Why Natural Building Materials are Healthy

The materials used to build a house can make the difference between an uncomfortable shelter and a healthy, beautiful one.

Natural & Healthy

Natural building materials like bricks, clay blocks and roof tiles are no burden on the indoor climate. Quite the contrary: due to their special humidity-regulating properties, massive brick buildings make a major contribution to healthy living. Clay is natural hence utilizes minimally processed, non-toxic materials making it non- polluting, safe and long lasting.
Since we spent close to 90% of our time indoors. Due to increasingly tight building envelopes, which stop air from entering the interior through leaking windows and are thus enhancing the energy efficiency of a building but also affecting the indoor climate, the importance of selecting the right building material becomes imperative.  Natural building materials like Clay, ideally incorporates sustainable design practices to integrate the building into its immediate environment. Choosing building materials right for your climate is also important.
 
With regard to human health it has been studied that harmful chemical substances in the indoor air, such as dust and mould spores, high levels of carbon di-oxide, can lead to long term health problems. Research of materials and their impacts on indoor air quality has shown that Clay bricks and blocks are one of the few man-made building materials whose mineral properties meet ‘all necessary requirements for healthy living’.
 
The inorganic or inert qualities of  fired clay release insignificant or minuscule volatile organic compounds (VOC) or toxic fumes under normal or fire conditions to have any negative impact on air quality. Fired clay is a dry material that has a natural propensity to absorb and release humidity from the atmosphere to help keep humidity at a required 40-60 per cent level for healthy living, it is not a food source for mould widely associated with allergies.
 

Related inspiration articles

#KnowYourWall

Know how your walls can significantly improve your living environment...

Advantages of Clay as a Building Material

Clay as a building material has been used in architecture for millennia, and for good reasons...

Saving Energy with Clay…

A lot of sustainable building materials use reclaimed or recycled materials. It is simple…the more we re-use products, the less we acquire new products and deplete world resources (and waste less energy manufacturing new materials).

Use of Clay in Indian Architecture

The beginning of clay architecture is dated way back to the Roman, Egyptian & Mesopotamian civilizations, not to forget the Indus Valley Civilization more close to home.