In building houses for sensitive people, very stringent, and sometimes quite expensive, requirements are sometimes necessary. For example, steel studs may be needed to avoid potentially toxic termite treatments. Also required may be inert ceramic tile floors in the entire house, and stainless steel countertops. These houses are often built to extreme standards. Fortunately, most people do not require a house built with totally inert materials.
Most homeowners are in reasonably good health.
They are simply interested in avoiding the major indoor polluters, not building the most non-toxic house possible. The following discussion covers the most important areas of consideration-areas that will yield a reasonably healthy house without being exhorbitantly expensive. The only known health effect that radon is responsible for is lung cancer, a diagnosis that everyone would like to avoid. There isn't an accurate way to predict if a house will have a radon problem until it is actually tested, and testing is done after the house is completed. Therefore, some type of radon control is recommended in all new construction.