One of the things we are really excited about is bringing old world crafts back to middle class people in Brooklyn. One hundred years ago there was a surplus of skilled immigrants and it was very easy to get amazing work done at a rate affordable to middle class people. All the exotic wood work …
We had to install a green roof in Brooklyn with part of the roof being slanted. We wanted a product that was ecological as well as practical in terms of keeping the soil on the slope. We found our solution in one of our favorite places: the dumpster. We love the dumpster because every ounce …
We just installed another green roof in Brooklyn. This time it was in Park Slope. We tried something different with this one. Instead of the conventional drainage mat we tried a new kind of mat. The conventional mat has dimples and is covered by a mesh so earth does not pass through. It looks like …
I just met with landscape designer Rachel Poritz who is designing a green roof design for some gas stations. Hey, even gas stations can benefit from a green roof. The gas stations are not just any pit stop though. They are Gaia Certified gas stations. They will sell gasoline derived from socially and environmentally responsible …
We are big fans of Milk Paint. What we especially like are the colors, or lack of. You’ve got 20 to choose from. It makes life so easy. Unlike other paint companies who offer a million variations to satisfy the most anal house keeper. And to be honest anyone who agonizes over Blue #10121 and …
Our green building company in Brooklyn, NY, has a kindred soul in Huntsville, Texas. It is called Phoenix Commotion and is run by Dan Phillips. I’ve read about him a couple times, most recently in the NY Times. He builds for lower income people and his buildings are almost totally out of trash. Yet they …
Somebody just paid us to cover up a tin ceiling! If it weren’t for the fact that we did a green roof and all sorts of other green stuff for them we would have refused. And then there are others who throw it out. And yet others who pay huge prices to get it installed …
Electric conduit is hard to salvage because the scrap people get to it before it goes into the dumpster. They take it to the scrap yard for pennies on the pound. If we can get to them before they get to the yard we are happy to give them much more than what they get …
We just installed a solar tube in a Brooklyn Carroll Gardens carriage house. We love them so much. They are the epitome of smart green design: energy efficient (most hover around R22) cost nothing to “run” provide healthy light
We just prepared a Brooklyn brownstone for a green roof installation. It was your typical Brooklyn brownstone: 750 square feet or tar. At least the owners had the foresight to cover the tar with reflective paint. The roof had 100 years of tar on it. There must have been almost three inches of the stuff: …
