Question from Kathryn

Dear Debra,

I am very chemically sensitive, and your work has been a great help to me over the years.

We are looking into replacing the ancient carpet in our living room with a hardwood floor, but money is limited. In a smaller room we nailed down unfinished maple from Lumber Liquidators, and sealed it with linseed oil. It took about two weeks to dry completely, so this is not an option for the living room as we cannot go live somewhere else while it dries.

After reading your site, we’re considering prefinished wood, also from Lumber Liquidators, especially if we can outgas it for a while before installation. Our question is labor-related. Can we glue ash planks down to a particle board subfloor with wood glue, or does that only work with the click-together floors? (The particle board is very old, so no more outgassing from that.) Nailing it all down may be more than we can handle, but it seems all the click-together types of flooring are some type of laminate, which I think would be far too toxic for me.

In an earlier post you recommended parquet tiles from Lowes. They are far more affordable, but aren’t those made with toxic materials like other laminate floors?

My ideal would be to find a click-together hardwood, pre-finished with a natural sealant, but I haven’t been able to find any. Does it exist?

Debra’s Answer

OK 🙂

Let’s start by clearing up some words.

“Click-together” is a term used for laminate floors. Laminate floors Laminate flooring is made up of various layers of material laminated together. There’s a good illustration of what laminate flooring is made up of on the Armstrong website. The one MSDS sheet I looked at showed that brand of laminate flooring emitted formaldehyde fumes, so all in all, I don’t recommend laminate flooring. That said, a friend of mine recently installed a laminate floor all through her living room and it didn’t smell horrible.

There are some less toxic laminates certified by Greenguard. I would suggest checking the MSDS sheet for any laminate flooring you may be considering.

The prefinished parquest tiles I suggest from Lowe’s are solid wood. Oak. These fit together via what is called “tongue-and-groove.” They are not made with toxic materials like laminate floors because they are not laminate.

I don’t know how click-through installation works.

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Question from Lyn

Dear Debra:

I would first like to tell you how much I appreciate your web site and blog and all the hard work you put into it.

My problem is regarding hair styling products. I have had trouble finding a gel or lotion to use to remove the frizz from my hair so I can style it smooth or wavy/curly without frizz. I have tried an assortment of products from Whole Foods and Cooportunity but nothing works. Most of the time the things that could work have too strong a fragrance. I am also allergic to soy so that eliminiates many possibilities.

I would also like to know if you or any of your readers know of a styling iron (flat iron) that has low EMFs.

Thank you,

Lyn

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from Melissa

I seem to have little green bugs on my herbs (mainly the oregano) which I’m assuming are aphids. Is there some concoction I can mix up at home to spray on the herbs to kill the aphids that is non-toxic? If not, what type of non-toxic spray do you recommend? Thanks!!!

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from Rose

Hi,

I’m making the switch to non toxic products and I am trying to find styling products for curly hair. Has anyone found products they like?

Thanks

Debra’s Answer

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Question from teresa

Hi – I guess I’m new to all of this – what is wrong with sugar (not referring to diabetes). Thanks!

Debra’s Answer

I’ve answered this at Sweet-Savvy: Sweeteners to Avoid: Refined White Sugar.

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Question from Tim

My outdoor swing on a covered porch has persistent mildew on the fabric (not sure what it is), but is there a solution to kill the mildew, while not discoloring the fabric?

Thank you (and so does anyone who sits on the swing)

Debra’s Answer

Readers?

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Question from what’s in my water

My husband and I live in an area with VERY hard water. We have been advised to buy a whole-home water softener to extend the life and usefulness of our fixtures and washing machine. We bought one from Sears and brought it home. I now have reservations about having it installed because it stinks. I cannot find out what sort of plastic it is made from, whether I need to be concerned about harmful chemicals leaching into my home’s water or how it will react to being filled with a potassium chloride solution. Does anyone have any helpful information?

Debra’s Answer

I’m going to let some knowledgeable readers answer this.

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Question from Samantha

I have recently bought a 37-year old house and I am slowly renovating it. One of the jobs involves redoing some plumbing. A plumber friend of mine was extolling the virtues of the new plastic pipes that are currently used by plumbers. He didn’t know what sort of plastic it was but that it was “much safer than metal” because of the chemicals in the solder used to attach metal pipes. I called Home Depot and the woman told me the plastic pipes were PVC. Surely not!? Which way do I jump on this issue?

Debra’s Answer

My husband says, “It’s time to get another plumber!”

The solder used to attach copper pipes USED to contain lead. Now you can easily buy lead-free solder, and it may be that lead solder is no longer sold at all (I don’t know the regulation on this offhand.

PVC pipe is toxic to manufacture, toxic to use, and the solvent glue used to attach them is MUCH MORE TOXIC that solder for copper pipe.

I’d go with the copper.

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Question from mary leduc-suruma

Twelve years ago I found that Mother Nature had blessed my six acres in West Virginia with the healingist herb on the planet, Agrimony/Agrimonia (and many other names around the world). The ancient Greeks were the first to write about it’s healing powers and now you can find dozens of research abstracts about them on www.pubmed.gov. The most important of these studies demonstrate that Agrimony repairs and generates new immune system cells and modulates immune system reactions to pathogens while correcting autoimmune system disorders. This ability to enhance immune system responses answers the centuries old question, how does it heal eye infections, liver disease, sinus infections, soar throats, ear aches, topical wounds, rashes, Herpes blisters, etc., etc.

Debra’s Answer

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Question from J.K.

Hi Debra,

Thank you for all the work you do figuring all this out. I’ve seen a lot of things on plastics, but one thing I’m not sure of is; how safe is it to freeze plastic containers? I make broth and like to freeze it and have always done so in glass containers, but as you know, they can crack while unthawing. I tried freezing in some of my old washed sour cream containers that are plastic, but I ended up tossing them for fear of the plastic leaching. What about making homemade popsicles in those plastic containers, or even ice cubes? If #’s 1, 2, 4, & 5 are safe, are they safe to freeze in as well?

Thanks again for your help.

God Bless!

J.K.

Debra’s Answer

I found a webpage called Freezing Plastic Water Bottles that addressed a rumor going around that one should not freeze water in plastic bottles because it releases carcinogenic dioxin. This had been attributed to Johns Hopkins University.

The author of this webpage did some research and found…

This sounds right to me because I know that heat increases outgassing and cold inhibits outgassing. So I would say the SAFEST place to use plastic is in the freezer.

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