PLUMBING:

NOTE:
The below factors are all important considerations.
Time and resources have not permitted me to provide you with all the basic details at this point. In the interim, consider the sub-headings as factors you can consider and research at will according to the relevancies mentioned on other pages of this site.

DESIGN:

SIZE of BATHROOMS :

MAINTENANCE:

VENTILATION:

STORAGE:

FINISH:
The finishes used in a bathroom must be water resistant.
Modern bathrooms often include bathtubs with showers, or with separate shower cabinets, plus cupboards, vanity with sink and faucets, toilet, and possibly a bidet. Some modern finishes have such a high solvent base that they may take as long as 2.5 years to outgas.

ARCHITECTS and BUILDERS often have little awareness or knowledge about hypersensitivities and are accustomed to the attractiveness demands which so many of their clients place first in design. A hypersensitive woman who hired an architect to design a healthful house for her in the late 1980's found that after it was completed --- several months after the agreed upon target date --- that she could not use her main bathroom. For more than a year, she could not enter the bathroom without sustaining a terrible reaction because of the fumes of one of the very attractive finishes which had been applied to the walls. It was 2 years before she could use the bathroom at all. Sometimes your choice will be between health and "modern" style. Sometimes your choice will be between an authority with a certificate and an authority by awareness.

PAINTS often become a required finish over wallboard or wood.
High gloss "hard" paints are much more resistant to water and cleaning than either semi-gloss or low-gloss finishes. Originally, high gloss paints were only available in oil base with lead added. Lead, as a paint additive, has been outlawed since the 1970's in Canada, yet was still found to be an ingredient in popular paints into the early 1990's. Laws are meaningless when there is no enforcement. Oil base paints should not be used by health conscious persons for indoor applications anymore because of there relatively long period of outgasing and because the fumes they produce from their solvents are toxic to humans.

ALKYD and LATEX paints are the other major option for paints.
Many advances have been made in the composition of these finishes since about 1992. The "whiteness" of the base paint is typically the result of either a lead or a titanium additive. Lead is a heavy metal toxin. Titanium has antibacterial properties when exposed to light, so it is pro-health. White is often the best choice for a bathroom paint as it utilizes the best advantages of the titanium ingredient to assist you in keeping the bathroom clean and mildew and other parasites are more easily detected than when colors are used.

F-SORB PAINT was invented by Dr. Kabat of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada in the mid-to-late 1980s. Originally used in nuclear powered generating stations to remove harmful toxins from the air, Dr. Kabat also found that it removed toxins from the air inside other buildings such as residences. F-Sorb, unlike all other paints, is an ingassing paint. That is, as it ages it absorbs pollutants out of the ambient air into its mass. This paint has been found helpful to hypersensitive persons in improving and reducing their symptoms. It would also be helpful in preventing the development of hypersensitivities. A lack of market support has made F-Sorb difficult to obtain. Colour-Your-World stock the paint in some of its outlets.

ONE-PIECE FIBERGLAS tubs and shower enclosures can reduce the requirement for solvent-based finishes. Often their outgasing is completed during storage at the building supply store before delivery. Pay close attention to the cleaning instructions. Abrasive cleansers will permanently scratch the finish, even as they do of porcelain tubs, sinks and toilets. Soap and dead skin residue quickly accumulate in these scratches to provide encouragement for mildew and fungal parasites to grow. Non-abrasive cleansers are much more commonly available since 1995. They will cost more but if used from the beginning you may have 80% less cleaning to do.