Question from nelly

Hello,

Does anyone have any first hand experience w/ the Gaia Hotel in Napa, or any of the “eco friendly” hotels in the San Francisco Bay area?

www.gaianapavalleyhotel.com

Thanks

Debra’s Answer

I’ve stayed at the Hotel Triton in San Francisco, which says it is green, but the best one I’ve found in San Francisco is the Orchard Garden Hotel. I had a long talk with the manager and have stayed there several times. I took pages and pages of notes of all the sustainable things they did there.

If you stay at the Orchard Garden, make sure to get a room on the street side. They are beautiful and bright with big windows. The back side rooms are dark and smaller.

A couple of years ago when I went to a conference, I went around and checked out all the “green” hotels on their list. Some were not at all green. The Orchard Garden is really the best. Organic food in the restaurant too.

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Question from P

I must admit. I’ve been looking like a bit scruffy lately, but I refuse to use toxic makeups and threw mine all away this year when I learned the dangers. I have been frustrated b/c even the natural makeups have stuff that I can’t pronounce. I’m just wary of everything at this point!

Online I found a few sites with DYI makeup, and figured out that beet juice is a colorant used in some industrial makeups. In a tiny jar I mixed beet juice with cornstarch until it reached a firm consistency. Let it dry overnight. It now is just as packed and caked down as regular blush in my little jar. I can sweep my brush over it, and it looks very natural on. It dyes my cheeks for a good while.

The big bottle of beet juice cost 3.50, and the cornstarch cost 1.50, for a grand total of $5. And this is enough to make it for everyone I know, and still have leftovers. Stocking stuffers, here I come! I am super excited, and wanted to share with you, Debra and any other of us girls reading!

Debra’s Answer

Thank you! Feel free to post more DIY makeups as you discover them.

I’ve found that you can just rub a cut beet on your lips for a nice red…

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Question from YH

Most houses around where I live have carpet. It is really hard to find houses that have hardwood floor. I am looking for a 4-month sublet, and was wondering if it is worth it to remove carpet for 4 months and then put it back. Can I do it all by myself? How much time does it take to pull out the carpet, and then put it back? If it is cement underneath, will it get very cold in the winter? I live in Michigan. Will the carpet be damaged while I do that? I want to preserve it so that I can install it back.

My current lease in a house that has carpet even in the bathroom and kitchen end in 2 months. Do you think it is worth it to put carpet seal just to use the carpet for 2 more months? It says on the website that I have to use carpet shampoo before using the carpet seal, and I thought that it is a lot of work, so I didn’t buy the carpet seal. Also, there are lots of things on the floor in my room. I didn’t want to move anything to put the carpet seal on. Or can I just put the seal on areas where I am not putting anything on?

If I move to a house that has hardwood floor, would it be safer to put a layer of natural linoleum on top to make sure that it is less toxic? If you recommend so, I will do that.

Debra’s Answer

I wouldn’t remove a carpet from a sublet or short term lease and expect to reinstall it. I did remove carpet from a rental once, but it was an old carpet, I had a 2 year lease and I promised to pay for the reinstallation. When we moved out, however, the landlord didn’t charge me anything because he decided to install a new carpet.

I advise you to use the AFM Carpet Seal on any of these carpets. But you need to move everything out of the room and apply it to the whole carpet.

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Question from YH

Do they outgass some kind of chemicals? I don’t really know what they are made of. Is latex a toxic plastic? Buying latex matress is an easy way to get rid of dust mites.

Debra’s Answer

Dust mite pillow and mattress covers made from polyethylene are not harmful to health, however, polyethylene is a nonrenewable, nonbiodegradable plastic.

Latex is not toxic, however, some latex does contain some toxic chemicals. Some people are allergic to latex, and some people cannot tolerate the natural odor of latex.

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Question from Bud

My wife and I are shopping for a new stove, we are trying to find the best interior, does anyone make a manual clean oven with out non-stick interior. I may be ok with ths self cleaning models that use steam (Samsung) but was still wondering about the toxicity of non-stick interior. I hope this has not been too obtuse, we just want the best non-toxic stove without paying an arm and a leg.

Debra’s Answer

I haven’t looked at new stoves recently. The Tappan self-cleaning oven that came with my house has a regular enamel interior. You might want to consider a used stove if you can’t find a new one you like.

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Question from Donna

Hi! I’m not sure if my previous post of this question made it through (computer glitches here lately). I saw a borosilicate glass tea kettle for sale in the Lehmans catalog. Do you think this is safe? Is this just regular glass, or something different? What kind of tea kettle is the safest for my family?Thanks so much!

Debra’s Answer

This is a tempered glass. It is nontoxic.

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Question from Ben Jones

Hello Debra,

I was thinking of buying a metal shed for the garden. All of the commericaly available ones are painted with polyester enamel paint? Would this paint be likely to offgas much after purchase? Would this be suitable for a person with moderate chemical sensitivity?

Id appreciate any advice you could give me, Many thanks in advance.

Debra’s Answer

This should be fine for you.

One thing to understand about plastics is that they come in many different forms. An “enamel” actually is pretty toxic during application, but when it dries, it is quite inert. Enamel paints are heat-cured to metal surfaces, which takes care of most of the outgassing.

I say “most” because enamel paint applied to a heater, for example, will continue to outgass when exposed to the heat of the heater. It actually takes a year or two of use for it to completely dry. Therefore, this shed will probably be fine, except if the sun is shining on it on a very hot day, there may be additional emissions from the heat.

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Question from Dafna

I found out I have dry wood termite infestation in my attic. I shudder at the thought of having to fumigate, so I searched on this site but found no natural alternatives. Then I heard of orange oil, offered for example by this company www.planetorangetermite.com.

However, I am afraid it’s too good to be true. Is it effective? is it really just natural ingredients or is it the case that some horrible chemical are hiding in the 8% of the material they do not disclose in the description? the site just says XT-2000 is 92% pure d-limonene.

Thank you and your readers for any feedback/experience they can provide

Debra’s Answer

You need to ask them for their Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). That will list the hazardous ingredients required to be disclosed by law. They are required by law to give it to you.

My preferred and very effective termite treatment is Timbor, which you can read about at Q&A: How do I get rid of carpenter ants?

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Question from Dalia

Moringa is a a bottle made of red ceramic that holds and keeps the water cool through the summer months and gives a nice , rain water and earthy taste to it. I am afraid of contaminants leaching into the water. Do you know anything about it?

Thank you.

Debra’s Answer

I’ve never heard of this.

In general, with ceramic pieces, you want to make sure it is not finished with a glaze that contains lead. The most suspect of leaded ceramics are imported pieces that are brightly colored.

Where do you get a MORINGA?

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Question from Dalia

My neighbor wants to seal our fence saying that arsenic can leach from treated wood chemicals .Is this a problem ? And the chemicals from the sealing the wood?

Thank you so much

I love your site.

dalia

Debra’s Answer

Actually, your fence may not have any arsenic in the preservative. How old is it?

Wood used to be preserved with Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), which contained arsenic. As of December 31, 2003, wood with this preservative was no longer allowed by the EPA for residential applications, and is no longer sold (However, see entry 10/24/08 at Q&A: Safety of ACQ Pressure-Treated Wood). Today, wood is generally treated with Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ), which is considered much safer (but not entirely safe — see Safe Handling Information at http://www.ufpi.com/literature/acqsafe-59.pdf)

ACQ IS safer than CCA, however, there is such a thing as copper toxicity. If you have high copper in your body, it can cause a wide variety of problems. So keep in mind that this is a source of copper, and you should minimize your exposure to it for that reason.

US Forest Service: Forest Products Laboratory has some good background material on wood preservatives.

If your neighbor wants to seal the fence, they should use at least a water-based sealant, and preferably one that contains few or no VOCs.

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