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Ancestral Home & Design

Primer

Healthy homes, plainly.

A healthier home isn't a style or a product. It's a house where the basics are understood: water, moisture, air, combustion, materials. You fix what matters first and you keep good records.

Start with the basics

Most useful improvements are unglamorous: keeping water away from the foundation, testing well water and radon, making sure exhaust fans vent outside, servicing fuel-burning equipment, and handling old paint carefully during renovation.

Materials come next. When you're choosing finishes, look for disclosed ingredients and credible emissions testing, and make sure the product suits the room. The Materials Guide sets out the criteria Jacob uses.

Light, views, gardens and good layout make a house a pleasure to live in. They matter too, and they build on the basics rather than replacing them.

Five common assumptions

“Natural materials are always safer.”
Wood, stone, clay and wool can be excellent, but they still need to suit the moisture conditions and be installed with compatible adhesives and finishes.
“A rural house means clean air and water.”
Private wells in New Hampshire can carry arsenic, uranium or radon from bedrock. Wood heat and long-closed basements affect indoor air. Test rather than assume.
“Sunlight fixes damp rooms.”
Light is pleasant, but moisture problems come from water sources and airflow. Fix the source first.
“A filter solves air quality.”
Filtration helps with particles. It doesn't replace controlling sources, ventilating, or managing combustion appliances.
“Tighter is always better.”
Air sealing saves energy and improves comfort, but only alongside a plan for fresh air and safe combustion.

Next: sort what you know about your own home.

Take the Self-Check

Start with a conversation.

Tell Jacob what you're weighing: a house you've seen, a move you're planning, or a room that isn't working. He'll tell you plainly what he'd look at first.

Request a consultation

Or call (603) 930-8057