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Re:Building a hut with a tiled roof, underfloor heating and ... by nextos on Thursday September 10, 2015 @12:50PM (#10199147)
Our houses still have a lot of room for immediate improvements. For example having a flushing toilet in the same room where you wash your hands and shower yourself is probably not an optimal design. I've seen a few studies measuring bacterial communities that came into this conclusion. Not to diminish the importance of toilets, though. They are a fantastic Victorian innovation.

You also want to control air currents so that mold doesn't go to other rooms, but few designs account for this.

Many materials off-gas harmful chemicals. Formaldehyde, often in some glues, is one example. I see a lot of room for measuring and ensuring homes are healthy. Perhaps a big task for IoT.

Re:Building a hut with a tiled roof, underfloor heating and ... by JoeAltmaier on Thursday September 10, 2015 @12:55PM (#10199177)
Heck, nearly everything in a bathroom can be improved: faucets (re-adjust every time you use them, run water until desired temperature is reached); sinks (too shallow to do anything in, faucet gets in the way); medicine cabinet (reach over sink, too shallow so stuff falls out, fingerprints on the glass every time); toilet (cold, too low, smelly, spray goes everywhere, noisy); shower (curtain useless, water leaks out, run wasted water until warm, can't spray water UP at all, crowded for two or more) and so on.

Spider Robinson had a character in the Callahan's Saloon series that went into some detail on this.

Re:Building a hut with a tiled roof, underfloor heating and ... by gnopgnip on Thursday September 10, 2015 @02:03PM (#10199547)
Bathrooms usually have fans that vent outside to take care of moisture. All new homes have ventilation that replaces the air at least twice an hour. This is not to say that it couldn't be better addressed, but these issues have not gone unnoticed.