When sharing holistic building techniques, designs and materials, the question naturally comes up. “How much more does it cost?” To accurately answer this question, this article offers considerations to the many variables that come with a holistic building project. We will cover some of the basics so to help achieve your goals and stay on budget.

When assessing an existing home, there are several elements to consider. These elements include EMF exposure, electrical issues, indoor air quality, and mold. With an existing home, it often becomes a triage situation of fix, repair, or mitigate. Sometimes, the work is not worth the extra cost in an existing home.

When building new, you have more options related to pricing. When you’re on a budget, the key is to allocate the funds to the areas that give you the most value for your money in creating your goals.

As you are planning your holistic home, your decisions can: 1) save you money. 2) cost you no money and 3) increase your building cost.

Let’s look at a few of these decisions:

Saving money

Believe it or not, being in touch with your needs and desires for your new home can be a huge savings. Square footage costs money, and unnecessary space that does not correlate with your lifestyle is wasted money.

Large homes with high taxes, hefty mortgages, and additional maintenance are becoming less desirable to the next generation. One of the advantages of having a smaller holistic home is you can regulate indoor comfort using natural building materials, versus relying on mechanicals for comfort in larger home.

One main cost of a construction project will be the excavation and concrete foundation. Balancing a building site includes designing the home to the property, to minimizing trucking in extra fill or removing excess fill from the site. Understanding how stack affect influences indoor air quality can dramatically decrease the cost of both excavation and the foundation in the design phase.

Framing materials on exterior walls can reduce the cost by one-third, resulting in saving on materials. Wood is a thermal bridge. It transfers outside cold temperatures to the inside which results in moisture within the wall cavity.

Does not cost money

There are many chemicals that are added to the concrete mix when pouring foundations and floor slabs. Reducing chemicals in the concrete mix will benefit indoor air quality.

Positioning the home on the property and proper window layout can take advantage of natural lighting. Understanding how the windy side of the home (lead side) affects air quality and will help decide your best floor plan layout.

Complex roof designs are vulnerable to roof leaks because 90% of all roof leaks come from the flashing areas. Simple roof designs with hips rather than gables help reduce wind damage in severe storms. Generous overhangs help protect windows and siding from bulk rain water intrusion resulting in mold issues in the wall cavity.

Increase building cost (well worth it)

When building new, the electrical system within a home is worth the additional investment. Electrical fields and magnetic fields can be severely reduced or eliminated with in the home. Purchasing a combination meter/disconnect pedestal and proper installation location with the service panel can also help reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) on the electrical wiring.

Using exterior walls that are breathable will allow the wall cavity to dry out reducing the chance of mold to develop. Back ventilating exterior siding and the use of rain screen is another option. The use of magnesium board, rather than plywood and drywall, enhances a healthy wall assembly and improves indoor air quality.

Proper mechanicals that maintain a neutral ambient pressure within the home when kitchen and bathroom fans are running are critical for indoor air quality. At the same time, creating a negative pressure under all indoor concrete slabs will remove unwanted soil gasses and help keep concrete floors dry.

In Conclusion

Designing your healthy dream home takes time and planning. Getting ideas in the early stages begins the process. It is wise to design your home to the building site. Understanding healthy home design is also very helpful when choosing to purchase your building site.

Here at Holistic Dwellings, we can help you in your early stages to develop building specifications with healthy options. This will save time and money when you hire an architect or builder. We can also work with your architect or contractor to better achieve your goals.

John