Healthful Homes – going beyond green
When LaVerne Williams started EA in 1975, he was plagued with health challenges, which doctors then would only call severe allergic reactions. By creating a workplace where he reduced exposures to allergens and toxic chemicals, this created a “healthy oasis” in Houston not only for him but for all visitors and associates.
Right from the start, his commitment to environmentally sustainable building practices included the interior environment as well as the exterior.
Over the years, EA has helped chemically sensitive people in Houston and elsewhere create healthy home environments.
Former Houston health advocate Sue McDonald suffers from multiple chemical sensitivities, many of which were life threatening. In 1995 she experienced an immune system “crash,” from exposure to synthetic chemicals in her home. She called on Environment Associates to help guide her in creating a healthful home environment. By making these necessary changes, with her husband’s help, lots of research, and lifestyle changes of her own, Sue has regained most of her health.
Leading Texas environmental attorney Jim Blackburn and his accountant wife Garland Kerr invited LaVerne to help them assure a healthy home environment for themselves and guests with multiple chemical sensitivities in the new home they were building in Houston. They have enjoyed this healthful home for more than 20 years.
Patty Deniston of Lake City, Colorado, was continually sick. Suspecting the problem was in her home, she had already hired several well-known healthy home consultants, one who traveled to her home in its remote mountain location between Gunison and Durango. No one was able to determine the cause of her home’s sick building problem. In desperation she called LaVerne Williams. After talking with her for just 30 minutes on the phone, LaVerne suspected a buried “cool tube” ventilation system was promoting the growth of dangerous bacteria. He suggested she close off her home’s cool tube overnight. His assessment was confirmed the next morning by Patty’s ecstatic “you were exactly right” return phone call. LaVerne’s training as an architect, combined with his deep experience in construction systems and natural heating and cooling systems, enabled him to pinpoint the problem quickly and affordably.
Each year, dozens of clients engage EA’s consulting services to help them identify and to reduce and eliminate their homes’ adverse effects on their physical and emotional health and their financial well-being. Dozens more engage EA’s design counseling services to help prevent their new home or remodeling project from becoming another “sick home.”
If you seek reliable solutions for a healthful new green home or healthful green remodeling project, contact us today for design counseling or a consultation.