Sick building syndrome

[Benjidog]

Does anyone out there have any issues with health issues with new builds

Symptoms include constant blocked nose , short of breath , closed throat , itching all over

Time away from the house symptoms vanish then return with vengeance when coming back

Is it a wide spend problem any advice or hints?

[George.]

Sick Building Syndrome

[Windwalker]

I’ve always thought that the problem with new builds having to meet such strict insulation properties, having central heating and no chimney is that there is no air moving through the house. Whilst my insulation is not the best, I open some windows for a while every morning and let the air through the house. Not good for heat loss, but I believe better for my health. The house soon heats up again. I also have a temp gauge which tells me the humidity levels and if reading dry, I again open a window for a while. 

[Benjidog]

A lot to be said for an old draughty house never felt well in my new build , even with Heat recovery ventilation

[Ghostrider]

A new build these days, especially if its also filled with new furniture and other stuff, is a chemical cocktail as far as the atmosphere within it goes. Its a mass of plastics and other man made materials that are all in the latter stages of their 'curing' process.

 

Common sense would dictate that while no one source may contribute enough to affect anybody or anything, put together in a cocktail with numerous others the level is likely to rise to a point normal ventilation cannot always keep the level down to a point where no-one feels some lower level negative effects.

 

Short of opening up windows wide on the weather and lee sides of the house every day with all room doors inside open, and giving the place a good blast through of fresh air for the first however many months, I doubt there's much else you can do. It will reduce in time as the 'newness' smell slowly wears off everything.

 

Give me a draughty old stone built house, with at least one lum, anyday. The heating bill may be higher, but its a hell of a lot more comfortable, and feels much healthier than many of these virtually sealed plastic boxes they're building these days.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Ghostrider

[JOINER]

Turn every thing down and open trickle vents in the windows.  chemical detergents and cloths softener could be a possible culprit, says on the bottle oh the fresh smell of a summers day, but walk past the clothes line on a fine day it s enough to knock you off your feet, it reeks and all those chemicals being used within a sealed envelope have to be carefully considered i recon, bio degradable detergents and micro mops and micro fiber cloths use water to clean ect other wise the micro fiber is destroyed which just makes it an old swab, that is my recommendation, cheers. A design for life.

[Benjidog]

I'm convinced it's laminate flooring as we have a ventilation system , and use all eco cleaning products the more you read about VOCS ,New houses are packed with new things , insulation that's all treated with chemicals its trapped in the house maybe a new house needs 5 to 10 years to leech out the badness