In this week’s video, Derek Sherrell and Kyle Allred take you on a tour of Kyle’s brand-new 810 sq ft live/work space, thoughtfully designed to prioritize health and well-being while maximizing every inch of the space.
The average person spends over 90% of their life indoors, so the quality of our indoor environment, in many ways, determines our overall health. In this video, we go over basic, more affordable than you think, ways to keep your indoor environment as healthy as possible
Indoor Air Quality
Number one is, of course, windows that can open up and allow fresh air in, as well as skylights that can open. A ventilation system, like one in the house, takes stale air from several locations and continually pumps fresh air into my office, bedroom, and living room.
I run a medical education channel where I interview different experts and do a lot of research on ways to optimize health. I work from home and live here, so we’ve added a lot of upgrades to make this an optimal indoor environment.
Here in Ashland, Oregon, we talk about the four traditional seasons, but we also have “smoke season,” where we get smoky air that’s not safe to breathe and can be toxic for sometimes more than a month at a time. With a new build like this, we wanted to create an indoor environment that’s safe. We have a combination of mini-split systems that don’t bring in outside air and can just be on recirculation mode to either heat or cool the house. But we also have an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) with an option to recirculate only. It just recirculates the indoor air through an MERV-13 filter, which is dense enough to effectively filter out smoke.
Other strategies include using good portable HEPA air cleaners or air purifiers around the home. I don’t know if you’ve heard of low-VOC or no-VOC paint, but there are a couple of different certifications for products like paint, furniture, and fabrics. One of them is GreenGuard, which does independent testing on products. This was important to me. For example, the couch has GreenGuard Gold certified fabric, which gives me peace of mind knowing it won’t emit a bunch of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Our target for air changes per hour was four. That’s the threshold for optimal cognition and mental performance, especially if you’re working from home. It also helps avoid that “sleepy feeling” we all know—like when you’re in a meeting, and all the windows and doors are closed, and you just start to nod off. Good air changes per hour help counteract that feeling.
Vaulted Ceilings and Skylights
Kyle, can you talk about how ceiling height affects your day-to-day mood and overall health?
This space feels really good, and I credit Derek for designing it well. Adding the skylights was an expense, but if it’s within your budget, I highly recommend it. Everyone I’ve had over to check out the house can’t believe it’s only about 800 square feet.
Natural Materials
We’re using a water-based product that’s low-VOC for the real hardwood flooring, as well as real wood, stone countertops, and slate floors. We’re trying to use natural products that have fewer VOCs than synthetic ones.
Soundproofing
There’s some road noise coming from the street, and someone else lives right next to me, so we went the extra mile to soundproof the walls. We used Rockwool insulation to dampen sound, plus two layers of drywall with a layer of Green Glue in between. We were careful not to make unnecessary punctures in the walls, and we added soundproofing putty to the outlets. We also invested in triple-paned windows, which have a better sound rating, so there’s visual privacy (since there’s a house right next to the window) and good sound privacy. I can’t hear my neighbors or street noise.
Blackout Curtains
Another thing Kyle wanted for the “sleeping cave” was light management. Some studies show that even the amount of light coming from typical appliances can disrupt your sleep and affect how much deep sleep or REM sleep you get. So, it’s a nice dark place to help optimize sleep.
Optimal Lighting
Light during the day is great, especially natural light—it helps keep us awake. But in the evening, once the sun sets, studies show that overhead light can suppress melatonin release, making it harder to fall and stay asleep. We’ve achieved optimal lighting in this house with lights below eye level, in the reddish spectrum. We also have lights in the kitchen that don’t come from overhead, which helps avoid suppressing melatonin release.
Modern Electrical
This is Kyle’s cool little gear garage. Tell us what we’ve got here.
So, I don’t know much about electrical stuff, but this is called a transfer switch. If the power goes out, I can use an electric vehicle that’s set up for this or a generator. I can plug it in outside and run the whole house off a generator or a battery. I also plan to add solar panels in the future, so I could potentially run the house off solar power.
Siding and Design
It’s a small house—800 square feet. I wanted to spend most of my time towards the back, away from the street. It’s an unorthodox entry, where you walk past the back of the house down a pathway, and you get a nice view of a public park that will hopefully never be developed. The front door ties into this idea of a smaller footprint house, with a nice big deck and a big outdoor space where I can spend a lot of time.
Outdoor Health Center
An inexpensive outdoor cold plunge can be a lot of fun, and we also have a sauna and an outdoor shower—pretty simple. There was a chain-link fence between my neighbor and me, but we put up a 7-foot-tall roll of bamboo fencing with zip ties to give us some privacy.
Smaller Footprint
The final hack for a healthier home just might be living in a smaller house. What do you think, Kyle?
I agree. Building a smaller house freed up some of my budget to add things I really wanted, like the sauna, a nice big deck, skylights, and other finishes. A smaller footprint makes it much more affordable. I’m also an aspiring minimalist. I enjoy my time at home more when things are orderly and not cluttered. For people living in small spaces or even a van, you really have to pare down what you need and organize it well. It’s forced me to do that, which is good from an environmental standpoint, too. Fewer materials and resources are used.
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