Share your tips for a 'non-toxic' house

[Lullabybutterfly]

I feel as though there is an awful lot of information out there about things that are probably quite bad for us (forever chemicals, phthalates, BPA etc etc) but trying to find 'healthier' alternatives on a budget is a minefield. I recently spent several days wading through lists of mattresses that don't contain chemical flame retardants (mostly costing thousands of pounds) before almost accidentally discovering that Silentnight do them at normal prices. I'm now researching the formaldehyde emissions of laminate flooring to try and find the lowest one, and trying to decide if that is better or worse than carpet for VOCs...

I'm fully aware that I'm a bit obsessive and most people probably don't give a second thought to this stuff, but if anyone else is like me and has wasted hours down these rabbit holes, maybe we could share some tips and save each other some time?

I think you’re right to be concerned and there are many of us who do worry about household products causing ill health and releasing toxins. Do you think a focus on natural products is the way to avoid some of this, e.g. we have solid wooden floors, plain linen curtains, feather filled cushions and avoid manmade fabrics and oil based products. I my own cleaning and some cosmetic products too for the same reasons, eg white vinegar and citrus surface cleaner. Really interested to hear what others think.

Interested in this as well - thank you for creating a thread, OP!

I'm interested too. I have a septic tank and have to be careful what goes down there so buy citric acid, bicarb, lemons and write vinegar, which are all relatively cheap and between them do all the cleaning and also de-gunge the dishwasher etc.

*white vinegar

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

@Hollyhocksandlarkspur I definitely think natural is best, sounds like you have got a great set up! Everything I've read basically said solid wood is the only flooring that doesn't emit anything, but it's not always a practical or budget option, so I'm currently trying to find the least bad alternative.

I'm also with you on the curtains (apparently these often contain chemical fire retardants) and feather cushions - I have a reasonably priced down duvet and pillows from IKEA as well. And always use vinegar @Pocketfullofdogtreats ! For things that need a bit more cleaning oomph I tend to use Dr Bronner's Sal Suds (works on dishes and laundry too).

*and I always use vinegar

I haven't used citric acid though, so will give that a go too 😀

I'd also suggest you look into air-purifying plants like spider plants, snake plants etc which are good at filtering toxins from the air.

I also go natural as much as possible in my home. Also stick to silentnight mattresses. Also do the natural fibres and fabrics.

One comment on solid wood floors- they have to be treated and sealed and depending on which ones used, can give off as much VOCs as laminate so the devil is in the details as to which is lower in toxins.

I have a water softener which means I’m not fighting lime scale or crunchy clothes with harsh cleaning chemicals or fabric softners. So having one is high on my list as I live in a very hard water area.

I think one thing to consider is indoor air quality. So don’t use sprays like febreze or perfumes like diffuser sticks, scented candles, body spray etc. Do open a window in every room for min ten minutes a day, even in winter unless you are urban in which case get an air purifier Blu is a good one- very energy efficient, quiet. Certain houseplants can also improve indoor air quality.

Spray deodorant kills a few people (even children) every year so I’d ban that.

Another is trying to cook from scratch as much as possible so as to avoid ingesting too many preservatives. On a side note, always use lump wood charcol for BBQs, never use charcoal briquettes.

This is interesting - also try to be as natural here as possible with low voc paints, lots of plants, and natural materials. For carpets I bought 100% wool remnants from Designer Carpets, and I'll be getting wood flooring in the sale. Interesting about the sealants for wood being as bad as laminate - I'll have to make sure to look into these and not let the flooring installer have free reign

Just a word about fire retardants - DH looped our front room curtains around the wall lights so they were out of the way while he painted the skirting boards and then switched the lights on! Wondered what the funny smell was! So I am very pleased that my lovely curtains (from the Natural Curtain Company) have fire-retardants.

I had massive moth problems with 100% wool carpets last year, and now have moth infestation in sweaters. So wool may be natural, but it brings its own issues.

We also had a huge moth problem with the carpets we inherited here!

I don’t gave to much to add yet apart from I’m a stickler for water based paints and actually find farrow and call really easy to use- but following as we are renovating and I care about this stuff.

Great thread idea!

This is true and why we went with wood & ceramic tile floors with wool rugs to go on top for warmth and cosiness. We ensure the rugs don’t go under any furniture and every cm is hoovered twice a week. The wood or tile floor under is swept and mopped once a week. Every 3yrs, the rugs get rolled up and sent to specialist rug cleaners (the rugs are quite valuable).

The thing with moths is they like dark, undisturbed areas. To prevent them you have to Hoover every cm of the wool carpet a minimum of once a week. If you have carpet- you’re going to have furniture on it. Often heavy furniture. And no one can be shifting wardrobes, beds, sofas and such to hoover under them every week. That’s just not realistic with everyone’s busy lives these days.

So I’d never install wool carpet- except on stairs and in hallways- because it’s too much work to prevent moths.

I would recommend getting a ventilation system. Then whatever is inevitably in the air will be regularly diluted.
You can get heat recovery ones which save on cool draughts but any kind is fine, even just loft positive vent system would be better than nothing.

Thanks everyone, lots of great tips! I spent some time researching low VOC paints @OuiLaLa and @A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 and even bought some ridiculously priced paint from Lakeland which was apparently the most natural. But then I listened to a podcast (The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread) where they interviewed some experts who basically said virtually all paint is low VOC now and once it's dried it makes no difference which one you used. So I'm going back to the cheap ones!

I find it hard to navigate the 'non-toxic' world, as a lot of people make a lot of claims about their products, and it can be really hard work unpicking what is really going to make a difference to your health, and what is just clever marketing.

Kate Watson Smyth of Mad About the House does a Do Less Harm Directory which you'll probably find useful.

With flooring, does anyone know if there are there any issues with linoleum (the proper stuff made from linseed oil, not the PVC plastic stuff) or cork?

When looking at the Silentnight website they say that they DO in fact use chemical fire retardants.
"Are your beds flammability tested?UK law requires manufacturers to ensure that foam used in their products undergoes a fire-retardant treatment in order to comply with life-saving safety regulations. The Silentnight Group introduced our own in-house testing laboratory back in 1980 and to this day, to the best of our knowledge, we remain the only UK Bed Manufacturer to operate our own facilities. Our laboratory carries out detailed tests across all of our products to ensure our customers purchase products which are not only of outstanding quality and great value, but are totally safe in their homes."
https://www.silentnight.co.uk/help/faq/safety

Also, they are wrong. The law does not require that products undergo fire-retardant treatment - they need to undergo fire retardant testing. There is one company that claims to achieve that without added chemicals.
https://www.ecosofa.co.uk/
They are not cheap but they do claim that they have no added chemicals to their soft furniture.

It's probably good to go natural as much as possible/ as much as you can afford.

But you are right, it's also very easy to go down a rabbithole.

There are so many things in life that you don't even think about that might be causing you small amounts of harm over a long time, just through living in the modern Western world.

For example, as soon as you stop worrying about your household products, you could start worrying about what's in the food you eat, your clothes, your toiletries, what's floating around in the air near your house, in a public toilet, etc.

To some degree, this is something that we have to live with, and you can drive yourself mad worrying about it. You do have to find a balance.

I try to get natural products but would also try not to sweat every minute detail because mental health is also important.

Also, to people recommending snake plants and spider plants... yes, that's all good... but also do remember that your own body is actually also one of the best toxin filters around. Human bodies aren't stupid, they are adapted and evolved to wash away toxins that enter. That's literally what they do.

Again, there's a balance and it is good to think about this stuff to a degree, but also trust that your body is doing what it should do and can actually deal with this. It does not have to experience only purity all the time - that's never what it was designed for! You are actually pretty resilient!

I think more than finding the best house we need to participate in getting these toxic things out of out homes in a big way - I was super surprised when a bunch of moms started attacking a woman who was trying to get people to petition against flame retardant requirements on mumsnet. It was like a pile on. In the UK it is a political issue because furniture companies and chemical companies are lobbying to keep the flame retardant requirements - chemical companies is clear why and the furniture companies because it prevents competition from abroad because other producers are not willing to deal with UK requirements and also expose their own workers to the vast amounts of toxins. A great website is FIDRA
https://www.fidra.org.uk/
https://www.fidra.org.uk/projects/sustainablefiresafety/

The US managed to change the requirements through citizens advocacy.

Hallo
I went wool underlay and wool carpet. no probs with moths yet - 3 years later. I don't clean obsessively.
I have wool mattresses for my younger ones ( vv comfy for smallies ) and am looking into no FR mattress for my teen, If i can find ( quick search indicates that wool mattresses are the only one that fit the bill -* would appreciate if anyone can advise on a uk mattress with no Fire retardent chemicals added.
I paid attention to VOC pain when building but agree with people above who found that all uk paints are low voc now. some brands more so than others but there is def greenwashing in that sphere..
also - buy secondhand / vintage furniture where poss and cover and stuff yourself.

good thread!

Hi all, tomorrow is the deadline for the consultation that the UK government is making on Flame Retardants in Furniture. So far the UK has been unique in that it has required furniture to be tested for fire safety by testing each component alone - i.e. foam should be separately flame retardant, fabric should be separately flame retardant and so on. This strict requirement has resulted in the need for tons of toxic flame retardants in furniture. Other countries require the whole piece of furniture (as a whole) to be fire retardant which can be achieved by barrier methods between the foam and the outside, for example.

Unfortunately, the current proposal (the first document) does not deviate much from the previous regulations as it still requires that foam be tested separately in addition to the whole furniture not catching on fire quickly. Since foam is essentially in every piece of furniture, this doesn't lead to much change and most furniture will require a lot of chemical fire retardants.

Flame retardants are toxic - they increase risk of cancer, neurological issues, especially in kids, . While baby furniture is excluded (but not single beds) - kids are all over couches and other upholstered furniture.
Their use in saving lives from fire are debatable - there is evidence that if a furniture laden with flame retardants burns in a fire it may slow the fire for 15 seconds but it releases so many toxic chemicals that you may die anyways. Fire fighters are at much higher risk of cancer, for example.

Please go to the consultation page and write your opinion - it can be done online. Question 7 is the one that wants your opinion on whether foam should be tested separately. We don't have ANY evidence that such extra strictness saves more lives. But we know for sure that when 65 million people are exposed to those chemicals we definitely hurt people.

Please opine - last link in this post.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/24/massachusetts-flame-retardants-firefighters-safety-cancer#:~:text=The%20Massachusetts%20legislature%20approved%20a,it%20die%20without%20signing%20it.

https://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/app/uploads/2019/08/Background_Briefing_Flame_retardants_21.9.17_IS_nw.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/smarter-regulation-fire-safety-of-domestic-upholstered-furniture

You may have found that the material (depending on what it is) wouldn't have caught anyway, lots of materials are naturally flame retardant; and there's lots of evidence that chemical flame retardants, which release toxic fumes when burning, kill you before the fire would anyhow. It's smoke that generally kills rather than fire, and flame retardants make that smoke more toxic. Plus they are forever chemicals, that get into your body and the environment, and build up. They've been linked to various health concerns including alterations in immune and reproductive systems, neurotoxic effects, and endocrine disruption. Just before Covid the Environmental Audit Committee criticised the government for stalling on action previously on various toxic chemicals in the home including flame retardants, and they recommended various changes including that they were removed from children's products with immediate effect due to the seriousness of the health concerns and limited benefit but fuck all has been done:

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/news/100328/government-accused-of-stalling-on-action-to-reduce-exposure-to-toxic-chemicals-in-homes/

There's more than one company that does flame retardant free mattresses (other furniture is trickier). I get our mattresses from Cottonsafe mattresses:

https://www.cottonsafenaturalmattress.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjws9ipBhB1EiwAccEi1ICj1Qo6_7TjOjcP8P7R_HY2RMd-3z7ZeDASkvGXatjxnkg6u2qwlRoC67MQAvD_BwE

And can recommend them, very good mattresses. There are loads of other manufacturers if you google. Even more of cot mattresses.

We have recently gone on a search of flame retardant free baby products - prams, car seats, cots etc if anyone's interested am happy to share.

Thanks for posting this @melinab I didn't realise there was a consultation! that has not been publicised very well at all. I will be reading and commenting tomorrow.

I noticed this in the proposals:

"New upholstered products in scope of the new approach will be required to meet the following essential safety requirements. An upholstered product in its final form, when it is used as intended or in a foreseeable way: (a) must not readily ignite if it comes into contact with a flaming or non-flaming ignition source, and (b) must, if ignited, self-extinguish or burn slowly. Any foam used in the upholstered product: (a) must not readily ignite if it comes into contact with a flaming or non-flaming ignition source, and (b) must, if ignited, self-extinguish or burn slowly.

An upholstered product must not, in respect of any chemical flame retardants it contains, jeopardise the safety of any consumer or other person, taking into account the foreseeable behaviour of that consumer or other person."

I thought that last sentence was interesting. It later goes on to say:

"Chemical Flame Retardants

The final essential safety requirement applies where manufacturers choose to use chemical flame retardants in order to meet flammability requirements and comply with the other essential safety requirements. This sets the clear expectation that where chemical flame retardants are used, this must be in a way that does not jeopardise the safety of consumers and end users. In practice this means ensuring that the chemicals are compliant with all relevant UK chemicals regulations and that evidence available at the time of design and manufacture of the upholstered product does not indicate that using that chemical would pose risks to consumers."

This sounds like it might rule out some flame retardants from use where they are known to be harmful, but leave open the newer flame retardants for use which haven't yet been shown to be harmful (but which imo will likely be found to be harmful in the future when the data becomes available)?