JLC · AUGUST 1989 BUILDING HEALTHY HOUSES Alternative materials can help protect your client from indoor air pollutants I am a contractor specializing in nontoxic homes. I got started in this specialty when my wife and I renovated an 1850 Federal-style house. As we worked and lived there, my wife developed a number of troubling symptoms, including inflamed sinuses, stomach and kidney problems, breathing difficulties, and muscle soreness. We soon learned that she was being poisoned—not by anything she was eating, but by the outgassing of fumes from underlayment, carpet, vinyl, insulation, paint, and other synthetic materials we were installing in the house. Eventually we had to move out and build a new house with nontoxic, hypoallergenic materials. Even so, because of
