A healthy home for your family
Log buildings naturally promote good health, thanks to their superior air quality. According to an extensive European study, the more massive wood there is in the interior of a house, the healthier the air quality becomes.
The optimal indoor air humidity for good health is between 30 and 55 percent. At this humidity level, the air is easy to breathe and the growth of mould and bacteria is minimised. According to an extensive European study, the more massive wood there is inside a house, the healthier the air quality becomes. Massive wood has the unique ability to absorb moisture and release it back into the air as the room dries. This helps to prevent allergies and respiratory infections.
TOO DRY AIR:
|
 |
TOO HUMID AIR:
|
Reference: Simonson, Salovaara, Ojanen: Improving Indoor Climate and Comfort with Wooden Structures. VTT Publications, 2001.
A NATURALLY HEALTHY HOME
Made from the 100% natural construction material, the Finnish pine, the naturally breathing walls allow water vapor to move freely between the wall and the air.
When insulation is needed, we use wood fiber insulation in the walls to enhance the natural qualities of the wood. Honka’s Smart Ventilation System™ allows us to build wood-fiber insulated massive wood walls that breathe, without using a plastic damp-proof membrane.
Honka laminated logs are manufactured using an adhesive that retains the wood’s natural ability to breathe. The adhesive does not release odours or harmful substances into the air.
The breathing wall structure doesn’t mean that the walls aren’t airtight or energy-efficient. On the contrary, our houses are some of the most air- and moisture tight on the market. This makes them to stand the test of time, in all weather conditions.
The number one reason for choosing a Honka house was to have a healthy home for our family which suffers from allergies and asthma. We already have experience of a poorly built house — we definitely didn’t need another one.
TESTED AND CERTIFIED
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland conducted a study in a Honka log home over a time period of one year. The study analysed how the log wall structures can help to maintain comfortable indoor humidity conditions in a bedroom occupied by two persons every night. The comparison was made between massive log wall structures and a control that didn’t allow the utilization of the moisture capacity of structures.
The results showed that the log wall structures of the Honka home had a significant positive effect on the relative indoor humidity conditions:
- The log walls smoothed down the changes to relative indoor humidity
- This helped to keep the indoor conditions in the comfortable zone by cutting down the incidence of high and very low relative humidity conditions
All technical solutions used in Honka homes are structurally safe and certified. Our patented and design-protected innovations help make sure every Honka house is a warm and healthy home for generations to come.
