Raise the Hammer

LOL all over again: If I were you, the first thing I would do is -- make small clippings of all building materials and furnishings used in my suburban home, and put them in separate glass jars, seal it tight and leave them in the sun for a few days.

Then, as I wait for the offgasing from these clippings to discolour the inside of the jars, I would quickly read the note below and talk to some professionals to verify facts.

Then, I would call my realtor and ask: what the hell is the real value of my home, if my family and I have been breathing all this toxic stuff, everyday for ___ years?

I may also want to squeeze in a call to my doctor somewhere in between, just to be sure that this stuff I have been breathing in my suburban home has not effected my thinking.

Most of the old buildings in downtown, do not suffer this fate, as smarter people have come to renovate them. Even the ones Blanchard is planning on demolishing were once "breathing buildings" up until he bought them, and set them up for demolition by neglect some ten years ago. He too could have renovated them, and put them to use, but that was not the game he was in.

Maybe after I verify facts about the hermetically sealed life I have been leading in my suburb, I may want to talk to my realtor to explore a trade - there are still some good deals up for grabs down there, in the core.

Mahesh P. Butani

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The 1973 Oil Embargo and Sick House Syndrome:

"One might wonder what the 1973 oil embargo could possible have to do with sick house syndrome but the resulting energy crisis actually set a chain of events into motion which was to drastically increase the amount of people suffering from this syndrome. With world wide oil shortages looming in the near future, the 1973 oil embargo helped push the price of oil higher. and government agencies into a new line of conservation practices. One of these was a new set of building standards code which was put in place to insure that buildings would be as energy efficient as they could be.

In the early 1900's and throughout the mid 1900's building standards code required 15 cubic feet of fresh air per minute per person for appropriate ventilation within buildings. New energy conservation measures were implemented in the 1970's that reduced the amount of fresh air ventilation within buildings. The current 15 cubic feet per minute per person was reduced to a mere 5 cubic feet of air per minute per person. Newly constructed and renovated homes, offices, and schools, were to follow the new standards set out to insure that these buildings would be much more airtight.

It was believed that these new building standard codes would insure that buildings required less heating, and cooling costs, and so would therefore be more energy efficient. What no one could foresee then was that these new building code standards rather than being of benefit during the oil crisis, would instead served to trap bacteria and other pollutants within these buildings. The trapped contaminants then had the opportunity to multiply and rise to dangerous levels. It was this contaminated indoor air which then caused the people within these buildings to become ill."

Comment edited by Mahesh_P_Butani on 2012-12-24 14:41:10