Could building materials be affecting your health and making you sick?
Zara D’Cotta is a ‘Building Biology New Build Consultant’, Keynote Speaker, and Founder of The Healthy Home. She discovered her passion for environmental health after going through cancer.
Through her own experiences with environmental illness, including four years on the move from one ‘unhealthy’ home to the next, and extensive research, Zara realised unhealthy homes are making us sick. She’s been on a mission to help families make informed choices ever since.
After experiencing mould symptoms in more homes than she could count, Zara woke up after her first night in a newly built home with stinging eyes, and experienced other symptoms during her first months in her new home.
It was at this point she realised new builds can contribute to health problems too, and decided to learn all she could about home design and building materials so she can one day build her own healthy home, and play what part she can in changing the way homes are designed and built.
Zara has spent the past three years studying Building Biology, with a specific focus on healthy home design and building materials, in Australia and the USA.
In this conversation we talk about:
- Different types of chemicals contained in building materials and how they can be detrimental to health
- How to determine whether a building material is safe to use when it comes to the impacts on your health and the environment
- Why reclaimed and recycled building materials are not always the “healthiest” choice
- The limitations with the building codes when it comes to building materials and health
- How to reduce exposure to chemicals and “off-gassing” in your tiny home… and more!
You can follow and work with Zara here:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/zaradcotta_thehealthyhome/
LT: https://linktr.ee/zaradcotta
Build a Healthy Home e-course: https://thehealthyhome.ck.page/98e91e04b8
Healthy Building Materials Mastermind: https://thehealthyhome.ck.page/26f52b1011
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
- Tiny House Conversations – Mould-Proof Your Tiny Home with Amie
- Tiny House Conversations – Reducing EMFs in Your Tiny Home with Amie Skilton
- Find a Building Biologist
- Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
- Pub Med – Scientific Peer Reviewed Medical Database
- Cladding – Colorbond
- Bio Products – Natural Exterior Timber Oil – Bought From Eco at Home (For oiling the cedar cladding feature on Lucy’s tiny home)
- Bio Products – Bio Wall Paint – Bought From Eco at Home (For interior walls and ceilings in Lucy’s tiny home)
- Bio Products – Bio Wall Primer – Bought From Eco at Home (For priming interior walls and ceilings, before using Wall Paint, in Lucy’s tiny home)
- Bio Products – Bio Enamel Lacquer – Bought From Eco at Home (For interior trims – doors, architraves, skirts, in Lucy’s tiny home)
- Livos Countertop Oil (For oiling the Mountain Ash timber kitchen benchtop, in Lucy’s tiny home)
- Natural Paint Co – Fortitude Colour (For exterior fascia in Lucy’s tiny home)
- Air Purifiers – These are medical grade HEPA filters, Low EMF, minimal noise, made with non-toxic materials, and definitely the best for removing VOCs from the air thanks to the large activated carbon filter.
- Dehumidifiers (Zara’s discount code for 10% off – THEHEALTHYHOME)
- National Construction Code
- Building Code of Australia
- NSW Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021
- Australian Design Rules
- California Air Resources
- CSIRO Study
- Uber Tiny Homes (The Tiny House Builder who is part of Zara’s Mastermind)
