Search for low-volatile organic compounds

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wooden staircase

massive wooden staircase raises suspicion

Benjamin Kramer is looking at his dream house for the second time. A generously cut single-family house from the seventies, solidly built with brickwork and reinforced concrete ceilings. There is not much to complain about. Only the wood in the living and floor area worries him. A massive dark wooden staircase and several ceiling tiles are immediately visible. The attendant expert is feeling the discomfort. After the end of the tour, he therefore proposes that a precautionary analysis of house dust be initiated. Continue reading →

Electrified railway line worried young family

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Relatively high values directly at the railway line

Relatively high values directly at the railway line

Magnetic alternating fields on the building site

A power line in the vicinity of the construction site can have a significant influence on the selection of the land. In the case of the Herbig family from Bamberg/Germany, the power line supplied the railway track with an alternating current of 16 ⅔ Hz. Sven Herbig had inquired about the power stations and received the corresponding information. When measuring the magnetic alternating fields on the building site, the usual experience values were obtained: the load decreases sharply at a distance from the power line. In this case, despite the increasing distance, the measured value remained on a base of 20 nanotesla. This is reason enough for Sven Herbig to investigate the cause of the measurement results together with the instructed measuring technician.
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Wall heaters require a relatively small area

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Wall heater combined with clay

Wall heater combined with clay

Depending on the insulation quality of the house and the height of the flow temperature, a wall heating system needs between 20% and 35% of the living space. However, this is not the only difference to underfloor heating, which generally requires one hundred percent of the living space.
Underfloor heating systems react more slowly to climate changes, require higher flow temperatures and cause dust swirling. As a result of the smaller area requirement, the client saves installation material for wall heating systems, thus lowering the production costs. Wall heaters radiate radiant heat and can be combined with clay or lime. You will find several reasons to deal with this technique in more detail.
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Three reasons for bad smell in a prefabricated house

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bad smell in a prefabricated house

bad smell in a prefabricated house

The desire for an affordable property led Henniger family living in Heidelberg (Germany) to an object from the seventies. The floor plan corresponds to the space requirement of the four-headed family and the large garden with the fruit trees invites to play with the children. Jörg Henniger is not blue-eyed. He has read about pollutant problems in this house generation. In this case, however, everything seems different, because a bad smell is not in the air.
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With the headphones on humming search

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Mr. Zenkel on humming search

Mr. Zenkel on humming search

Customers are calling building-biologist Oliver Zenkel whenever they hear very quiet sounds. The hum is imperceptible with normal hearing. Particularly disturbing is the monotonous and recurring frequency. The person concerned enters a feeling of helplessness. Mr. Zenkel has adjusted to the soft tones and plugged a headset to the sound level meter as technical reinforcement. How the search for the hum can succeed, describe the following examples.
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Avoid chronic insomnia

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avoid chronic insomnia

Seepless at night

Sleep disorders are about twenty percent of the reason to ask a building biologist for advice. This resulted in a recent survey among colleagues of German Baubiologie Regional. Takes the insomnia for more than three months, experts speak of a chronic disorder. Sufferers should at least then seek medical advice. Accompanying the medical treatment the building biologist examines physical, chemical or microbial abnormalities at the sleeping place.
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Why this scientific study from the US worried

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Mobile phone study from the US

Mobile phone study from the US

The results of cellular studies with rats are for those responsible for the US government department National Toxicology Program (NTP) apparently so explosive that they published partial results immediately. Reason for concern are two types of tumors that occurred only in the irradiated animals: malignant brain tumors (gliomas) and schwannoma of the heart. Furthermore, the researchers found an increased incidence of hyperplasia in the experimental animals. This extraordinary increase in the number of cells within a tissue is considered precancerous. Correspondingly high was the echo of the international press on the research results. However, not close at all commentators of NTP assessment. Rather, there is the usual downplaying associated with critical cellular studies.
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Highway bridge transmits humming

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the highway bridge is the cause of the humming

the highway bridge is the cause of the humming

For months Roland Wernstein (Germany) examines an annoying buzzing sound in his neighborhood: the heating system, bass from the neighborhood, truck engines, vibrations caused by rail or air traffic were suspected, but were rejected. The end of March 2016 he took time for the facts check: the humming was heard only at night and when the wind from the southwest, recalled a distant diesel engine running and had short, miscellaneous long interruptions.
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If WiFi disrupts sleep

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WiFi distubs sleep

Now the girl is sleeping well

Sometimes solutions can be quite simple. The parents turn the wireless router off at night and the two year-old daughter sleeping since then through again. The background: Susanna Rubin was with the nerves at the end. Her child woke up in the master bedroom at night nine to ten times screaming. If the family stayed away from home, there was no trouble sleeping. The building biologist initially investigated the area of the bed. There were a few little things to correct. For example, the low-frequency alternating electric fields could be eliminated almost entirely by turning off a circuit. For the electrostatic charging of the bed surface, there was also a solution. The main problem for the sleep was not to be found right in the bedroom.
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Avoid magnetic fields near the head

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Expert measures with magnetometer

Expert measures with magnetometer

For investigation of sleeping areas, the main concern of the region is below the bed. In a particular case the building biologist found the problem not only on the ground, but primarily at the head of the sleeping quarters. What happened? Manfred Eberlein was not sleep at night after moving into a new apartment in the city center. In the old apartment he slept like a log. A dowser had already changed the roost some eight weeks before. However, this action was not successful.
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