When Frank Pikus noticed that his son's asthma seemed to worsen when he spent time in his bedroom, the Overland Park, Kan., father searched for a cause. And as a homebuilder, Pikus had the know-how and means to fix the problem. As it turned out, there was contamination in the attic, which the family had fixed and sealed. But in the process of discovering what was affecting his son, Pikus did a lot of research. And what he found disturbed him as both a father and homebuilder.

"My research turned up a whole myriad of information that indicates we need to do better in building homes," Pikus says. "I discovered that a lot of building materials have an adverse affect on people, and that most building techniques aren't conducive to occupying a home more than six to seven hours a day. But when you think about it, you spend that much time or more just sleeping."

So Pikus set about building a new home for his family – one that was safe and environmentally responsible. The end result was dubbed the K.C. Health Home (www.kchealthhome.com), the area's first-ever clean air home. Between 300 and 400 special techniques and products were used to ensure air cleanliness.

"For starters, there is no formaldehyde in the home, which is very prevalent in most glues and wood composite materials," Pikus says. "So we had to search for formaldehyde-free products. We used strawboard instead of traditional wood composite and special glue on the floors and trim work."

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