isn’t always a good idea because it can trap moisture. (The steel siding also acts as a vapor barrier, so this is why an interior vapor barrier would create a double vapor barrier situation.) This also turned out to be good, as we have not had any diffusion-related condensation where the insulation is thorough.  Our walls are dry despite early cold weather including -10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 Celsius). Vapor has not diffused enough through the plaster walls and wool insulation to cause condensation, as predicted by the many articles which point to research/experience that wintertime diffusion is rarely a problem for fully-insulated walls.  So there is no point in having a vapor barrier, meaning we can reap the benefits of not having one.

The Benefits

The wall can dry to the inside better if vapor does find its way in through an air leak (the wall can “breathe”), there is no plastic or other material inside the wall potentially off-gassing through the plaster, and there is no danger of condensation on the inside of the wall on a vapor barrier should the sun/heat on the siding cause the wool insulation to release moisture in the summer when the house is cooler inside than the outside. 

At the last minute, Steve also found PEX lines for the radiant heat in the slab too close to the edge. The lines could have been punctured by building on top. But he corrected this situation just before the cement was poured.

When we moved in, my digestion and energy improved immediately. But the rest of me was absolutely miserable. I have never in my life been as confused and distressed over a situation as I was then.

Was the house affecting me? Maybe it was my mattress that had been in storage? Was I going to get through this? What if the house failed me? Would I ever get better? Would everyone in my life then abandon me?

It was nearly emotional agony. For about a week. Then I began to get better. 
Looking back and praying about it, I think what I experienced was similar to withdrawal, such as from caffeine, only it was from town pollution (car exhaust).  Since leaving the mold house in 2010 with extremely severe Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I had never lived in town until the end of 2014. 

During that terrible week, I could only hold onto God. Or rather, it was more like He was holding on to me. 

Now, it is easy to see the tremendous progress I have made here. I have not felt this good or had this much energy since 2008. Detox is not fun, yet, I have SO much of an easier life than I have in a very long time. 

It is as they say–avoiding mold and chemicals WILL allow the body of someone with MCS to catch up, to begin healing. Of course, it becomes much more complicated if the person also has cancer, arthritis, or some other malady. Even age can be a barrier to such recovery as I have experienced. I feel sad for those caught in such things and for those who simply cannot obtain safe housing. I think of them a lot. I have many friends who are experiencing this.

But through this journey of building a safe house–wonderful and amazing and stressful–I needed God to help me through.

Purchase the Book

Buy Christa Upton’s Building a House for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Mold-Resistant, Low-Tox Home in paperback format

Buy Christa Upton’s Building a House for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Mold-Resistant, Low-Tox Home in eBook format

Video

You can check out the inside and outside of Steve and Christa Upton’s mould resistant, low-toxic home and meet the lovely Sherlock and dear Watson in the following YouTube video. You can see more videos about this clever home if you follow Christa and Steve on YouTube, here.