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Something that you might not have thought about when designing your tiny house is the dangers of using toxic materials in such tiny spaces such as a tiny home on wheels.
In a quick exchange of e-mails with Brad Kittel, of Pure Salvage Living and Tiny Texas Houses, I was able to take some of his knowledge on this and share it with you here because it’s important for your health. You’re also invited to take part in the discussion and share what you know in the comments below so we can all learn even more about this issue together.
Brad says, “there is 15 times less air to wall ration in a tiny house and very few have the proper air exchange rates to offset the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that we generate as humans, let alone the other chemicals in the closed-in tiny space.”
So how do you make your tiny house safe? How do you free it from these sneaky toxins that are conveniently sold everywhere? And yes, all of this is even more important in a tiny house because the volume of space is a lot smaller!
12 Toxin-free Tiny House Design/Build Tips

- Build with natural materials (like wood)
- Avoid using plastics
- Avoid using formaldehyde
- Avoid using sheetrock
- Avoid using VOC paints (use non-VOC paint)
- Avoid the use of latex paints (latex is bad for your immune system)
- Avoid carpet
- Avoid using toxic glues
- Avoid the use of PVC
- Avoid the use of vinyl
- Use products that have already off-gassed
- Design your tiny house with good air circulation in mind
Why is all of this important?
Brad Kittel explains it best, “The lack of oxygen, the lack of a blood brain barrier in children under 6, and the already stressed immune systems from the bad foods people eat are not leaving a lot of room for us to add problems to without solutions or caution brought up before the trend is squashed by the bad publicity these things will generate if not anticipated now.”
Video: Documentary with Brad Kittel of Tiny Texas Houses
Brad talks about all of this for FREE in the documentary that he created with Faircompanies that you can watch for free here (or by playing the video above).
Learn more in the discussions (comments below) and using the resource links below. Also please re-share this with your tiny house friends because it’s super important. Thank you!
Resources
Our big thanks to Brad Kittel for sharing and reminding all of us about the importance of this information!
You can share these tips on building a toxic-free tiny house with your friends and family for free using the e-mail and social media re-share buttons below. Thanks.
If you enjoyed these tiny house tips you’ll absolutely LOVE our Free Daily Tiny House Newsletter with even more! Thank you!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through one of our links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Alex
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