Case Study: Bathroom Redesign For A Client With Several Chemical and Environmental Sensitivities
By Andy Pace, Founder of the Green Design Center
There is a misconception that healthy building materials are basic and boring. Home owners associate clean and healthy with stark and cold when in fact creating a human-healthy space can absolutely be luxurious with a wow design factor! As a healthy home concierge and founder of the oldest healthy home supply company in the country, the Green Design Center, I have had the privilege of helping many customers with chemical sensitivities create the perfect healthy space customized to fit their individual needs while also achieving a beautiful aesthetic.
A recent project that I thoroughly enjoyed working on involved my longtime client Lisa Gorelick, who suffers from multiple chemical and environmental sensitivities, and the design team at PaulDavis, the Waukesha-based home renovation and restoration company, to create the ultimate healthy, non-toxic, safe, and luxury bathroom for Lisa in Wisconsin. I had previously worked with Lisa on other parts of her home to find solutions to meet her environmental and chemical sensitivities such as sourcing bamboo flooring, and non-off-gassing windows and doors. I was excited to tackle the bathroom with Lisa because it is a place for calm and relaxation, proper hygiene, and wellness in the home.
After Lisa discovered a leak in her bathroom skylight that was creating a serious mold problem, she decided to pull the trigger on her healthy bathroom remodel that she had been thinking about for a while. It was important to Lisa that every material used in the process was free of any chemicals, or off-gassing and would be resistant to mold and moisture. She tapped the team at PaulDavis and their in-house designer Gina Perego and worked closely with myself and their contractor to make sure that all of Lisa’s needs were met. PaulDavis had no previous experience working with healthy building materials or having their team physically be around someone with chemical sensitivities. They were quickly on board and all-in on adhering to Lisa’s requests of no shoes in the house, and no fabric softener, perfume, or cologne while in the home. I worked with Gina to source healthy materials for a beautiful non-toxic bathroom that also accommodated Lisa’s small handicaps such as putting the bathtub inside the shower doors and allowing for an accessible mobile shower head. The process was seamless and the team executed the design and build flawlessly without Lisa needing to be away from her home for more than one day.
“The Paul Davis Team was thrilled to work with Lisa Gorelick and Andy at The Green Design Center in using sustainable materials for her healthy home restoration. Mrs. Gorelick was able to maintain residency in the home even with her high sensitivities during the restoration process except for one day. By using these green, healthy building products and materials suggested by Andy we were able to meet the needs of our client with a beautiful outcome. This project truly lived out our Brand Promise in delivering truth, thus creating safety, reality, and meaningful action that shepherds people and property back to the places and lives they love.” - PaulDavis
Bathrooms are where we spend the most of our dedicated time to self-care and are considered the oasis of the home. It only makes sense that bathrooms become a priority for use of healthy building materials such as non-toxic and mold resistant tile and caulk. Bathrooms require proper ventilation for moisture and water build up and I have many solutions to making a bathroom the healthiest and cleanest place in the home. As each client has various needs and levels of sensitivities, I work to customize a healthy home project to the occupant of the home.
Lisa’s bathroom required the following:
AFM Safecoat Paints, primers, and caulks - non-toxic, no off-gassing, recently recognized for No PFAS in products
Porcelain and glass tiles - minimal water absorption to further protect from future mold issues
Quartz countertops - do not require the use of any unhealthy sealers or cleaners
Glass cabinets instead of traditional wood cabinets - thus eliminating any future food source for mold
HVAC system purification, utilizing carbon, HEPA and UV
About Paul Davis Restoration Inc: For more than 55 years, Paul Davis Restoration, Inc. has restored residential and commercial properties damaged by fire, water, mold, storms, biohazards, and other disasters. The experts at Paul Davis understand the complex process of recovering from property damage and provide complete services; there is no need for the expense and confusion of hiring multiple contractors. Paul Davis is a start-to-finish solution for disaster damage and restoration. Paul Davis Restoration has more than 300 independently owned franchises in the United States and Canada. The professionals at Paul Davis are certified in emergency restoration, reconstruction, and remodeling.
By, Andy Pace Healthy Home Concierge, Founder of the Green Design Center and Host of Non-Toxic Environments Podcast
About Andrew Pace Andrew Pace is a Healthy Home Concierge and Founder of The Green Design Center, a leading resource for homeowners and contractors looking to source products that are healthy and green and receive expert consulting advice on designing and building healthy green homes. Andrew is the host of the weekly Non Toxic Environments Podcast. He is a worldwide expert on green and healthy building products and services customers and contractors from around the globe. As founder of the oldest healthy building supply company in the United States, Andrew has become one of the single most helpful and educational experts dealing with the day-to-day concerns of those individuals who suffer from allergies, asthma and chemical sensitivities. Please follow along at @nontoxicenvironments and https://www.thegreendesigncenter.com
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