Indoor Air Quality and Moisture Protection
The DADU emphasizes simple interior finishes with low toxicity and good ventilation for fresh air. Finish materials include a Strand Woven Poplar flooring from Ecotimber, and natural Marmoleum. The builder made sure to check that finish products, such as paints, caulks, and stains, were all low emitting and low VOC products. Paints used were Benjamin Moore “Aura” zero VOC products.
The exterior siding is installed over a HydroGap WRB that provides “rain screen” drainage. The lower-level stucco is also a water managed system. Window and door flashing details were checked on site for complete seals and physical drainage planes to ensure a very long-lasting wall system that prevents moisture-related damage and molds.
Materials With Reduced Environmental Impact
The interior finish materials were not only selected for their low-chemical emitting properties to assist with healthy indoor air quality, but also for their environmentally friendly properties. The finished flooring materials selected were Cradle-to-Cradle certified carpets from Shaw and climate-positive Marmoleum. CAST’s most eco-friendly flooring selections were the ones they excluded, reducing resource extraction and pollution in the first place. They did this in two ways, first the exclusion of vinyl flooring, and the second by utilizing the lower floor’s concrete slab as the finished floor.
Locally produced cabinets from Canyon Creek meet low-VOC certification standards. Materials that were made with recycled content were used for the drywall, trim, doors, and cabinets. The builder tracked and reported recycling of job site waste, as all Built Green builders must do, and achieved at least a 75% diversion-from-landfill rate. To reduce toxicity Sill plates were borate-treated instead of using standard pressure-treated lumber.