Recycled
Choosing Green Insulation – consider recycled foam board.
In the constant quest for a greener insulation I have considered many options.
- Cellulose is good but messy and dusty.
- Isonyne spray foam or Demilec spray foam is good but not that cheap and quite honestly not as green as they say. It takes huge amounts of energy and petroleum to create the main ingredient [...]
Building Green isn’t expensive and is cheaper in the long run
A huge myth about green building is that it costs more. That was true in the past but not now. Building green today is the most cost effective thing to do.
According to a study by Sheila Muto, author of the article “The Public Sector Spurs Green’ Building,” Special to RealEstateJournal.com, July 16, 2003, she [...]
I got the stupid bricks
I love old bricks. They have great character. I got these from a job site. The contractor couldn’t believe I wanted to take them. He was actually insulted and called the whole thing “stupid”.
It took me ten minutes to do. The bricks will cover a 100 square foot patio at 22 2nd street. No landfil. [...]
The Hammer Test
I had a big argument with my architect because I wanted to use salvaged wood for part of the house and his mantra was:
“If it is fixing something old you can use it but if you are building something new you need to use new wood.”
Fixing some broken joists in a floor is ok to [...]
Salvaged Wood Floors
I got some wood floors from a contractor friend. He is working for a customer who wants to get rid of perfectly good oak floors and replace them with cherry. God what a total waste! Waste of money, resources, forest etc. Waste helps keep the economy going…in a bad way.
Unfortunately I only got in touch [...]
Got some steel joists
I found a building company that was throwing out some perfectly good steel studs. The studs were just sitting behind a building so I asked if I could take them.
They were like, “Why?”
I was like, “Uh, to reuse them.”
The were like, “But they are used.”
“So? Are they damaged?”
“No but they are trash.”
And so on. [...]
New Shipment of Salvaged wood
I have become friends with a contractor who is remodeling a house down the block. The owner is totally gutting the place. Unfortunately I didn’t hook up with them until they were half way done so didn’t get to salvage everything.
But we did salvage some good beams. They came out black but after some heavy [...]