Brooklyn Wood Floor Revival
We did two jobs over the past week on wood floors. They started out really ugly. And they ended up amazing. We finished them with 100% pure tung oil so they are really natural.
The first job was to remove some paint that a previous owner, in their infinite and unfathomable intelligence, had painted over the [...]
LED drivers
An LED driver is a self-contained power supply that has outputs matched to the electrical characteristics of your LED or array of LEDs. There are currently no industry standards, so understanding the electrical characteristics of your LED or array is critical in selecting or designing a driver circuit. Drivers should be current-regulated (deliver a consistent [...]
Example of How NOT to build Green
There is a gut renovation going on accross the street from our green show house. It is a classic renovation where a lot of money is being spent and not much thought going into how it is done. The owner is getting reamed with prices IMO.
A couple weeks ago there was a dumpster full of [...]
Recycling Wood Joists for Siding
We wanted some siding for a wall we built. So we used some 100 year old joists.
We took the joists and cut them into long strips.
Then we sealed them on both sides so they don’t warp.
Then we put them onto strips that we had attached to the wall. This way there is air behind the [...]
Bricks, Bricks Everywhere
One thing brownstones have in abundance are bricks. And I keep seeing dumpsters full of them. It is heartbreaking for me. These are beautiful bricks, a hundred years old, with character and texture.
Here is one job site where they knocked down the whole building.
There were thousands of perfect bricks. The next day they were [...]
The Maple Floor Fiasco
We found about 500sq.ft. of 5 inch wide maple plank flooring in a dumpster. It had a very slight warp to it due to it not being installed correctly. But with a little sanding we could get rid of that.
So we happily installed the flooring.
Despite our good intentions there were complications….
1. Maple is not a [...]
Things We Salvage
Dumpsters, Job Sites, Garbage Night Streets, Damaged Store Stock, Craigslist, Neighbours, Salvage stores, Ebay, our building… these are some of the places we get our materials from. The rules are simple: it needs to be dangerously close to being sent to the dump or once used.
Here are some of the things we have saved:
Old [...]
Salvaging Slate
We needed some slate to repair an existing slate wall on the top of the green show house. One consideration was using a slate look alike that is made from recycled materials.
But then I discovered there is a thriving community of people who salvage old slate from homes. They have merged into the “green” [...]
Doing Things Differently
Green building is not mainstream. The systems and habits are not in place. Doing a green job is part construction part education part experimentation because once you start thinking off the grid there are very few reference points to guide you.
I had a plumber walk out of my job today before even giving a bid. [...]