Eco-Remodelers

Okay. I’m ready to start turning my new (new to me!) house into a green home…

Where do I start? Oh, man, this is going to be tough.

I think it’s so much easier to have a specific project in mind and not have to deal with getting an entire house ready to live in. I’m one of those people who will pick a project and as I’m walking past another problem… I will stop and work on that new problem. I need to force myself to look at the larger picture.

We closed on our house on Tuesday (yesterday) and we had a brief window of time to take a few things over before we picked up the kids. I’ve got two daughters (4 and 9 months) and so the house is not something we can spend all day, every day, working on.

I managed to take over a lot of tools as well as a few working lights so that we could see in the dark and for safety purposes when we’re not there. I put CFL bulbs and timmers on the lights so they would turn on and off on their own and not use much energy.

Our first steps, I believe, will be to get the house ready to be painted. We’ll also need to remove the day-glow bright blue carpeting. Our plan is to recycle the carpeting at the Re-Store. It’s a store run by Habitat for Humanity where they sell items from previous remodels or use the items in the houses they build. They only take recent or new products (to make sure they are efficient products or materials.) The carpt is fairly new, but extremely ugly and not something we want to live with.

I also need to address a few problems around the house to make sure things are sealed up tighter. Many people have a high heating and/or cooling bill and it can really help to cut down on any major holes, gaps, or cracks in windows, door frames, siding, flooring, etc.

I’ll be taking a lot more tools and supplies that I’ve brought with me from L.A. over to our new house over the next day or so. I’m sure I’ll have to purchase a few things that I don’t already have.

Lots to do. Lots to do.

I’ve been shopping for a lot of eco-friendly products to check availability and pricing. I’ve noticed that it’s not very easy to find a green alternative to regular products. When I ask salespeople about it, I’ve been getting a lot of the same reactions…  that look (or even the comment) that says, “Oh, you’re one of those hippie liberals.” As noted, it happened when I was carpet shopping and it happened again at Sears, Home Depot, Lowes, and a few others this past week.

The thing I’m not sure how it ever happened, but wanting to protect your family and wanting to save money became a political issue.

When we lived in our house back in Los Angeles, it was a sixty year old home that had been built very well. Plaster on the walls, a good sturdy foundation, and great wood floors. Sure it had drafty single-pane windows and very little insulation, but it was made by people who cared.

In the past twenty or thirty years, homes were made on the cheap. Cheap counters, cheap cabinets, construction grade products throughout. And whatever was the code at the time, the houses usually just met those minimum requirements (which are never enough.) People stopped caring and started worrying about their quarterly profits.

Now that I want to conserve (energy, money, time) that makes me a liberal. A conservative liberal? Hmm. I wish we could get people away from the belief that only a hippy wants a greener home. That only a hippy wants to save money on electricity. Or prevent toxic gases from poisoning their children from cabinets, paint, adhesives, etc. that are all through homes today.

Perhaps there’s another word we can use in place of “green”? Like smart. I want to remodel my home to make it a smart home. Or safe. Or thrifty. But I think we’re stuck with green and we’re going to have a lot of ignorant, close-minded people who will refuse to help themselves and their families because it doesn’t seem to align with their political beliefs…

It’s a real shame.

Well, we’re almost ready to start work on our new smart/green/thrifty/safe home. We close today. Soon, I’ll be able to post on how to do a lot of these green projects in your own home.

Everyone loves their buzzwords.

The latest is “precycling.” And it’s something that I’ve been trying to get myself to think about and actually do it.

What is precycling? Well, recycling is the act of changing a product or material back to its original form or raw material to be used again in another product or material instead of tossing it in the landfill.  The thing to consider is that it takes energy (fuel for transport, energy to recycle, fuel to transport the raw materials, energy to create a new product, etc.) to recycle.

Precycling isn’t so much a technique or process. It’s taking an action to prevent the need to recycle in the first place. For example - - you could go to the grocery store and use the plastic or paper bags to take home your groceries. Then, you could recycle the bags. The truly smart move would be to take your own cloth or canvas bags to the store with you and avoid the need to recycle anything. That’s precycling.

Another way to precycle is to buy a product in the biggest container possible and using it for a longer period of time. This prevents you from using up a ton of little containers and recycling all of them. Some jumbo boxes of cereal hold as much as three regular boxes. Buy one big water bottle instead of all smaller 12 oz. bottles (I try to re-use those water bottles more than once if I ever do break down and buy them. I simply wash them off and refill them with the big jug of water.)

I try to use this justification whenever I buy pizza, too. I tell my wife that I need the ginormous extra-EXTRA large pizza that’s as big as the hood of your car instead of buying several small pizzas in all those cardboard boxes… She never goes for it.

So, we’re going to try to precycle more. We still collect all the bottles, cans, boxes, wrappers, and plastic we can and drop it off at the recycling once a week. But our goal is to try to cut down on some of our recycling as well.

Okay, so we’re only a few days away from closing on our new house. We’ve been terribly busy and it’s only going to get crazier!

We finally had a chance to take a look at our flooring options. We stopped by a local carpet store to look at what is available. The first thing we did was explain our situation - we moved to Columbus, Ohio from Los Angeles and we’re buying a house. We told the salesman that we’re going to be making it a “green” remodeling project. At one point, acknowledging that we were from California (which is almost a bad word here in Ohio), he called us “those kinda people” when we told him we wanted more green carpeting options. It was funny. He backpedaled but we think it was a Freudian slip…

Now. I know carpet isn’t the most eco-friendly flooring choice for our new house. Many truly want a green home without all the baggage that carpeting has. But you can only put so much cord and bamboo flooring in your house (and, yes, those two will be going into the house) before you say, “enough!” But we’re only going to be putting it in our living room and in the bedrooms upstairs. There is already a nice hardwood floor throughout most of the 1st floor and there is tile in the kitchen. I’m going to put in cork planks in one bedroom upstairs (my office) and I’m going to put bamboo in the dining room.

At the store, we asked if there were any green carpet lines. It turns out there is. And it was in the waaaaay ass-backend of the store. Behind a curtain. Down a flight of steps. Under a hanging bare bulb. Where only Californians would dare venture. Just kidding…

There are many types of carpet. Wool, nylon, polyester, and more.  Many claim to be stain-resistant but our last carpet in our house in L.A. was made from polyester and it was too dirty to be cleaned after 2 years. We decided we go with nylon because it wears longer, has better stain fighting treatment, and can be recycled.

Nylon comes in two types - Type 6.6 and Type 6.  Both can be recycled back into carpeting. This means that it can be considered “cradle to cradle.” This is the ultimate in green options. Anything that can come from a recycled product and then turned back in to be recycled to create that product again is designated cradle to cradle. Nylon is made from oil, which is non-recyclable, but one the carpet is made it can stay carpet for a long time.

Shaw is a company that makes Anso Premier carpeting. The Anso nylon comes with a great wear and stain 15-year warranty, a great color selection, and lots of texture choices. And, I discovered that it comes with a green “thank you” rebate of $1.50 per yard (40 yard min.) on your next carpet purchase (good for 5 years and it’s transferable to friends & family.) Their carpeting contains recycled content and the nylon 6.6 fiber can be recycled and turned back into carpet again.

So, we’re going to try it in our new house once we move in. If you’re shopping for carpeting, ask a lot of questions and see if there are any green options available where you live. The prices are reasonable and in line with standard carpeting. And most of the carpet lines now are low in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that can affect indoor air quality. Make sure there is a CRI Indoor Air Quality Carpet Testing Green label available on your choices.

Our house purchase is moving forward. We had a few issues with water leakage in the basement and around the chimney which were discovered at the home inspection. Those issues are being remedied by the seller before closing, so… hopefully we’re on track to begin moving in by the end of the month.

Now, our green remodeling plans can begin.

There are a few immediate concerns that we’ll have to take care of before we even start to move things into the house. We’ll need to take care of some flooring installations. We’ll need to paint. And we’ll need to purchase a few appliances.

Once those are taken care of, we can begin adding new systems to the house that will help us save energy, conserve water, recycle, and improve our air quality. I’m not going to try to do everything at once. It will be a slow process that, over time, will move the house in the direction of more sustainability and a smaller carbon footprint.

I need to make out a complete list that covers everything I want to do. I have a good idea of a lot of things I’d like to do, but no real plan to implement everything. And I want to do it as efficiently as possible - for example, I’m going to install Solatubes in the roof, would it make sense to also replace the roof with a more eco-friendly material? And while I’m up there, maybe install a roof garden? And then insulate the entire roof and attic area?

Or would it make more sense to update the roof, replace the windows, and install bamboo flooring in the kitchen? I’ll have to work out a plan to make sure I don’t spend or waste more than I have to.

For our immediate concerns, I do have some ideas. We’ll be painting the interior rooms (which are all white) as our first project. My goal is to use 100% zero VOC paints. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. Paints, glues, stains and other similar products can contain these compounds which emit a breathable gas while they are appied and after they are applied.

Today, there are high quality products on the market that do not release these potentially dangerous toxins into the air. There are a variety of low-VOC and no-VOC paints out there. We plan to use them in all the rooms we paint.

As far as appliances go — we’ll be looking for highly energy-efficient products. We will need a dishwasher and an electric stove. I’ve got a list, from the Energy Star website, for high efficiency dishwashers and stoves that I’ll use as a guide to make my purchases.

One thing I’ve been considering is the induction cooking systems. The use less energy, heat up faster, are easier to clean, and save more time than gas and conventional electric cooktops. It’s also safer - the surface of the stove does not get as hot. There are some drawbacks but I’ll have to continue my research. I do know they are more expensive, so that could be a dealbreaker.

I’ve just bought a house. Well, we’ve agreed upon a price and signed the contract. I’ve still got to get the home inspection, finish filling out the loan paperwork, and close on the house. But… I’ve taken the first steps in turning a regular house into a green, eco-friendly, and sustainable home.

It would have been possible to talk with an architect to design and help me build a home from scratch. By building a brand new house, I could have had all the green products installed with all the green materials used in all the right places.

What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that even building a new house in a completely sustainable way comes at a price.

Building a new house, versus remodeling an existing house, generates three times as much carbon.

The house I’ve just purchased was built in 1978. It’s going to be harder to install a lot of the systems I want to put in. Retrofitting it always harder than installing something during construction. But the money I’ll be saving in buying an older home will allow me to do a lot of these green transformations. And I will be reducing our carbon footprint in the process.

Green Renovation Came 20 Years Too Late?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while as I’ve been planning to buy a house and make a huge effort to make it a greener home. Am I too late? Is this movement too late?

Many people think Global Warming is not real. Many think it’s just natural changes in the Earth and that our actions have nothing to do with it. Very few, if any, of those people are scientists. And the scientists that they point to are likely on the payroll of companies that want this green movement to go away.

While I’m not a scientist, I do believe those who are (regardless of their motivations.) Why? Because what if… and it’s a big what-if… they’re right and we did nothing?

My concern is that there are a number of scientists out there who are claiming we may be making changes too slowly or that it’s already too late. Because I’m a bit of an optimist, I choose to not believe them. Why? Because what if they’re wrong and we did nothing?

Your Vote Doesn’t Count

Many people don’t vote because they believe their vote doesn’t count.  After the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, we learned that’s not the case.

While it may be true that my efforts to reduce my energy use, my water use, my carbon footprint that I leave on the planet won’t make much of a difference… perhaps I can at least tell my two daughters and their kids (if I am around long enough) that I did what I could to help.

Maybe it really was just a drop in the bucket.

Maybe it really was just to ease my guilt.

But I made an effort and maybe, just maybe, I encouraged a few others to make that same effort.

Do you think we’re too late?

The search continues for a house to buy. With the housing market in disarray, there are a lot of houses to choose from but we want to find one we’ll be happy with.

So far, we’ve seen a lot of homes in the area where we want to settle down. But nothing has really blown us away. Each has a lot to like and a few things we didn’t like.

Naturally, we want a house in our price range. But we also want to take advantage of this “buyers market.” The more we can save, the more we can spend on our eco-remodeling projects. Another criteria for our house hunting efforts is that we don’t want the best or nicest house on the block. It’s important when renovating a home to not “over-renovate” it. If we do too much expensive remodeling to the nicest house around, we’d never get our money back out if we ever sell it. Finally, we want a home with good bones. This means that we’re not looking at the color of the walls, the condition of the appliances and cabinets, or the style of the carpet.

We can change those things. We’re looking at the square footage, the size of the rooms, shape of rooms, where the load-bearing walls are, location of plumbing fixtures. These are the things that require a lot of time and effort to change.

We visited one house last night and we’re going to see two more tonight. Maybe we’ll find something we just can’t live without.

What is a CFL? It stands for Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs.

I wanted to let you know that this is a great way to save money. Change out the incandescent bulbs in your house with a CFL bulb and you could save $30 to $50 over the life of the bulb in energy costs.

It’s real simple to do. I’m not quite sure why more people aren’t doing it. You simply pick out the correct wattage of bulb at any store and swap out the old bulbs in your lighting fixture. These bulbs cost a bit more but… when you change out all the ones in your house, you will notice a difference on your electric bill. Trust me.

So, to find out why more people aren’t using these little gems, I asked a few of my neighbors.

Turns out there are a LOT of myths and misconceptions about CFL bulbs. And I’m here to bust a few of them for you:

• The Light Looks Funny/Flickers/Buzzes: Not any more. There are a ton of varieties of bulbs now. They don’t flicker or buzz. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The light looks very close to incandescent bulbs and you’ll get used to whatever slight change you perceive in a few days.

• They Contain Mercury and Are Dangerous: Each CFL bulb has 1/5 less mercury than a watch battery and 1/100 of your tooth filling. If one breaks, it’s important to recycle it and treat it as hazardous waste. Go to Earth 911 to find a recycling place in your area — and the good news is that all Home Depot stores will now recycle for you.

• The Mercury Makes Worse Than Incandescent Bulbs: Mmm. No. Most of the mercury released into our atmosphere comes from power plants that burn fossil fuels. By using a product, like an incandescent bulb (which requires 75% more energy to use!) you are putting 75% more mercury into the air.

• CFLs are Made in China - The Shipping Pollutes the Earth: The majority of all light bulbs are made in China. Buying local is great, if it’s an option. But the choice between two bulbs made in China where one saves you money and saves the planet, well… the choice is easy. Besides, the CFL bulbs last much longer, so you’ll have to buy fewer of them.

Suggested Reading:

Snopes Busts CLF Myth

Energy Star CLF Page

Let me know if you have any questions about CFL bulbs or if you need help with the installation.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Green building. Sustainability. Water conservation. Solar energy.

Those words have been floating around for many years now. And they’re starting to make it into everyday conversations. People have decided to help protect the planet, help protect their families and homes, and to save money.

I’ve decided to do my part as well. My plan is to buy a home, here in Columbus Ohio, and turn it into a “green” home. This blog, EcoRemodelers, will cover the journey to make the house a safe home for family and to reduce my carbon footprint on our environment.

My goal is create a How-To guide as I learn how to do all these green renovations myself. I want to cover all aspects of the home - energy efficiency, indoor air quality, recycling, alternative power sources, and green home products to name a few. And I want to try out a few remodeling projects that are expensive as well as many that are absolutely free.

Whether you’re a professional renovation contractor or you’ve never picked up a hammer in your life, my hope is that you’ll get something out of my trials and (many) errors. Maybe you’ll try a few things in your own home. Maybe together we can make a difference and help our planet and our wallets at the same time!

Stick around. Come back often. Laugh at me. Laugh with me. Watch as I slide on these green-colored glasses and do my little part in my little corner of our big blue planet.

Email me at tim (at) ladaddy (dot) com if you have questions, comments, ideas or whatever.

Photo courtesy the Sierra Club