News
Brief: Post-Consumer Polyethylene in Building Products
Learn how affordable housing communities can help ensure the quality of recycled polyethylene plastics, preventing contaminants from being incorporated into future building products made from this scrap. Healthy Building Network’s research into current recycling practices offers guidance.
Read MoreSpectrum of Flooring Options Now Includes Ceramic Tiles
At your request, we’ve expanded the chart once again to include two variations of ceramic tiles on the market: those manufactured in the USA and those manufactured abroad.
Read MoreBrief: Post-Consumer Flexible Polyurethane Foam Scrap Used In Building Products
Carpet cushion (that soft layer installed between a sub-floor and a carpet) is made from flexible polyurethane foam (FPF). Generally that foam is recycled scrap from the manufacture of furniture, such as couch cushions, or old carpet cushion itself. Healthy Building Network’s research into current recycling practices for FPF indicates that most post-consumer foam is contaminated with highly toxic flame retardants.
Read MoreA Primer on Interior Paint
Interior paints can cover enormous amounts of a building’s surface area in a building. Walls and ceilings, as well as moldings and casings can all be painted surfaces. Selecting a palette of paint products that have the fewest hazards possible for a given project can therefore have a magnified impact on occupants.
Read MoreHBCD-free Styrofoam™ Insulation Coming to USA -- by Jim Vallette
Good news in the insulation world. By 2018, extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation will be available in North America without the extremely toxic flame retardant, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD).
Read MoreOn Tire Wastes in Playgrounds -- by Jim Vallette
"The tire industry has thrived in a regulatory void." HBN's Jim Vallette explains how tire waste came to America's playgrounds.
Read MoreFilled with Uncertainty: Toxic Dirt in Building & Construction -- by Jim Vallette
What's the latest dirt? Jim Vallette finds a lot to uncover in construction fill and playground mulch.
Read MoreHomeFree -- by Gina Ciganik
Welcome to HomeFree, the Healthy Building Network’s new initiative that supports affordable housing leaders who are improving human health through the use of healthy, high-performing building materials.
Read MoreHow Common Product Profiles Help Inform Product Decisions
On the Products section of HomeFree -- in addition to individual products -- visitors will now see Common Product Profiles (CPs for short). These CPs inform material selection in construction projects by allowing users to model the potential human health impacts of their material choices prior to installation.
Read MoreCarpet Padding and Flame Retardants
Building occupants, particularly crawling children, can be exposed to flame retardants released from carpet pad. This blog, and accompanying white paper, delve deeper into this issue.
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